Stay true to the dreams of thy youth

BBC News - Somalia denies CIA rendition base in Mogadishu

Somalia has dismissed reports that the US runs an underground detention centre where the CIA helps interrogate terror suspects in the capital Mogadishu.

Saudi Arabia and Morocco lead solar demand in MENA | ConstructionWeekOnline.com

The global solar market is expected to grow from 15.8GW in 2010 to 37.5GW by 2016 for $65.4bn, a compound annual grow rate of 15.5%, the report said. It added that while it was lower than the industry’s past history of 30%+ annual growth rates, it was a sign of the market’s increasing maturity and its move away from subsidies as a driver of growth.

BBC News - Turkey 'to escort Gaza aid ships' amid row with Israel

** I love Turkey ** Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan has said his country will in future escort aid ships travelling to the Gaza Strip. Speaking to Al Jazeera, Mr Erdogan also said Turkey had taken steps to prevent Israel unilaterally exploiting natural resources in the eastern Mediterranean.

KACST sets up fund for Saudi technological firms | Technology | AMEinfo.com

A first-of-its-kind fund has been established in Saudi Arabia to finance small and medium sized technological firms, Arab News has reported. The King Abdulaziz City of Science and Technology (KACST) has launched the fund after signing a cooperation agreement with Investor Securities. The agreement has been signed with the aim to improve Saudi Arabia's technological development.

Saudi Arabia's infrastructure projects worth $99bn | Transport and Logistics | AMEinfo.com

A top Riyadh Exhibition Company (REC) official has announced that infrastructure projects in Saudi Arabia worth more than SR375bn ($99bn) are in the pipeline and will continue to sustain the Kingdom's construction boom

Qatar is MidEast's No 1 in global competitiveness list - Industries - ArabianBusiness.com

Qatar retained its status as the Middle East's most competitive economy, according to the World Economic Forum's Global Competitiveness Report 2011-2012 released on Wednesday. The Gulf state, which won the rights to host the 2022 World Cup since the last report, was ranked 14th in the list, climbing three places.

Al Jazeera reporter Gabriel Elizondo barred from Texas high school football game

In a post on Al Jazeera’s English-language website, reporter Gabriel Elizondo tells of being barred from interviewing spectators at a high school football game in rural Booker, Texas, after district officials learned the name of his employer. Elizondo, an American who lives in Brazil, was on a cross-country trip to report on American attitudes about 9/11 and its aftermath.

US finds ‘world-class’ phosphate in Iraq - FT.com

Iraq possesses “world-class” reserves of phosphate with the four biggest deposits holding 5.75bn tons, 9 per cent of the global total, says the US Geological Survey. The findings give Iraq the second biggest phosphate reserves in the world, after Morocco. Two of these deposits, in the western desert province of Anbar, are big enough to rank among the largest 10 per cent in the world.

Turkish PM announces additional sanctions on Israel - CNN.com

Turkey's fiery prime minister ratcheted up rapidly-escalating tensions with Israel on Tuesday, comparing Ankara's once-close middle eastern ally to a "spoiled boy" and announcing additional sanctions would soon be imposed.

How Howard Buffett Will Use His Grandfather's Recipe For Riches To Disrupt Philanthropy | Fast Company

Howard Buffett is attempting to unify the scattered world of independent nonprofits through his grandfather's multi-billion dollar investment strategy: Invest in a portfolio of smart people and let them flourish. Having just taken the reins as Executive Director of the family foundation after holding posts in the White House and Department of Defense, Buffett has ambitious plans to pay the world's savviest nonprofits to collaboratively tackle the full spectrum of food security, from third-world farmer education to public policy

Exclusive Audio: Inside the Koch Brothers' Secret Seminar | Mother Jones

"We have Saddam Hussein," declared billionaire industrialist Charles Koch, apparently referring to President Barack Obama as he welcomed hundreds of wealthy guests to the latest of the secret fundraising and strategy seminars he and his brother host twice a year. The 2012 elections, he warned, will be "the mother of all wars." Charles Koch would probably not publicly compare the president of the United States to a murderous dictator. (As a general rule, he and his brother don't do much politicking or speechifying in public at all.) But Mother Jones has obtained exclusive audio recordings from the Koch seminar, a private event that took place in June at a resort near Vail, Colorado.

West Bank mosque damaged by settlers in revenge attack | World news | The Guardian

Hardline settlers attacked a mosque in a West Bank village on Monday in an apparent "price tag" operation following the demolition of homes in a settlement outpost by Israeli forces. Windows were smashed, tyres set alight inside the building and graffiti in Hebrew sprayed on the walls at the mosque in the village of Qusra, near Nablus, according to the Palestinian news agency Ma'an.

Obama’s outreach toward Muslims is limited at home - The Washington Post

By contrast, Obama has not visited a mosque in the United States since taking office, although he has done so in Egypt, Turkey and Indonesia as part of his project to repair U.S. relations with the Muslim world. Bold abroad, Obama’s outreach has been largely invisible at home as Muslim Americans confront enduring suspicion and, in some cases, outright hatred a decade after the attacks.

First sturgeon hatched at Abu Dhabi caviar factory - Retail - ArabianBusiness.com

The Royal Caviar Company, which has plans to become the world's largest producer of caviar, said on Monday its first sturgeon fish had hatched at its new factory in Abu Dhabi. Almost 120,000 sturgeon eggs were flown in from Germany last month and since their arrival, the company has seen more than 80 percent of these eggs successfully hatch - representing the first batch of locally-grown sturgeon.

A decade after the 9/11 attacks, Americans live in an era of endless war - The Washington Post

“Today’s Army, including its leadership, lives in a bubble separate from society,” wrote retired Lt. Gen. David Barno, who commanded U.S. forces in Afghanistan, in an essay for the Web site of Foreign Policy magazine. “This splendid military isolation — set in the midst of a largely adoring nation — risks fostering a closed culture of superiority and aloofness. This must change if the Army is to remain in, of, and with the ever-diverse peoples of the United States.”

Rick Perry panic fires up the left - Ben Smith and Maggie Haberman - POLITICO.com

Perry panic has spread from the conference rooms of Washington, D.C., to the coffee shops of Brooklyn, with the realization that the conservative Texan could conceivably become the 45th president of the United States, a wave of alarm centering around Perry’s drawling, small-town affect and stands on core cultural issues such as women’s rights, gun control, the death penalty, and the separation of church and state.

Oracle investigated over Africa dealings

Federal officials are probing Oracle’s software sales to governments in Africa for possible violations of bribery laws, the WSJ says. The Justice Department has led a criminal investigation for at least a year while the SEC is conducting a civil inquiry. The probes focus on whether Oracle or its agents made improper payments to officials in order to secure sales. Enforcement of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act has markedly stepped up in recent years, with $2bn of fines collected in 2009 and 2010 versus $11m in 2004.