Islamic carpets: a surge of interest from the Gulf States is reinvigorating this market traditionally dominated by German collectors.
[FIGURE 1 OMITTED] Carpets have long been one of the most popular and visible aspects of Islamic art, prized in the west since Venetian merchants brought them from Persia in the 14th century. The rug and carpet trade exists at many levels, ranging from the ubiquitous high...

Gulf states cool to a US-Iran war.
Byline: LYDIA GEORGI, Agence France-Presse DUBAI - US President George W. Bush will not win any support for military action against Iran when he visits four Gulf Arab allies later this month, political analysts in the region say. While Gulf states are concerned about Iran's...

Gulf states cool to a US-Iran war.
Byline: Lydia Georgi, Agence France-Presse DUBAI - US President George W. Bush will not win any support for military action against Iran when he visits four Gulf Arab allies later this month, political analysts in the region say. While Gulf states are concerned about Iran's...

Turmoil in Gulf markets: the bad ... and the good news.
AS THE GULF gets back to work after Ramadan, eyes will be focused on the news coming out of the region's stock markets as well as the escalating expectations of a sharp slowdown in global growth. But with investors around the world apparently seeking shelter in the US dollar,...

Historical dictionary of the Gulf Arab States, 2d ed.
9780810854635 Historical dictionary of the Gulf Arab States, 2d ed. Peck, Malcolm C. Scarecrow Pr. 2008 397 pages $95.00 Hardcover Historical dictionaries of Asia, Oceania, and the Middle East; no.66 DS247...

ARAB AFFAIRS - Sept 16 - Lawmakers Seek Unified GCC Stance On Iran.
Kuwaiti and Bahraini MPs have rejected Iran's denial of spy networks, telling Gulf News that there is strong evidence of the illicit activities of Iran's Revolutionary Guards in the Gulf. On Sept 16, Iranian Defence Minister Mustafa Mohammad Najar said accusations that Iran was running a spy network in...

$1.3 trillion real estate gold rush.
[ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] The construction of new homes, apartments, tower blocks, offices, shopping malls, hotels and resorts is booming throughout the Gulf. Whether it's Qatar or Dubai, Kuwait or Oman, Saudi Arabia or Bahrain, investors and buyers, both local and foreign, are flooding into the market, bringing dramatic...

The Top 100 Arab banks: the Arab banking boom still booming: the financial services industry in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region led by top-tier banks is experiencing significant growth, in terms of banking assets, profitability and innovations. Researched, written and table compiled by economic analyst.
SPIRALLING OIL PRICES--extending above $145 a barrel in the summer--have enriched the prospects of many regional banks as well as profits for calendar 2008, despite an unabated global credit crunch and mountainous bad debts hitting the balance sheets of western banking giants (notably UBS and Citigroup). One observer put...

Innocents lost: for many Iraqi women, political liberation has meant sexual enslavement.
IRONY IN MOTION: Iraqi girls dance nightly in bright, clinging gowns, circling the stage like glittering chattel, swaying their hips seductively one moment, fearfully clutching the hand of a peer the next. They were liberated, we are told, in the American invasion more than five years ago....

Comment.
[ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] THE SULTAN OF Oman had it right when he declared that to ignore women--who make up 50% of the population of the Sultanate--would be to ignore 50% of the potential of his citizens. When Qaboos came to power in 1970 there was little...