Stay true to the dreams of thy youth

• Domestic oil use in Saudi Arabia at 10-year high | Energy, Oil and Gas | AMEinfo.com

  According to official Saudi figures, crude oil consumption in the kingdom rose 13.7% in October from the previous month, reaching the highest level since at least 2002, Bloomberg has reported. The country used an average of 2.02 million barrels a day of oil in October compared with 1.78 million barrels in September,

• Israel's Emerging "Jewish Hezbollah" by Mark Perry | The Middle East Channel

  "I don't want to exaggerate, but it's time to call this what it is," a veteran IDF officer noted in a recent telephone conversation on the Nablus incident. "It might be news in America, but it's no secret in Israel. This is a very real crisis. What we have here is the birth of a state within a state. The birth of a kind of Jewish Hezbollah." This former officer went on to speculate that "what is emerging in the West Bank" is "a three-state solution: Israel, the Palestinian Authority, and, standing between them, a radical settler state."

• Portugal to Pass Security Laws as Crime Rises Amid Austerity - Bloomberg

  Portugal’s government is set to propose laws to make streets safer amid an increase in crime during the country’s year-long recession, Justice Minister Paula Teixeira da Cruz said. The government will soon propose legislation to bolster cooperation between different police forces,

• Woman Burned Alive in Brooklyn Elevator - Police Arrest Man - NYTimes.com

  Mr. Isaac, 47, methodically set the woman aflame, burning her alive in the elevator of her building in Brooklyn on Saturday, only a few feet from her apartment door, the police said. He sprayed the flammable liquid in the woman’s face and over her cowering body, and then lighted a Molotov cocktail to ignite the fire.

• Israel frees hundreds in second phase of swap - The Washington Post

  Also Sunday, the Israeli government moved ahead with its plan to accelerate building in West Bank settlements and East Jerusalem, announcing that it would invite bids to construct more than 1,000 homes there. The new housing will be in the settlements of Beitar Ilit and Givat Zeev, and in Har Homa, a Jewish neighborhood of Jerusalem built on West Bank land annexed to the city. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced the stepped-up construction last month after the Palestinians were accepted as a member state in UNESCO.

• Saudi Prince Buys $300 Million Stake in Twitter - WSJ.com

  Saudi Arabia's Prince Alwaleed bin Talal has made a $300 million investment in Twitter Inc., expanding his media empire into social-media sites and giving the billionaire a stake in an online forum that was widely used by activists in this year's Arab uprisings.

• UAE food prices are among lowest in world | Retail | AMEinfo.com

  Food prices in the UAE are now some of the lowest in the world, thanks in part to ongoing government controls introduced earlier this year, The National has reported. The UAE Government sought to protect consumers in May when it launched a campaign to freeze or reduce the prices of 400 basic commodities until the end of the year.

• Records show colonizers were not done with Goa - The Times of India

  After 50 years, one tends to think that the Portuguese colonial power kept itself busy elsewhere after Goa was liberated from its rule by the Indian army. But the colonizers nursed dreams of recapturing the tiny coastal Indian region for several years, even bombing Goa twice under the Indian union.

• A New Home for Hamas? - By Houriya Ahmed and Julia Pettengill | Foreign Policy

  The shifting allegiances in this tumultuous era of Arab politics have come to resemble a game of musical chairs. According to an unnamed Hamas official quoted in the Wall Street Journal, the hard-line Palestinian group is seeking to move its political headquarters from Damascus as early as this week. Its reliance on the tottering regime of Bashar al-Assad in Syria has left it significantly weakened and in search of a new base for political operations, and Egypt and Qatar have both materialized as possible new bases, according to the official. In the case of the Qatari capital of Doha, that may not necessarily be a bad thing.

• Newt, Mitt, Bibi and Vladimir - NYTimes.com

  I sure hope that Israel’s prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, understands that the standing ovation he got in Congress this year was not for his politics. That ovation was bought and paid for by the Israel lobby. The real test is what would happen if Bibi tried to speak at, let’s say, the University of Wisconsin. My guess is that many students would boycott him and many Jewish students would stay away, not because they are hostile but because they are confused.

• Why Tom Friedman is a true friend of Israel - By Stephen M. Walt | Stephen M. Walt

  Many of you probably saw Tom Friedman's startling column in yesterday's New York Times, where he attacked the Republican presidential candidates for pandering on the subject of Israel. He also informed his readers that all those standing ovations for Netanyahu in Congress were "bought and paid for by the Israel lobby," and he correctly noted that this blind and unconditional support for Israel was not really "pro-Israel" at all. Why? Because it was leading Israel away from a two-state solution and toward one of three disastrous options from Israel's perspective: 1) apartheid, 2) ethnic cleansing, or 3) a binational democratic state which would eventually be dominated by the more numerous Palestinians.

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

• Can Venture Capital Save The World? - Forbes

  Novogratz plays the role of auditor because, as CEO and founder of the Acumen Fund, helping people starts with financial due diligence. In April Acumen sank $1.9 million into the bank in exchange for an 18% stake, one small investment in a decadelong experiment in charitable giving. Instead of shoveling aid dollars to causes or governments that give away life-­sustaining goods and services, Acumen espouses investing money wisely in small-time entrepreneurs in the developing world who strive to solve problems, from mosquito netting to bottled water to affordable housing. It’s a new twist on the old adage about teaching a man to fish, except that Novogratz wants to build an entire fish market.

• Saudi reshuffle boosts economy team | beyondbrics

  King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia appointed two heavyweights to head up the ministry of economy and planning, and the ministry of commerce and industry at a time when consolidating economic planning is crucial to maximizing the benefits of the huge spending earmarked for the coming years.

• IDF agrees to expansion of West Bank settlement - Haaretz Daily Newspaper | Israel News

  ** But yeah, clearly, Israel wants peace...***

  Israel's military establishment has approved the establishment of a new, permanent neighborhood and a farm near the West Bank settlement of Efrat. The projects will go beyond the community's current built-up area, constituting an effective expansion of the Etzion Bloc of settlements toward the north and north-east. After they are completed, Jewish settlement in northern Gush Etzion will reach the edges of Bethlehem's southernmost suburbs

• Backlash for Lowe's as ads pulled from Muslim show - Yahoo! News

  Lowe's Home Improvement has found itself facing a backlash after the retail giant pulled ads from a reality show about American Muslims. The retail giant stopped advertising on TLC's "All-American Muslim" after a conservative group known as the Florida Family Association complained, saying the program was "propaganda that riskily hides the Islamic agenda's clear and present danger to American liberties and traditional values."

• Perry continues campaign push in Iowa, faces hecklers – CNN Political Ticker - CNN.com Blogs

  **Oh Republican candidates...**

  "No greater example of it than this administration sending millions of dollars into the solar industry, and we lost that money," Perry began. "I want to say it was over $500 million that went to the country Solynda."

• Peter Beinart Is Right—or, a One-State Solution Is Inevitable if Settlements Continue - Atlantic Mobile

  A number of Goldblog readers have forwarded me this video of Peter Beinart speaking at the recent General Assembly of the Jewish Federations of North America. These readers are critical of Peter's assertion that Israel is, in essence, forcing a one-state solution on itself by continuing the occupation and settlement of the West Bank. I watched the video, and, alas, I don't find much to dispute with what Peter says. This isn't the easiest thing for me to acknowledge; I disagree with much of Peter's Middle East political analysis, and I disagree with many of his peacemaking suggestions. But he's not wrong about the most crucial thing: Israel will soon enough be forced to face a choice: Grant citizenship to the Arabs of the West Bank, or cease to call itself a Jewish democracy. Here is a bit of what Peter said:

• Lauren Scruggs, Model, Walks Into Plane Propeller, Survives (VIDEO)

  A 23-year-old model and fashion editor is lucky to be alive after she accidentally walked into a small plane's propeller on Saturday. Lauren Scruggs, of Plano, Texas, was getting off a small private plane after looking at Christmas lights around the area when she walked into the moving propeller, Fox Dallas reports.

• Alec Baldwin: My Flying Lesson

  First off, I would like to apologize to the other passengers onboard the American Airlines flight that I was thrown off of yesterday. It was never my intention to inconvenience anyone with my "issue" with a certain flight attendant.

• Saudi government considers banning smartphones for public employees | Telecoms | AMEinfo.com

  The Saudi government is considering banning all public employees from using smartphones and tablets, such as iPhones, iPads, and BlackBerry devices, during working hours after receiving complaints from the public,

• Kuwait set to open $3.3bn terminal in 2016 | Aviation | AMEinfo.com

  *** Hmmm, somehow I don't see the need for 25 million passengers to commute via Kuwait... ***

  The Kuwaiti ministry of public works has said a new, KD900m ($3.3bn) passenger terminal presently under construction at Kuwait International Airport is due to open in September 2016, Zawya Dow Jones has reported. The new terminal will have capacity to accommodate 13 million passengers annually in the first stage, with the ability to increase this number to 25 million and to 50 million in later stages.

• Facebook makes Gowalla acquisition | Media and Advertising | AMEinfo.com

  Facebook has acquired location sharing service Gowalla for an undisclosed sum, CNN has reported. Most of Gowalla's employees, including founder Josh Williams, will move to Facebook's offices in Palo Alto. The team will work on Facebook's Timeline feature, which launched at this year's F8 conference and is gradually rolling out to Facebook's 800 million members.

• Putin's Treasure Dive Find Was Staged: Spokesman

  ** I don't believe it, it was staged!?!?***

  The widely publicized incident in which Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin pulled up ancient Greek jug fragments from the seabed on a diving expedition was staged, his chief spokesman said. The August dive in the Kerch Strait that connects the Black and Azov seas was reported extensively in Russian and overseas media. Putin is noted for his habit of appearing in vigorous and adventurous settings, including fishing while stripped to the waist and riding with leather-clad motorcyclists.

• President Obama calls on Bill Clinton to help unveil energy efficiency program for office buildings - 44 - The Washington Post

  President Obama will announce on Friday a partnership with private companies to invest $4 billion toward making federal government and commercial office buildings more energy-efficient, a program the administration predicted could create tens of thousands of jobs. The program is part of a Better Buildings Initiative that Obama outlined in his State of the Union address in January to increase the energy efficiency in commercial buildings by 20 percent by 2020.

• Nearly half German city to evacuate Sunday for defusing of WWII era bomb - News - Stripes

  About 45,000 residents of the German city of Koblenz, nearly half of the city’s population, are under evacuation orders Sunday following the discovery of what local officials said was one of the largest unexploded bombs ever found, believed to have been dropped by the British Royal Air Force during World War II. The nearly 4,000-pound bomb, packed with more than 3,000 pounds of explosives, as well as other unexploded ordnance, were discovered in the Rhine River, where the water levels have dropped significantly due to a lack of rain over the past few weeks, according to local authorities.

• 5 Corporations Who Owe Americans Thanks This Thanksgiving Day | Death and Taxes

  Forming a corporation means never having to say you’re sorry. It’s very structure is built around the idea that no one is culpable for wrong action. However, since Citizens United vs. FEC dictated to every American citizen that corporations are people (in their totality), we think that like any good person, they should give thanks where required. Here are five corporations and banks who were either bailed out in recent years or who pay next to nothing in federal taxes.

• Dubai to star in shoot-'em-up computer game - Media - ArabianBusiness.com

  A shoot-em-up computer game which pits gamers against a hostile sandstorm-ravaged Dubai is set to be released next year, its creators have said. Publisher 2K Games said that its much anticipated military shooter Spec Ops: The Line will be released in spring 2012.

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