Links April 17th to April 19th

Links from my del.icio.us account for April 17th through April 19th:

• Egypt's state circus joins growing unrest at tough economic reforms | World news | The Guardian - On Egypt's wave of strikes, with circus performers the latest to join.


• New books grapple with national misery - The National Newspaper - "Such books as Are You Happy, Egypt?, Egypt From the Balcony, Seething Egypt and Egypt Is Not My Mother, It’s My Stepmother – playing on the title of the patriotic song Egypt Is My Mother and Its Nile Is My Blood – attempt to capture the mood of despair, and several have become bestsellers."


• Newspapers in Dubai - Saturday Breakfast RN - 18 April 2009 - An interview with Martin Rowland, editor-in-chief of The National, on his experience in Abu Dhabi.


• Wall: A Monologue - The New York Review of Books - On Israel's wall. But it contains a stupendous mistake for the NYRB: " Ramallah houses the Palestinian Authority, which controls the West Bank—as opposed to Hamas, which was elected to govern Gaza in 2006." WTF? Hamas was elected to a majority in the Palestinian parliament for all of the territories, not just Gaza. It was not meant to control Gaza, but rather control the legislative and part of the executive of all of the territories, alongside with President Mahmoud Abbas.


• Claims of biz swindle in Dubai's ruling family - "Shahram Abdullah Zadeh accuses the brother-in-law of Dubai's emir illegally of taking over his real-estate firm and having him detained by police to help the swindle. Zadeh, a 37-year-old Iranian national who has lived in Dubai all his life, brought a civil case against the brother-in-law to get his firm back, a rare move. Even more surprising, Zadeh tried to raise criminal charges, but that step went nowhere because prosecutors rejected it."