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News In Brief

MID-DAY UPDATE: Protests in Egypt, and the new iPad newspaper

Katharine Crnko Jan 31, 2011

The ongoing protests in Egypt have raised economic concerns worldwide. Moody’s Investors Service has cut Egypt’s credit rating and revised its outlook to negative, signaling concern about how the unrest is costing the government. Steve Chiotakis spoke with Naguib Sawiris, chairman of the Egyptian telecom company Orascom, about the events in Egypt, and how a democratic government will benefit Egyptian businesses. The government suspended Orascom’s business before the protests, but Sawiris says it’s time to turn the Internet back on and stabilize businesses in Egypt.

Meanwhile, American companies with contracts in Egypt are concerned about the turmoil in the region. Many companies have grown accustomed to doing business with a government that has not changed in 30 years. And Egypt is not a major oil producer, but if the unrest spreads to surrounding nations, we could feel the pain at the gas pump.

On the subject of fashion: Have you ever looked at an ugly piece of clothing, and wondered “How did this even get made?” With the help of new tools like Polyvore.com — a social networking site where fashion-followers can create collages of their favorite trends — data can take the guess work out of getting dressed. Adriene Hill visits the e-fashion site to create her own collage — think magazine fashion spread — and you can too. Submit your Polyvore collages to our News In Brief blog.

iPad users will soon experience the future of journalism — at least according to Rupert Murdock and Apple. The duo have paired up for the new tablet-project, The Daily — the newspaper exclusively for iPad. Analysts expect The Daily to revolutionize ad sales.

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