Arab League intervention urged to end massacre

Source: Gulf Today (Read full story)

Israeli President Shimon Peres, delivering an historic address to the European Parliament, on Tuesday called for Arab League intervention in Syria “to stop the massacre.” “The Arab League can and should form a provisional government in Syria to stop the massacre, to prevent Syria from falling to pieces. The United Nations should support the Arab League to build an Arab force in blue helmets,” he said.

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 Khalifa okays cabinet reshuffle

Source: Khaleej Times (Read full story)

A new government ministry has been created, four new ministers have been announced, four others have been reshuffled and one minister dropped from cabinet under a reshuffle approved by the President, His Highness Shaikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan. The reshuffle resulted from a proposal by His Highness Shaikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice-President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai.

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Qatar’s next big purchase: a farming sector

Source: Reuters (Read full story)

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Like other oil-rich, water-poor Gulf states, Qatar has been investing in large areas of farmland overseas to ensure access to food supplies. The agricultural arm of Qatar’s sovereign wealth fund, Hassad Food, has bought land in Sudan and Australia, and has announced plans to spend hundreds of millions of dollars on agricultural projects in countries including Kenya, Brazil, Argentina, Turkey, and Ukraine.

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Policemen jailed over prison death

Source: Gulf Daily News (Read full story)

Two policemen who beat an inmate to death with a pipe were jailed for 10 years each yesterday. The defendants, aged 43 and 31, were convicted of causing the death of Bahraini Ali Ebrahim Saqer on April 8 last year. However, the High Criminal Court acquitted the policemen of causing the death of inmate Zakariya Rashid Al Asheri on the same day. “The defendants were found guilty in connection with the death of Mr Saqer after the court accepted prosecution witness’s testimonies and other evidence,” said court documents.

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REVEALED: Qatar, Saudi CEOs On Highest GCC Salaries

Source: Gulf Business (Read full story)

Qatar ranked as the best country in the Gulf to earn the highest salary in a CEO position for Asian and Arab expatriates, with Saudi Arabia the best country for Western chief executives. Revealed in the Gulf Business 2013 Salary Survey, the tiny gas-rich state tops the list of the best countries in the GCC for CEOs to earn the most money, with average monthly salaries ranging from $30,069 for Asian expats to $35,178 for Arab expats.

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Kuwait complains to U.N. over shooting along border with Iraq

Source: Al Arabiya (Read full story)

Kuwait has complained to the United Nations against a shooting that took place the previous day on its border with Iraq, the state news agency reported Tuesday. The KUNA agency quoted foreign ministry undersecretary Khalid al-Jaarallah as saying that a “memorandum” was sent to both the United Nations and the Iraqi government expressing Kuwait’s “dissatisfaction” about the shooting incident. On Monday, gunfire broke out along border in the latest sign of localized tensions over the position of the frontier that remain more than two decades after Saddam Hussein’s invasion.

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Oman to issue 200 million rials of bonds, sukuk

Source: The Peninsula (Read full story)

Oman plans to issue a total of about 200 million rials ($520 million) of conventional bonds and sukuk in line with its budget financing needs, central bank chief Hamood Sangour al-Zadjali said on Wednesday. He did not specify the timing or other details, beyond saying that the sukuk, denominated in rials, were likely to be issued towards the end of 2013 or at the start of next year. It would be Oman’s first sovereign sukuk issue, as the country is now launching an Islamic finance industry.

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