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Family business relationships will be key to the growth of Samena Capital, the latest investment company to set up in Bahrain. Bringing together businessmen and former asset managers from the (Indian) Subcontinent, Asia, the Middle East and North Africa (Samena), a new asset management company set up in Bahrain, has attracted particular interest from Omani investors.

The sustained discrimination meted out to the Saudi Ismaili population concentrated in Najran province – frequently reported by opposition sources over recent years – has been chronicled in detail by the internationally respected advocacy group Human Rights Watch (HRW).

Abu Dhabi’s oil and gas investment arm is talking tough as it seeks to exponentially increase its already substantial portfolio with acquisitions at home and abroad. International Petroleum Investment Company is showing itself to be a tough negotiator in its talks with Spain’s Banco Santander

GSN has braved a welter of forums, brown bag lunches and fundraisers to get a closer look at the Obama and McCain camps’ regional policy plans. The conclusion: the candidates’ Middle East manifestos are largely similar, with the emphasis on toughness and smart diplomacy. Obama is more focused on Afghanistan, while McCain remains Iraq-minded

Domestic human rights campaigns and international pressure have combined to persuade an increasingly image-conscious government down the path of a reform that has social and economic implications for the whole region.

John Leonard Monterona, Middle East co-ordinator for Migrante, a leading independent organisation representing Filipino expatriate workers, told GSN his group would like to see sponsorship completely abolished.

The US Department of Defence has approved the sale to Saudi Arabia of 12 AH-64D Apache Longbow helicopters built by The Boeing Company, in a deal valued at up to $598m.

Following on plans to establish an investment fund with Indonesia (GSN 835/15), Qatar and Vietnam have announced a $1bn fund to invest in various sectors including agriculture. According to Vietnamese ambassador Phung The Long, Qatar Investment Authority will provide 90% of the fund’s equity. “We have exchanged

An Iraqi-led operation in Diyala province shows how Baghdad’s most intractable opponents are being squeezed. Operation Bashaer Al-Khair (Omens of Prosperity) kicked off three days earlier than anticipated in Diyala province, but otherwise came as no surprise. After other supposedly intractable security blackspots had been tackled this year – first Basra, then Baghdad’s Sadr City, then Mosul and

Spanish sporting giant Real Madrid (RM)’s president Ramon Calderón has been in talks with Ajman Crown Prince Sheikh Ammar Bin Humaid Al-Nuaimi with the idea of training talented young Emirati footballers in Spain, as well as opening RM football schools in the UAE.

Obtaining details and confirmations remains as problematic as ever, but some sources are talking about upheavals in the Saudi military/security establishment linked to continuing dynastic struggles in the Kingdom. According to one version of events, as many as 150

Abu Dhabi’s recent attention-grabbing deals highlight the wealthiest emirate’s emergence as an increasingly high-profile force to be reckoned with – astride the world stage and within the United Arab Emirates, where a further round of shifts in the internal power balance are coming to light.

The Libyan Investment Authority (LIA)‘s participation in First Energy Bank (FEB), whose emergence is analysed above, is part of a rapidly multiplying network of links between Libya’s fast-changing economy and the established oil economies of the Gulf (GSN 832/12, 815/1). While Libya is still in the process of setting up institutions to take charge of its huge financial reserves

Denis McDonough – Obama’s senior foreign policy co-ordinator is a venerable ‘Beltway bandit’, a career Capitol Hill staffer. His previous job was senior fellow at CAP, a liberal-oriented think tank with many members advising Obama’s campaign and with a key focus on ending US

Rawabi Holding Company has signed memorandum of understanding with Swiber Holdings, a ‘niche’ services provider to the offshore oil and gas industry with offices in Indonesia, Malaysia and Singapore. Swiber says it is an “integrated offshore engineering, procurement, construction, installation