Arabs in Bethlehem had a “warm welcome” for American officials who on Monday came to prepare for President Barack H. Obama's visit to the city Friday, by throwing shoes and garbage at the vehicles in an entourage from the U.S. Consulate in Jerusalem. Hundreds of Arabs mobbed the vehicles outside the Church of the Nativity,
Egyptian vigilantes beat two men accused of stealing a motorized rickshaw, stripped them half-naked and hung them by their feet in a crowded bus station in the Nile Delta on Sunday, according to security officials. Both men died. A witness said some in the crowd of about 3,000 people who watched the lynchings egged
Egypt rejected on Monday any link between stalled parliamentary elections and its drive to secure a loan from the IMF as it struggles with a budget and foreign currency crisis. Talks on Sunday between Prime Minister Hisham Kandil and atop International Monetary Fund official produced no agreements on anything specific, but had paved the
Egypt has frozen the assets of23 businessmen pending investigations into alleged stock market manipulation during the sale of Egypt’s Al-Watany Bank to Kuwait’s biggest lender in 2007, a source in the public prosecutor’s office said on Monday. Egyptian state media said the businessmen included five Saudis and two from the United Arab Emirates, as
As U.S. President Barack Obama’s visit to Israel and the West Bank comes close, an official from Washington says the U.S. leader will not bring any peace place as the Jewish state is not ready to make concessions, a newspaper reported Sunday. When President Obama was asked by a group of Arab-American leaders during
The International Monetary Fund said on Sunday it would continue talks with Egypt aimed at agreeing possible financial aid after meeting with government officials seeking a $4.8 billion loan to relieve a currency and budget crisis. The IMF has said Egypt needs to take bold, immediate action to address its economic problems and has
In late December 2010, the Tunisia uprising was sparked by a tragic public suicide-burning of a twenty-something street vender in an act of civil disobedience. Instantaneously, media commentary like wildfire around the world labeled this event “Arab Spring,” branding it the beginning of a struggle for democracy in the region. Correspondents in the tumultuous Middle
Famous for its unique mud brick tower houses and labyrinthine souqs and listed as a world heritage site by the United Nations, Yemen’s old city of Sanaa is now under serious threat. The entire area was declared a world heritage site by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) in 1986; in
Egypt’s central bank opened a scheme on Sunday allowing foreign investors in the stock and government debt markets access to dollars despite severe shortages of foreign currency. In a statement posted on its website, the central bank said it had decided to restart and broaden a mechanism helping foreign investors to repatriate their funds
Between 1993 and 2001, the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) and the Palestinian Authority (PA) signed six agreements with Israel and conducted countless meetings and summits to bring about a lasting peace between them. Each Israeli concession was met with Palestinian non-compliance and escalating violence. Six times, Palestinians failed to honor their commitments and increased
