Inflation, global stock decline hit Egypt's bourse
CAIRO: Concerns about inflation and the decline in global stock markets dragged Egypt's benchmark CASE 30 index to its lowest in more than nine months on Monday, traders said.The index…
Alexander Solzhenitsyn, Russia's Dante of the gulag
MOSCOW: Alexander Solzhenitsyn, who died Sunday aged 89, ranked with Nelson Mandela as a figure of towering moral authority who for a generation embodied his people s hopes for a…
Representation and oriental dance mark 'Dreams of Al-Andalus'
Last week, a good-sized audience settled into the seats at the Cairo Opera House to watch "Dreams of Al-Andalus, the latest production by Al-Andalus Danza, a Spanish dance company based…
Egypt gets statue back
CAIRO: Egypt's Supreme Council of Antiquities says it has retrieved from the Netherlands a small pharaonic funerary statue - over 3,000 years old - dating back to the 19th Dynasty.The…
Down with UNAIDS, up with health
As the biennial international AIDS industry conference (Aug. 3-8) gathers 25,000 delegates in Mexico, a wind of change is blowing. UNAIDS, the UN's AIDS advocacy body, stands accused of exaggerating…
Can Syria be taken seriously?
Syrian President Bashar Assad appears to be serious about pursuing peace.But just how serious is he? Assad seems to be taking his desire to talk peace with Israel to heart,…
China's triumph of the will
When the opening ceremony of the Beijing Olympic Games begins in a few days, viewers will be presented with a minutely choreographed spectacle swathed in nationalist kitsch. Of course, images…
Hard Talk: A corruption case, first and foremost
The judge who acquitted the defendants in the case of Al-Salam 98 ferry is as innocent as the victims of the sinking ship, their families and all those who were…
Grass-roots effort fights 'cutting' girls
SULTAN ZAWYIT: In this small Nile River farming village, Maha Mohamed has started to doubt whether she should circumcise her two daughters.A year ago, she had few qualms about female…