AN ISRAELI VIEW: At best, 2012 will be a year of reassessment
By Yossi Alpher The year 2012 will almost certainly not witness any progress toward agreement between Israelis and Palestinians. We'll be lucky if there is no serious backsliding in the form…
Charisma we can believe in
By Joseph Nye CAMBRIDGE: A leadership transition is scheduled in two major autocracies in 2012. Neither is likely to be a surprise. Xi Jinping is set to replace Hu Jintao as…
The Emperor’s new climate-change agreement
By Bjørn Lomborg COPENHAGEN: Dressing up failure as victory has been integral to climate-change negotiations since they started 20 years ago. The latest round of talks in Durban, South Africa, in…
Picasso stolen from Athens’ National Gallery
A Pablo Picasso painting gifted to Greece by the Spanish-born master was stolen from Athens' National Gallery early Monday with two other important artworks, prompting scorn from the Greek police…
1793 penny fetches $1.38 mln at US auction
A once-cent copper coin from the earliest days of the US Mint in 1793 has sold for a record $1.38 million at a Florida auction. James Halperin of Texas-based Heritage…
Kanye takes beautiful dark twisted fantasy to Twitter
American hip hop mogul Kanye West has launched an epic rant on Twitter, posting dozens of colorful and cryptic but ultimately hopeful messages, on everything from his jones for fashion…
Virtuoso pianist Alexis Weissenberg dies aged 82
Bulgarian-born French concert pianist Alexis Weissenberg, considered one of the great classical music performers of the 20th century, has died aged 82. After suffering from Parkinson's disease for 30 years,…
‘Chicks with Guns’ finds its bullseye among photo books
By Robert MacPherson / AFP All you need to make a movie is a girl and a gun, the New Wave director Jean-Luc Godard once said. It's also the formula for…
Egypt mulls raising tariffs on ‘luxury’ imports
CAIRO: As Egypt works to reduce the budget deficit by cutting back on expenditures, the trade ministry is mulling raising import tariffs on “luxury, non-essential” goods. “The ministry is studying…
Centamin says Q4 production rose 10 percent
LONDON: Gold producer Centamin posted a 10 percent rise in fourth-quarter output, boosted by higher production rates at its flagship Sukari project in Egypt, lifting its shares on Tuesday. Egypt-focused…