Recent Posts

New pressure to end corruption as World Bank cuts support

SANAA — Taxi driver Mohamed Abdul Karim swears under his breath as he swings past the giant, multimillion dollar mosque being built to honour Yemen’s president. “I don’t make enough money to feed my family every month, and we go and spend millions of dollars on another mosque,” said Abdul …

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Ahbash group at centre of Hariri probe

BEIRUT — The Lebanese Sunni Muslim group Ahbash, which describes itself a charitable organisation promoting Islamic culture, is at the centre of the UN probe into the murder of former prime minister Rafiq Hariri. The UN inquiry probing the assassination has named Ahmad Abdel-Al, believed to have been a top …

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2,000 companies made illicit payments to Iraq — report

UNITED NATIONS (AP) — More than 2,000 companies paid about $1.8 billion in illicit kickbacks and surcharges to Saddam Hussein’s government through extensive manipulation of the UN oil-for-food programme in Iraq, according to key findings of a UN-backed investigation obtained by the Associated Press. The report — to be released …

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