Book prize on a platter for France’s Houellebecq?
By Myriam Chaplain-Riou /AFP PARIS: For over a decade the biting, sex-fuelled satire of France's best-known living writer Michel Houellebecq has shocked and delighted readers in equal measure, but the country's…
Building bridges with graffiti art
By Mohammed Ali LONDON: We hear government officials, academics and politicians talking about the problems of multiculturalism and community cohesion, but I feel they have left one resource untapped when it…
Diplomacy’s darkest hours
By Shlomo Ben Ami MADRID: Diplomacy is not having its finest hour nowadays. Quite the contrary: resistance to diplomatic solutions is a common thread in most of today’s major conflicts. Afghanistan…
Why is China lashing out?
By Ian Buruma NEW YORK: It must be galling for the Chinese government to keep seeing Nobel Prizes go to the wrong Chinese. The first wrong Chinese was Gao Xingjian, a…
Indonesia’s democratic Islam
By Alfred Stepan and Jeremy Menchik NEW YORK: The visit by “Barry Obama,” the Indonesian nickname for the former resident and current United States president, to Jakarta is intended, as much…
New Michael Jackson record to be released
A new album by Michael Jackson is to be released next month, including never-before-heard songs by the self-styled King of Pop before his death last year, his record company said…
Lebanon mandates banks for Eurobond refinancing
Lebanon has mandated Bank of Beirut and Credit Suisse to lead manage a refinancing of Eurobonds maturing this month, a source at the finance ministry said on Friday. Finance Minister…
Mansour subsidiary partners with Souq.com
Mantronix, a subsidiary of Mansour Group and sole agents for Samsung consumer electronics in Egypt, launched an e-shop on Souq Egypt www.souq.com, the largest online shopping site in the Arab…
Apache acquires BP’s Western Desert assets
Apache Corporation’s subsidiary has completed its acquisition of BP's oil and gas operations, acreage and infrastructure in Egypt's Western Desert, according to a statement. The transaction marks the final step…
Egypt, World Bank sign for $820 mln energy projects
CAIRO: Egypt and the World Bank signed two new loan agreements on Thursday for two projects totaling $820 million, according to a statement from the bank. “The combined amount of…
