Tarak Ben Ammar, the media mogul who produced over 60 films in the past thirty years recently purchased an Egyptian TV network in a deal worth tens of millions of euros. Ben Amar stated that this is the first step in the creation of a pan-Arab media group. Ben Ammar, who owns the North African…
Category Archives: Egypt
Egypt Seeking $3.2 Billion in IMF Aid
Backtracking on their previous refusal of aid from the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank, Egypt requested $3.2 billion in loan money from the IMF on Monday. Egyptian officials decided that the money was essential to repair the Egyptian economy after a full year of political unrest which repelled tourists and investors alike. A…
Egyptian Marble Industry Growing To Number One in World Exports
Analysts believe that under the correct conditions investments in the construction industry in Egypt will continue to grow, and the most impressive growth will be in the granite and marble sector of that market. Experts believe that revenues for the marble and granite industry in Egypt can reach as much as 2 billion dollars in…
Muslim Brotherhood Gets Active
First of all, in Egypt, the Muslim Brotherhood is making a noise about the involvement of the military vis-à-vis the writing of a new constitution. Secondly, the same organization is getting busy with the provision of free meals to the poor each night for the month of Ramadan. It used to be – in the…
Khalil Release
BBC journalist Shaimaa Khalil was released after being held for 20 hours at an Egyptian military base and then on to a military prosecutor’s office. According to a BBC News Article from yesterday, it remains unclear whether or not she will “face further action by the authorities.” At this point also, no-one is quite sure…
Depressed Mubarak Awaits Trial
Depressed Mubarak Awaits Trial The former president of Egypt, Hosni Mubarak is depressed. In addition, according to Egypt’s official news agency, the man is physically weak and refuses to eat any solid food. His depression is probably at least somewhat fueled by the fact that later this week he will be standing trial for ordering…
Hosni Mubarak in a Coma in Sharm el-Sheikh
Heart Attack The 83-year-old former president of Egypt, Hosni Mubarak, is said to have suffered a heart attack and lapsed into a coma in the Red Sea Resort city of Sharm el-Sheikh. President Mubarak has been under arrest in the southernmost tip of the Sinai Peninsula desert ever since his ouster from power during the…
Skype Rebellion Met with High-Tech Listening
Skype was the method of choice for secure communications among anti-government organizers in Egypt during this past winter’s uprising, believing that Skype “cannot be penetrated online by any security device.” Government Listening However it turns out the protestors’ feelings of privacy were misplaced and Egypt’s security service was indeed listening in on their Skype conversations….
IMF Says MENA Will Need $160 Billion In Coming 2 Years
The International Monetary Fund (IMF) prepared a report for the G8 summit which was held at the end of last week in Deauville, France which stated that the oil-importing nations in the MENA region (Middle East and North Africa) will need a boost of at least $160 billion of external funding to get them through…
World Bank Takes Optimistic View towards Mideast Upheaval
Long Term Positive Prospects The World Bank released a report on Tuesday saying that despite the short-term downward movement of Middle Eastern and Northern African economies, in the long run the world can expect to see positive movement in that region. The report is the World Bank’s regional economic update for May 2011 for the…
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Independent Middle East News
- Salam Fayyad Resigns April 11, 2013by Mahmoud Abu Ghosh Palestinian Authority Prime Minister Salam Fayyad has reportedly tendered his resignation, after intense criticism against him within the Western-backed Palestinian Authority. It is not yet clear whether PA President Mahmoud Abbas will accept Fayyad’s resignation at this time, although the two have been at odds on several issues. PA offi […]
- Jordan & PA Coordinating Takeover of Jerusalem April 1, 2013by Eitam Abadi Jordan’s King Abdullah II and Palestinian Authority President Mahmud Abbas signed an agreement on Sunday confirming their “common goal to defending” Jerusalem and their opposition to efforts to “Judaize” Israel’s ancient capital city. PA Religious Affairs Minister Mahmoud al-Habash said the agreement confirmed Jordan’s role as protector of the […]
- Palestinian Sentenced to 6 Months for Facebook ‘Like’ March 30, 2013by Mahmoud Abu Ghosh A Palestinian man who clicked “Like” on a Facebook status criticizing a high ranking official of the Western-backed Palestinian Authority has been sentenced to six months in a PA prison facility. Anas Ismail, 29, of Salfit, near Nablus, was found guilty of “libel and slander.” Ismail said that the PA’s American-trained […]
- PA Sentences Journalist to Year in Prison March 28, 2013by Mahmoud Abu Ghosh Palestinian journalist Mamdouh Hamamreh from Bethlehem was sentenced on Thursday to one year in prison for “insulting” Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas on Facebook. He is the second Palestinian to receive this sentence on the same charges since the beginning of 2013. In early February, 26-year-old Anas Awwad from the village […]
- US Arming Syrian Rebels Through Regional Proxies March 26, 2013by Mahmoud Abu Ghosh Western-backed governments in the Middle East have dramatically increased military aid to the Free Syrian Army in recent months, the New York Times reported on Monday. America’s Central Intelligence Agency has been aiding these efforts, the newspaper added, citing air traffic data and interviews with unnamed officials as well as commande […]
- Salam Fayyad Resigns April 11, 2013