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BERLIN Egypt has slid in a global league table of perceived official corruption in the past year, and the “Arab Spring” revolutions have yet to produce serious anti-graft action across the region, Transparency International said on Wednesday. In its annual Corruption Perceptions Index, the anti-graft organization said Egypt had fallen six places to 118th out of 176 countries as levels of bribery, abuse of power and secret dealings remain high in the Arab world’s most populous nation. “We know that frustration about corruption brought people out onto the streets in the Arab world,” Christoph Wilcke, Transparency International director for the [...]

TOKYO Industrialized and oil-producing countries on Thursday pledged $ 165 million to a World Bank fund to help ease economic transition in nations swept up in the Arab Spring popular uprisings. The money came on the initiative of the “Deauville Partnership,” which was formed after uprisings last year in Tunisia, Egypt and Libya ended decades-long dictatorships. The partnership includes the Group of Eight major nations as well as oil producers from the Middle East, including Saudi Arabia and Kuwait. The funds announced on Thursday are meant to provide grants for economic governance, trade, investment, and inclusive development and job creation. [...]