Stay true to the dreams of thy youth

The Palestinian Authority agreed yesterday to exhume the body of Yasser Arafat after allegations he may have been poisoned with the radioactive element polonium-210 in 2004.

Eissa al-Suwaidi has been named as chairman of Etisalat, the United Arab Emirates state telecommunications company, replacing Mohammed Omran, who had led the company since 2005.

Mitt Romney, the presumptive Republican presidential nominee, will visit Israel this summer to meet with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and other leaders, a senior aide to the prime minister confirmed on Monday evening.

Saudi Arabia’s cabinet approved the country’s first ever mortgage law on Monday, as the oil-rich kingdom accelerates efforts to address the economic concerns of its population amid regional turmoil. The long-awaited law, prepared by the minister of finance and deliberated for years, sets the regulations for establishing mortgage companies and their activities, Abdulaziz Khoja, minister of culture and information, told the state-run Saudi Press Agency.

The former leader of the Maldives has called for tourists to boycott the island nation’s Indian Ocean beaches as he seeks to reverse a military coup that overthrew his government in February.

“Workers in the rest of Europe are simply lazier,” he says. “Poles work harder than almost anyone else in the union and they cost less too. That’s why we’re based here and that’s why our sales are going up every year.”

Tesco is opening another 70 stores. PepsiCo is rolling out more snacks and drinks. Unilever has tripled its business in 11 years. Turkey may neighbour Greece, but it might as well be on a different planet. The economy is growing, shoppers are shopping and purveyors of consumer goods are falling over themselves to expand in the self-styled gateway between Asia and Europe.