Damascus, SYRIA: Syrian women walk past a newly opened Kentucky Fried Chicken (KFC) restaurant in Damascus 23 January 2006. KFC has become the first US fast food outlet to open in the Syrian capital whose ties with Washington have been chilly since the 2003 invasion of neighbouring Iraq. The franchise is owned by a Kuwaiti entrepreneur, Nasser Khourafi, a big investor in Syria who is building a Sheraton hotel in the northern city of Aleppo. A typical meal of fried chicken and French fries with a soft drink costs about five dollars at the KFC which opened earlier this month, a hefty sum in a country where the average monthly wage of a civil servant is some 150 dollars. AFP PHOTO/LOUAI BESHARA (Photo credit should read LOUAI BESHARA/AFP via Getty Images)
