Iraq shoe-thrower's release hopes dashed
BAGHDAD: Hopes that Muntazer Al-Zaidi, the television reporter jailed for throwing his shoes at former US president George W. Bush, would be freed were dashed on Monday by legal red…
Bin Laden reportedly calls Obama 'powerless'
CAIRO: Al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden described President Barack Obama as powerless to stop the war in Afghanistan, and Americans inability to grasp why the Sept. 11 attacks occurred has…
Mubarak-Netanyahu meeting focuses on peace process and Shalit release
CAIRO: The meeting between Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and President Hosni Mubarak was ostensibly about the peace process - with comments released afterwards indicating as such - but it…
Orascom Telecom eyes Morocco's Meditel
CAIRO: These are dynamic times for Naguib Sawiris and his crew at Orascom Telecom (OT). The country's largest mobile telecom operator finds itself in the middle of a dizzying array…
A musical tribute to Salah Jahin
I am the one intrigued by the impossible/ I see the moon and jump high into the sky/ Whether I catch it or not should not matter/ As my heart…
Now or never in Cyprus
ANKARA: Cyprus is back on the international agenda, with leaders of the island's rival Greek and Turkish communities engaged in intense negotiations to resolve the divided country's status. But, although…
The Tobin tax lives again
CAMBRIDGE: Something happened in late August that I never thought I would see in my lifetime. A leading policymaker in the Anglo-American empire of finance actually came out in support…
Fayyad's brilliant plan for Palestinian statehood
AMMAN: There are so many ways in which the plan by Palestinian Prime Minister Salam Fayyad for the de facto creation of a Palestinian state can be seen as a…
Navigating Egypt's bureaucracy with a child in tow
CAIRO: After hours of pushing through sweltering crowds at office windows, I was on the verge of registering my newborn son when the woman behind the counter uttered the phrase…