Stay true to the dreams of thy youth

• So what does Rick Santorum know about Honduras? | FP Passport

  It makes sense given Santorum's fairly Manichean worldview, which is centered around a global struggle to confront the "cancer" of radical Islam, that he would fixate on Honduras. It's a case where the overall good guys vs. bad guys narrative (a corrupt, populist, anti-American leader is overthrown) can overwhelm the inconvenient facts. (Rather than resigning in the face of a popular uprising, he was dragged out of bed by the military and put on a plane out of the country in the middle of the night.) It's similar to his views on Egypt, where he has attacked Obama for throwing U.S.-ally Hosni Mubarak "under the bus" in favor of anti-Israel extremists. Evidently "democratic" and "rule of law" for Santorum, are synonyms for pro-American and pro-Israel.

• Bahrain inks record $505m social housing deal - Construction - ArabianBusiness.com

  The Bahrain government has signed a record BD208m ($550m) with a local developer to build more than 4,000 homes in a bid to ease the Gulf kingdom’s chronic low-cost housing shortage. The deal, a first in the GCC, will see Bahrain-based Naseej build 3,110 social housing units and a further 1,042 low-cost homes in the Northern City, Al Buhair and Al Lawzi projects.

• Saudi Gazette - E-gate coming to Kingdom’s airports

  Saudis and expatriates can soon use their magnetic identity and iqama cards to enter and exit the Kingdom, instead of having to show their passports at the country’s airports. This is part of the e-gate system being introduced by the Directorate General of Passports at all the Kingdom’s airports, said a senior official at the directorate, reported Al-Watan Arabic newspaper.

• Carlyle buys into Turkish schools provider - FT.com

  Carlyle Group has taken a 48 per cent stake in Bahcesehir Koleji, a Turkish education company, amid increasing investor interest in the country’s rising disposable incomes. The deal, for which no financial details were disclosed, marks the US private equity group’s third investment in Turkey among five regional transactions made under its $500m Middle East and North Africa fund, which was set up in 2009.

• First-ever hybrid shark discovered off Australia - The Washington Post

  Scientists have identified the first-ever hybrid shark off the coast of Australia, a discovery that suggests some shark species may respond to changing ocean conditions by interbreeding with one another.

• Pat Robertson: God Told Me Who The Next President Will Be (VIDEO)

  ** I really can't believe anyone pays attention to Robertson anymore...** Christian conservative leader Pat Robertson says he has a secret straight from God: He knows who the next president of the United States will be. "I think He showed me about the next president, but I'm not supposed to talk about that so I'll leave you in the dark -- probably just as well -- but I think I know who it's gonna be," Robertson said Tuesday on the Christian Broadcasting Network's "700 Club.

• BBC News - BP asks Halliburton to pay for Gulf of Mexico spill

  Oil giant BP has asked its contractor Halliburton to pay for all costs and damages that arose from the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. The claims were made in a filing by BP's lawyer Don Haycraft in a US Federal court. BP and Halliburton are locked in a legal battle with a trial expected this year to settle damages claims.

• Chinese solar company to buy Germany’s Sunways - FT.com

  Investor hopes of a year of consolidation in the troubled German solar sector rose after LDK Solar, a Chinese solar company, said it planned to take over Germany’s Sunways. The companies said the combination would link German high technology with China’s low-cost advantage but some analysts doubt whether Germany’s solar sector is ripe for similar transactions.

• Temasek sets up S$2.5bn China fund - FT.com

  Temasek Holdings, the Singapore state investment agency, is setting up a fund that will have up to S$2.5bn ($1.9bn) to invest in north Asia, primarily in China. Pavilion Capital, which will be run by Tow Heng Tan, Temasek’s former chief investment officer, is still in the formative stages and it is not clear how closely tied to its parent it will be or who will sit on its board, according to people familiar with the matter. Temasek has also not yet decided if the new fund will accept third-party money.

Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.