Tall tales and holy grails
A great many expat journalists in exotic places will recognize something of their own lives, not to mention their own selves, in Rowan Somerville's first novel "The End of Sleep.…
The stigma factor
I have met many remarkable people in my life: presidents, kings, diplomats.One of the most memorable of these encounters - and certainly most moving - came a bit more than…
Burns' visit to Iran – a first step
US Undersecretary for Political Affairs, William Burns, attended a recent meeting in Geneva between EU Secretary-General Javier Solana and Iran s chief nuclear negotiator, Saeed Jalili. This decision was the…
The extremists unbound
The pattern of policymaking in the Middle East, as it was defined since President Bush's "axis if evil speech of January 2002, is undergoing a momentous change of direction. Bush's…
Iran invites Al Azhar into Shia heartland
CAIRO: Despite Egypt-Iran tensions, the Shia-dominated Islamic republic has made an unprecedented request for Cairo's Al-Azhar University, Sunni Islam's highest seat of learning, to open a branch in Tehran.The overture…
Clash of civilizations or calculation of interests?
JAKARTA: Only 39 years old, Anies Baswedan's thoughts have been considered so influential that Foreign Policy magazine has rated this Rector of Paramadina University 60th on a list of the…
Minya Nile Cotton workers end strike
CAIRO: Employees of a cotton ginning factory in Minya ended a strike they began at the end of July after company management agreed to their demands.The roughly 1,000 workers of…
Zidan Withdraws from Fouad's New Movie
CAIRO: Hamburg s Egyptian forward Mohamed Zidan recently withdrew from his role in upcoming cinema project "El-Zamahlawiya, starring by singer-actor Mohamed Fouad.Zidan, who has no previous cinema experience, was set…