AUC food poisoned workers, protest

It’s good to know that even AUC is not immune to the spread of labor strikes. When some 500 workers at the new campus work site got food poisoning, they were apparently supported by hundreds who protested at the campus (Arabic). This led to AUC promising to take action. Naturally, State Security was there to [...]

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Wael account reopened, not “restored”

I’d heard late last week that Wael Abbas’ shut-down YouTube account had been reactivated. Apparently, according to Wael, that’s all that has been done – as opposed to “restored”, as they claim in their statement. Everything on the account has, it seems, disappeared. If that’s the case, then what a lame, meaningless, empty, face-saving gesture!

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Hillary least electable Dem

One (several actually) more reason to hope Hillary doesnt get the Dem ticket.
While Clinton maintains her lead in national polling among Democrats, in direct matchups against Republican presidential candidates, she consistently runs behind both Barack Obama and John Edwards.
[..]
By contrast, Obama beats every major Republican candidate: He beats McCain 45 percent to 38 percent; Guiliani [...]

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Abu Dhabi: local art hard to find

Economist correspondent blogs about the difficulty of finding local art in Abu Dhabi. Ironic, given the emirate’s aspirations.

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Property Tax workers protest

I’m not in really in tune with what’s going on, but it would seem that the property tax employees have become active again. [ap; horeyetna in arabic]

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Radio on Religious Descrimination

Radio program segment on religious freedom in Egypt.

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More on the Brazilian Oil Find

This is pretty much what i was implying earlier.
With the attention of a great power like the United States, and a regional power like Venezuela, Brazil finds itself in a position of power that gives it several opportunities. Whether or not the Brazilian government headed by President Lula Ignacio da Silva will choose a [...]

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Morality Police

Thanks to the Arabist for this link.
Self-appointed enforcers of Islamic law are becoming more common in Egypt, a Sunni Muslim nation with a population well above 70 million. Unlike the state-sanctioned morality police of conservative theocracies such as Saudi Arabia and Iran, Egypt’s enforcers are ordinary people who take it upon themselves to offer religious [...]

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Rendition to Jordan

The Washington Post about Jordan’s role as a CIA holding prison and proxy interrogator. Nothing you havent previously heard. Some excerpts:
The building is the headquarters of the General Intelligence Department, Jordan’s powerful spy and security agency. Since 2000, at the CIA’s behest, at least 12 non-Jordanian terrorism suspects have been detained and interrogated here, according [...]

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