FINANCIAL TIMES : Raucous start for Egypt first free parliament

  Egypt’s first freely elected parliament got off to a raucous start at its inaugural session in Cairo on Monday, held just two days ahead of the anniversary of the January 25 revolution which toppled Hosni Mubarak, the former leader.         The previous parliament did little more than rubber stamp legislation presented by Mr Mubarak’s ministers. The...

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Robert Fisk: In the line of fire: Tom Hurndall

  I don't know if I met Tom Hurndall. He was one of a bunch of 'human shields' who turned up in Baghdad just before the Anglo-American invasion in 2003, the kind of folk we professional reporters make fun of. Tree huggers, that kind of thing. Now I wish I had met him because – looking back over the history of that terrible war – Hurndall's journals show a remarkable man of remarkable...

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Independent: EU s toughest sanctions yet put Iran on final warning over nuclear programme

  The toughest sanctions yet imposed on Iran will be unveiled by the European Union on Monday amid warnings it could be the last chance to resolve the nuclear stand-off before military strikes are considered.   The punitive measures will include embargoes on oil, the country's central bank and financial institutions, with the aim of driving the Tehran regime to the negotiating...

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HAARETZ : Egypt to announce final results of parliamentary elections

 Elections officials are expected to announce on Saturday the final results of Egypt's parliamentary polls, which were conducted over three stages lasting from November through January.   Results come two days before the new parliament, with 498 elected members and 10 appointed members, is scheduled to hold its first session.   Preliminary results indicate that Islamist...

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HAARETZ : Final results: Muslim Brotherhood wins sweeping victory in Egyptian elections

 The Muslim Brotherhood's electoral coalition has won 38 percent of seats allocated to party lists for Egypt's parliament, with Islamists of various stripes taking more than two thirds of the assembly, in line with their own forecasts.   According to final results issued by the High Elections Committee on Saturday, the hardline Islamist Nour Party won 29 percent of list seats. ...

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independent : Assad s tanks withdraw from opposition-held town

Syrian government tanks and armoured vehicles have pulled back from an embattled mountain town near Damascus, witnesses said, as a month-long Arab League fact-finding mission expired.   The withdrawal from Zabadani left the town under the control of the opposition, activists said. It had witnessed heavy exchanges of fire between army troops and anti-government military defectors...

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Independent : 2011: A year when freedom lost ground

The world was a less free place last year despite the toppling of dictators in the Middle East, which represented the "most significant challenge to authoritarian rule since the fall of Soviet Communism", according to a report.   The Freedom in the World report – produced annually by the NGO Freedom House – showed that while the Arab Spring brought major gains for political rights...

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Independent: EU should block finance for Israeli settlements

  The European Commission should consider passing legislation to prevent finance generated within its member states being used to support illegal Israeli settlements in occupied territory, the bloc's top diplomats in Jerusalem and Ramallah have advised.   The proposal is made in a report warning that a new surge in Jewish settlement expansion in Arab East Jerusalem, among...

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New York Times: Hoarding Is Seen as Cause of Fuel Shortage in Egypt

  A sudden shortage of gasoline gripped Egypt over the weekend, raising new concerns about its teetering economy and its political stability. The state news media said the empty pumps and long lines were caused by hoarding, prompted by what were called false rumors of an impending increase in gasoline prices, which the government sets at artificially low levels through enormous...

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