NGO

Egypt
A study has indicated that water quality in the River Nile improved considerably in the months of October and November 2007, giving rise to hopes that drinking water quality for many of Egypt's 80 million people may improve. The quality of Nile water in its main course and in the Rosetta (Rashid) and Damietta (Dimyat) branches showed a 16 percent improvement over the average during the excess discharge period, according to a recent study by Egypt's Nile Research Institute (NRI) which is part of NWRC, the National Water Research Center. (IRIN)
Iran
Permanent members of the U.N. Security Council - as well as Germany - have agreed on the contents of a new draft resolution of fresh sanctions against Iran. The announcement was made by the German foreign minister after talks in Berlin with his counterparts from the U.S., France, the U.K., Russia and China. The U.S. and its European allies want a third set of sanctions over Iran's refusal to suspend uranium enrichment. Iran insists its nuclear program is for energy, not military purposes. (BBC)
Iraq
Up to 25 million land mines, or almost one for every Iraqi, remain buried in thousands of minefields across Iraq and are hampering development of rich oil deposits, officials said on Jan. 23. Iraqi government spokesman Ali al-Dabbagh said the mines were spread across about 4,000 minefields left across Iraq after the 1980-88 Iran-Iraq War, the first Gulf War in 1991 and the 2003 U.S.-led invasion to topple Saddam Hussein. Iraqi Environment Minister Nermeen Othman said she had been appointed by the government to lead efforts to clear Iraq of land mines. (Reuters)
Kuwait
Kuwait's only female cabinet minister, Nouria Sbeih, has survived a no-confidence vote in parliament. The education minister was accused of ignoring a sex segregation law at universities and presiding over a drop in educational standards. She denied the allegations and won the confidence vote by 27 to 19. Sbeih has been criticized by conservative and Islamist MPs for refusing to wear a headscarf when she was sworn into the cabinet. Women won the right to vote and run for office in Kuwait in 2005. (BBC)
Palestinian Authority
Tens of thousands of Palestinians have surged into Egypt from the Gaza Strip after masked militants destroyed parts of the border wall. Gazans rushed to buy food, fuel and other supplies that have become scarce because of an Israeli blockade - aimed at stopping rocket attacks from Gaza. Egyptian police took no action to stop people crossing. Egypt's President Hosni Mubarak says he allowed Gazans in to buy food, but Israel urged Egypt to restore security. Meanwhile, U.N. and Palestinian officials in Gaza have said some 760,000 liters of industrial fuel for Gaza's power plant were imported from Israel on Jan. 22, and another 200,000 were delivered on Jan. 23. (BBC)
Saudi Arabia
Saudi Arabia plans to start its first sovereign wealth fund with about USD 6 billion, channeling surplus crude-oil revenue into investments in foreign companies. "The Ministry of Finance is looking into a new fund," Muhammad al-Jasser, vice governor of the Saudi Arabian Monetary Agency, said in an interview at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland. "It will probably mostly invest in equities." Fueled by record oil prices and rising currency reserves, sovereign funds have ballooned to USD 3.2 trillion in assets. (Bloomberg)
Syria
Syria's economic growth will probably accelerate to at least 6.5 percent this year, driven by infrastructure projects and foreign direct investment, the country's deputy prime minister said. Expansion will quicken from 6.2 percent last year, Deputy Prime Minister for Economic Affairs Abdallah Dardari said in a telephone interview. Foreign direct investment in Syria will increase as much as 4.3 percent to USD 2.4 billion this year as oil-rich Arab nations put money into real estate, banking and tourism, ignoring U.S. sanctions, Dardari sai