French foreign minister to Egypt, Gaza next week: spokesman
PARIS: France's Foreign Minister Michele Alliot-Marie will visit Israel and the Palestinian territories as part of a tour of the Middle East next week, her office said on Friday. "This…
Freedom in decline worldwide: US report
WASHINGTON: Global freedom declined for a fifth straight year in 2010 as authoritarian regimes dug in worldwide and crime and unrest plagued democracies like Mexico, a US watchdog said Thursday.…
MPs call for charges against media over church explosion coverage
By Abdel-Rahman Hussein CAIRO: A group of National Democratic Party (NDP) MPs have called for criminal charges against certain media outlets over their coverage of the Alexandria church bombing on…
Security disperses solidarity protest for alleged torture victim
By Tamim Elyan CAIRO: Security forces dispersed a protest held in downtown Cairo in solidarity with Sayed Belal, a suspect in the Alexandria church attack allegedly tortured to death during…
GEP delegation sees Egypt going ‘entrepreneurial’
CAIRO: “Egypt is at the tipping point to go entrepreneurial and become the next breakout country,” US State Department’s Senior Advisor for Global Entrepreneurship, Steven Koltai, said in Cairo Wednesday.…
The future of banking: Towards a new world order?
By Ron McMillan Today the environment in which bankers have spent most, if not all, of their careers has changed dramatically. The impact of the global financial crisis on the…
Forum to focus on countering food crisis in Africa
An upcoming forum will focus on ways of boosting innovation in the agricultural sector throughout Africa in a bid to boost the continent’s global agribusiness potential, according to a press…
Vimpelcom board to review new Sawiris deal: sources
Vimpelcom's board will on Sunday discuss a revised offer for Naguib Sawiris' telecoms assets in a bid to save the troubled deal after opposition by key shareholder Telenor, people familiar…
Is blasphemy hate speech?
By Aryeh Neier NEW YORK: The assassination of Salman Taseer, the governor of Punjab province in Pakistan and an outspoken critic of religious extremism, has focused attention on his country’s…
Seizing a new year’s opportunity for Israeli-Palestinian negotiations
By Michael Felsen Jamaica Plain, Massachusetts: As we enter 2011, there seems to be little cause for celebration about prospects for peace in the Middle East, especially following the breakdown…