SUNDERLAND: Sunderland have signed Egypt international Ahmed Al-Muhammadi on a season-long loan from ENPPI, the English Premier League club announced Friday. The north-east side have an option to make the deal for the 22-year-old permanent at the end of the loan spell. Al-Muhammadi can play on the right side of defense or midfield and featured …

  Greece’s cash-strapped mobile phone operator Wind Hellas invited bids for the company, which is restructuring its debt for the second time in just over seven months. Wind, owned by Egyptian billionaire Naguib Sawiris, also got a standstill agreement from creditors to defer until Nov. 5 debt payments of at least €17.5 million ($21.41 million), …

  DUBAI/CAIRO: Egypt is likely to remain an Islamic finance laggard, hit by bad press from corruption scandals and a government keen to buttress its secular credentials and stymie Islamists ahead of elections next year.   The birthplace of Islamic finance, Egypt is the sixth-biggest Muslim nation with 80 million people, but only 3 to …

What does it take to become an entrepreneur in Egypt? Persistence, courage and, according to Mostafa Ghaly, a little bit of insanity. “The way government organizations handle entrepreneurial ventures…is completely irresponsible and I would say immoral,” said Ghaly, managing director of Palm Paper. Recounting his entrepreneurial endeavors in an interview with Daily News Egypt, it …

  Poland and Egypt are more at risk from higher taxes in central and eastern Europe, the Middle East and Africa as governments tackle deficits, according to Citigroup Inc.   “We see tax risk as higher in countries where the deficit needs to come down and corporate taxes are below average,” Citigroup strategist Andrew Howell …

  A joint venture of Egypt’s Orascom Construction Industries (OCI) has won a contract worth $750 million to expand Qatar’s international airport, the firm said on Wednesday.   BESIX Group, itself a 50-50 venture between OCI and Belgian construction group Besix, will team up with Midmac Contracting via BESIX Group’s fully-owned unit Six Construct Qatar …

CAIRO: Ahly’s new boy Geddo is eager to win his first club title after joining the league champions from Ittihad. The 26-year-old, who was Egypt’s marksman in the 2010 African Cup of Nations, trained with his new club for the first time this week as he looks forward to the new challenge. "I hope to …

  CAIRO: The use of payment cards in Egypt is rising as well as demand from consumers for access to them, Visa executives said Tuesday at a conference.   The expansion of payment cards, however, is hindered by a lack of understanding and awareness about their benefits and unsubstantiated fears of them held by small …

  Middle East explorer Dana Petroleum announced a new discovery onshore at its North Zeit Bay production area in Egypt, the company said in a statement.   Early tests of the plant, which lies near the Gulf of Suez, yielded a flow rate of more than 4,700 barrels of oil per day (bpd). Dana added …

CAIRO: The Lawyers’ Syndicate strike deterred defense lawyers from pleading their case during the latest hearing of Hisham Talaat Moustafa and Mohsen Al-Sukkari’s retrial, Bahaa Eddin Abu Shoaa said Sunday. Abu Shoaa, one of Moustafa’s lawyers, told daily News Egypt, “We found ourselves, as prominent lawyers, caught between obeying the Lawyers’ Syndicate call [to strike] …

TEHRAN: Iran’s oil sales for the 11 months to February 2010 fell by 24.3 percent to $59.55 billion (€48 billion), the Fars news agency reported on Sunday. In a report it said was exclusive, but without quoting a source, the agency said oil sales for the corresponding period the year before stood at more than …

  Egypt wants to maintain imports of wheat from a diversified range of origins, the trade minister said on Sunday, after Egypt tightened terms for tenders that some suppliers said would add complications and costs.   Since the start of the current financial year in July 2009, Egypt, the world’s largest wheat importer, has purchased …

CAIRO: Egypt aims to achieve 5.8 percent economic growth in the fiscal year that that begins in July, the ministry of economic development said on Thursday. Egypt is targeting "real economic growth of 5.8 percent," the ministry said on its website. It also hopes to attract direct foreign investment of eight billion dollars (6.5 billion …

JOHANNESBURG: Defending champion Italy was eliminated from the World Cup on Thursday after a humbling 3-2 loss that sent Slovakia through to the round of 16. For the third consecutive match, the Azzurri conceded an early goal, and this time they never recovered. "I take full responsibility," Italy coach Marcello Lippi said. "If the squad …

  Egypt aims to attract about $8 billion in foreign direct investment (FDI) and boost economic growth to 5.8 percent in the fiscal year that begins July 2010, the Economic Development Ministry said on Wednesday.   Figures published by the ministry in a report on its website projected foreign direct investment would reach $5.5 billion …

MANAMA: Bahrain needs to reinvent itself as a financial centre if it wants to return to growth and remain a destination for the region’s oil wealth after the financial crisis clipped the wings of its investment houses. Analysts say the only opportunity for the tiny island kingdom off Saudi Arabia lies in funding the large …

DUBAI: Earnings at troubled Dubai mortgage firms Amlak and Tamweel improved in the first quarter, the companies said on Tuesday, potentially clearing the way to mergers or takeovers. Trading in Dubai’s two biggest mortgage firms has been suspended since 2008 when the government announced plans to merge and restructure the two Islamic lenders after the …

CAIRO: An Egyptian court ruled on Tuesday to nullify the sale of government land to Talaat Moustafa Group, Egypt’s biggest listed developer, for its mixed-use Medinaty project on the outskirts of Cairo. The court ruled that the New Urban Communities Authority, a body under the housing ministry, had broken the law by selling the land …

ABU DHABI: Abu Dhabi National Energy Co (TAQA) has no plans to issue a bond this year, after reported meetings with investors since early June in the United States, Asia and Europe, a company executive said on Sunday. TAQA, majority owned by the government of Abu Dhabi, held a series of presentations throughout June to …

Growth in Arab economies will accelerate to at least 4 percent on average this year on higher oil prices, while the impact of the euro zone debt crisis will be small if any, the Arab Monetary Fund chief said on Thursday. "Economic growth will not be less than 4 percent this year, in some Arab …

  Minister of Trade and Industry Rachid Mohamed Rachid met with Argentine Ambassador to Egypt Luis Enrique Cappagli and Paraguay Ambassador Ausberto Rodriguez to discuss ways to boost trade and economic relations.   The meeting also took up preparations for inking a preferential trade agreement between Egypt and the Mercosur countries. Talks further tackled means …

  Housing and Development Bank’s retail loans portfolio grew to LE 2.5 billion last May, compared to LE 2.1 billion, a 20 percent increase, reported Al-Mal.   HDB deputy chairman, Essam Abo Hamed, said that diversity in HDB services and products and particularly its specialized products contributed in increasing growth rates in retail services. He …

  CAIRO: Egypt’s government has shelved plans to partially privatize some public sector firms through distributing free shares to citizens, the investment minister said.   Egypt’s ruling National Democratic Party (NDP) had proposed in November 2008 selling government minority stakes in up to 150 state-run firms in a move it claimed would make privatization more …

WASHINGTON: US envoy George Mitchell headed back to the Middle East on Wednesday in a new bid to advance indirect peace talks between the Israelis and Palestinians, the State Department said. "He expects to have meetings with Israeli officials tomorrow (Thursday), Palestinian officials on Friday, and Egyptian officials on Saturday," State Department spokesman Philip Crowley …

At Canada’s prism-shaped World Expo pavilion in Shanghai, dayglo-suited businessmen juggle bowling pins, royal guards march in "bearskin" hats made of flowers and hockey players zoom on roller blades. After going into orbit last year when founder Guy Laliberte orchestrated a multimedia show from the International Space Station featuring U2, Cirque du Soleil is re-imagining …

CAIRO: Security officers at Cairo’s international airport have stopped an Egyptian man trying to smuggle eight live foxes and 50 chameleons out of the country. Police say the officers stopped a 36-year-old traveler on Wednesday with a suspicious large suitcase, then opened it to find the animals in small plastic cages. Police confiscated the animals, …

CAIRO: Wael El-Ebrashi, editor-in-chief of independent Sawt El-Umma newspaper, will stand trial on July 18 at the Giza Criminal Court for charges of inciting the public against a new tax bill. Journalist Samar Al-Dawy was also transferred to the criminal court for similar charges. In his complaint before the attorney general, Minister of Finance Youssef …

Egypt’s Housing and Development Bank’s (HDB) first quarter net profit tumbled 45 percent from the same period a year earlier, the bourse said on Monday. The firm made a consolidated profit of LE 59.7 million ($10.5 million), down from LE 108.3 million in 2009, the stock exchange said. Last year, HDB bought 39 percent of …

BAGHDAD: Iraq moved to bolster its shaky democracy on Monday with the opening of its second parliament since the US-led ouster of Saddam Hussein in 2003, more than three months after an election stalemate. A rousing rendition of the national anthem "My Nation" signaled the start of the inaugural session of the Council of Representatives, …

Egypt’s Alexandria Cotton Exporters’ Association (Alcotexa) committed to sell 581 tons of cotton in the week that ended on June 12, an Alcotexa official told Reuters on Sunday. The sales comprised 169 tons of Giza 88, 400 tons of Giza 86 and 12 tons mixed from Giza 86 and Giza 89, the official said. The …