Recently added articles from Middle East:
COMMENT
Feb 01, 2009; ... Israeli spokesmen and women of all political stripes, as well as many liberal Jews internationally, seem to be having real trouble with criticism from the global mainstream over the actions of the Israeli government in Gaza. "Pernicious" is the word one British Jewish academic, speaking ...
GIVE US THIS DAY OUR DAILY BREAD
Feb 01, 2009; ... Some Gulf states are seeking vast tracts of farmland in Africa and Asia to feed their swelling populations. Proponents describe such moves as sound economic planning that might also offer an opportunity to bring modern technology to failing agricultural regions, others see it as a 'neo-colonial' ...
Seeking a new way forward
Feb 01, 2009; ... After less than 24 hours in power President Barack Obama had instituted change at Guantanamo Bay and within 48 hours had established personal telephone contact with a series of Middle East leaders. milan VESELY looks at the new president's inaugural speech and anticipates major changes in the ...
Turning a page of history?
Feb 01, 2009; ... RICHARD SEYMOUR reports on the proposed withdrawal of troops from Iraq. "IT IS IMPORTANT to remember we have been engaged in the most difficult and challenging of tasks: the work of building a democracy for the future and defending it against terrorism. We have made a huge contribution ...
Afghanistan: chaos in the Khyber
Feb 01, 2009; ... MILAN VESELY reports from the United States. In December 2008, a handful of Islamic militants attacked a transportation depot in Peshawar, in north-west Pakistan. During their one-hour operation, in which the attackers replenished their Molotov cocktails from a nearby petrol station, the ...
Europe accepts 10,000 more Iraqi refugees
Feb 01, 2009; ... The European Union (EU) has agreed to accept 10,000 more Iraqi refugees, mostly from camps in Syria and Jordan. The decision, taken by EU interior and justice ministers, has been welcomed by the United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR). In fact, the actual number of Iraqi ...
The Nuclear Arab world
Feb 01, 2009; ... JORDAN HAS SIGNED an atomic energy development agreement with China for the construction of an advanced nuclear research facility and the establishment of preliminary infrastructure for uranium mining and reactor fuel enrichment. The agreement calls for the creation of a subcritical assembly at ...
Jailhouse jihadis
Feb 01, 2009; ... Prisons in Europe and the US have become recruiting grounds and universities of terror for Islamist militants. Several major plots have been hatched behind bars under the noses of the services. BY ED BLANCHE A PARIS COURT SENTENCED a hardened and charismatic Algerian jihadist named Safé ...
Middle East leads the world in stamping out killer virus
Feb 01, 2009; ... The Middle East has achieved the world's greatest success rate in reducing the death toll of measles and at a time when some countries in the West are experiencing soaring incidents of the killer virus that puts children at high risk of death. Disease outbreaks are particularly deadly in ...
UAE Leading from the front
Feb 01, 2009; ... Skilful and strategic planning together with almost unimaginable quantities of money have - in not much more than two decades - seen the transformation of the United Arab Emirates from a sleepy desert backwater to the commanding, awe-inspiring futuristic regional hub of business and culture we ...
Dollars, Euros, Dinars, Dirhams and Riyals
Feb 01, 2009; ... WHO'S WINNING THE GLOBAL CURRENCY RACE? DAYS AFTER THE inauguration of President Barack Obama, the congressional debate on his fiscal stimulus package, the pace of a potential US economic recovery and the likelihood of trillion-dollar deficits in the US for years to come is causing ...
Gulf investors look to Europe to balance their portfolios
Feb 01, 2009; ... WITH AN ESTIMATED $1.3 trillion to invest, the Gulf's private investors are continuing to look at opportunities in Europe despite the recession and the slowdown at home. Real estate, particularly involving Islamic finance, is a prime target. Partnerships with western companies are also being ...
Gulf cash energises Maghreb tourism
Feb 01, 2009; ... Though a few GCC-based tourist projects are in abeyance, Gulf investors appear largely unperturbed by the global credit crisis, if their commitment to future tourism schemes in the countries of North Africa are anything to go by. BY PAMELA ANN SMITH THE LAUNCH OF the Union for the ...
Gulf banks' urge to merge
Feb 01, 2009; ... ROHIT CHAWDHRY, portfolio manager of BisB, Bahrain Islamic Bank, looks at the issue of overbanking in the Gulf region and the institutions anticipating mergers. THE GULF COOPERATION Council has ambitious plans. In the GCC states of Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Kuwait, Qatar, Oman and Bahrain, ...
Abu Dhabi and Saudi Arabia: A New Focus on Tourism
Feb 01, 2009; ... While Dubai, Oman and, to a lesser extent, Kuwait and Qatar have encouraged the development of tourism and opened up to foreign visitors, both Abu Dhabi and Saudi Arabia have lagged behind, partly because of their conservative cultures. Now, however, both are planning to enter the fray with ...
Tying new technology to modern working practices
Feb 01, 2009; ... THE INTRODUCTION OF new technology tends to produce two sorts of reaction from business leaders in all sectors. Some welcome any innovation on offer, keen to be seen as cutting edge and convinced that new is always better. Others prefer to stick with what they know and are reluctant to take up ...
In pursuit of a dream
Feb 01, 2009; ... The dynamic young Emirati jewellery maker and designer, Azza Al Qubaisi, talked to MUSTAPHA KARKOUTI in Abu Dhabi. WITH COLLECTIONS INSPIRED by the environment around her, bearing names such as Eternity, Life, Desert Springs, and Marine Symphony, Azza Al Qubaisi, a determined young ...
Babylon: Myth and Reality
Feb 01, 2009; ... Babylon: Myth and Reality THE BRITISH MUSEUM'S exhibition Babylon: Myth And Reality provides a penetrating flash of insight to the ancient city during the reign of King Nebuchadnezzar II (605-562 BC), its contribution to science and mathematics and the art, films and music it ...
Salt of this Sea
Feb 01, 2009; ... Salt of this Sea THE RECENT LONDON Film Festival featured one of the strongest showings ever of funis made by players from the Middle East. Directors from as far afield as Egypt, Turkey and Israel all showed work to great acclaim, with one of this year's strongest Middle Eastern features ...
The forgotten problems of a forgotten people
Feb 01, 2009; ... MEL FRYKBERG reports from the Occupied Territories on the rising incidence of drug abuse among the Palestinians of the West Bank and Gaza. ALTHOUGH DRUG ADDICTION is a taboo subject in Palestine's conservative society, the number of addicts is rising as political and social factors ...