There's a rat in the kitchen
Ratatouille, Pixar s latest animated film about one rat s dream of haute cuisine, leaves viewers hungry. In the true spirit of haute cuisine, beautifully presented dishes were served up,…
Return of the underdogs
It s become the order of the day for any independent/cult artist or band to eventually succumb to market demands, abandon their eccentric sound and deliver a record with a…
Flamenco flame lights up the night
Passion, poise and precision summed up the performance as flamenco star María Pagés and her group took to the stage at the Cairo Opera House on Wednesday evening.The show starts…
Now you see it, now you don't
Street entertainers, I thought, were a thing of the past. The magicians who performed on sidewalks were an old phenomenon, a disappearing act. A recent documentary directed by Ahmed Abou…
19th Experimental Theater festival continues to push boundaries
In a country where complex forms of cultural content are always marginalized, it is still astonishing how experimental theater - one of the most demanding of all arts - continues…
Music is a messenger for peace
New York - Political and religious leaders are finding help for their peacemaking efforts from an unlikely source: contemporary musicians. An inter-religious orchestra of Jewish, Muslim and Catholic musicians was…
No world security without "neighborliness"
New York: There are 1.3 billion followers of the Prophet Mohamed; every fifth person prays facing Mecca; every fifth country celebrates Ramadan. In the near future Muslim populations will only…
A delicate balance
It is no secret that the PLO and the Palestinian Authority leadership are participating in the boycott of Gaza, in the hope that this will turn the population against Hamas.…
The caliphate: a threat to democracy?
The Hizbut Tahrir Indonesia (HTI) hosted the International Khilafah Conference last month. Since this event, Indonesian mass media has been discussing the pros and cons of implementing a caliphate system…
Another surge, this time in Middle East diplomacy
WASHINGTON - This past July, US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and Secretary of Defense Robert Gates made an extraordinary joint visit to key Middle East countries. Focused on securing…