ASEM, which organises two-yearly summits of Asians and Europeans (the next is due in London in the spring).

ECONOMIST: Burying the Asian miracle

At least China, the host of the ASEM talk-shop, has overcome its initial reluctance to put impending financial collapse on the agenda.

ECONOMIST: Asia and the crisis

At the close of the ASEM meeting of European and Asian leaders, British PM Tony Blair promised high-level business missions to Asia to encourage investment in the region.

BBC: News | ASEM 2

Though the Brotherhood says women will share equal rights, often holding up spokeswomen like Asem and Zakaria as examples, critics point to an organization they say reflects Egypt's patriarchal history.

CNN: The Muslim Brotherhood comes to America

The war, said Asem, resulted in "a lot of aggression against the environment" -- most infamously, the destruction of Kuwait's oil fields as part of Hussein's "scorched earth" policy on retreat.

CNN: November 12, 2012 -- Updated 1223 GMT (2023 HKT)

One of Kuwait's leading environmental scientists, with three decades experience in resource conservation, Asem has played a major role in restoring Kuwait's war-ravaged ecosystems as head of the United Nations Compensation Commission's environmental remediation program.

CNN: November 12, 2012 -- Updated 1223 GMT (2023 HKT)