Hoda Abdel-Hamid

Egypt's OJ Simpson?

It's a case of sex , power and murder involving an Egyptian real-estate tycoon, an ex-police officer and a Lebanese pop star.

Hisham Talaat Mustafa was a man who had it all: money, close ties to the son of the president, a prominent position within Egypt's ruling party and a seat in parliament. Some say he was made by the system.

Suzane Tamim was a rising star who had been involved with Mustafa before moving to Dubai. Nobody really knows what happened between the two after their affair ended, but something pushed Mustafa over the edge so much that he devised a plot to kill her.

Mustafa called on the services of Mohsen Sokkari, an ex-police officer who worked for him, investigations showed; lured by the prospect of $2 million as compensation, Sokkari travelled to Dubai and stabbed Suzane Tamim to death.

Afghans shocked by Kabul Bank troubles

Kabul Bank is the topic of the moment in Afghanistan. 

Last week, several American media outlets broke the story that the bank was in trouble and its top two executives - the chairman and the CEO - had been fired. The bank had apparently over-loaned to its own shareholders, who in turn, invested millions of dollars in property in Dubai.  

It took a while for the news to spread around the country, but when it did, it sent a shockwave. Kabul Bank is the largest private bank in Afghanistan - it has a good network of branches throughout the country, and it handles the salaries of security forces, teachers and civil servants.

Bombs overshadow Kabul roses

We were on our way to a press conference that Hamid Karzai, the Afghan president, was to give. We had just been through the first checkpoint and were making our way to the next one.

I was admiring the roses on the presidential grounds - they were big with vibrant colors and I was thinking 'I must blog about Afghan roses'. But my thoughts were interrupted by a large boom.

We knew right away, this was a big one - and it was.

It happened far away from where we were, but we heard it very loudly and so we rushed back to the office.

As always, reports on the incident were confusing initially.

Sudan vote fiasco

Second day of polling ... and things àre getting more complicated.

Many polling stations are closed and the national elections committee tells us the same is happening accross the 10 southern states.

They put the blame on khartoum saying that ballots arrived late, prepacked and were distributed accordingly without being double checked.

These were the instructions from Khartoum, the commissioner here says. So the materials  were directly put on the UN flights.

As far as I can see these first two days cannot be considered an election ...

The proposed solution is to extend the period of polling ... but how would that guarantee that people will be able to vote? All the lists and the ballots are mixed up ...