Stay true to the dreams of thy youth

Israeli Ambassador Michael Oren once again proving how even the Israeli government cannot justify its own policies while trying to claim they want peace with the Palestinians

• Hillary Rodham Clinton dodging political 'high wire' – USATODAY.com

  Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton says she wants to step off the "high wire of American politics" after two decades and is again tamping down speculation that she might stay in government if President Obama wins a second term.

• Popuphood: How To Revitalize A Struggling Neighborhood In Six Months | Co.Exist: World changing ideas and innovation

  In September 2011, Dominguez and his friend Sarah Filley, an urban planner, teamed up to create Popuphood, a project that is giving five new retail shops the opportunity to get six months of free rent at previously vacant storefronts on one block in the neighborhood.

• UN Security Council to discuss Syria as violence spikes - The National

  Two days of violence in Syria killed more than 50 people as regime forces shelled residential buildings, fired on crowds and left bleeding corpses in the streets in a dramatic escalation of violence, activists said yesterday.

• Newt Gingrich Compares Gay Marriage To Paganism

  Newt Gingrich has three marriages and repeated infidelity under his belt, but that doesn't stop him from sounding off about the sanctity of male-female marriage. On a conference call for Religious Right supporters Wednesday, Newt compared gay marriage to paganism. Right Wing Watch has excerpts from the conversation:

• Obama-backed electric car battery company files for bankruptcy protection - The Washington Post

  Ener1, an electric car battery company that the Obama administration awarded a $118 million stimulus grant to expand its operations, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection Thursday after being unable to repay pressing debts.

• Twitter may censor tweets in individual countries – USATODAY.com

  Twitter has refined its technology so it can censor messages on a country-by-country basis. The additional flexibility announced Thursday is likely to raise fears that Twitter's commitment to free speech may be weakening as the short-messaging company expands into new countries in an attempt to broaden its audience and make more money.

• BBC News - Guatemala ex-leader Rios Montt to face genocide charge

  Ex-Guatemalan military leader Efrain Rios Montt is to be tried for genocide and crimes against humanity.

• Obama: U.S. 'Saudi Arabia of Natural Gas' - US News and World Report

  President Obama called America the "Saudi Arabia of natural gas" Thursday and said the country should start using natural gas to power more cars and trucks. Obama made the remarks in light of his decision to open nearly 38 million acres of the Gulf of Mexico for oil and natural gas extraction, saying that natural gas could support more than 600,000 jobs by the end of the decade.

• BNP Paribas to sell $11bn energy loan portfolio - FT.com

  BNP Paribas, France’s largest bank by assets, has put on the block up to $11bn of loans to oil and gas companies.

• Bill Gates pushes ‘green revolution’ for small farms in developing world - The Washington Post

  After years that have seen riots over rice shortages in Asia and record low world reserves of staple crops such as wheat, software-billionaire-turned-philanthropist Bill Gates argues that there is a simple solution. Grow more food.

• Kuwait snaps up Total for $9bn China refinery deal - Energy - ArabianBusiness.com

  Kuwait chose Total as the third partner to build a $9bn oil refinery in China, Kuwait Petroleum Corp chief executive officer Farouk Al-Zanki said.

• Sanctions spur surge of Iranians buying luxury homes in Dubai - The National

  There has been a sharp rise in the number of wealthy Iranians buying luxury homes in Dubai recently as increasing international sanctions bite in their home country.

• 100,000 flood Tahrir Square as Egypt marks the day it all began - The National

  Liberal activists chanted for the military to hand power to civilians. Islamists cheered their victory in the parliamentary elections. Four young men, wearing black and holding signs "mourning the blood of the martyrs", stood silently. The 100,000 and more who streamed into Tahrir Square yesterday were a microcosm of political life in the country a year after Egyptians took to the streets to demand the end of the regime of Hosni Mubarak.

• Stalled Abu Dhabi museums revived after review - Construction - ArabianBusiness.com

  Abu Dhabi, the oil-rich sheikhdom that’s transforming itself into a business and cultural hub, plans to resume suspended real-estate projects including branches of the Louvre and Guggenheim museums after reviewing their viability, the government said.

• Petrobras soars on woman chief’s appointment - FT.com

  Shares of Petrobras soared to a near eight-month high as the Brazilian state-controlled oil company announced the appointment of its first woman chief executive. Petrobras said Maria das Graças Foster, a company veteran said to be close to Brazil’s president Dilma Rousseff, would take over the reins of what is arguably Latin America’s most important company from incumbent José Sérgio Gabrielli in February.

• Mubadala to move out of property development - FT.com

  Mubadala, the Abu Dhabi government investment company, is winding down its property development business as real estate prices continue to fall in the emirate. In unusually candid comments, Waleed al-Muhairi, Mubadala’s chief operating officer, said the company had “taken some gambles and I think been proven wrong in some of the businesses that we’ve done”, making a specific reference to the fund’s property activities.

• gulfnews : Aramco likely to pump first shale gas by 2020

  Riyadh: Saudi Arabian Oil Co (Saudi Aramco) is seeking to begin producing natural gas from shale rock in the country before the end of the decade as domestic power demand climbs.

• Croatia Votes 2 to 1 to Join European Union - NYTimes.com

  Croats voted by a two-to-one margin on Sunday to join the European Union, signaling that the bloc retains its allure despite the debt crisis engulfing the euro currency that many of its members use.

• Keystone XL oil pipeline: John Boehner says Republicans might use payroll tax cut bill to force approval

  House Speaker John Boehner told Fox News Sunday that Republicans “may” tie approval of the Keystone XL oil sands pipeline to the next extension of the payroll tax cut that President Obama supports. Boehner made it clear that “all options are on the table” to force the president to give his backing to the controversial project, reports Reuters.

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

• BBC News - Trial of Hosni Mubarak resumes in Egypt

  The trial of the former Egyptian President, Hosni Mubarak, has resumed after a delay of almost two months. State TV showed the 83-year-old being stretchered into the court, at the police academy in the capital, Cairo.

• Entrepreneurial Ambitions Differ Across Saudi Arabia

  - Although small shares of Saudi Arabia's adult population own businesses or plan to open them soon, Gallup surveys in 2011 reveal these shares are even smaller outside the three major cities of Riyadh, Jeddah, and Dammam. Saudis living in these major cities are twice as likely as their counterparts in the rest of the country to be business owners (9% vs. 4%) and have plans to open a business in the next 12 months (4% vs. 2%). The differences in their ambitions may lie in the diverse challenges they face in becoming business owners and their attitudes.

• Ultra-Orthodox Attacks on Israel’s Women Linked to Arab Inequality - The Daily Beast

  What gives the ultra-Orthodox the ability to oppress women, in other words, is partly a political system in which Israel’s Arab citizens are largely barred from power. What the protesters in Beit Shemesh and their supporters in the United States need to remember is the fundamental interconnectedness of equal citizenship.

• The Army and the Economy in Egypt

  Should the production of pasta, mineral water, butane gas cylinders, and gas station services qualify as classified military secrets? And does discussing these enterprises in public pass as a crime of high treason? The leaders of the Egyptian Armed Forces believe the answer is “yes.”  Until this very day, the role of the military establishment in the economy remains one of the major taboos in Egyptian politics.

• Saudi Electricity to launch transmission firm in Jan | Reuters

  State-controlled Saudi Electricity Co (SEC) plans to launch a transmission subsidiary in January as it splits up into six companies to encourage competition, state news agency SPA reported on Tuesday. After the restructuring, SEC will be a holding company and will retain full ownership of the six companies, which include four power generation firms, one firm for distribution and another one for transmission.

• The Associated Press: Bahrain to host Saudi prince's news network

  Bahrain has been picked to host the headquarters for Saudi billionaire Prince Alwaleed bin Talal's new international Arabic news network despite months of unrest, according to the tiny Gulf kingdom's media oversight authority. Alwaleed's channel, dubbed Alarab, will be based in the Bahraini capital Manama's new Media City office complex, Sheik Fawaz bin Mohammed Al Khalifa, a member of the Bahraini royal family and head of the country's Information Affairs Authority, said in a statement late Tuesday.

• Israel 'will launch significant Gaza offensive sooner or later' | World news | The Guardian

  A new Israeli military offensive against Gaza will be launched "sooner or later" and will be "swift and painful", Israel's most senior military officer has warned. Benny Gantz, the chief of staff of the Israel Defence Forces, was speaking on the third anniversary of the start of a major three-week assault on Gaza during which around 1,400 Palestinians and 13 Israelis were killed.

• The worst case for war with Iran - By Stephen M. Walt | Stephen M. Walt

  you'd like to read a textbook example of war-mongering disguised as "analysis," I recommend Matthew Kroenig's forthcoming article in Foreign Affairs, titled "Time to Attack Iran: Why a Strike Is the Least Bad Option." It is a remarkably poor piece of advocacy, all the more surprising because Kroenig is a smart scholar who has done some good work in the past. It makes one wonder if there's something peculiar in the D.C. water supply.

• Rick Perry on Abortion: Texan Gift of Life made him expand his anti-abortion views to include rape, incest

  Rick Perry may be trailing in the Iowa polls with one week to go but the one-time GOP frontrunner is not giving up just yet. The Texan has launched his latest bid to win over conservative voters thought to be key to his campaign hopes, telling a group of Iowans on Tuesday that his opposition to abortion has grown, and he now believes that it is wrong in all cases, including rape and incest.

• Moldova faces election delay as sole candidate pulls out | Reuters

  Moldova risks a prolonged political stalemate that may further slow down reforms in one of Europe's poorest nations as the only candidate for president said on Wednesday he was pulling out of this month's election. The withdrawal of parliament speaker Marian Lupu means the presidential election, which takes place in parliament rather than by popular vote, might be delayed if no other candidate steps in. The vote is currently scheduled for January 15.

• BBC News - Brazil economy overtakes UK, says CEBR

  Brazil has overtaken the UK as the world's sixth largest economy, an economic research group has said. The Centre for Economics and Business Research (CEBR) said its latest World Economic League Table showed Asian countries moving up and European countries falling back.

• The Forgotten Cold War: 20 Years Later, Myths About U.S. Victory Persist - The Daily Beast

  The perilous contest died, but a dangerous myth lived and thrived-- that President Ronald Reagan won the day with unmatchable hikes in military spending and by being tough and uncompromising. Today, that myth tugs daily in wrong directions regarding the most momentous U.S. policy decisions in hotspots like Iran, North Korea, Afghanistan, and China.

• Saudi Arabia "vulnerable to high food prices' | Retail | AMEinfo.com

  Saudi wealth manager NCB Capital has said the kingdom remains vulnerable to increases in food prices due to its high dependence on imports, Arab News has reported. The inability to fully pass on higher costs to consumers will exert pressure on the margins of food companies

• Saudi hospitals losing millions through rejected insurance claims forms | Healthcare | AMEinfo.com

  Several private hospitals in Saudi Arabia are losing millions of riyals annually, as health insurance firms reject improperly filled out the documents required to confirm payments for medical services rendered by hospitals to insured patients,

• I knew Christopher Hitchens better than you - Satire - Salon.com

  Christopher Hitchens and I were friends for 40 years, plus another five when we were enemies. He took ideas so seriously that if he disagreed with you on a matter that he deemed important, he’d literally throw you in a ditch. It was 1972, the height of our mutual virility. He and I went to a pub to celebrate his most recent intellectual victory over the establishment press. I intimated that sometimes women could be funny on purpose. Even back then, the thought enraged him. Hitchens threw a drink in my face, pressed a lit cigarette into my neck, and hit me over the head with a barstool. The next thing I knew, it was two days later and I was lying hogtied and naked beside the M5. Hitch had already severely damaged my reputation in a vicious essay in the Guardian. But that’s how he operated, and that’s why we loved him.

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

• Mercosur approves Palestinian free trade deal - Yahoo! News

  The Mercosur trade group of four South American nations has signed a free trade agreement with the Palestinian Authority. It's the first trade deal between the Palestinian territories and a bloc of nations outside the Arab world.

• Thousands of Women Mass in Major March in Cairo - NYTimes.com

  CAIRO — Several thousand women demanding the end of military rule marched through downtown Cairo on Tuesday evening in an extraordinary expression of anger over images of soldiers beating, stripping and kicking female demonstrators in Tahrir Square.

• Cash-flow problems delay Dubai skyscraper - Construction - ArabianBusiness.com

  Liquidity woes may push Dubai’s second tallest skyscraper, the Pentominium, past its completion date as developer Trident struggles with financing, the project manager said. The planned 516m tower in Dubai Marina was scheduled for completion in 2013 but saw work suspended in August amid wider financing concerns.

• BP, Total and Statoil secure Angola rights - FT.com

  A new exploration frontier off the coast of Angola that may be similar to oil fields found in Brazil is to be opened after the government of the African country awarded drilling rights to some of the world’s largest energy groups. Britain’s BP, Total of France and Norway’s Statoil all secured licences to explore in Angola’s pre-salt deposits – a layer of salt accumulated millions of years ago under the sea.

• BP to exit solar business after 40 years - FT.com

  BP will close the chapter on more than 40 years of history after deciding to shut down its solar business, once regarded as one of its flagship alternative energy divisions. The group has told staff that it had made the decision after the business became unprofitable.

• Saudi Dairy Giant Spends $83M On Argentina Farms : NPR

  Saudi Arabia's largest dairy company said Wednesday it is buying Argentine farm operator Fondomonte S.A. for $83 million in a bid to secure access to animal feed. The acquisition will give Riyadh-based Almarai Co. control of roughly 30,000 acres of farmland in the South American nation. Almarai said the deal is in line with the desert kingdom's policy of "securing supplies and conserving local resources."

• China Hackers Hit U.S. Chamber Of Commerce Last Year

  WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Hackers in China broke through the computer defenses of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce last year and were able to access information about its operations and its 3 million members, the Wall Street Journal reported on Wednesday.

• Barney Frank’s Protruding Nipples: Why Do Nipples Harden in the Cold? - Slate Magazine

  Rep. Barney Frank was "upstaged by his own chest" during a speech he gave Monday with erect nipples. According to the Huffington Post, his appearance “raised questions about how cold it was in the House chamber.” Why do nipples harden in the cold? No one knows, but it's probably for the same reason that cold gives you goose bumps.

• London club aims to shake-up Dubai’s nightlife scene - Lifestyle - ArabianBusiness.com

  Mahiki, the Mayfair club made famous by regulars such as Prince Harry, is hoping to shake-up the Gulf’s nightlife scene with the launch of its Dubai venue and infamous open-door policy. The owners of the venue are mulling a regional-wide expansion, and said Dubai’s clubbing scene had become a “spectator sport” thanks to strict door policies that bar entry for certain customers. The London club has previously pledged to allow entry to anyone, whether “fat, thin, bald, ugly or old”.

• Dutch firm targets super-rich Arabs with $1m submarines - Lifestyle - ArabianBusiness.com

  For the GCC’s super-rich residents that are bored with their 150-ft yachts, private jets and luxury speedboats, now there's another toy on offer – a personal submarine. Dutch company U-Boat Worx is targeting the region’s wealthiest residents with its range of private submarines, with prices starting from €730,000 ($951,371) per craft.

• Football legend Cristiano Ronaldo to meet fans in Dubai - Lifestyle - ArabianBusiness.com

  Football legend Cristiano Ronaldo will be in Dubai Mall next week to raise funds for international charity Save the Children. The Real Madrid player, who will also be participating in this year’s Dubai Sports Council's (DSC) Sixth Dubai International Sports Conference, will meet fans in the mall on December 27, and sign 10 charity t-shirts for winners of a Dubai Mall competition.

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

Hard to believe I actually live here sometimes...

Bachmann blames Obama for democratization movements in the Middle East... Republicans just keep upping the crazy amongst themselves.

• KSA to stop wheat cultivation by 2016

  In a move to discourage the cultivation of water-intensive wheat crops, Saudi government will altogether stop buying wheat from local farmers by 2016, said Dr. Fahd Bin Abdulrahman Balghunaim, Minister of Agriculture.

• Qatar aims to invest billions of dollars in farm city - Industries - ArabianBusiness.com

  Qatar aims to invest billions of dollars in an agricultural city to house food growers and processers, in an effort to increase its food supply security and combat rising food prices, a government official said.

• Israel, Obama, and Abbas’s U.N. Challenge Over Palestinian Statehood - The Daily Beast

  U.S. policy in the Middle East has long boiled down to a squalid bargain: support for Arab dictators as long as they abstained from challenging the Israeli-Palestinian impasse. Now the Arab Spring offers America the chance—fragile, uncertain, but potentially the best opportunity in more than a generation—to break out of paralysis: to side with the future rather than the past. In Egypt, in Libya, in U.S. Ambassador Robert Ford’s courageous stand against the vicious crackdown in Damascus in Syria, America has shown a commitment to the future. But the Arab world sees Palestine as the test: the U.S. vote in the Security Council will be taken as proof of where America really stands. As the 2012 election approaches, domestic politics may prevent Obama from supporting Abbas’s resolution in the Security Council, but even a carefully explained abstention would send a powerful message. America’s Founding Fathers did not regard their independence as negotiable. How can President Obama demand that the Palestinians accept any less?

• Israel fears settlers in West Bank are using terror tactics - Middle East, World - The Independent

  ** Nothing new here, they've been doing this for years ** Shin Bet, Israel's domestic intelligence agency, says that Jewish extremists are forming new "terrorist" groups that are deliberately targeting Palestinians and Israeli peace activists, intelligence sources were quoted as saying yesterday. Israeli officials have watched with alarm a sudden spike in attacks by Jewish zealots, particularly West Bank settlers, on Palestinian and Israeli property and personnel following the Israeli army's demolition of several homes in Migron, an illegal Jewish outpost in the occupied West Bank, 10 days ago.

• Abu Dhabi fund improves rate of return - FT.com

  The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, one of the world’s largest sovereign wealth funds, last year sharply improved its annualised rate of return measured over a 20-year period. Adia said in its an annual review published on Tuesday that annualised rates of return increased to 7.6 per cent on the back of global economic growth, compared with 6.5 per cent in 2009, the first year the fund reported 20-year annualised rates of return.

• US poverty rate: Census report shows 15 percent below poverty line

  It’s official: The poor are getting poorer. A record 46 million Americans were living below the poverty line in 2010, according to a report released Tuesday by the US Census Bureau. That means a household income of $22,113 for a family of four. The national poverty rate of 15.1 percent was the highest it’s been since 1993.

• The Years of Shame - NYTimes.com

  ** Nice work Krugman, saying what needs to be said, as usual ** What happened after 9/11 — and I think even people on the right know this, whether they admit it or not — was deeply shameful. The atrocity should have been a unifying event, but instead it became a wedge issue. Fake heroes like Bernie Kerik, Rudy Giuliani, and, yes, George W. Bush raced to cash in on the horror. And then the attack was used to justify an unrelated war the neocons wanted to fight, for all the wrong reasons.

• Veto a State, Lose an Ally - NYTimes.com

  ** Turki Al-Faisal's op-eds are getting better and better ** The United States must support the Palestinian bid for statehood at the United Nations this month or risk losing the little credibility it has in the Arab world. If it does not, American influence will decline further, Israeli security will be undermined and Iran will be empowered, increasing the chances of another war in the region. Moreover, Saudi Arabia would no longer be able to cooperate with America in the same way it historically has.

• Was Marx Right? - Umair Haque - Harvard Business Review

  In case you've been on Mars (or even just on vacation), here's a surprising idea that's been making the rounds lately: there might have been something to Marx's critiques of capitalism after all.

• Saudi Arabia plans to build 4,000 new schools - Education - ArabianBusiness.com

  Saudi Arabia’s Ministry of Education will spend SR32bn ($8.5bn) on constructing 4,000 new schools in the kingdom as part of its plan to overhaul the Gulf state’s education system, it was reported on Sunday. A total of 600 new schools have been built and 1,200 have been renovated so far this year, a Ministry of Education spokesperson told Saudi daily Arab News.

• Qatar's Al Jazeera says Egypt offices raided, staff held - Media - ArabianBusiness.com

  Security officers raided the offices of an Al Jazeera channel in Egypt and detained some of its staff, the Qatar-based broadcaster said on Sunday, describing the move as an attempt to drive the channel off the air. State news agency MENA said it had shut down a company that provided facilities to the channel Al Jazeera Mubasher (Live), which broadcasts live international events. MENA said the Al Jazeera unit did not have a proper licence.

• AUC students and workers launch strike against soaring fees and wage cuts | Al-Masry Al-Youm: Today's News from Egypt

  About two thousand students and workers at the American University in Cairo (AUC) began an open-ended strike Sunday in protest at the recent hike in tuition fees and continuing low salaries, amid silence from the university's administration. Protesting students stormed classrooms at the new AUC campus in New Cairo, urging all students to unite and ask for their rights, chanting, "Get out," and, "Why are you silent? Aren't you a student like us?" They then marched around the campus and stood in front of the administration building that houses the office of AUC President Lisa Anderson, chanting: "Lisa, where did our parents' money go?"

• The 9/11 Decade - Bill Keller’s Unfinished Business - NYTimes.com

  ** Nice to see some repentance by the Iraq War advocates ** Ten years after the attacks, we memorialize the loss and we mark the heroism, but there is no organized remembrance of the other feelings that day aroused: the bewilderment, the vulnerability, the impotence. It may be difficult to recall with our attention now turned inward upon a faltering economy, but the suddenly apparent menace of the world awakened a bellicose surge of mission and made hawks of many — including me — who had a lifelong wariness of the warrior reflex.

• Russia strikes first Bahrain arms deal after riots - Industries - ArabianBusiness.com

  Russia for the first time is selling weapons to Bahrain after the UK and France banned deliveries of security equipment to the Gulf monarchy because of its crackdown on protesters.

• Western spy tools aid in crackdown on Arab dissent - Technology - ArabianBusiness.com

  The use of the system for interrogation in Bahrain illustrates how Western-produced surveillance technology sold to one authoritarian government became an investigative tool of choice to gather information about political dissidents - and silence them. Companies are free to sell such equipment almost anywhere. For the most part, the US and European countries lack export controls to deter the use of such systems for repression.

• Bahrain plans new industrial city in east of kingdom - Construction - ArabianBusiness.com

  A new industrial city could be built in the east of Bahrain, a senior minister has announced.

• Middle East Policy: A zero-sum game? - Opinion - Al Jazeera English

  Perhaps the primary cause of America's declining influence is its stance on the Arab-Israeli conflict. If the US was really serious about getting on "the right side of history" in the Middle East, it would have long since adopted a balanced and proactive stance. Let us say it frankly: this would mean putting tangible pressure on Israel to adhere to the international consensus - land for peace, based on the 1967 lines, in the framework of the 1967 UN Security Council Resolution 242. "Pathetic" does not adequately describe Obama's position on this matter. In fairness, several of his predecessors were almost equally supine.

• Saudi Arabia Buys 660,000 Tons of U.S., European Hard Wheat - Bloomberg

  Saudi Arabia bought 660,000 metric tons of hard wheat from the U.S., Europe, Australia and Canada for delivery from November to February, the Grain Silos and Flour Mills Organization said. The average price is $346 per ton, including cost and freight, the government-run wheat importer said in an e-mailed statement. The kingdom will receive six shipments in the port of Jeddah and six in Dammam, according to the statement.

• The symbolism of sweatpants - FT.com

  There is a bit of vanity in possessing a couple of pairs of sweatpants with swooshes, stripes and leaping wildcats on them, but beyond that they’re inexpensive, easy to care for and practical. They can go from bed to street and back to bed again in an endless cycle that mirrors the downward cycle of the communities where these garments flap on clotheslines and hang on balcony railings. In short, sweatpants are a sign of surrender, of giving up, of hopelessness, of no longer needing to make an effort in society.

Impressive

• Libya declares halt to all military operations - Politics & Economics - ArabianBusiness.com

  Muammar Gaddafi's government said it was declaring a unilateral ceasefire in its offensive to crush Libya's revolt, as Western warplanes prepared to attack his forces. But government troops pounded the rebel-held western city of Misrata on Friday, killing at least 25 people including children, a doctor there told Reuters. Residents said there was no sign of a ceasefire. And in the rebel-controlled east, the government declaration was dismissed as a ruse or a sign Gaddafi was desperate.

• Bahraini carrier cancels services to Iran | Aviation | AMEinfo.com

  Bahrain's Gulf Air has announced the cancellation of flights to Iran and Iraq amid the civil unrest that has led to a state of emergency being declared in the country, The National has reported. Flights to Iran have been suspended until Monday while services to Iraq have been closed until Friday, the airline said. The rest of its services are operating as normal, it said.

• Oman Air moves from being a regional to an international airline | Aviation | AMEinfo.com

  Philippe Georgiou, Chief Officer, Commercial Affairs, Oman Air talks about how the airline has evolved from a regional to an international carrier serving niche destinations. He also talks to Phil Blizzard about the need to explore strategic alliances and consolidations to sustain profitability and how they see Oman Air providing a luxury in-flight experience.

• Kuwait's Wataniya Airways ceases operations, blames costs - ArabianBusiness.com

  Kuwait's Wataniya Airways said on Wednesday it was stopping its operations due to its financial situation and regional unrest. "Given the current financial situation of the company ... as well as the difficult political and security situation in the region, the board has decided to cease all Wataniya Airways operations," a company statement said.

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

One of many reasons I don't watch Fox News