Elections:

Democratic Race Could Continue for Weeks or Months, Experts SayAs Republican race nears end, Obama and Clinton remain in tight contest

Although the delegates still are being counted across the country, it is clear that neither Barack Obama nor Hillary Clinton emerged from Super Tuesday as a clear front-runner for the Democratic presidential nomination. Voters showed up in record numbers February 5 and handed important victories to both Illinois Senator Obama and New York Senator Clinton.   Nationwide, Clinton narrowly earned more votes than Obama. But with the numbers so close -- with 14.6 million votes cast nationwide, Clinton earned about 53,000 more than Obama -- the Democrats' Super Tuesday race is being called a virtual tie by political experts.  (Read more)

No Presidential Nominees After 24 States Vote on Super Tuesday

McCain takes lead in Republican contest, Democratic race still very close

When parties in 24 states scheduled primaries and caucuses for February 5 -- the most races ever on a single day in a primary election season -- most political experts said the parties’ nominees would be certain by the end of the day.  The experts were wrong: After a record number of Americans voted on Super Tuesday, there is still no presumptive presidential nominee for either party, and the final delegate count still is being tallied.  All Democratic races and many Republican contests award delegates to the national convention by proportional representation. A candidate must win the support of a majority of convention delegates to become the party nominee. (Read more)

Economics:

Microsoft Founder Urges "Creative Capitalism" To Fight Poverty

Bill Gates plans full-time focus on charitable foundation

The man who helped make computers a part of modern life -- and in the process became the world's richest person -- is shifting his primary focus to dealing with the problems of the world's poor.  "There are roughly a billion people in the world who don't get enough food, who don't have clean drinking water, who don't have electricity, the things that we take for granted," Gates said in a recent speech. Those problems reflect a situation he is determined to change -- both through the foundation and by enlisting the forces of the broader global economy.  (Read more)

MEPI:

The Middle East Partnership Initiative Alumni Network

State Department one-pager on opportunities in the Middle East

The Middle East Partnership Initiative (MEPI) was created to support the aspirations of people in the Middle East for greater freedom and opportunity. In its first five years, MEPI has done that by investing more than $430 million in over 350 programs in 17 countries and the Palestinian territories.  The result? Thousands of participants in MEPI programs across the Middle East have personally benefited and have, in turn, made significant impacts on their families, communities, and countries.  (Read more)

World Bank Report:

The environment for women's entrepreneurship in the Middle East and North Africa Region

Despite a commonly-held perception that women-owned firms in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) are small, informal and low-tech, this study demonstrates that there is, in fact, little difference between female-owned and male-owned firms. This study aims to analyse gender-specific barriers that exist across the region or within countries and identifies factors outside the business environment that affect women's entrepreneurship.

Key points include:

while the investment climate in the Middle East and North Africa is similar for men and women, female owned firms in some countries perceive certain constraints as more binding than male owned firms do although well established in the Middle East, women's entrepreneurship has not reached its full potential the shortage of small and micro male- and female-owned firms in the region suggests high barriers to entry into the formal sector for all gender barriers restrain the ability of firms to grow to their potential and more importantly, they restrain the number of female-owned firms that can enter the formal sector. (Read more)