LONDON: Iran dialed up tensions in the Gulf this week when its troops stormed a South Korean-flagged tanker as it transited through the strategic Strait of Hormuz — a choke point through which a fifth of world oil output passes. The incident is only the latest in a long line of Iranian acts of “state […]
Read moreThe empire that Kuwaiti retail pioneer Abdulaziz Mohammed Al-Shaya built
LONDON: Abdulaziz Mohammed Al-Shaya, widely regarded as a titan of Kuwait’s economic and commercial renaissance, has died at the age of 94, local media reported on Saturday. He leaves behind a legacy that underpins the emirate’s reputation as the Gulf’s retail industry pioneer. Many of those paying tributes to Al-Shaya have described him as a […]
Read moreUK’s vaccine approval raises world’s hopes for COVID-19 fight
LONDON: The news that Britain has approved the coronavirus vaccine developed by Pfizer/BioNTech has raised expectations that other countries could also begin immunizations in the near future and slowly bring the curtain down on a pandemic that disrupted the global social and economic order like no other event in living memory. Trials have shown that […]
Read morePalestinians in occupied territories want US to solve conflict with Israel: survey
DUBAI, ERBIL: Palestinians in the occupied territories back US efforts to play a bigger role in mediation with Israel, according to the Arab News/YouGov pan-Arab survey, putting their view at odds with what a majority of Arabs across the wider region think is best for them. Of the 2,192 respondents polled across 18 Arab countries […]
Read moreFor Middle East children, pandemic adds to misery of displacement
DUBAI/ERBIL: Millions have been displaced by recent wars in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) — a significant number of them children. Cut adrift in an unfamiliar world in search of safe harbor, the trauma of losing their homes is often compounded by the brutalizing experience of displacement. According to the UN’s World Migration […]
Read more‘Coronavirus ruined everything’: the long wait for new limbs in Kurdistan
Decades of war have resulted in a high demand for prosthetics – and patients are anxious to visit clinics as they finally reopen First published by the Guardian Concentration is etched on Hussein’s face as he walks along a scuffed yellow line painted on the floor of the clinic’s rehabilitation room. He’s getting a feel […]
Read moreFor migrants left jobless by lockdown, aid scheme offers glimmer of hope
ERBIL, Kurdistan Region — Kanaveni Thirupathi, 28, arrived in Erbil from India just six months ago and quickly found work as a cleaner at a local college. Thousands like him have migrated to the oil states of the Gulf, drawn by the promise of consistent and better paid work. For Kanaveni, neither promise was fulfilled. […]
Read moreHashd al-Shaabi: A house divided
ERBIL, Kurdistan Region – A schism is deepening within the ranks of Iraq’s paramilitia groups, between those loyal to the country’s top Shiite religious authority Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani and those tied to Iran. First published by Rudaw The Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF), known in Arabic as Hashd al-Shaabi, was created in 2014 when Sistani […]
Read moreAfghanistan: The Missing Peace
First published by Rudaw Part I: ‘Welcome to Kabul’ It wasn’t an encouraging start. Stepping off the airport shuttle bus at Hamid Karzai International, bleary eyed after a long layover in Dubai’s Terminal 2, my first impression of the Afghan capital Kabul is of a towering column of black smoke rising from the expat […]
Read moreIs ISIS winning hearts and minds in Iraq’s Makhmour?
MAKHMOUR, Kurdistan Region – Months of heavy rain have turned the normally arid plains of Qarachogh a verdant green. In this hotly disputed territory of northern Iraq, the increasingly brazen presence of bearded gunmen in the hills suggests the extremist threat once thought defeated is also growing back anew. An hour and a half’s drive […]
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