Police officers protest at MOI for own syndicate
By Heba Hesham CAIRO: Over two dozen pro-reform police officers demonstrated outside the Ministry of Interior (MOI) Wednesday to demand approval for the establishment of a professional syndicate. Members of the…
Spillover from the Syrian uprising: three scenarios
By Akeel Abbas How the uprising in Syria will effect Iraq depends largely on how events unfold in Syria — and on whom you ask in Iraq. So far, one sure…
Breakthrough leadership for the World Bank
By Jeffrey Sachs NEW YORK: Last month, I called for the World Bank to be led by a global development leader rather than a banker or political insider. “The Bank needs…
A PALESTINIAN VIEW: Learning the lessons
By Ghassan Khatib Violence has always been a prominent characteristic of how Israel handles its relationships in the neighborhood. The state was created through violence wielded against the indigenous Palestinian population,…
AN ISRAELI VIEW: Not only violence has failed
By Yossi Alpher In reviewing more than six decades of Israeli-Palestinian conflict, a cost/benefit analysis of the two sides' reliance on violence produces a very mixed record. Whereas Israel has generally…
The empire smiles back: Taiwan’s Japanese cherry festival
By Benjamin Yeh / AFP Taiwan loves cherry blossoms. In fact, it loves almost everything Japanese. For a nation that ruled the island for 50 years, often with an iron fist,…
Cameron: Earth’s deepest spot desolate, foreboding
By Seth Borenstein / AP In James Cameron's fantasy films, like "Avatar" and "The Abyss," the unexplored is splashed in color and fraught with alien danger. But on his dive to…
Arab ministers focus talks on Syria crisis
By Prashant Rao / AFP Baghdad: Arab foreign ministers were meeting in Baghdad Wednesday ahead of a crucial summit to thrash out the Syrian crisis after Damascus reportedly accepted Kofi Annan's…
Gunmen seize Saudi diplomat in south Yemen, say police
By Fawaz Al-Haidari / AFP ADEN: Saudi Arabia's deputy consul in Yemen's southern port city of Aden was seized by unknown gunmen outside his home on Wednesday, a police official told…
Bodies, destroyed tanks at scene of Sudan battle
By Abdelmoneim Abu Edris Ali / AFP HEGLIG: Dead bodies and destroyed tanks lay in Sudan's southern oil centre of Heglig on Wednesday after government forces and South Sudanese troops clashed…