QATAR: Awash in oil and gas cash, Doha announces $25-billion rail system

Just two months after Dubai unveiled its plush metro system, Qatar announced it will build its own multibillion-dollar railway that will include a local metro in Doha, its capital, as well as freight and passenger trains to Bahrain and Saudi Arabia via the world's longest causeway.

The railway is expected to cost $25 billion and be completed by 2026, but officials are eager to have sections up and running by 2022, when Qatar hopes to host the World Cup, Reuters reported.

The deal between Qatari Diar, a real estate investment company owned by Qatar's sovereign wealth fund, and the German transport company Deutsche Bahn was announced today. 

The contract comes against a background of increased spending on rail projects by the oil-rich Arab gulf states that is expected to exceed $100 billion.

-- Meris Lutz in Beirut

Photo: The west bay of Doha, Qatar. Credit: wikimedia commons

MIDDLE EAST: Women's status up in Saudi Arabia, down in Syria, says study

The subject of women's rights in the Middle East is contentious. Sensational media coverage of honor killings and child brides equates religious conservatism with gender inequality, incensing Western feminists on the one hand and provoking regional backlashes on the other.

The reality is far more nuanced, according to the the 2009 Global Gender Gap Report released in late October by the World Economic Forum, which ranks countries based on women's economic participation, educational attainment, health and political empowerment.

In Kuwait, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Qatar -- socially conservative Persian Gulf countries that all rely on some form of Sharia Islamic law -- more women than men enroll in higher education, although they have yet to be fully incorporated into the workforce. 

Syria, on the other hand, which is ruled by a nominally secular regime, has slid in the rankings for the last three years. 

Iran scores low in the fields of economic, educational and health equality, but performs relatively well on political empowerment. 

Saudi Arabia and Egypt still hover near the bottom of the list, but have improved steadily since 2006. 

Yemen remained the lowest-ranked country in the world for the fourth year in a row.

UNITED ARAB EMIRATES: Named after famed scientist, robot readied for life of mall drudgery

He has facial expressions, speaks classical Arabic and wears elegant traditional robes. 

Perfect, scientists say, for directing hungry shoppers to the food court.

Students and faculty at United Arab Emirates University in Al-Ain have created what a team at the university's lab says is the world's first Arabic-speaking socially interactive robot.

Nicholas Mavrides, a professor of computer science, said the human-like Ibn Sina, named after the Islamic philosopher and scientist commonly known in English as Avicenna, said the robot could be used as a receptionist, salesman or shopping assistant at one of the Persian Gulf's many shopping malls.

"We're very close to being able to get him to work as a receptionist or a helper in a mall," he told Agence France Presse. "If we work on it in a group of five people, we will be able to develop those skills in six months to make him ready for full operations."

-- Los Angeles Times

Photo: Karim Sahib / AFP/Getty Images

UAE: Former Syrian spy sentenced to jail time, deportation

Abu Dhabi's supreme court sentenced former Syrian intelligence officer Mohammad Zuhair Siddiq to six months in jail and deportation for entering the United Arab Emirates on a fake Czech passport that Siddiq claims was given to him by French intelligence.

Siddiq, once a star witness in the international tribunal investigating the assassination of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri, is suspected of giving false information in an attempt to implicate Syria in the explosion that killed Hariri and 22 others in 2005. Since then, investigators for the tribunal have dismissed Siddiq's testimony, and warrants for his arrest have been issued by the Lebanese and Syrian governments.

Siddiq's lawyer, Fahd Al-Sabhan, indicated to local reporters that he will fight the deportation sentence if it means his client will be handed over to Syrian authorities, which would be tantamount to extradition.

IRAN: Nuclear plant will open to inspectors

The head of Iran’s nuclear program said today that he will soon announce a timetable for international inspectors to visit what until last week was a secret underground uranium-enrichment plant being built near the holy city of Qom.

Iran’s Press TV reported that Ali Akbar Salehi, director of Iran’s Atomic Energy Organization, has informed the United Nations that the plant will produce uranium enriched up to 5% – it takes at least 90% enrichment to make a nuclear weapon.

Salehi was quoted as saying: "It is against our tenets, it is against our religion to produce, use, hold or have nuclear weapons or arsenal, how can we more clearly state our position, since 1974 we have been saying this." 

 The offer to grant international inspectors access to the plant comes as Western pressure is growing to enact new economic sanctions against Tehran. Washington and its European allies have accused Iran of deception in a nuclear program that they maintain is intended for building weapons. The U.S. and other world powers will meet with an Iranian delegation on Thursday in Geneva.

Reuters quoted a senior Western diplomat as saying: "The talks are pretty much doomed. It's clear Iran is not going to say what we want to hear, and we're going to have to move to the next phase," he said, alluding to wider sanctions.

-- Jeffrey Fleishman in Cairo

Photo: Ali Akbar Salehi, director of Iran’s Atomic Energy Organization. Credit: Press TV Iran 

YEMEN: Government troops battle Shiite rebels

Yemen kept up its military offensive today  against Shiite rebels in the northwest as troops, artillery and aircraft attacked a militant stronghold near the border with Saudi Arabia.

The mountainous Saada province shook with gunfire and explosions for a second day. The Sunni-led government, which claims the rebels have killed more than 330 people over the last year, said that militants had taken over schools and seized teachers. The Associated Press quoted a health official as saying that 12 people had been killed in the fighting.

The assault against the rebels comes as this poor nation has grown unstable with dangers on other fronts: a separatist insurgency in the south and an infusion of Al Qaeda fighters planning attacks across the Middle East. Such a scenario is an increasing concern for neighboring Saudi Arabia and its oilfields. 

QATAR: Public outrage rises with demand for Saudi maids

Residents of Qatar are outraged over media reports that 30 Saudi women have had to work in the same “humiliating” conditions that were formerly deemed acceptable only for foreign migrant workers.

The women, ages 20 to 45, arrived in Qatar to be placed with families as maids, earning about $400 per month, slightly more than their mostly Asian and African counterparts, according to the Middle East and North Africa Financial Network (MENAFN).

One maids agency told newspapers that the demand for Saudi women had gone up sharply due to widespread fears that foreign maids practiced magic.

UNITED ARAB EMIRATES: Government bugs BlackBerrys with spy program

When BlackBerry users in the United Arab Emirates were urged to download what they thought was a routine software upgrade, they had no idea that by doing so they were installing a surveillance program that gives the state-controlled service provider Etisalat unfettered access to their personal mobile devices.

After finding out, over half of Etisalat’s customers, many of whom conduct sensitive business on their BlackBerrys, say they intend to cancel their contracts immediately, according to a poll conducted by Arabian Business and published by local tech-news website itp.net, which has been following the story closely.

The spyware was traced to SS8, an American company specializing in what it calls "lawful interception."

On Tuesday, the Canadian company that makes BlackBerry issued a statement denying any connection to the bugged application.

“Independent sources have concluded that the Etisalat update is not designed to improve performance of your BlackBerry, but rather to send received messages back to a central server,” the statement read.

UNITED ARAB EMIRATES: Education is latest addition to Abu Dhabi's master plan

Abu Dhabi is looking to bolster its educational credentials, opening New York University's newest campus next fall alongside cultural landmarks such as the Louvre Abu Dhabi and a new Guggenheim on Saadiyat Island.

NYU Abu Dhabi is one of several ambitious projects that the emirate has funded as part of its  2030 Initiative, a multibillion dollar plan to put itself at the forefront of several industries. Abu Dhabi has been propelling its profile more than its neighboring emirate Dubai, a glittery symbol of oil-funded development in recent years. 

MIDDLE EAST: Daily headlines from Gaza, Israel, Iran in your mailbox

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— Los Angeles Times staff