Rebels retreat from Libya oil port under attack
AJDABIYA: Moammar Qaddafi's ground forces recaptured a strategic oil town Wednesday as they made new inroads in beating back a rebel advance toward the capital Tripoli. Western powers kept up…
Bahrain’s Shia leader wants Saudi-led force out
MANAMA: Bahrain's Shia Muslim opposition on Wednesday demanded that the Saudi-led military force helping to put down protests leave the country immediately. The demand underscored the sectarian element of the…
Army council announces constitutional decree
CAIRO: The Supreme Council of the Armed Forces (SCAF) announced Wednesday the constitutional decree consisting of 62 articles, one of which reduces the authorities of the Shoura Council. “The Shoura…
Huge Yemeni crowds press on for president’s ouster
SANAA: Hundreds of thousands of anti-government protesters packed the streets of several Yemeni cities Wednesday to demand the president's ouster and denounce a munitions factory blast that left at least…
Bloggers join hands to create Japan ‘Quakebook’
Inspired by a desire to help victims of Japan's deadly earthquake, a group of bloggers and writers have come together through the Internet to create a book of stories about…
Taylor’s unpublished love letters up for auction
Before becoming a bride eight times over, Elizabeth Taylor was a 17-year-old starlet scribbling letters to her first fiance, charting on pale pink stationery his progression from her one-and-only to…
Hamdeen Sabahi launches presidential campaign as ‘independent’
CAIRO: Popular figure and founder of Al-Karama Party, Hamdeen Sabahi, announced the official launch of his presidential campaign during a conference Wednesday at the Journalists' Syndicate. Under the slogan "One…
Tahrir Book Fair: Expect some noise
“This is going to be the best book fair we’ve had,” says Trevor Naylor about the Tahrir Book Fair that opens on Thursday at the Tahrir campus of the American…
Talking to the Muslim Brotherhood of Egypt
By David Phillips A secular youth movement may have deposed President Hosni Mubarak, but the Muslim Brotherhood of Egypt is positioned to take power in September’s parliamentary elections and assume a…
State-owned press overhaul announced days before planned protest
By Safaa Abdoun CAIRO: In a decree that many deem as overdue, Prime Minister Essam Sharaf announced the appointment of new chairmen and editors-in-chief of state-owned newspapers after securing the approval…