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MENASource

Apr 24, 2013

Top News: PM to Stay in Egypt Reshuffle; Sources Claim Top Prosecutor May Join Next Cabinet

By Egypt Source

Egyptian Prime Minister Hisham Qandil, widely criticised as colorless and ineffectual, will keep his job in a limited cabinet reshuffle to be announced within days, a presidential spokesman said on Wednesday. Spokesman Ehab Fahmy told a news conference: "It is a limited reshuffle and the prime minister is not included."

MENASource

Apr 23, 2013

A New Deal: Reforming US Defense Cooperation with Egypt, Libya, and Tunisia

By Egypt Source

In “A New Deal: Reforming US Defense Cooperation with Egypt, Libya, and Tunisia” former US Army Chief George Casey and Congressman Jim Kolbe argue that the transitions in Egypt, Libya, and Tunisia will be reversible unless and until their security agencies are better equipped to carry out their functions without abusing citizen rights or interfering in politics.

United States and Canada

MENASource

Apr 23, 2013

Doublespeak Beyond Boston: Revealing the Brotherhood’s Arabic Rhetoric

By Jayson Casper

As the world community condemned the recent bombings in Boston, the Muslim Brotherhood’s political arm joined the chorus. “The Freedom and Justice Party categorically rejects as intolerable the bombings committed in the US city of Boston,” reported Ikhwanweb, the official English website of the Muslim Brotherhood. “The FJP offers heartfelt sympathies and solemn condolences to the American people […]

MENASource

Apr 23, 2013

Top News: Morsi Vows to Respect Judicial Independence; Mekki to Reconsider Resignation

By Egypt Source

 Minister of Justice Ahmed Mekki said he would reconsider his resignation if he were to receive an official written decree promising no one would interfere in the affairs of the judiciary. Prior to Mekki’s comments, President Mohamed Morsi’s office issued a statement late Monday night regarding his meeting with members of the Supreme Judicial Council. Morsi expressed his concern to protect […]

MENASource

Apr 23, 2013

Reform of Energy Subsidies in the Arab Countries

By Svetlana Milbert

Energy subsidies have been an integral part of domestic pricing policies in most Arab countries for decades, but are increasingly unsustainable because of their economic, social, and environmental impact. Out of twenty Middle East and North African (MENA) countries, twelve have energy subsidies amounting to at least 5 percent of gross domestic product (GDP). A […]

Energy & Environment Middle East

MENASource

Apr 22, 2013

Syria: Defending the Indefensible

By Frederic C. Hof

Recent testimony by US Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff General Martin Dempsey illustrated quite nicely one outcome of a troubled interagency national security system: US senators seemed to be more perplexed about American policy toward Syria after the hearing than they were before.

Syria United States and Canada

MENASource

Apr 22, 2013

Despite Criminalization, FGM Persists in Egypt

By Mai El Sadany

In what was considered by many to be a legal and at least superficial victory, on February 3, 2013, Egypt’s Supreme Constitutional Court rejected a lawsuit challenging the illegality of female genital mutilation (FGM). The lawsuit was filed in 2008 to challenge a decision by the Ministry of Health in 2007 to criminalize the practice, claiming […]

MENASource

Apr 22, 2013

Top News: Justice Minister Ahmed Mekki Resigns

By Egypt Source

 Egypt’s Justice Minister Ahmed Mekki has resigned in a letter protesting "an assault" on the judiciary by President Mohamed Morsi’s Islamist backers, a spokesman said on Sunday, underlining mounting tensions between the judiciary and the executive. 

MENASource

Apr 22, 2013

Libya’s Constitutional Process: Moving Forward?

By Karim Mezran and Duncan Pickard

The General National Congress (GNC) on April 10 finally issued a constitutional amendment declaring that Libya’s constitution-drafting committee would be elected directly, rather than appointed by the GNC. While this puts to rest a longstanding debate that has held up much of the assembly’s—and the country’s—other work, the GNC has now officially set the stage […]

Libya

MENASource

Apr 19, 2013

Top News: Brothers Gather at High Court, Demand ‘Purging of the Judiciary’

By Egypt Source

 Thousands of Muslim Brotherhood members gathered outside the High Court on Friday to demand the purging of the judiciary and the dismissal of Justice Minister Ahmed Mekky. The protest was organized in response to a court’s ruling this week to release former President Hosni Mubarak from prison pending his retrial on charges of complicity in […]