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,...

Bodybuilding in the Arab world.
[ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] EARLIER THIS YEAR, some 50 bodybuilders from across the Middle East region participated in the inaugural Dubai International Bodybuilding Championships, a first for this Gulf state nation. Held in the Dubai World Trade Center under the patronage of Sheikh Rashid bin Hamdan Al Maktoum, the...

$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...

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...

Iran's 'invisible man': the Brigadier General who heads Tehran's covert operations in Iraq will mastermind revenge strikes if Iran is attacked.
If, AS is threatened, the United States or Israel attacks Iran--and there are signs that a major strike maybe likely before George W. Bush's term expires next January--a key figure in unleashing much of the threatened retaliation by Tehran is a shadowy general in the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps...

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...

The size of the debt.
The announcement that the federal government is planning to pour as much as $700 billion into a bailout of private banking and insurance firms has brought the unpleasant subject of debt back into the news. Debt is an issue that voters don't normally want to hear about, in part...

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...

Arab donors buy the limelight at the Rome food summit.
The Islamic Development Bank has raised $1.5bn to help the poorest countries cope with the savage current global rise in the price of food. Separately, Saudi Arabia alone has donated $500m and Kuwait $100m. The UAE has announced the establishment of an advanced regional research and development...

Has Saudi Arabia found the answer?
[ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] ELIE ELHADJ is among the Arab world's most respected, and controversial, bankers. Now retired following postings in New York, Philadelphia, London and Riyadh, he spoke to economic analyst PAMELA ANN SMITH about his recent research on water politics in Saudi Arabia and Syria, which is...