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MENASource

Mar 13, 2015

EconSource: Egypt’s president passes series of laws on eve of economic conference

By EconSource

Egypt’s president approved a package of amendments to investment laws on Thursday, aimed at enticing foreign investors on the eve of the Economic Development Conference. The amendments package trims corporate taxes to 22.5 percent, from as high as 30 percent previously, and facilitates settling disputes with investors. Sales taxes were dropped to 5 percent from […]

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Trade in Action

Mar 12, 2015

TTIP Action | March 12

By Global Business & Economics Program

Speeches & Official Announcements Trade Deals Tear Down Barriers for American Small Businesses “Once we pass TPA, other countries will put their best offers on the table. In other words, they’ll tear down even more barriers to American businesses and level the playing field even more.” The Committee on Ways and Means writes that small […]

Economy & Business Trade and tariffs
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Trade in Action

Mar 12, 2015

TTIP Action | March 10

By Global Business & Economics Program

Speeches & Official Announcements Remarks by President Obama and European Council President Donald Tusk before Bilateral Meeting “When it comes to TTIP […] we have strong arguments. Of course we need to advance the negotiations, for sure, and we have to convince our public opinion on both sides of the Atlantic. but we have strong […]

Economy & Business Trade and tariffs

MENASource

Mar 12, 2015

The New Face of Egypt’s Interior Ministry

By Khaled Dawoud

As attacks against security forces show no signs of abating, President Abdel-Fattah al-Sisi recently replaced Egypt’s Interior Minister, Mohamed Ibrahim, with Magdy Abdel Ghaffar. However, Sisi was keen to make it clear this was not in response to opposition demands, and even provided Ibrahim with an honorary title of National Security Adviser to the Prime […]

North Africa

MENASource

Mar 12, 2015

Political Legitimacy: Practicing that which is Preached

By Frederic C. Hof

A recent MENASource article addressed the issue of chronic political illegitimacy—the absence of consensus, derived from consent of the governed, on the rules of the political game—that plagues most of the states of the Arab world. Now that forty-seven Senate Republicans have affixed their signatures to an “open letter” purporting to instruct the Islamic Republic […]

Iran Middle East

MENASource

Mar 12, 2015

Top News: The United States Cannot Defend Syria Recruits

By MENASource

The United States does not appear to have clear-cut legal authority to protect Syrian rebels it trains from attack by forces loyal to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, even under new war powers, US Defense Secretary Ash Carter said Wednesday.

New Atlanticist

Mar 12, 2015

‘Global Solution’ Needed to Fight Climate Change, Says Kerry

By Ashish Kumar Sen

‘There is no Planet B’: In Atlantic Council address, Secretary turns up heat on global warming deniers Climate change is “one of the biggest threats” facing the Earth today, and anything less than a “global solution” to fight it will not work, US Secretary of State John F. Kerry said March 12. In an impassioned […]

Climate Change & Climate Action Energy & Environment
German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier, Jan. 22, 2014

NATOSource

Mar 12, 2015

Germany’s Foreign Minister: The Transatlantic Order is Under Challenge

By Frank-Walter Steinmeier, New York Times

Today, the trans-Atlantic bond is being tested again. Crises are erupting ever closer to the European Union’s borders:

European Union Germany

MENASource

Mar 12, 2015

Top New: Egyptian Newspaper Censored over Report State Institutions Fail to Pay Tax

By EgyptSource

Censors have forced a regime-friendly Egyptian newspaper to rewrite its front page after it claimed on Wednesday key state institutions owe billions of Egyptian pounds in taxes. Al-Watan tried to publish documents that alleged the Egyptian presidency, army, police, and intelligence agencies had collectively avoided tax worth 7.9 billion Egyptian pounds. 

MENASource

Mar 12, 2015

Why Was Ahmed Douma Given a Life Sentence?

By Sonia Farid

In the midst of a series of court rulings targeting young Egyptian activists on charges related to the controversial protest law, the life sentence handed to Ahmed Douma has been the most shocking. Charged with illegal assembly, assaulting security forces, and vandalism, Douma was also fined 17 million Egyptian Pounds for the alleged damage he […]

North Africa
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