Will religious tolerance in Indonesia continue?
By Franz Magnis-Suseno S.J. JAKARTA: Violence against Christians in Indonesia frequently makes news headlines. However, acts of violence targeting Christians should not obscure the fact that the vast majority of Indonesia’s…
Egypt’s revolutionary coup
By Shlomo Ben-Ami MADRID: How revolutions unfold depends on many factors, including a country’s socio-economic structure, its particular historical traditions, and sometimes the role of foreign powers. So the Arab Spring…
Army loans $1 billion to central bank
CAIRO: Egypt's ruling military has agreed to lend $1 billion to the central bank as it struggles with plunging foreign reserves that threaten the country's ability to import, a military…
Eutelsat feels heat, sees growth in Mideast
PARIS: Europe's biggest satellite operator Eutelsat is more accustomed to staking out territory in outer space than worrying about earthly politics, but this year it was plunged into the thick…
Soiled start for candidates of Mubarak’s banned party
ASSIUT: In conservative Egyptian villages where tribal and familial affiliations reign supreme, parliamentary candidates can no longer rely on the former ruling party's blessing to carry them to victory. In…
Ganzoury says will not hold finance portfolio
CAIRO: Egypt's new prime minister, Kamal El-Ganzoury, said on Thursday he had no intention of taking on the finance portfolio in a cabinet he promised to have fully formed by…
Western debt crisis spurs growth of Islamic Finance
MANAMA: Chicago native Mariam Khan never considered Islamic banking until her husband moved the family to Dubai in 2007. But the 36-year-old housewife is a believer now as the Western…
Analysis: Egypt fiscal crisis to pile pressure on army
CAIRO: Egypt's fiscal crisis is adding to pressure from protesters and politicians for the ruling military council to hand over substantial powers to a civilian government long before mid-2012, when…
Salafis, dark horse of Egypt’s vote, seek to assure Copts
CAIRO: Hardline Salafis, forecast to become powerbrokers in Egypt's first post-uprising parliament, are seeking to allay fears in the minority Christian community of an Islamist-dominated assembly. The Salafis, who mostly…
Elton John in tirade against AIDS stigma
British pop superstar Elton John has lashed out at those who continue to stigmatize AIDS as "fascists and idiots," and called on governments to keep funding the fight against the…