Middle East
Back to homepageWTO Forecasts Gradual Recovery Despite Cut in Trade Forecasts
World trade growth in 2013 and 2014 is likely to be slower than previously forecast. WTO economists now predict 2013 growth of 2.5% (down from the 3.3% forecast in April) and 4.5% in 2014 (down from 5.0%), but they say
Read MoreCityscape Global 2013: Dubai Property Boom Set to Resume
After the clobbering it received during the Great Recession, the Dubai real estate market is now fully set to surge ahead. Tower cranes are once again swinging their long jibs leisurely through the city’s airspace while underneath apartment buildings, malls,
Read MoreExperts Debate Dubai’s Post-Recession Property Boom – Another Bubble or Sustained Recovery?
More than 750 senior real estate professionals prepped for Global Real Estate Summit and MENA Mortgage and Affordable Housing Congress Dubai, UAE, 11 August, 2013: With all sectors of the Dubai property market now gaining momentum in making a healthy
Read MoreBarking Up the Wrong Tree in St. Petersburg: G20 Hijacked by Syria Conflict
The world leaders gathered today in St. Petersburg for the G20 summit were supposed to discuss the slowdown of global economic growth and ways to combat tax evasion. This agenda has now been largely supplanted by developments in Syria and
Read MoreSmall Egypt Farmers Catch the Eye of Agribusiness: IFAD Finds Key to Success
Twenty-odd years ago, groups of dispossessed farmers and unemployed youth were resettled on smallholdings in Upper Egypt. Authorities told the new arrivals to go till the desert soil. Plots – sandboxes really – of one to two hectares were duly
Read MoreChristopher Colford, World Bank: Competitive Cities Can Meet the Challenge of Job Creation
Focusing policies on competitive industries can provide jobs for the impoverished, hungry, restive urban millions As magnets for talent and crucibles of creativity, dynamic cities are the pacesetters for innovation in this era of relentless global competition. Vibrant metropolitan regions
Read MoreLooking for a Fig Leaf: US & UK Mull Punitive Action against Syria
Here we go again. The US and Britain are whipping themselves once more into a frenzy over the actions of an evil strongman in the Middle East. This time around the recipient of American and British ire is Syrian president
Read MoreConnecting a Country: Iraq Gears Up for a Telecoms Leap
In Iraq the budding telecom sector is to spearhead the country’s drive to full economic recovery. The Baghdad government has adopted a series of policies to encourage the sector’s growth through innovation and the early adoption of new technologies. The
Read MoreUse of Chemical Weapons in Damascus: UN Voices Deep Shock and Concern
Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon expressed his shock at reports of alleged use of chemical weapons in Syria’s Damascus suburbs yesterday, as a United Nations team continues to investigate the matter in other parts of the war-torn country. Following a late-day closed-door
Read MoreFacebook Zero: Connecting the World
As Facebook is looking for growth it increasingly turns to Africa, India and the Middle East. These are about the only places left with vast markets and a pent-up demand for the services of the social network. Elsewhere on earth
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