Middle East

Streaks of light are seen from Ashkelon as Israel's Iron Dome anti-missile system intercepts rockets launched from the Gaza Strip towards Israel.
International relations

The first AI conflict? Israel's Gaza operation gives glimpse of future

Sophisticated algorithm leads to 90% of rocket fire being intercepted

28 June 2021
A Turkish drillship passing under the Fatih Sultan Mehmet Bridge through the Bosporus in Istanbul.
International relations

Eyeing Chinese investment, Turkey kicks off Canal Istanbul project

Opposition rallies around $15bn plan's potential environmental and financial costs

28 June 2021
A teenager receives a COVID-19 vaccine dose in Tel Aviv on June 21, after authorities urged parents to get their kids inoculated amid school outbreaks.
Coronavirus

Israel COVID uptick shows vaccines help but are no panacea

As Asia accelerates shots, signs point to virus becoming endemic like flu

25 June 2021
A tablet shows the video of Sedat Peker on June 6: his scandal-ridden monologues have a viral effect.
Opinion

Mafia boss bites Erdogan, but will Turkey's president bite back?

Silencing digital-minded dissidents the old-fashioned way

24 June 2021
Iran's hard-line president-elect, Ebrahim Raisi, has said Tehran will not reenter the 2015 nuclear agreement unless the U.S. lifts all sanctions against the country. (Source photos by Getty Images) 
International relations

Iran adopts harder line with election of new president

Raisi seeks to preserve Islamic regime in face of popular grumbles

24 June 2021
Saudi Aramco's oil facility in Abqaiq, pictured in October 2019: crude supply has been deliberately restricted.
Opinion

Surging oil prices are a crucial test for OPEC+ nations

Producers' alliance must not become a victim of its own success

23 June 2021
Iran's President-elect Ebrahim Raisi speaks during a news conference in Tehran on June 21. 
International relations

Iran's Raisi backs nuclear talks, rules out meeting Biden

President-elect will snub US counterpart even if sanctions are lifted

22 June 2021
Saudi Aramco's Ras Tanura oil refinery: the future will continue to rely on existing energy sources while the contribution of alternative technologies to the evolving global energy mix grows.
Opinion

Aramco Asia says there is cause for optimism

The future of one of Asia's most important energy relationships

22 June 2021
A U.S. soldier keeps watch at an Afghan army base in Logar Province in 2018.
Interview

NATO exit risks Afghan 'security vacuum': Abdullah Abdullah

Top peace negotiator set to meet with Biden at White House on Friday

21 June 2021
Kargu-2 drones have been used by the Turkish military since 2018. (Anatolia Agency)
Aerospace & Defense Industries

Turkish defense company says drone unable to go rogue in Libya

STM chief rebuts 'fire, forget and find' capability cited in UN report

20 June 2021
Presidential candidate Ebrahim Raisi gestures after casting his vote during presidential elections at a polling station in Tehran on June 18.
Politics

Hardline judge Raisi wins landslide in Iran presidential vote

Outgoing president Rouhani pledges smooth power transfer

20 June 2021
A banner of the presidential election is seen in Valiasr square in Tehran on Wednesday.
Politics

Iran's voters cast ballots in election seen as one-horse race

Hardline conservative favored to win poll that has regional ramifications

18 June 2021
Joe Biden, then U.S. vice president, meets with Chinese President Xi Jinping in Beijing in 2013.
US-China tensions

Biden-Xi meeting 'likely' at October G-20 summit, US says

Turkey is committed to protecting Kabul airport, national security adviser says

18 June 2021
A U.S. Marine shouts as he tries to protect an Afghan man and his child after Taliban fighters opened fire in the Helmand Province town of Marjah in Afghanistan in 2010.
International relations

Asian powers plot to fill US vacuum in Afghanistan

From Beijing to Ankara, the race for influence in Kabul is underway

17 June 2021
Benjamin Netanyahu's exit creates a narrow window for diplomacy.
Opinion

Netanyahu casts a long shadow over Israeli politics

New national unity government is testimony to fallen leader's formidable legacy

15 June 2021
New Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett, right, confers with Foreign Minister Yair Lapid -- who is to become leader in 2023 -- during their first cabinet meeting on June 13.
Politics

Asia takes stock of Israel PM Bennett after 12 years of Netanyahu

No big foreign policy shift expected as Modi and others send congratulations

14 June 2021
Cranes tower above a wharf at the port of Gwadar, Pakistan, in October 2017. Until the recent decision by Saudi Arabia, the city was being touted as the future "Singapore of Pakistan."
International relations

Pakistan's Gwadar loses luster as Saudis shift $10bn deal to Karachi

Infrastructure gaps behind Riyadh's decision to move oil refinery to more developed area

13 June 2021
The immensely popular "Bir Zamanlar Cukurova" (Bitter Lands; left) and the recent hit "Marasli" (The Trusted) about an ex-SWAT team member fighting drug barons, have been subtitled, dubbed, adapted and exported to more than 150 countries, making Turkey the world's second-largest exporter of television content.
Arts

Turkish dramas are rewriting the global entertainment script

Different lifestyles and habits a smash hit with world audiences

13 June 2021
Sagi Karni, Israel's ambassador to Singapore, defended his country's handling of the recent Gaza conflict in an interview. (Source photos by Embassy of Israel in Singapore and Reuters) 
Interview

Israel envoy pans 'megaphone diplomacy' after ASEAN outcry on Gaza

Ambassador to Singapore says possible Netanyahu exit won't stop Asia outreach

7 June 2021
Netanyahu has always been a cold-eyed realist.
Opinion

How will history judge Benjamin Netanyahu?

Israel's longest serving Prime Minister is a global brand unto himself

3 June 2021
China's Foreign Minister Wang Yi with UAE Foreign Minister Abdullah Bin Zayed Al Nahyan during their meeting in Abu Dhabi in late March. 
International relations

China bolsters ties with UAE, a traditional US ally in Middle East

Beijing seeks to expand its footprint in the region as American clout wanes

3 June 2021
Saudi filmmaker Haifaa al-Mansour earned wide acclaim with her 2013 film "Wadjda." In her latest film, "The Perfect Candidate," al-Mansour focuses on the everyday frustrations still faced by women in the kingdom. "We are very sassy. We are very strong, so don't take us for granted," says al-Mansour.
Interview

Saudi Arabia's feminist filmmaker unveils her latest jab

'The Perfect Candidate' director Haifaa al-Mansour on why she's feeling optimistic

3 June 2021
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has ousted three central bank chiefs in two years.
Economy

Erdogan's call for rate cut drives Turkey's lira to fresh lows

Leader's call for lower rates by 'July or August' rattles currency markets

3 June 2021
Fire and smoke rise in Gaza City as Israeli warplanes target a governmental building on May 18: Asia should not operate on an obsolete understanding of the Middle East.
Opinion

Why Asia should care about the Middle East

Public understanding is generally superficial and based on wrong premises

31 May 2021
The liquor section of an Istanbul grocery store is cordoned off during a recent three-week lockdown.
Politics

Turkey clamps down on alcohol as Erdogan pushes Islamist agenda

COVID-19 ban on liquor sales seen as a ploy to reverse 100-year-old secularism

29 May 2021