The International Compact: a roadmap to stability for the region
SHARM EL-SHEIKH, Egypt: The International Compact with Iraq (ICI) to be launched Thursday at a conference in Egypt is a five-year plan aimed at stabilizing the war-torn country politically and…
UN Secretary General calls for violence in Iraq to stop, Rice meets Syrian FM
CAIRO: UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon has stated that more needs to be done to halt the incessant and ongoing violence in Iraq.The secretary general was speaking at the launch…
Need for available agricultural land increasingly critical
CAIRO: Given the fact that agriculture alone constitutes around 50 percent of the country's economic resources and the fact that soil of land is as valuable as money stashed away…
Just tango on
I must confess, I'm a tango virgin. One of my very few experiences of the Argentinean dance was that great bit in the film "Scent of a Woman when Al…
Virginia Tech massacre reopens debate on violence on local screens
The Virginia Tech University massacre is expected to make moviemakers think twice before producing any films that might lead to violent behavior. After all, allegations have been made that violence…
Experiments in electronica
Last Friday night the Goethe Institute and 100Copies Records invited music lovers to sample the best of Cairo's electronic and experimental music scene. The heavy beats and unnatural sounds of…
Tuning into music's missing link
Sharkiat explores the relation between Hindu and Arab beatsA diverse audience of all ages and nationalities flocked on Monday to the Cairo Opera House's open-air theater, under the moon and…
What is it about Western secularism?
Some years ago, the Tunisian Islamist leader-in-exile, Rashid Ghannoushi, wrote a book on public rights in Islam. He pointed out that there were particular historical reasons why Europe had separated…
The perils of sectarianism in opposing Iran
Saudi Arabia has undergone a remarkable political rebirth in the past few months, emerging as the Middle East's most assertive Arab power. Until recently, various internal and international pressures constrained…
After the Winograd report, can Olmert survive?
After Israel's inability last summer to achieve a conclusive victory over Hezbollah in southern Lebanon, public pressure forced Prime Minister Ehud Olmert's government to appoint a commission to examine the…