Sunshine at the Crossroads
RIYADH: I woke up after an overnight flight from London with the winter sun of the Arabian desert and the sound of steel rods being loaded up, cranes moving beams,…
Downsizing Affleck: Company Men' plays Sundance
The recession has hit Ben Affleck. He s out of work, saying goodbye to his beloved Porsche, losing his home, stuck moving back in with his parents.Affleck stars in The…
Judge slashes 'monstrous' fine in music piracy case
Condemning a $2 million fine meted out to a Minnesota woman for illegally downloading music over the internet as monstrous and shocking, a judge has slashed the penalty to $54,000.US…
Reconstructing Haiti
NEW YORK: The horrors of Haiti's earthquake continue to unfold. The quake itself killed over 100,000 people. The inability to organize rapid relief is killing tens of thousands more. More…
Guilty democrats
LONDON: When former Czech President Václav Havel knocked on the door of the Chinese embassy in Prague to demand the release of the writer Liu Xiaobo, I had an eerie…
With Palestinians painted into a corner, peace talks hinge on US guidance
RAMALLAH: With pressure mounting on the Palestinians to return to negotiations with Israel even without a full settlement construction freeze in occupied territory, the onus has very much shifted onto…
Pig-cull induced street rubbish: a 'national scandal'
CAIRO: The Egyptian government's decision to cull all of the country's 300,000 pigs in May 2009 is increasingly being viewed by experts and officials as a gross mistake as piles…
French report calls for burqa ban
PARIS: A French parliament report called Tuesday for a ban on the full Islamic veil, saying Muslim women who wear the burqa were mounting an unacceptable challenge to French values.After…
Governor to offer compensation to Nagaa Hammadi victims' families
CAIRO: Qena Governor Magdy Ayoub announced Tuesday that the families of those killed and wounded in a drive-by shooting outside a church in Nagaa Hammadi on Coptic Christmas Eve will…
Cup chokers Ivory Coast mystified at Algeria loss
LUANDA: Not for the first time Didier Drogba and his Ivory Coast teammates turned up at the Africa Cup of Nations wearing the mantle of favorite only to flatter to…