Arab Spring: Made in Tunisia, broken in Egypt; Intel to cut thousands of jobs; Religious conflicts up around the world; Asia investors turn to Africa

1 Arab spring: Made in Tunisia, broken in Egypt (The Guardian) On the southern shores of the Mediterranean, the third anniversary of revolution is being marked by two new constitutions. In Tunisia, an elected assembly has produced the most liberal political ground-rules in the Arab world. In the words of the outgoing premier, Ali Larayedh, the document sets the seal on a "democratic, made-in-Tunisia transition". A few hundred miles east, by contrast, against a backdrop of boycotts and violence, is an Egyptian referendum in which a 90%+ "yes" vote will validate the army-led coup that ousted the first elected president, Mohamed Morsi.

The two countries have much in common: Sunni Muslim majorities, a history of secular government and, unlike shared neighbour Libya, little oil. On the eve of revolution, both were marked by costly food, unequal incomes, youth unemployment and ageing despots. Where did Tunisia go right, and Egypt so wrong? One difference lies in the character of the Islamist groupings that won the first free elections in each country: Ennahda in Tunisia, and the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt.

Each filled an organisational vacuum, but where Ennahda moved with caution and regard for consensus, the Brotherhood drafted a constitution that many revolutionaries rejected. Fearing theocracy, some appealed to the military, whose head, Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, duly ordered the arrest of the first freely elected president, and killed the revolution. While the Tunisian military has historically had little interest in politics, the vast Egyptian army has hovered close to the throne of every president since Nasser. Emboldened by the referendum, Mr Sisi may well step out from behind the throne and take it for himself. Egypt's circular route back to despotism will then be complete.

http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2014/jan/16/leader-2-arab-spring-tunisia-egypt

2 Intel to cut thousands of jobs (BBC) The world's biggest computer chip maker, Intel, says it will cut its workforce by 5% as it expects no revenue growth in 2014. The company said it would reduce its global workforce of 107,000. A spokesman, Chris Kraeuter, said: "This is part of aligning our human resources to meet business needs." The weak forecast comes as chip makers continue to be hurt by a drop in sales of personal computers. Revenues at Intel's division which makes chips for desktop computers fell 4% in 2013, from a year ago.

According to its latest earnings, the PC chip division generated revenues of $8.6bn in the October-to-December quarter of 2013, compared with $8.5bn a year ago. "We had a solid fourth quarter with signs of stabilisation in the PC segment and financial growth from a year ago," said Intel chief executive Brian Krzanich. For the full year 2013, the firm reported a net profit of $9.6bn, down 13% from a year ago. Sales of PCs have fallen for six quarters in a row, hurt by the growing popularity of tablets and smartphones.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-25771760

3 Religious conflicts up around the world (Dawn) Except for the Americas, religious conflict within countries rose around the world in 2012 to the highest level in six years, according to a study. One third of 198 countries reviewed saw high or very high levels of internal religious strife, such as sectarian violence, terrorism or bullying in 2012, compared to 29 per cent in 2011 and 20 percent in 2010.

The biggest rise came in the Middle East and North Africa, two regions that are still feeling the effects of the Arab Spring of 2010-2011, said the Pew Research Centre. As an example, it cites an increase in attacks on Coptic churches and Christian-owned businesses in Egypt. It said China has also witnessed a big rise in religious conflict. Among the 25 most heavily populated countries, Egypt, Indonesia, Russia, Pakistan and Myanmar suffered the most religious conflict.

Christians and Muslims, who make up more than half of the world's population, have been stigmatized in the largest number of countries. Muslims and Jews have suffered the greatest level of hostility in six years, the report said. Harassment against women and religious connotations of the way they dress has also risen in nearly a third of countries to 32 per cent, compared to 25 per cent in 2011 and seven per cent in 2007.

http://www.dawn.com/news/1080481/religious-conflict-up-in-most-of-the-world-study

4 Asia investors turn to Africa (Anjani Trivedi in The Wall Street Journal) A handful of Asian investors are turning to Africa to scoop up bonds, stocks and currencies from the continent, hoping to benefit from some of the fastest growth in the world. The move into these high-yielding risky areas comes as economies in Asia slow and markets struggle after years of strong gains. The MSCI African Frontier Markets index for the less-developed African markets, was up 25.8% in 2013, compared with 13.1% for Asia's frontier markets.

Ties between the two regions are nothing unusual, with rising trade links and China giving loans to many African countries in recent years to help secure energy and commodity resources. But the move to buy up publicly traded securities is new, involving global investors eager to diversify their portfolios.

The allure is the potential for fast growth, with sub-Saharan Africa expected to grow at 6% in 2014, according to International Monetary Fund estimates. Tanzania and the Democratic Republic of Congo are seen growing 7.2% and 10.5%, respectively. Growth in Asia is expected to slow to 5.3%, according to the estimates.

http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB10001424052702304419104579324081311078984?mod=WSJINDIA_hpp_LEFTTopStories&mg=reno64-wsj&url=http%3A%2F%2Fonline.wsj.com%2Farticle%2FSB10001424052702304419104579324081311078984.html%3Fmod%3DWSJINDIA_hpp_LEFTTopStories