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The judicial authorities in Iran appeared to harden their clampdown on expression Friday, moving to block Instagram, imprisoning the director who made the now-famous Iranian version of the Pharrell Williams “Happy” video and warning women to comply with a police campaign on the proper wearing of mandatory headscarves. Taken together, the developments suggested that the country’s Islamic bureaucracy was alarmed over any perception of permissiveness that may […]

BEIRUT, Lebanon — Rebels in southern Syria killed more than 20 people in a mortar attack on a tent put up as part of presidential elections next month, antigovernment activists said on Friday. The overnight attack appeared to be the first by opponents of President Bashar al-Assad directly targeting the election and raised the specter of further rebel assaults on rallies and other events. The vote, scheduled […]

Investors built up the largest bullish bets on rupee in more than two years in recent weeks, while sentiment on the Thai baht turned the most sour in three months, a Reuters poll showed on Thursday, as the countries’ political fortunes turned in markedly different directions. Long positions in the Philippine peso and the Malaysian ringgit rose to their highest levels in more than one year as […]

Daraa, Syria TEXT SIZE – + May 23, 2014 3:21 AM Syrian activists say rebels have killed at least 21 people at a campaign rally for President Bashar al-Assad in the southern city of Daraa. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights says the rebels shelled a tent where Assad’s supporters had gathered late Thursday. The Observatory’s Rami Abd al-Rahman told VOA the victims include both civilians and pro-Assad militiamen. “Twenty-one […]

CAIRO — The former general who is universally expected to win a landslide victory in next week’s presidential election has the support of only a narrow majority of Egyptians, according to a poll released Thursday by the Pew Research Center. The poll is the most significant measurement of Egyptian public opinion since the former general, Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, led the ouster last summer of President Mohamed Morsi […]

BEIRUT, Lebanon — Government forces broke through a protracted rebel siege of one of Syria’s largest prisons on Thursday, dealing yet another blow to their opponents and highlighting the suffering that the country’s war has brought to those caught between the warring parties. Islamist rebels, including members of the Nusra Front, Syria’s Qaeda affiliate, surrounded the Aleppo central prison more than a year ago and had repeatedly […]

The Tories are the only party offering a realistic prospect of the referendum that Ukip longs for – and David Cameron needs all the allies in Brussels that he can get Photo: Eddie Mulholland It is a political truism that the European and local elections are an irrelevance, certainly compared with the serious business of a general election. Yet even if that were true, we are still on […]

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Attacks on Nigel Farage, Ukip’s leader, by other politicians have not damaged his standing with voters Photo: EPA Nick Clegg was at his most priggish this week as he sought desperately to persuade the public not to back Ukip in the European elections. Indeed, he laid into not only Nigel Farage, but all those who back him – which, by my reckoning, could be some five million voters. […]

New Delhi: Aam Aadmi Party convenor Arvind Kejriwal was on Wednesday taken into judicial custody by the Delhi Police in connection with the a criminal defamation complaint filed by senior Bharatiya Janata Party leader Nitin Gadkari. Kejriwal had alleged that Gadkari was one of the most corrupt leaders of India following which the BJP leader had moved court. Kejriwal refused to submit a personal bond of Rs […]

FIFA, the governing body of world soccer, is no stranger to controversy. Allegations of bribery, corruption and vote-rigging have swirled around the organization for years, many of them recently centered on Qatar and its winning bid for the 2022 World Cup. Jerome Champagne, a French former diplomat and FIFA executive, wants the chance to right the ship. Jerome Champagne is running for FIFA president next year. Reuters […]

How much? Labour leader Ed Miliband estimated the price of his weekly shop at something like £70 or £80 – roughly £30 below the UK average Photo: PA David Cameron must have been beside himself with glee. On the penultimate day of campaigning for the local and European elections, his two main rivals – Nigel Farage and Ed Miliband – bounced from blunder to blunder. Mr Miliband kicked […]

GAZA — For 14-year-old Aseel Radi, the promised reconciliation between warring Palestinian political factions is viewed through a forlorn fountain in a crowded market on the eastern side of Gaza City. Aseel used to visit the fountain in what is known as Palestine Square with her father, Maher, a member of the Fatah faction’s armed wing who was killed by militants from its rival, Hamas, during the […]

Mark Carney speaks during the bank’s quarterly inflation report news conference at the Bank of England in London Photo: Lefteris Pitarakis/REUTERS Britain’s economic revival has been helped by rising house prices in some parts of the country, but now the Bank of England is signalling that a bubble may have to be deflated. Yesterday, Mark Carney, the Bank’s Governor, felt moved to warn that the housing market has […]

Dutch far-right politician Geert Wilders Agence France-Presse/Getty Images Saudi Arabia is considering trade measures against the Netherlands because of stickers resembling the kingdom’s flag and carrying anti-Islam slogans printed by far-right politician Geert Wilders. Local business daily Al Eqtisadiah  reported on Friday that the chambers of commerce have received an order to ban Dutch companies from bidding for future projects in the country, halt visits of business […]

Egypt’s weak currency, unstable security situation, energy crisis and a government that’s almost bankrupt after three years of political uncertainty hardly make ideal conditions for a market rally. But even as periodic blackouts hit Cairo and Islamist militants carry out attacks on security forces, Egypt this week is welcoming its first initial public offering since a revolution toppled former president Hosni Mubarak in 2011. Arabian Cement, a […]

The fiscal and economic reforms taken by India’s new government in the next two to three months will have “significant implications” on India’s sovereign credit rating, Standard & Poor’s Ratings Services said on Friday. S&P added the next government would need to regain “fiscal prudence in a sustainable way,” such as by implementing a goods and services tax to help stabilise government revenues. “What the next government […]

Happier days: Nick Clegg and David Cameron in 2010 agree to form a coalition government Photo: Getty Images Just before the general election, the Conservatives released a party political broadcast warning that a coalition would bring disaster. “Under-the-table deals will be the order of the day,” we were told. The fate awaiting savers was depicted by a hammer smashing a piggy bank. The process of proper government would […]

Dana Gas, an energy company based in the United Arab Emirates, is trying to leverage its government’s financial aid to Egypt to get preferential treatment on payment for its goods there. Dana has operations in the Nile delta, Upper Egypt and the Gulf of Suez that produced the equivalent of 39,100 barrels of oil a day on average during the first quarter. Yet like other foreign energy […]

The Scottish Parliament: no questions welcome (Alamy)  The extraordinary row about how the Scottish Parliament’s committees and their supposed reputation for independence is being so systematically compromised by the SNP is more than just a party political spat. That ministers and their paid hacks are suborning their ever-willing backbench MSPs to dilute or even excise any criticism of the Scottish Government is a negation of democracy. It […]

The Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) is keeping a close watch on markets after shares rallied to record highs on speculation that exit polls would show the opposition Bharatiya Janata Party and its allies winning a majority in the election, a senior official with direct knowledge of the matter told Reuters. Several traders attributed the gains in Indian shares, which sent the Nifty to record […]

The BSE Sensex and Nifty surged to its second consecutive record high on Monday as blue-chips including ICICI Bank rallied on hopes that exit pulls due after the close of markets would show opposition Bharatiya Janata Party winning a majority in ongoing elections. India’s five-week long elections are set to conclude on Monday, with exit polls from media organisations to be released starting after 6:30 p.m. The […]

Iran’s Supreme Leader described as “stupid and idiotic” Western expectations for his country to curb its missile development, striking a defiant tone ahead of a fresh round of nuclear talks. Ayatollah Ali Khamenei called on Iran’s Revolutionary Guards to mass produce missiles and said the nuclear negotiations were not the place to discuss Tehran’s defense program or to solve the problem of sanctions damaging the Iranian economy. […]

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) says it plans to clamp down on beef exports if it takes power after general elections that end on Monday, threatening supplies from one of the world’s biggest shippers of the meat. Surprisingly in a country where so many view cows as sacred, India has been poised to become the No.1 beef exporting nation, supplying markets such as Malaysia, Thailand, Vietnam and […]

One year into the delivery of Dubai’s ‘Tourism Vision for 2020,’ significant first steps have been taken to achieve the target of attracting 20 million annual visitors by 2020, leading the emirate’s tourism authority to state a new ambition: for Dubai to become the world’s most visited city. If a growth rate similar to that achieved in 2013 is maintained – a 10.6 percent year-on-year increase equating […]

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