Bringing the informal sector into the fold
By Masood Ahmed Unemployment rates in the Middle East and North Africa have remained above 10 percent over the past decade, the highest in the world. For the young the rates…
Turkey eyes new trade routes to bypass Syria violence
ISTANBUL: Turkey is weighing new transport routes to the Middle East that will bypass Syria where increasing violence has caused a 10 percent drop in Turkish exports to Damascus over…
Egypt team wins at Intel challenge for Hepatitis C detection
CAIRO: A team of entrepreneurs from Egypt came in third place at the seventh annual Intel Global Challenge at UC Berkeley, winning $10,000 for an innovation that can detect Hepatitis…
Dubai’s MAF plans debut sukuk by end-Nov: executive
DUBAI: Shopping mall developer Majid Al Futtaim (MAF) is aiming to raise between $350 million and $500 million in a five-year dollar-denominated Islamic bond, or sukuk, by the end of…
Families, activists and journalists denounce military trials
CAIRO: Families of citizens subjected to military trials gathered at a press conference Wednesday with activists and supporters to support a decision by the Journalists’ Syndicate to boycott the military…
Berlusconi releases love songs on last day in office
Italy's former prime minister and cruise-ship crooner Silvio Berlusconi released an album of love songs on his last day in office on Wednesday. The self-declared Latin lover, who often…
THE REEL ESTATE: Of human bondage: James March’s ‘Project Nim’
In 1973, a ground-breaking experiment in animal language acquisition was set up by Columbia professor, Herbert Terrace, to examine whether apes can communicate with humans using sign language. The subject…
Benetton yanks pope-imam kiss ad after protest
VATICAN CITY: The Benetton clothing company quickly withdrew an ad featuring a fake photo of Pope Benedict XVI kissing a top Egyptian imam on the lips after the Vatican denounced…
Magazine’s 1st MAD men get a rare reunion
Think of them as the senior class of the "usual gang of idiots." Or the original MAD men perhaps. There's Al Jaffee, who at 90 still draws the optical illusion…
Democracy in the Congo?
By Charles Tannock LONDON: Free, fair, and transparent democratic elections are no longer strangers to Africa. Indeed, they have become a regular occurrence. But the presidential and parliamentary elections in the…