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The U.S. Treasury is struggling with how to handle any political or Islamic ramifications as Persian Gulf sovereign wealth funds look to make substantial investments in capital-poor American banks and securities firms. The crisis in mortgage-backed securities has created a need for new capital to enter financial markets after major financial institutions such as Bear Stearns and Carlyle Capital Corp. failed over the weekend. The crisis is an opportunity for sovereign wealth funds that have prospered as the price of oil has soared over $110 a barrel. WND previously reported sovereign wealth funds in six Persian Gulf countries, including Kuwait,...

Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates - Teen-age schoolgirls giggled and snapped pictures with their cell phone cameras as they took turns posing with the visiting celebrity. Some gave the guest a polite peck on the cheek while others wanted an autograph. The scene would not have been shocking at a rock concert in America. But here in the Arab world, it was a moment of breathtaking hopefulness. The celebrity was Wangari Maathai, a Kenyan woman who won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2004, and most of the girls were dressed in black Islamic robes and head coverings, some showing only...

Leaders of the United Arab Emirates (U.A.E.) may soon see a major lawsuit against them dismissed, thanks to the U.S. government. Last Thursday, the Department of Justice (DoJ) filed a notice in U.S. District Court in Miami of its “potential participation” in the lawsuit, which alleges that Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, U.A.E.’s prime minister and vice president, and his brother, Hamdan, U.A.E.’s finance minister, enslaved boys as jockeys in camel races. With the prospect of federal intervention, the lawsuit may be dismissed. After the suit was filed in September 2006, the U.A.E. leaders hired a camp of lobbyists,...

Kenyan authorities say they have cracked the password on a laptop computer belonging to one of the most wanted Al Qaeda suspects in Africa. A report by the Kenyan newspaper, The Daily Nation, on its Web site Monday quoted anonymous "senior police sources" as saying that the computer "contained vital information on terrorism training and intelligence collection, including spying." The report gave no further details, but said the computer was seized from the wife of Faisal Abdullah Mohammed - indicted by federal prosecutors for his role in the Al Qaeda truck bombings of two US embassies in East Africa in...

Hand-picked voters chose members of a government advisory panel Saturday in this tiny oil-rich country's first election, the Arab world's latest tentative step toward democracy. Saturday was the first of a three-day vote for 20 open seats on the Federal National Council, an advisory body seen as an eventual precursor to a national parliament. Some 450 candidates were running, including 65 women. Nearly 1,700 people were chosen to vote by the government in the capital, Abu Dhabi, the state-run news agency WAM reported. They elected three men and a woman to the council. More than 400 voters were picked in...

Former President George H.W. Bush took on Arab critics of his son Tuesday during a testy exchange at a leadership conference in the capital of this U.S. ally. "My son is an honest man," Bush told members of the audience harshly criticized the current U.S. leader's foreign policy. The oil-rich Persian Gulf used to be safe territory for former President Bush, who brought Arab leaders together in a coalition that drove Saddam Hussein's troops from Kuwait in 1991. But gratitude for the elder Bush, who served as president from 1989-93, was overshadowed at the conference by hostility toward his son,...

Living in war is the hardest thing in the world because you'll see the place you have lived in for your whole life is being destroyed completely and all the people you love are getting hurt, growing up in war is very hard, all the things you used to do is impossible to do now including going out that's because it is very dangerous to go any where so you have to stay home all the time and even home isn't safe, for me the most thing I missed was going out and visit my relatives and friends, when school...

A computer technician has pleaded guilty in a plot to ship to Iran more than 100 pressure sensors that could be used as components in explosive devices, authorities said Wednesday. Mohammad Fazeli, 27, entered his guilty plea Monday to one count of violating a U.S. embargo prohibiting trade with Iran, said U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement spokeswoman Virginia Kice. As part of a plea deal, prosecutors agreed to drop one count each of conspiracy and making false statements. Fazeli, who remains free on $50,000 bond, faces up to 10 years in federal prison when he is sentenced Aug. 7. In...

WASHINGTON, April 27 — President Bush is expected on Friday to announce his approval of a deal under which a Dubai-owned company would take control of nine plants in the United States that manufacture parts for American military vehicles and aircraft, say two administration officials familiar with the terms of the deal. The officials, who were granted anonymity so they could speak freely about something the president had not yet announced, said that the final details had not yet been set and that Mr. Bush might put conditions on the transaction to keep military technology in the United States. But...

Sharia Flogging for Estonian Soldier From the desk of Martin Helme on Tue, 2006-04-04 17:13 An Estonian soldier on his way home after having served with the coalition forces in Afghanistan, was arrested in the United Arab Emirates and will be flogged. Andrei Korol was accused of being drunk and harassing a local policewoman while he was in transit at Sharjah international airport where they “make your life easy.” The incident happened on 23 February. There were no witnesses of the alleged harassment. Korol’s comrades say that he was so tired and drunk that most of the time at the...

VETERAN PAKISTANI ARMS DEALER CONVICTED IN PLOT TO ILLEGALLY EXPORT U.S. FIGHTER JET COMPONENTS TO MIDDLE EAST SAN DIEGO – -- United States Attorney Carol C. Lam announced that today a federal jury in San Diego found Arif Ali Durrani guilty of multiple violations of the Arms Export Control Act. Specifically, the jury convicted Durrani of four counts of Exporting Defense Articles Without a License and one count of Conspiracy to Commit Offenses Against the United States. According to Assistant United States Attorney William Cole, who prosecuted the case, the evidence at trial established that Durrani intentionally conspired with other...

LOS ANGELES MAN CHARGED FOR ATTEMPTING TO SHIP SENSITIVE TECHNOLOGY TO IRAN Joint ICE-FBI probe uncovers scheme involving illegal export of pressure sensors LOS ANGELES - A Los Angeles man was arraigned in federal court here yesterday for his role in a scheme to illegally export more than 100 Honeywell sensors to Iran in violation of the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA). According to the manufacturer, the sensors, which detect the pressure of liquid or gas, could potentially be used to detonate explosive devices. Mohammad Fazeli, 27, was arrested March 16 at his Los Angeles apartment by agents with...

Mohammed Saeed Al-Sahaf ('Baghdad Bob') THEN ...Al-Sahaf’s daily press briefings in the lead-up to the war and in its first weeks led to him being nicknamed Baghdad Bob or Comical Ali (an allusion to “Chemical Ali,” the nickname of former Iraqi defense minister Ali Hassan al-Majid.) He gained a considerable cult following, with several Web sites devoted to his outrageous claims...as coalition troops stormed the capital, al-Sahaf declared, "The infidels are committing suicide by the hundreds on the gates of Baghdad."... NOW On 25 June 2003, the London newspaper The Daily Mirror reported that al-Sahaf had been captured by coalition...

Whereas I am dead-set against the idea of the government of the United Arab Emirates running terminal operations at any American commercial ports, it is also important to understand just how painfully little the average American, average American politician and average American bureaucrat knows about the conduct of terrorist operations, especially the reconnaissance and attack phases of an operation. Since the U.A.E. � U.S. port scandal blew up just over a week ago (in large part because of a total communications and leadership failure in government), seemingly innumerable talking heads have been commenting on the vulnerability of shipping containers, which...

News reports over the last two weeks have repeatedly claimed that a Dubai company was taking control of six major U.S. ports as part of a deal approved by the Bush administration. But according to one port security expert, Dubai Ports World will run just a tiny fraction of the terminals at the U.S. ports involved if the deal goes through. Defending the transaction on MSNBC's "Scarborough Company" Monday night, Kim Petersen, president of Seasecure, noted: "There are 300 terminals at those ports. Dubai Ports World is going to handle nine of them." SeaSecure is the largest provider of maritime...

WASHINGTON, Feb. 28, 2006 (UPI) -- The parent company of Dubai Ports World, which is seeking to manage six U.S. ports, allegedly participates in the Arab boycott against Israel, says a report. The Jerusalem Post reports it has learned Dubai Ports World is entirely owned by the Government of Dubai through the holding company Ports, Customs and Free Zone Corporation. The Post said company consists of the Dubai Port Authority, the Dubai Customs Department and the Jebel Ali Free Zone Area. "Yes, of course the boycott is still in place and is still enforced," Muhammad Rashid a-Din with the Dubai...

Somethin to Talk About: Just A Woman Radio In case you missed it, here's what we talked about Sunday night/Monday morning on Just A Woman Radio. Ports-Ports-Ports. Farish A Noor writes about the anti-Arab "racist" West. Pat Buchanan thinks otherwise. And, you can hear Lores talk with California Conservative blogger, Gary Gross, talk about the issue. Saving the LA County Seal. Chairman of the Save The Seal Committee, David Hernandez, discusses the effort to save the LA County Seal and how YOU can be a part of this very important fight. Audio links to both interviews here: http://www.justawoman.squarespace.com/blog/2006/2/27/somethin-to-talk-about-just-a-woman-radio.html

Dubai Ports World is not a security threat. And the UAE is a friend. The brouhaha surrounding the Bush administration since it gave the green light to a United Arab Emirates company slated to manage six major U.S. ports has nothing to do with homeland security. Allow me to give this episode its proper name: Islamophobia. This UAE company - Dubai Ports World - is a commercial administrator. They are not a security company, and should the deal go through they will not be in charge of security at a half-dozen U.S. ports. That responsibility remains tight in the...

HOUSTON -- A sheik from the United Arab Emirates contributed at least $1 million to the Bush Library Foundation, which established the George Bush Presidential Library at Texas A&M University in College Station. The UAE owns Dubai Ports World, which is taking operations from London-based Peninsular and Oriental Steam Navigation Co., which operates six U.S. ports. A political uproar has ensued over the deal, which the White House approved without congressional oversight. Dubai Ports World offered Thursday night to delay part of the takeover to give the Bush administration more time to convince lawmakers the deal poses no security risks....

...We have United Arab Emirates Special Forces in Afghanistan. It's called SOTF, a combined joint Special Operations Force in Afghanistan when I was there. The word combined was there, because there were other countries other than our own, including Laxia and the United Arab Emirates...MP3 of Robert Kaplan interview.

The Department of Homeland Security released the following information on Friday: -- DP World agreed to continue to participate in U.S. cargo inspection and security programs for U.S. and foreign ports including: * the Customs-Trade Partnership Against Terrorism, which commits companies to implementing certain security procedures in close cooperation with the U.S. government. * the Container Security Initiative and a related Department of Energy program that ensure cargo is screened before it gets to U.S. ports, including by stationing U.S. Customs officials at overseas ports, such as Dubai. The Department of Homeland Security said this mandatory participation in these programs...

Suddenly, many people are frightened by the sale from Britain to the United Arab Emirates of a cargo-handling company that handles cargo in six American cities. I fell into that trap, too, because I made assumptions sans facts. It is a perfectly emotional reaction to Arabphobia. It is the same fear that caused us to move Japanese families of men, women and children from the American farms and society during WWII and put them in concentration camps for years. I can still recall the days when some thought that all crooks were Italian and called all Polish people dumb. Thank...

  It's time for cooler heads to prevail By Tony SnowFeb 24, 2006 WASHINGTON, D.C. -- Washington was wracked last week by a spasm of Know-Nothingism, starring Democratic and Republican members of Congress whose hysterics confirmed the Founders' view that the president, and not the legislature, ought to handle matters of national security.  At issue was a takeover of the British shipping firm P&O by a United Arab Emirates holding company, Dubai Ports World. The transaction, first reported in the British press last Oct. 30, should have been routine. P&O leases cargo terminals at a half-dozen U.S. ports, and pays...

Qatar pledged $100 million in humanitarian assistance Saturday to help Americans recover from Hurricane Katrina, heading a list of more than a dozen countries joining an outpouring of support. They added to the more than 50 countries who had made pledges by the end of the day Friday. ``In these difficult circumstances, the people and the government of the state of Qatar would like to assure the people of the United States of its support and desire to assist the people in the affected area along the United States Gulf Coast,'' said a statement from the oil-rich Persian Gulf state's...

The general manager of a shipping company based in the United Arab Emirates has made an extraordinary claim at the oil-for-food inquiry. The executive said the British embassy, US Navy and the Royal Navy were all aware of kickbacks to Saddam Hussein in 2001. The statement from Michael Wallbanks, the general manager of P&O Nedlloyd only arrived at the commission this morning. He said that when he arrived in Dubai in 2000, he became aware that Iraq imposed a 10 per cent tax on all goods shipped to the country. The commission was told that most exporters chose to...

HH: We begin as we do most Thursdays when we're lucky, with Mark Steyn, columnist to the world. Read all of his work at Steynonline.com. You should know that by now. Mark, welcome back. Good to have you. MS: Good to be with you, Hugh. HH: Let's start … I don't recall from your travels if you ever got to Samsara, where the Golden Dome was blown yesterday. Did you get up that far? MS: No, I've never been there, and I think it's a devastating thing when you look at this fantastic, twelve hundred year old building that has...

Under a secretive agreement with the Bush administration, a company in the United Arab Emirates promised to cooperate with U.S. investigations as a condition of its takeover of operations at six major American ports, according to documents obtained by The Associated Press. The U.S. government chose not to impose other, routine restrictions. In approving the $6.8 billion purchase, the administration chose not to require state-owned Dubai Ports World to keep copies of its business records on U.S. soil, where they would be subject to orders by American courts. It also did not require the company to designate an American citizen...

Has Dubai Port World, the company that was given management responsibilities of several U.S. ports, had any contracts with Bin Laden Construction Company in the past? Do they have contracts with them now? If Dubai Port World itself does not have contracts with the company, its owners might. In order for a foreigner to start a business in the Emirates, he/she must get a citizen of the UAE to sponsor it - in other words to basically own it. Dubai Port World is actually owned by citizens, but it is run by foreigners. Many UAE citizens own multiple businesses without...

President Bush's announcement Tuesday that he would support the effort of a United Arab Emirates-owned company, Dubai Ports World, in its bid to take over a lease for part of the Port of New York and other major U.S. seaports — even to the point of vetoing legislation that would block the deal — is as regrettable as it is untenable. President Bush has dug in his heels on a fight he surely cannot win. The only political figure of note who has fully supported his position publicly seems to be former President Jimmy Carter — a salutary reminder of...

George W. Bush can't understand why so many people don't take the war against Islamist terrorism as seriously as they should. Nobody quibbled with FDR when he took us to war against the Nazis and the gentlemen of Japan. The president's frustration with the Nervous Nellies is grounded in reality. The threat from the Islamic nutcakes eager to bomb and behead in the name of Allah, and soon to be armed with nuclear weapons, is a real and present danger. But what George W. does speaks so loud sometimes we can't hear what he says. The border with Mexico leaks...

The ruler of emirate of Dubai, also the Prime Minister and Vice President of the United Arab Emirates, Sheikh Maktoum bin Rashid Al Maktoum, died on Wednesday in Australia. Maktoum, 60, had reportedly suffered from heart problems. "The UAE has today lost a historical leader who dedicated his life to building the nation and doing good for its people," an official statement read. His brother, Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, who is currently the Defense Minister of the UAE, will replace the former leader as ruler of Dubai, while UAE President Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahayan will...

Thanksgiving marked the day that some analysts thought global oil production would have reached its peak, ushering in a new era of fuel shortages. These petro-pessimists were using the same formula as the one that accurately predicted the apex of U.S. oil production in 1970. Matthew Simmons, author of "Twilight in the Desert: The Coming Saudi Oil Shock and the World Economy," is one of them. He thinks Saudi Arabia has pumped much of its usable reserves and will start to experience production declines. Even analysts who are more optimistic warn that chronically high prices and occasional supply crunches...

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates - Saddam Hussein accepted an 11th-hour offer to flee into exile weeks ahead of the U.S.-led 2003 invasion, but Arab League officials scuttled the proposal, officials in this Gulf state claimed. The exile initiative was spearheaded by the late president of the United Arab Emirates, Sheik Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan, at an emergency Arab summit held in Egypt in February 2003, Sheik Zayed's son said in an interview aired by Al-Arabiya TV during a documentary. The U.S.-led coalition invaded on March 19 that year. A top government official confirmed the offer on Saturday, speaking on...

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) - The al-Qaida terror network poses a real danger to the freewheeling countries of the Persian Gulf, which may be its next target, and must be tackled seriously, a government-run think tank warns. The report, published by the government-run Emirates Center for Strategic Studies and Research, said Osama bin Laden's terror network is busy recruiting and sinking roots in the region. The passage of time without coordination and action, "gives terrorism more opportunities to set a foothold and recruit new members in preparation for another wave of terrorism in the region," the center said. Terror...

Excerpt - The opening of the Israeli diplomatic mission in Dubai several weeks ago was the culmination of a series of elaborate contacts Israel has been developing with the United Arab Emirates for years. By using secret diplomacy, the Foreign Ministry has succeeded in adding the Emirates to the list of Arab countries that have diplomatic ties with Israel. But how does one establish a foreign mission in a country that refuses to make its relations with Israel public? The answer is simple. The Israeli diplomats serving at the mission in Dubai are undercover as foreign businessmen. Three diplomats, and...

LAHORE, Pakistan — Dozens of Pakistani children who had been smuggled to the United Arab Emirates (search) to work as camel race jockeys returned home Friday, an official said. The 86 children, many of them aged between four and 12, had been in the United Arab Emirates for between three and seven years, said Faiza Asghar, an adviser on child rights issues with the Punjab provincial government in eastern Pakistan. The boys, with their identity cards hanging from their necks, arrived in the provincial capital, Lahore, on a flight from Abu Dhabi and were driven to a government shelter, Asghar...

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates - In a city already synonymous with flashy developments, a new multi-billion-dollar project may set a new precedent for construction projects across the globe. The project, the Dubai Waterfront, is a conglomeration of canals and islands studded with luxury hotels and homes. Larger than the island of Manhattan, the development will reconfigure the map of this tiny desert emirate by adding 500 miles of man-made waterfront, according to Nakheel, the government-held developer. The Dubai Waterfront is expected to house 400,000 people and transform the last stretch of Dubai's undeveloped Gulf seashore. In a twist unique for...

Fawaz Zureikat, George Galloway's Jordanian partner who claims not to be involved in oil deals, is closely associated with a company that has traded Iraqi crude valued at millions of pounds, according to United Nations documents seen by The Daily Telegraph. Mr Zureikat has dismissed as a "forgery" an Iraqi intelligence report identifying him as the front man for Mr Galloway's secret contracts to buy Iraqi crude and sell humanitarian supplies under the UN's oil-for-food programme. The Jordanian businessman has repeatedly insisted that he does not deal in oil, although he does sell food and other civilian supplies to Iraq....

Laurie Mylroie sent out an email about Paul O'Neill's appearance on 60 Minutes last night; she notes what appears to be a major error in Ron Suskind's book, which casts doubt on the credibility of both Suskind and O'Neill. Here is the key portion of Mylroie's email: "In his appearance this evening on '60 Minutes,' Ron Suskind, author of The Price of Loyalty, based to a large extent on information from former Secretary of the Treasury Paul O'Neill, made an astonishing, very serious misstatement. "Suskind claimed he has documents showing that preparations for the Iraq war were well underway before...

When experts from the US and the IAEA came upon blueprints for a 10-kiloton atomic bomb in the files of the Libyan weapons program earlier this year, they found themselves caught between gravity and pettiness. The discovery gave the experts a new appreciation of the audacity of the rogue nuclear network led by A. Q. Khan, a chief architect of Pakistan's bomb. Intelligence officials had watched Dr. Khan for years and suspected that he was trafficking in machinery for enriching uranium to make fuel for warheads. But the detailed design represented a new level of danger, particularly since the Libyans...

UAE leader chosen after ruler's death The eldest son of the late leader of the United Arab Emirates has been elected successor to his father, official sources told CNN. Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed al-Nahyan, ruler of Abu Dhabi, was chosen president by the country's federal council -- made up of the heads of the country's seven emirates: Abu Dhabi, Dubai, Sharjah, Ras Al Khaimah, Fujairah, Umm al Qaiwan and Ajman. He replaces Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan al-Nahyan, who died Tuesday. The aged ruler had been a founding leader and the head of state of the UAE since its founding in...

HBO is airing this week on Real Sports with Bryant Gumbel the true face of the Middle East. Slavery in babies stolen from Pakistan and Bangladesh live as slaves to their fabulously rich masters and are forced to ride and race camels as tiny tots. Compare this to the slave trade in the Sedan and the slave trade in boys in Senegal where tiny youth beg all day for their masters and are beaten soundly for not meeting quotas. Where is the United Nations? Don't miss this fabulous HBO investigation. You will think better of HBO afterwards! Details may be...

Israel is taking steps to improve its relations with the Arab world following the approval of the disengagement plan, and is holding advanced talks for the opening of a quasi-diplomatic office in the United Arab Emirates to represent Israeli interests in the area, according to diplomatic sources in Jerusalem. For months now, Israeli officials have been holding talks with representatives of the UAE regarding the opening of an office in Abu Dhabi, diplomatic sources say. The office would not be a full diplomatic representation, but rather a center similar to the one already existing in Qatar, "representing Israeli interests."...

<p>DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) -- A popular Saudi television host publicly showed her bruised and bloodied face and has shocked her compatriots into openly talking about one of the kingdom's long-hidden problems: violence against women.</p> <p>Rania al-Baz has been hailed as a hero for letting newspaper photographers snap pictures of her face and for frankly discussing her case after she said a beating by her husband earlier this month left her unconscious.</p>

An Iranian plane transporting approximately 35 people is crushed in Charjah AFP|10.02.04|09h35 A plane of the Iranian company Kish Airways transporting approximately 35 people was crushed Tuesday with Charjah, one of the seven members of the federation of the linked Arab Emirates, indicated the police.L' plane was crushed whereas it was on the point of landing with the international airport of the emirate, specified a spokesman of the police force.

WASHINGTON [MENL] -- The United Arab Emirates prepares to receive the first advanced fire control radar for the F-16 Block 60 fighter-jet. The delivery of the AN/APG-80 agile beam fire control radar will provide the UAE with a system that is more technologically advanced than that in the U.S. Air Force. The first F-16 will arrive in Abu Dhabi in 2004. The radar was produced by Northrop Grumman's Electronic Systems sector. The company delivered the first AN/APG-80 radar to Lockheed Martin for the F-16 Block 60 aircraft. The first APG-80 radar is set to be installed on the F-16 Block...

The US has stepped up plans to expand its military presence in the Gulf outside Saudi Arabia. In a statement posted on a federal business opportunities website, the US army announced plans to spend up to $25m (£15m) expanding its air base in the Gulf emirate of Abu Dhabi. It comes a week after the army said it was considering plans for a $100m expansion of its air base in Qatar. Last month the US said it was pulling its troops out of Saudi Arabia and moving its regional air command centre from there to Al Udeid air base in...

SHARM EL SHEIK, Egypt, March 1 — The United Arab Emirates today became the first Arab country to call for President Saddam Hussein of Iraq to step down, presenting the idea to a summit meeting of Arab leaders as the only way to avoid an American-led war and the devastation it could cause the Iraqi people. "The Iraqi leadership should decide to give up power in Iraq and to leave Iraq," the president of the United Arab Emirates, Sheik Zayed bin Sultan al-Nahayan, declared in a statement issued here, saying he wanted to propose "a way out of this complicated...

Author of controversial book on Twin Towers attack claims the truth is out there Few people still have not read The Big Lie, or at least heard of it. Equally well-known is the book’s author, French historian and journalist Thierry Meyssan.In The Big Lie, Meyssan challenges the official version of the Sept. 11 attack. His book has become an international bestseller and ­ along with its follow-up, The Pentagate ­ the subject of international debate.The Daily Star spoke to the controversial author during the recent “Lire en Français et en Musique” book exhibition, where he promoted his book. There is...

LONDON (Reuters) - The U.S. Navy's Fifth Fleet accused a Dubai-based ferry operator Tuesday of breaking U.N. sanctions by smuggling banned chemicals into Iraq that it said could be used to make high-grade explosives. It said the industrial-grade alcohol and polymers, which can also be used for industrial cleaning agents and cosmetics, could also be used to manufacture chemical weapons agents. Naif Marine Services had been caught shipping the chemicals aboard ferries it operates into Umm Qasr, close to the Kuwaiti border in recent months, said Fifth Fleet public affairs officer Lt. Garret Kaspar. "In the wrong hands, quantity aside,...