Bahraini.TV

Iran nuclear talks failed because Gulf left out: Bahrain

Tehran’s talks with the West on the Iranian nuclear programme failed because the Arab states of the Gulf were not involved, Bahrain’s foreign minister told a security conference on Saturday.

Because the process was flawed, its failure should not result in new sanctions on Iran, Sheikh Khaled bin Ahmed bin Mohammed al-Khalifa told the sixth Manama Dialogue.

“Somebody’s trying to do business while we’re not there, while we’re not present in that room,” he said. “This is a fundamental mistake of how these talks were conducted. I think that is the main reason of why the talks failed.”

Sordid reality behind Dubai’s gilded facade

Construction halted, westerners jailed for adultery – but prostitutes do well

By Rod Liddle
Andrew Blair says he will pick me up from outside my sleaze-bucket of a hotel, give it 20 minutes or so, got some work to finish off. He has a job again, contracts apparently “coming out of his ears”, which is good, because [...]

Worried about the Dollar, US Treasury Chief in Gulf to Drum Up Support

US Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner pressed ahead with his sales pitch to Gulf ‎Arab nations Wednesday, telling oil-rich Mideast allies Washington is committed to ‎keeping the dollar strong and promoting sustainable growth as the world pulls out of a ‎recession.‎
Geithner is seeking to convince Arab leaders on the Obama administration’s efforts to ‎fix the US [...]

Combined revenue of Gulf states to drop by $236bn

A sharp fall in crude prices is expected to depress the combined nominal economy of Gulf oil producers by nearly $236 billion (Dh837bn) in 2009 despite a projected growth in their non-oil sectors, according to independent estimates.
Saudi Arabia and the UAE will likely be affected the worst as they could account for nearly 87 per [...]

Gulf to push on with forex union, no U-turn on central bank

Saudi Arabia and three other Gulf states will proceed with their monetary union plan and the location of a Gulf central bank would not be open for renegotiation, the Saudi finance minister said. “It is not derailed, it will continue. The monetary union will proceed as planned,” Ibrahim al-Assaf told Reuters in an interview in [...]

Gulf poised to approve single GCC-wide visa

Gulf Cooperation Council immigration chiefs are expected to approve a single visa application system for Gulf states, Kuwait’s immigration chief said.
The visa will enable visitors to tour all of the six GCC member countries, Kuwaiti General Administration for Immigration Director-General Kamel al-Awadhi told the Kuwait news agency KUNA on Sunday.
Gulf states will also adopt an [...]

Bahrain show Abu Dhabi that money can’t buy international success

They may be the poorest Gulf state, but Bahrain have a better shot at qualifying for the 2010 World Cup than the UAE or Qatar

Anti-piracy Campaign Intensifies

Over the past couple of months, authorities across the Gulf have stepped up their attack on software pirates.

Number of FM radio stations in Arab world rises 50 percent

The number of frequency modulation (FM) radio stations in the 18 Arab countries increased to 316 from 211 in February last year, a 49.76 percent rise. Liberalisation in several Arab countries was a key factor in fuelling the boom in private FM radio stations, the Gulf News said citing a report by the Jordan-based Arab [...]

Gulf Speaks Out

Gulf countries yesterday loudly signalled their opposition to any military option against Iran.”We want the military factor to be eliminated,” GCC Secretary-General Abdulrahman Al Attiyah told the Manama Dialogue security conference.
“What we care for in the GCC is finding solutions that enhance security and stability … and believe in dialogue as a way to solve [...]

Monetary gloom points to deep rift

The tense, gloomy atmosphere at Gulf Arab currency talks in Saudi Arabia indicated just how deeply divided the six central bankers were as they met to hammer out details of a monetary union plan.
Tuesday’s official statement attempted to put up a united front for currency markets tearing at dollar-pegged exchanges rates on the expectation that [...]

Kuwaiti minister resigns

Kuwait’s information minister has resigned his office to protest a controversial bill to reform the country’s election law.Anas Al Rasheed resigned at the end of a marathon cabinet session, which discussed efforts to overhaul Kuwait’s electoral law, a source close to the minister said.
The resignation has not yet been accepted.
“Rashid submitted an official letter of [...]

Common GCC currency ’should avoid dollar-peg’

A common GCC currency should not be pegged to the dollar but to a basket of different currencies, says a prominent foreign exchange strategist. BNP Paribas foreign exchange strategy global head Hans Redeker said that a peg to the dollar, which he expects to be a weak currency in the long term, would leave the [...]

$500 million company on the way

A $500 million (BD189m) company may be formed within the next few weeks to build and raise money for the Bahrain-Qatar Friendship Causeway, Works and Housing Minister Fahmi Al Jowder said yesterday.
The start-up capital will be split equally between the governments of Bahrain and Qatar and the remaining financing will come from the private sector.
Mr [...]

$3.8bn Saudi aluminium smelter signals major diversification

After several years deliberation the Saudi government has approved construction of a $3.8 billion aluminium smelter. The plant, to be developed by state-owned mining company Maaden, will be built at Ras Az Zour industrial zone in central eastern Saudi Arabia. Aluminium exports could begin in 2008.
The move comes at a time when global demand for [...]