Middle East | GlobalPost

Protests flare on Cairo streets

Jon JensenApril 15, 2010 06:18Updated May 30, 2010 13:29

CAIRO, Egypt — Egyptian security forces have clashed with demonstrators in downtown Cairo for the second time this month, in a sign that foment over a worsening economy and political uncertainty is growing.

In Alexander's footsteps: The journey begins

Theodore MayApril 15, 2010 14:22Updated May 30, 2010 13:29

In the footsteps of Alexander the Great

Theodore MayApril 15, 2010 06:26Updated May 30, 2010 13:29

Editor's note: In the fourth century B.C., Alexander the Great forged a path from Greece through the modern Middle East to Persia. It was a path of conquest that empires would follow through the ages. Traces of each can be seen today in the culture, monuments, continuing military presence and people along the route, which ended for Alexander in Babylon, in modern-day Iraq. In this project, GlobalPost correspondent Theodore May sets out to see how Alexander’s influence lives on.

More protests calling for change in Egypt’s capital

Jon JensenApril 13, 2010 13:33

Security forces and members of Egypt’s opposition clashed in downtown Cairo today for the second time this month. Scuffles broke out after pro-reform demonstrators taunted police, cursing and screaming at them. At least two police officers had headgear ripped from their heads. Security responded by pushing protesters back against the thick cordon of riot soldiers.

Jordan's King Abdullah and Obama meet

Tom PeterApril 12, 2010 17:29

Ahead of the meeting between President Barack Obama and Jordan's King Abdullah II, it looked as though the Arab leader might issue some stern warnings to the president about the urgency required in the Arab-Israeli peace process. Whether or not he did, the White House statement recapping the meeting issues a far less dramatic message:

Bringing change to Egypt in 140 characters or less

Jon JensenApril 12, 2010 13:37

Don’t call it a fad. Or the latest trend to make its way over from the U.S. Twitter is nothing new for Egyptians. You might even say the popular micro-blogging service made its social networking debut in Egypt, when James Karl Buck, an American journalism student visiting from UC Berkeley, tweeted the now famous line from an Egyptian jail cell: “Arrested.”

Syrian art market rides wave of reform

Don DuncanApril 25, 2010 08:56Updated May 30, 2010 13:28

DAMASCUS, Syria — On a recent morning, a cloud of dust enveloped the Baramka section of the Barada river in downtown Damascus billowing from some 30 hard-at-work Syrian sculptors crouched over blocks of stone. The stone and work space were provided by the Syrian government as part of an initiative to bring artists of all ages together.

Is Hamas robbing the poor?

Ashley BatesApril 13, 2010 06:42Updated May 30, 2010 13:28

GAZA CITY, Gaza — On a hot day in early April, men and school-age boys dig for stones and pieces of brick in the crumbling ruins of the Erez Industrial Zone. This former settlement housed Israeli and Palestinian textile, clothing and furniture factories that employed 4,000 Gazans before Israel’s 2005 unilateral disengagement. The raw materials now scavenged from the Erez rubble are largely forbidden under the Israeli blockade, yet desperately needed for construction projects across Gaza.

In post-oil Syria, things are looking up

Sarah BirkeApril 25, 2010 09:26Updated May 30, 2010 13:28

DAMASCUS, Syria — In the midst of a transition from a centrally planned economy to a “social market,” Syria’s economy is faring well.

The political hydraulics of OPEC

Tom HundleyApril 13, 2010 06:15Updated May 30, 2010 13:28

ABU DHABI, United Arab Emirates — OPEC is a maddeningly opaque outfit; its public pronouncements frequently seem carefully crafted to conceal its private calculations. The 12-member cartel controls about one-third of the world’s daily oil supply — not quite enough to give it absolute control over the price per barrel, but enough to allow it to consistently manipulate the price to its advantage.