EGYPT: OPEC considers production cuts, delays decision

Ministers from OPEC countries decided in Cairo on Saturday to delay until December a decision on cutting production to stem the fall of crude oil prices that have tumbled by more than 60% in recent months.

The meeting came as the global financial crisis and plummeting demand continued to suppress oil prices, which have dropped from nearly $150 a barrel in July to about $54 today. King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia, the leading producer in the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries, was quoted by a Kuwaiti newspaper as saying that $75 a barrel was a "fair price."

But the decision to take measures to nudge prices up was postponed until an upcoming meeting in Algeria. OPEC President Chakib Khelil said the organization "agreed to take any additional action on the 17th of December to balance oil supply and demand and achieve market stability."

The concern among members of the energy cartel, which decreased production in October by 1.5 million barrels a day, illustrates the shifting fortunes and precipitous downturns jolting the beleaguered world economy. OPEC enjoyed record prices just a few months ago, only to have them evaporate as international markets spiraled downward, energy demand shrunk and leading economies, including the U.S. and members of the European Union, neared or officially entered recession.

The Saudis want to see prices rise by at least $20 a barrel. Saudi Oil Minister Ali Ibrahim Naimi told reporters that OPEC would "do what needs to be done" to bolster prices.

He added: "There is a good logic for $75 a barrel. You know why? Because I believe $75 is the price for the marginal producer. If the world needs supply from all sources, we need to protect the price for them. I think $75 is a fair price."

Qatar's oil minister, Abdullah bin Hamad Attiyah, told the Arab TV news channel Al Arabiya that sinking revenues would damage the oil industry's future, saying that if prices linger below $70 a barrel "investment would freeze, which would lead to a crisis in supply in the future."

The organization's less-stable economic members, particularly Nigeria, Venezuela and Iran, are worried that months of low prices will hurt their national budgets. There is also apprehension that some members may not comply with production quotas and will produce above the cuts. But decreasing world demand is likely to squeeze the cartel well into 2009.

OPEC President Khelil told reporters before the Cairo meeting that "some countries are unable to sell their crude. They can find no buyer. Crude should be taken off the market."

-- Jeffrey Fleishman in Cairo

Photo: Pumping oil in the Middle East. Credit: Reuters

DUBAI: Aggressive campaign against hostile drivers

Those who visit Dubai quickly discover that driving is chaotic, fast and dangerous. The traffic police in that part of the oil-rich United Arab Emirates have decided to wage an aggressive campaign against speeding, perceived as the main reason behind the big number of car accidents and casualties.

Recently, they placed 1,000 radars, described as "elegant and smart," along the highways as part of a national effort to discipline lead-footed motorists.

The new high-tech radars do not flash as the normal ones do, and so are less easily spotted by reckless drivers, who slow down only when they feel monitored, Dubai's traffic officials told the website of the Arab satellite channel Al Arabiya.

The radars can also detect motorists who don't keep a proper distance behind cars ahead of them, or those who cut improperly in front of other cars, officials said.

IRAQ: Marines move to break Iraqi dependency on U.S.

Maj. Gen. John Kelly, the top Marine in Iraq, calls the strategy "the last 10 yards" -- the push to get the Iraqi national and provincial governments to cooperate with each other.

Other than that, Kelly says, the Marine mission in Iraq has largely been accomplished in Anbar province: The insurgency has been routed, reconstruction and economic growth are moving apace, and a semblance of normalcy has returned.

The time has come to "break the dependency" of the Iraqis on the Americans, and to send home a significant portion of the 22,000 troops under his command, Kelly says. Keeping a large number of troops in Anbar could actually be counterproductive.

"My working thesis is 'If we have it, we'll use it and Iraqis won't be doing it,' " Kelly said.

Take the mentoring of the Iraqi army by Marines. "We learned that if you have a type-A Marine out there, the real leader is the Marine captain, not the Iraqi lieutenant colonel."

Kelly, 58, a Marine for 38 years, is in his final months as commanding general of the 1st Marine Expeditionary Force (Forward). He was an assistant commander of the 1st Marine Division during the 2003 assault on Baghdad and the spring 2004 fight in Fallouja. His two sons, both Marines, have served in Iraq.

Under Kelly's orders, Marine combat troops have pulled out of the larger cities in Anbar, security checkpoints have been turned over to the Iraqis, and several of the Marines' larger bases have been closed. Also, steps were taken to reduce the Marines' presence in the everyday life of Iraqis -- all convoys, for example, are now done at night.

Much of Kelly's efforts are aimed at getting officials from the provincial government in Ramadi and the national government in Baghdad to work together on common problems. Click here for the story on a confab at the Iraqi-Saudi border.

-- Tony Perry in Al Asad, Iraq

Photo: Maj. Gen. John Kelly at a meeting to discuss safety for Haj pilgrims. Credit: Tony Perry / Los Angeles Times

EGYPT: Court rules that police should leave Cairo University campus

Holding a peaceful protest at Cairo University can be perilous. Students, as if concealing drugs or some other illicit contraband, must smuggle banners and leaflets past police stationed at the gates, says Mostafa Maher, a second-year business student. Once on campus, students must be cautious not to be caught in possession of these publications before the protest begins.

Surmounting these obstacles does not end the hassle. Protesters say they are sometimes beaten by plainclothes thugs brought in by the police to intimidate. Other times, Maher says, police resort to different tactics, such as sponsoring a football game at the site of the protest to distract students and eventually thwart the demonstration.

The suppression of protests symbolizes the pervasive influence that campus police have had on student life since 1981. That may be ending. Egypt’s supreme administrative court, saying the independence of universities must be respected, ruled this week that security forces from the Ministry of Interior should evacuate the Cairo University campus.

"This is a positive development that declares the victory of both students and professors," said Maher, who belongs to a group that opposes the government of Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak.

The court ruled that the constitution guarantees the full independence of universities and research centers that "contribute to refining knowledge and offering sciences that support the society and pave the way for a better future for the country."

Students and others, however, remain skeptical. "It is an excellent and very clear verdict and there is no way any court could change it, but the government will resort to different tricks to prevent its enforcement," said Mohamed Abouel Ghar, professor of gynecology at Cairo University.

JORDAN: Controversial drama wins an Emmy award

An impossible romance between an Arab and an Israeli set against destruction and chaos was the main theme of a Jordanian-produced TV series that won a prestigious television award in New York this week.

"Al-Ijtiyah" (The invasion), which tells love stories at the time of the Israeli incursion into a West Bank city in 2002, became the first Arab production to win the International Emmy Award.

The series, produced at an estimated cost of $3 million and praised for its artistic and technical achievements, was named best new telenovela from among 40 nominees from 16 countries.

IRAQ: Iraq security forces take aim at stray dogs

Cute, eh?

Not if it grows up to be like many of the stray dogs roaming Baghdad, according to city officials who have launched a campaign to kill the homeless hounds. (The abandoned pooch that's pictured, however, was one adopted by U.S. troops.) Stray dogs, according to authorities, caused the deaths of more than a dozen people in one month alone.

The culling operation, which kicked off last Sunday, was deemed necessary after a spate of vicious attacks by stray animals roaming Iraq's streets. In August, 13 people died after being attacked by stray dogs, said Anam Hamid, head of the environment board on Baghdad's provincial council. His comments were carried in an Associated Press story announcing the dog-elimination campaign, which began in western Baghdad and will eventually move over the Tigris River to the eastern side of the capital.

"We have decided to take action after receiving complaints of rising attacks on people by packs of dogs and reports that some children are refusing to go to school because they're afraid of being bitten," Hamid said.

It is unclear how long the operation will go on. Under former leader Saddam Hussein, stray-dog culls were conducted annually, but they have not taken place amid the chaos of six years of war. In a city lacking animal shelters and experiencing massive displacement, violence and murders, the number of street dogs has soared. Many are strays or offspring of strays, but others have become homeless after being separated from their owners.

Some lucky ones, like the puppy pictured above, get taken in by sympathetic U.S. soldiers who raise them on their bases and often try to take them home when they redeploy to the United States. But those dogs are not immune from the diseases that Baghdad officials say make the city's street hounds so dangerous. In June, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention announced that an Iraqi dog that had been adopted by U.S. forces and brought to the United States had rabies. The 11-month-old dog had lived the previous seven months on a U.S. base with the soldier but had not been vaccinated. Shortly after arriving in the U.S., it fell ill and had to be euthanized.

Military veterinarians and police are conducting the culling, luring the dogs with poisoned meat and then shooting them. U.S. troops were alerted to the plan to prevent friendly-fire clashes erupting between the dog teams and American soldiers unaware of their intent.

-- Tina Susman in Baghdad

Photo credits: Top photo by Tina Susman / Los Angeles Times; bottom photo of a stray dog that sought shade beneath a car in central Baghdad by Saad Khalaf

IRAQ: For U.S. troops Thanksgiving begins in Philadelphia

Thanksgiving dinner for U.S. troops deployed overseas begins with a push by the Philadelphia employees of the federal government's Defense Supply Center to make sure the traditional food makes it to far-flung locations.

This year that means 120,000 pounds of whole turkeys and more than 179,000 pies sent to troops in Iraq, Afghanistan, Bahrain, Dubai and Djibouti.

Also 95,826 pounds of ham, 16,874 containers of stuffing mix, 56,104 cans of sweet potatoes, 131,359 pounds of shrimp and, of course, 10,994 cans of cranberry sauce, and lots more. Total tab: more than $6.5 million.

-- Tony Perry in San Diego

Photo: Turkey at the chow hall at Camp Ripper, Al Asad, Iraq. Credit: Marine Corps

AFGHANISTAN: Food, fun and guests at Thanksgiving.

U.S. soldiers at Camp Eggers in Kabul, Afghanistan, enjoyed Thanksgiving with a traditional American meal followed by traditional American pastimes: darts, football and a hot-dog-eating contest.

There were also invited guests from the surrounding community.

-- Tony Perry in San Diego

Photo: Army Col. Marion Gale with guests at the Thanksgiving celebration. Credit: U.S. Army.

IRAQ: Navy corpsman cited for 'courage under fire'

Al Jazeera, the "Arab CNN," isn't always considered fair in its reporting on U.S. forces in Iraq.

But that didn't matter when Navy corpsman Ryan Faulhaber saw an Al Jazeera reporter wounded and helpless during the battle this spring in Basra between insurgents and Iraqi troops backed by U.S. Marines.

Braving insurgent fire, Faulhaber dashed into the open to treat the reporter and bring him to safety. "None of the Iraqis were willing to assist the wounded reporter," Maj. Mark Slusher said. "Faulhaber did not hesitate."

Days later, in the same battle, Faulhaber rescued five Marines from a vehicle that had burst into flames when hit with a rocket-propelled grenade. "Same thing again, courage under fire," Slusher said.

Faulhaber, now back at Camp Lejeune, N.C., has been awarded the Bronze Star for bravery, the Marine Corps announced this week.

-- Tony Perry reporting from Al Asad, Iraq

Photo: Navy corpsman Ryan Faulhaber with Iraqi children. Credit: Marine Corps

KUWAIT: Visit of controversial Shiite cleric creates political crisis

A rift between the Kuwaiti Parliament and the government of this oil-rich princedom over the visit of a controversial Iranian cleric has escalated into yet another political crisis.

On Tuesday, the Kuwaiti cabinet announced its resignation as three legislators prepared to question Prime Minister Sheikh Nasser al-Mohammad al-Sabahover for allowing the cleric, whom they accused of offending Sunnis, to enter this small Persian Gulf nation a few weeks ago.

The cleric, Mohammad Fali, has allegedly made derogatory remarks about the Prophet Mohammad’s companions, whom the Sunnis revere. Tensions have been reported in the past between the Sunni majority and the Shiite minority in Kuwait.

Although Fali left the country following a wave of protests against his visit, the crisis continued as the three Islamist lawmakers insisted on demanding formal clarifications from the prime minister, a member of the ruling family.

The ruler of the country, Sheik Sabah al Ahmad al Sabah, put on hold the resignation and ordered the ministers to continue attending to their duties until he takes his final decision, according to the State’s news agency, KUNA.