Iran’s supreme power struggle
By Mehdi Khalaji WASHINGTON, DC: Iran’s Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, has never been happy about the status of the Iranian presidency — neither during his own tenure, from 1981-1989, nor…
Seeing REDD on climate change
By George Soros CANCÚN: The official communiqué from the Cancún climate-change conference cannot disguise the fact that there will be no successor to the Kyoto Protocol when it expires at the…
The non-smoking gun
By Jorge Castañeda MEXICO CITY: Everyone these days, it seems, has their own favorite American diplomatic cable — or will soon — given that the 250,000 documents obtained by WikiLeaks include…
Europe’s myopic defense cuts
By Uffe Ellemann-Jensen COPENHAGEN: All over Europe, budgets are being pared as a new age of austerity takes hold. Defense expenditures are proving to be the easiest of targets. Even Britain…
Saudi Nov inflation unchanged at 5.8 pct yr/yr
JEDDAH: Saudi Arabia's annual inflation remained unchanged from the previous month at 5.8 percent in November, state news agency SPA said late on Saturday, underpinned by rising housing and transport…
Lebanon awaits Hariri indictments on tenterhooks
By Rita Daou/ AFP BEIRUT: The Beirut government is in paralysis, business deals are on hold and rumors abound as Lebanon anxiously awaits indictments by a UN tribunal probing former premier…
Iran hikes gasoline price four-fold as subsidies cut
TEHRAN: The price of gasoline will rise four-fold in Iran in the coming days, state television announced late on Saturday, as the most politically sensitive part of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's…
Mercosur inks tariff deal with Egypt, others
FOZ DO IGUACU: South America's Mercosur trade partners signed a preferential tariff deal Wednesday with several developing nations including India, officials said. Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay formed Mercosur in…
Iran approached Bedouin for Gaza gun running: cable
CAIRO: Egypt's spy chief told US officials last year Iran was trying to recruit Bedouin in the Sinai Peninsula to help smuggle arms into the blockaded Gaza Strip, a leaked…
Egypt’s central bank leaves key interest rates unchanged
CAIRO: Egypt's central bank kept its key overnight interest rates steady on Thursday, its 10th pause since it stopped lowering rates in September 2009, the central bank said on its…