Stay true to the dreams of thy youth

Egypt dissolves former ruling party - Middle East - Al Jazeera English

An Egyptian court has dissolved the former ruling National Democratic Party (NDP) and ordered its funds and property to be handed over to the government. The Higher Administrative Court issued the order on Saturday, meeting one of the key demands of the protest movement that ousted former president Hosni Mubarak in February.  "The administrative court issued a ruling to dissolve the NDP and seize its money, and its headquarters and buildings will be handed to the government," a judicial source said.

Israel bias Cantor-productive in Washington - Opinion - Al Jazeera English

Leave it to House majority leader Eric Cantor (R-VA). With president Barack Obama expected to deliver a major speech outlining a new (or, at least, revised) Middle East peace strategy soon, Cantor decided it as time to invite Israeli prime minister Binyamin Netanyahu to deliver a speech before a joint session of Congress. This is one of the benefits of having a Republican House at the same time that a Likud prime minister is in office in Israel: the two right-wing parties can work together to thwart any Democratic president's attempt to advance US national security by brokering Middle East peace. The last time this happened was in the 1990s, when Bill Clinton was president. Newt Gingrich was speaker, and the self-same Netanyahu was Israel's prime minister.

Emirati males are the country's big spenders - Gulf News

Youth in the UAE spend most of their income on fashion, with Emirati youth spending as much as three times more than their expatriate Arab and Asian counterparts. A recent market research study revealed that out of every Dh100 spent by the average UAE youth, almost Dh40 goes on clothing and nearly Dh35 on mobile phones. The "Nielsen Next: Understanding youth in the UAE" study was conducted by the Nielsen Company, a global marketing and advertising research company.

KSA leads region in consumer confidence

Consumer confidence in Saudi Arabia recorded the highest rise in the region this quarter and people also remain largely optimistic about the Kingdom’s economy, according to a survey. Saudi Arabia’s Consumer Confidence Index (CCI) moved up by 10.7 points, the study conducted by career site Bayt.com in conjunction with research specialists YouGov Siraj said.

Kuwait launches firm to invest $167m in Egypt - Real Estate - ArabianBusiness.com

Investment Authority (KIA), the Gulf Arab state's sovereign fund, has launched a company with one billion Egyptian pounds ($167.8 million) to invest in Egypt's economy, an official said on Saturday. "A 1 billion Egyptian pounds company was launched two weeks ago after getting the approval from Egypt," said Bader al-Ajeel, executive director of the general reserve sector at KIA. "This firm will act as KIA's investment arm in Egypt... Current Kuwaiti investments there (in Egypt) might be put under this firm's umbrella in the future," he said.

Global food prices rise 36% in year, World Bank says - Retail - ArabianBusiness.com

Driven in part by higher fuel costs connected to events in the Middle East and North Africa, global food prices are 36 percent above their levels a year ago, the World Bank said on Friday. “More poor people are suffering and more people could become poor because of high and volatile food prices,” said president Robert B Zoellick. “We have to put food first and protect the poor and vulnerable, who spend most of their money on food.” According to the latest edition of the World Bank’s Food Price Watch, a further 10 percent increase in global prices could drive an additional 10 million people below the $1.25 extreme poverty line.

GCC firms urged to step up medicine manufacturing - Healthcare - ArabianBusiness.com

Despite the growth of this market, local manufacturing is not able to meet the growing demand, and GCC countries continue to import most of their needs in medicines from abroad, he added in comments published by Qatar News Agency.  "Therefore, significant opportunities exist for growth and expansion of this sector in GCC. Expanding growth in this industry would also help to achieve the strategic objectives of the region in terms of industrial diversification into knowledge based industries," the GOIC secretary general said.

Seeking alternatives to meet electricity demand in the Middle East | Supplement | MEED

The Middle East is striving to meet the rapidly accelerating demand for peak power and the more modest rise in the need for desalination Governments across the region continue to struggle to keep pace with the rapid rate of growth in demand for electricity, with several adopting increasingly desperate measures in order to keep the lights on.