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Dubbed by some observers as the 'next Dubai' because of its vast oil reserves, liberal business environment and political and social stability, Kurdistan played host to the Chinese ambassador to Iraq, Ni Jian, for the first time recently. The Chinese interest follows the Kurdistan Region's deals with numerous western companies, especially in the oil and gas sector, who see the region as having impressive high-growth investment potential. Mr Jian met Nechirvan Barzani, prime minister of the Kurdistan Regional Government, and they discussed the potential of setting up a consulate in Erbil, the region's capital, and improving trade links. Ambassador Jian...

An American vessel fired on a boat Monday off the coast of the United Arab Emirates, killing one person and injuring three, according to a U.S. consular official in Dubai. The official gave no further details, but it appeared the boat could have been mistaken as a threat in Gulf waters not far from Iran's maritime boundaries. Dozens of police and other Emirati officials crowded around the white-hulled boat, which sat docked after the incident in a small Dubai port used by fishermen and sailors. The boat appeared to be a civilian vessel about 30 feet (9 meters) long and...

These are the dizzying pictures of Dubai taken from on top of the tallest skyscrapers in the world by a daredevil Russian teenager. Student Marat Dupri has made it it his mission to scale the highest buildings he can find before dangling precariously over their edges to take his extraordinary shots. The fearless 19-year-old, who only bought his first camera just two years ago, started by sneaking past guards and climbing on to the roofs of Moscow landmarks, before setting his sights even higher - on Dubai's towering structures. Sky walking: Dubai's extravagant hotels lie far below the photographer, surrounded...

SARASOTA, FL (NS/AP) - Dubai Ports World has now offered to delay part of its $6.8 BILLION deal to take over Administrative Operations at 6 U.S. Seaport's... There is NO way that ANY of our Nation's Seaport's should be for sale to ANYBODY! The recent announcement disclosing a Company owned by a Nation with links to Terrorism, the United Arab Emerates (UAE), was going to take over 6 of our Nation's Seaport's with the United Kingdom (UK) run Port Administrative and Management Company has met a strong challenge against this happening... With only 6-8% of our Imported Containers actually being...

Two U.S. Democratic senators said on Friday they would introduce legislation aimed at blocking Dubai Ports World from buying a company that operates several U.S. shipping ports because of security concerns. ADVERTISEMENT Robert Menendez of New Jersey and Hillary Clinton of New York said they would offer a measure to ban companies owned or controlled by foreign governments from acquiring U.S. port operations. "We wouldn't turn the border patrol or the customs service over to a foreign government, and we can't afford to turn our ports over to one either," Menendez said in a statement. P&O, the company Dubai Ports...

Correct Solution of the Current Port Problem Create National/Private (Both?) American Port Authority Details to be hashed: Mandatory Category: 1) American citizenship 2) English Speaking Existing Workforce, with X amount of time in is Grandfathered(limits),langauage, security and Citizenship. Existing non Citizens have X amount of time to become English Speaking American. Strict by the numbers security/clerance,top to bottom. NO SNAFUs, No Business as Usual. ***** Maybe: Run as for profit Fed Agency?

A team from Dubai's DP World is expected to start meetings on Tuesday with groups which have expressed concerns about its takeover of P&O Ports' US operations as it seeks to head off political opposition to the deal. The company, owned by the Emirate of Dubai's Ports, Customs and Freezones Authority, is set to meet representatives of some of the five US port authorities where P&O has operations, and national politicians who oppose the deal. The team is thought to include some of the many US citizens who work for DP World, including Ted Bilkey, chief operating officer, who has...

The Burj Khalifa—currently the tallest building in the world and a landmark on the Dubai skyline—was lauded for its luxury apartments and deluxe amenities when it opened in 2010. But the building has been a huge flop with investors, and real estate prices there have plummeted from highs of $2,450 per-square-foot to around $721 per-square foot, the Wall Street Journal's Tahani Karrar-Lewsley reports today. Investors called the building "distressed" back in February, bringing to mind other super-ambitious real estate projects that have failed in the emirate in recent years. The Burj, which has 903 residential apartments, opened at a tough...

Racist comments, vulgar drawings, messages supporting terrorism deface mosque washroomsMosque washrooms in Dubai and Sharjah are being defaced by racist slurs, vulgar remarks and hate messages, a random XPRESS survey revealed. The offensive posts — mostly too graphic to be shown or talked about here — were found scribbled behind toilet doors in restrooms attached to mosques. XPRESS visited several restrooms at mosques in Dubai, including those in Deira, Bur Dubai, Karama, Mankhool, Satwa and Al Safa, and also mosques in Rolla and Abu Shagara in Sharjah. On an average, only four out of around 15 were found to be...

The U.S. Treasury Department disrupted a Dubai-based banking operation that Washington believes had become Tehran's primary conduit for evading international sanctions and processing its oil sales, according to people briefed on the operation. The effort was particularly sensitive because the targeted institution in the United Arab Emirates is partly owned by the local government of Dubai, a close U.S. ally. The chairman of the bank, called the Noor Islamic Bank, is the son of Dubai's ruler.

ABU DHABI, United Arab Emirates -- Perhaps it is rare to think of Tiger Woods mingling among a crowd of people wealthier than him, but there he was Sunday afternoon on the 18th green at Abu Dhabi Golf Club, as U.A.E. sheikhs worth billions tried to administer a trophy presentation.

Dubai: Syria faced new sanctions after missing an Arab League deadline yesterday to allow observers to monitor the uprising.A senior Qatari official was quoted as saying that Syria had asked for "new clarifications and further amendments to be made to the protocol which was proposed" to cover the deployment of the observer mission. But the Arab ministers had "refused."Yesterday's deadline was announced in Doha by Qatari Prime Minister Shaikh Hamad Bin Jasem Al Thani, who also warned against the internationalisation of the Syrian crisis if Damascus did not heed the Arab call.

Police in Dubai and the Associated Press are trying to claim that Ahmad Rezai's death was a suicide, but even the office of the Supreme Leader today acknowledged that Ahmad Rezai, 35, was murdered in the Gloria Hotel in Dubai today. The initial police report quoted by the AP claims he was found with a slit wrist, but Iranian websites and Rezai's father's Tabnak website say that he was found dead under "suspicious circumstances," apparently electrocuted. The regime had good cause to murder the younger Rezai, who initially fled to the United States in 1998 and denounced the regime and...

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — The son of a prominent Iranian conservative who ran against President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in 2009 has died in a Dubai hotel in an apparent suicide, a Dubai police official and an Iranian website said Sunday.

DUBAI: UAE issues shock Eurofighter Typhoon request By: Craig Hoyle Dubai France’s long-running campaign to sell up to 60 Dassault Rafales to the United Arab Emirates faces a shock last-minute challenge, with the Eurofighter consortium having been asked to submit a proposal based on its Typhoon combat aircraft. News of the development broke on the eve of the Dubai air show, where both types are scheduled to take part in the daily flying display. Sources have confirmed that the UK provided a formal briefing about the Typhoon to UAE officials on 17 October, after being asked to explore how it...

The slow collapse of Dubai, a desert mirage built on oil money, human misery and the greed of Western businesses, reminds us once again of the fate of all slave economies in the end. But for all the skyscrapers in Dubai, the glittering avenues built by slave labor and the abundance of luxury American and European automobiles-- the story of Dubai and Saudi Arabia is very much an old story in a Muslim Middle East, of fat prosperous sheiks clutching their ill gotten gains to themselves and ruling over harems and companies of slaves, until the end comes. Like Muslim...

That's me! In Dubai last week to open a milkshake franchise, promote her signature fragrance, and pursue other opportunities to expand her business empire, uber-celebrity Kim Kardashian and mother Kris Jenner stopped by the Dubai Mall to shop for the latest Middle Eastern fashions – including matching burqas.“That’s me!” Kardashian later squealed on Twitter beneath a photo of herself with her famous face completely obscured except for a slit for the eyes (this is actually a niqab, , which covers everything; a burqa is becoming the popular catchall word to describe the covering in general). Considering that Kardashian’s fame...

Restaurant fined; Municipality says no tolerance with eating outlets that do not comply with rulesA man who fancied a steak meal went to a famous food chain’s Chili's outlet at Sharjah’s Sahara Centre (Dubai) and ordered one. As the dish was served, his hunger instantly turned into disgust as there were worms in the plate. Infuriated, Bahaa Hijazi quickly took shots of the plate with his mobile phone, summoned the restaurant manager and protested. The manager said sorry and simply offered him another free meal. “But of course I refused and told him it is not a matter of another...

US fleet may quit troubled Bahrain Hugh Tomlinson From:The Australian THE US Navy is looking at plans to move its Fifth Fleet away from Bahrain amid fears over violence and continued instability in the Gulf kingdom. Sources in Washington and the Gulf have confirmed a growing consensus around the idea of relocating the fleet after the recent crackdown on anti-government protests that left at least 32 dead. Politicians in Washington are concerned the navy's continued presence a few kilometres from the centre of the capital Manama lends tacit support to Bahrain's suppression of the opposition, amid allegations of systematic human...

Briton fined Dh3,000 for insulting Ramadan on Facebook Awad MustafaJul 20, 2011  DUBAI // A British woman who expressed her hatred of Ramadan on Facebook and called her colleague a "dictator" and a follower of Osama bin Laden on the site, has been fined Dh3,000 by a Dubai Court.EG, 31, a trainer, was charged at the Dubai Court of Misdemeanours with insulting the Egyptian MJ, 35, online.In her statement to prosecutors, MJ said that on the evening of September 4 she saw a "disrespectful" status update about Ramadan on EG's Facebook page. She said she was moved to "chat" with...