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BEIRUT: A proposal by the National Social Security Fund’s (NSSF) )administration to raise the monthly subscriptions on both employers and employees was rejected by the private sector, which bluntly accuses the fund of squandering financial resources and thereby contributing to the huge deficit in the NSSF.

The NSSF has been running into a deep deficit since the previous government of late former Premier Rafik Hariri decided to reduce the subscriptions on the private sector in 2001.

CAIRO: Ministers from the 10 African countries on the Nile river agreed Tuesday to delay the drafting of a new water sharing agreement for six months, a process that has been hampered by Egypt’s refusal to reduce its share of the world’s longest river. The ministers formed committees to review points of contention over the next six months with the hope of reconciling their differences, the official Middle East News Agency (MENA) reported. Egypt enjoys the largest share of any country along the river according to a 50-year old pact. It has resisted an amendment to its share and demanded a veto over any future upstream projects.

Participants in the meeting in Alexandria had hoped to establish a permanent body to oversee water allocation.

KHARTOUM, Sudan: A Sudanese woman facing 40 lashes for wearing trousers in public made her first appearance in a court packed with supporters on Wednesday, in what her lawyer described as a test case in Sudan’s decency laws. There were chaotic scenes as Lubna Hussein, a former journalist who works for the United Nations, attended the hearing wearing the same green slacks that got her arrested for immodest dress.

Indecency cases are not uncommon in Sudan. But Hussein has attracted attention by publicizing her case, inviting journalists to hearings and using it to campaign against dress codes sporadically im­posed in the capital.

The case was adjourned on Wednesday as lawyers discussed whether her status as a UN employee gave her the protection of legal immunity.

There comes a moment in the routine of any Lebanese activist to examine with a critical eye whether civil society is present on the national-policy map in any meaningful way. Do non-governmental organizations have a common agenda, without centralizing control, to influence policy-makers?

One such moment will come this Friday, July 31. In response to a recent invitation by Nahwa al-Muwatiniya, a non-governmental organization, Lebanese civil society groups will meet to begin developing a concise, high-priority agenda. There is more to the discussion than meets the eye.

Diaa Hadid

Associated Press

GAZA CITY: Police order a lingerie shop to hide its scantily clad mannequins. A judge warns female lawyers to wear headscarves in court. Beach patrols break up groups of singles and make men wear shirts. It’s all part of a new Hamas campaign to get Gazans to adhere to a strict Muslim lifestyle – and the first clear attempt by the group to go beyond benign persuasion in doing so.

It suggests that having consolidated its hold on Gaza in the two years since it seized control by force, Hamas feels emboldened enough to extend its ideology into people’s private lives.

As I sit watching a documentary on feminism in the sixties, I wonder how far we’ve really come to financial equality for women. Have women moved to entrepreneurism to grab financial rewards not realized in corporate jobs? I know I have. But are we really grabbing our fair share?

Many women felt optimistic when, in 1994, Congress passed legislation that required the federal government to award a minimum of 5% of all government-wide contracts to certified women-owned businesses. Now before my male readers get upset, the program does not require women to be favored over men, but does allow contracting officers to use their own discretion for "restricted competition" to increase contracting opportunities for women-owned business (WOBs).

AMMAN: Jordan is forging ahead with a peaceful nuclear program that would turn the energy-poor kingdom into an exporter of electricity, nuclear chief Khaled Tukan told AFP. “We are moving in great strides in the field of civilian nuclear energy in order to stop being dependent on the import of fuel,” said Tukan, who chairs the Jordan Atomic Energy Commission (JAEC).

Jordan is the latest Sunni Arab country, among them Egypt and pro-Western Gulf states, to announce plans for nuclear power programs in the face of Shiite Iran’s controversial atomic drive.

“Our goal is transform Jordan from net energy importing to net electricity exporting country by 2030,” added Tukan, whose country imports 95 percent of its energy needs.

BEIRUT: As a child, Ziad Rahbani confided from behind his piano, he did not have a sense of smell. The problem wasn’t fixed until he had surgery at the age of 18. When he finally could smell, he continued nonchalantly, “the smell that entered my nostrils was one of shit.”

The audience erupted into laughter. “This whole time you guys all smelled it and no one spoke up?” Rahbani yelled with an exasperated air. “Why don’t you speak up?”

This bit of wit came in the midst of Sunday evening’s performance of “Mneeha” (“Good”), Rahbani’s most recent interweaving of music, vaudeville theatrics and acerbic social and political commentary, which has been playing to sold-out houses in Damascus and, this week, at Unesco Palace.

The recent release of the latest Arab Human Development Report has sparked controversy on certain fronts, such as authorship. But one certainty is that economic development, as the current jargon has it, is largely a case of ownership. Mention foreign investment in the Middle East and one thinks of big-ticket projects, whether it’s a massive tourist complex or a huge industrial endeavor.

BEIRUT: The Arab Forum for Environment and Development (AFED) announced on Tuesday that its Board of Trustees has chosen Beirut as the venue for its annual conference. The conference, due to be held in November under the patronage of President Michel Sleiman, will focus of the impact of climate change on the Arab world. Some 21 board members from 14 countries will attend.