In Syria, what does Russia want?
By Hussain Abdul-Hussain Russian policy on Syria might seem planned and coherent, but a closer look shows that Moscow has no imagined end-game for Syria's unrest, and is rather improvising its…
Striking euro gold (and silver)
By Harold James PRINCETON: The alternatives for Europe’s currency, the euro, seem increasingly limited to a desperate muddling through or a chaotic collapse. But there is a bolder and more productive…
Nationwide strike begins in Nigeria over gas costs
LAGOS: A national strike paralyzed much of Nigeria on Monday, with more than 10,000 demonstrators swarming its commercial capital to protest soaring fuel prices and decades of government corruption in…
Iran sentences US-Iranian man to death for spying
TEHRAN: Iran's Revolutionary Court has sentenced an Iranian-American man to death for spying for the CIA, the student news agency quoted a judiciary official as saying, a move likely to…
Mideast state repression set to continue in 2012, says Amnesty
NICOSIA: Violence deployed by Middle East governments to suppress dissent last year is set to continue in 2012, with some states clinging to power "at almost any cost," Amnesty International…
Iraq’s plight imperils US goals
WASHINGTON: Iraq's troubled start to life without US forces calls into question the Obama administration's assertion that it has wound down America's long war responsibly: at least 78 killed in…
Syrian activists call off hunger strike after Arab League meeting proved ‘useless’
CAIRO: Syrian activists called off a hunger strike due to their disappointment in the Arab League meeting which took place in Cairo on Jan. 8 to discuss the Arab mission…
Jackson kids to make dad’s footprint in Hollywood
Michael Jackson's three children are to sink their father's shoes and famous sequined glove into the cement outside a storied Hollywood cinema and tourist site, organizers said Thursday. In a…
Mubarak-era figures recycle careers in rural Egypt
By Abdelrahman Youssef / Reuters MINYA: Far from Egypt's cities where Hosni Mubarak's old allies might fear to face the electorate, figures from the deposed leader's era have re-emerged to run…
Egypt needs ‘collective action,’ says renowned US journalist
CAIRO: While the Islamist majority in parliament was expected, Egypt cannot be ruled by just one entity, renowned American journalist Thomas Friedman said in a lecture Monday at the American…