Turkey's parliament debates lifting Islamic head scarf ban at universities
ANKARA: Turkish legislators opened debate Wednesday on one of their secular but predominantly Muslim country s most fiery issues: whether to allow female students to enter university campuses wearing Islamic…
Spain, Egypt sign two protocol worth $375 mln
CAIRO: Spain will give Egypt $375 million to finance nationwide infrastructure projects. In a bid to boost bilateral trade and investment, Egypt and Spain signed two strategic treaties on Wednesday…
SODIC plans 'contemporary downtown' for Egypt
CAIRO: With an ambition to create Egypt's new downtown, real estate developer Sixth of October Investment and Development (SODIC) is gearing up to challenge market leaders including Gulf-based Emaar and…
Steel giant to invest $1 dollars in Egypt
CAIRO: ArcelorMittal, the world's largest steel producer, on Tuesday signed a deal to produce sponge iron and steel billets in Egypt, in a $1billion investment, the official MENA news agency…
The view from the top
The sky looks different from the top of Mount Everest. For one thing, there is more of it. You are looking down on the world, rather than up at it,…
The Politics of illusions
I have just returned from an extended trip to the Middle East, hoping that I would come back feeling recharged by the progress made in the Israeli-Palestinian negotiations, especially in…
Islamic finance is going global
The 2008 Islamic Finance Festival (FES) was held in Jakarta from Jan. 16 to 20. Hosted by the Bank of Indonesia, this year's theme was Islamic finance and banking for…
The Lucifer Effect
Why do good, ordinary people sometimes become perpetrators of evil? The most extreme transformation of this kind is, of course, the story of God's favorite angel, Lucifer - a story…
Street Talk: Sympathize with Gaza
The taxi driver had skin the color of the Nile bed - a cross between earthy brown and the brick red of henna which grows in abundance in southern Egypt.…
Revealing book on Queen Nazli depicts her tragic life in exile
CAIRO: Rawia Rashed, the author of "Nazli, Malika Fi El Manfa, (Nazli, A Queen in Exile), says it was only by chance that she came to devote 10 years of…