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The woman and the elder girl of Saddam Hussein sought by Iraq BAGHDAD - the woman and the elder girl of Iraqi president deposed Saddam Hussein, who live both in exile, are reproduced on a new list of 41 the most sought people, whose Iraq required the extradition, published Sunday by the Iraqi adviser for national safety. "This list will be posted everywhere in the institutions of gouvernment, in the mosques and elsewhere to help to stop them" declared with the press Mouaffak Al-Roubaïe. "These people are responsible for the majority of the attacks and the murders perpetrated without...

Saddam Hussein ordered Iraq's central bank to withdraw $1 billion for his youngest son the day before the invasion to stop it falling into foreign hands, according to a leaked letter apparently written by the former dictator. In a hand-written note to the bank's governor, marked "top secret" and dated March 19, 2003, the former president told Isam Huwaish to give $920 million and 90 million euros to his son Qusay and another man, al-Mashriq newspaper reported yesterday. The Iraqi national broadsheet reproduced the letter, which appears to bear Saddam's signature. Saddam sent bank a hand-written note Employees of the...

Saudi Arabia single-handedly scuttled the Doha meeting, knowing all along that Iran would not participate, with a valid reason. The Russians and others agreed to proceed without Iran, planning to include them at a later date. So if everything was known beforehand, why did the Saudi’s pour cold water on the aspirations of the remaining members, risking its alienation from Russia and the OPEC community? Was it simply Saudi enmity toward Iran? Not exactly. Upon closer scrutiny, we can find the Saudi masterstroke behind Doha. It is well known that Saudi Arabia is heavily dependent on oil revenues, and that...

“WE DON’T care about oil prices,” Muhammad bin Salman, Saudi Arabia’s deputy crown prince, recently told Bloomberg, a news agency: “$30 or $70, they are all the same to us.” Such comments by the man calling the shots in the world’s biggest oil power should be taken with a pinch of salt. Low oil prices cost the country billions, threaten its credit rating and are turning it from creditor to debtor: this week it set out to raise $10 billion from global banks. Yet the claim is not entirely hollow, either. Saudi Arabia is determined not to give any succour...

A 1.4GB trove of internal documents, files and sensitive financial data purporting to be from the Qatar National Bank (QNB) has been leaked online. The massive data dump appears to contain hundreds of thousands of records including customer transaction logs, personal identification numbers and credit card data. Additionally, dozens of separate folders consist of information on everything from Al Jazeera journalists to what appears to be the Al-Thani Qatar Royal Family. However, it is a folder listed as "SPY, Intelligence" that quickly catches the eye. Upon analysis, it contains a slew of records listed as Ministry of Defence, MI6 (the...

Deep in the Qatari desert, Musharif spends his afternoons “swimming” in a large pool that doubles as a Jacuzzi, just one of the perks of being a racing camel. “It is for his muscles, it is good for the speed,” shouts one of Musharif’s handlers, pointing at the water as the calm three-year-old animal is led by a rope along the length of the pool at the Tharb camel hospital. SNIP In a region where camel racing is big business, Tharb’s work is increasingly important, and the first camels bred at the center are already racing in Qatar. Tibary admitted...

Iraqi officials have reportedly revoked the broadcaster's license, marking the third time Al Jazeera has been banned in Iraq. The news organization says it was told it had violated codes of conduct and other rules. The Qatar-based news organization on Wednesday said its bureau in Baghdad had been shut down after the government accused it of violating laws. According to the pan-Arab broadcaster, Iraq's Communications and Media Commission (CMC) accused the company of "violations of the official codes of conduct and broadcasting rules and regulations." Those rules and regulations were issued in 2014 to regulate media coverage of the "war...

Qatar’s purchase of 254 surface-to-air missiles from an American weapons manufacturer has cleared a major hurdle after securing the approval of the US State Department. The Defense Security Cooperation Agency announced the decision regarding the $260 million order from Raytheon Missile Systems in a statement published over the weekend. The agency stated that selling the weapons to Qatar would improve the national security of the US “by helping to improve the security of a friendly country.” It continued: “Qatar is an important force for political stability and economic progress in the (Gulf) region. This proposed sale will provide Qatar with...

No incentive for Saudis to let up Getty Saudi Arabia's minister of Oil and Mineral Resources Ali al-Naimi (C) arrives for the OPEC meeting, in the Qatari capital Doha, By WilliamWatts Deputy markets editor Why would the Saudis give up now?That’s the question crude oil bulls should have been asking themselves ahead of the Sunday meeting of major oil producers that failed to produce an agreement to put a lid on production. Prospects for a deal fell apart after Iran refused to sign up, prompting Saudi Arabia, the world’s swing producer, to effectively walk away. Those that believed Riyadh had...

WASHINGTON • The U.S. government is poised to approve two long-delayed sales of Boeing Co. fighter jets to Qatar and Kuwait, and could announce the multibillion-dollar deals during President Barack Obama's visit to the Gulf this week, according to two sources familiar with the matter. The decision would mean more job security for thousands of workers at Boeing's sprawling plant in north St. Louis County, where the F-15 fighter and F/A-18E/F Super Hornets are made. Both deals have been stalled amid concerns raised by Israel that equipment sent to Gulf states could fall into the wrong hands and be used...

While everyone is talking about the failure of the Doha negotiations, Kuwait has more than made up for OPEC’s failure all on its own. Kuwait’s oil workers walked off the job this weekend, flexing their muscles over a pay dispute. The state-owned Kuwait Oil Company took to Twitter to report the damage done by the workers strike, announcing that oil production fell to 1.1 million barrels per day on Sunday, a catastrophic development considering it normally produces nearly 3 mb/d. Also, Kuwait Petroleum Corp., the state-owned refining company, said that its production of refined products dropped from 930,000 to 520,000...

Saudi Arabia turns oil weapon on Iran: Kemp By Reuters Published: 13:22 GMT, 18 April 2016 | Updated: 13:22 GMT, 18 April 2016 By John Kemp LONDON, April 18 (Reuters) - Saudi Arabia's decision to scupper negotiations on a coordinated oil output freeze in Doha on Sunday seems to confirm a significant shift in the kingdom's oil policy. For decades, the kingdom has insisted it does not wield oil as a diplomatic weapon, but at the weekend it did just that as part of an intensifying conflict with Iran. ("Saudi-Iran tensions scupper deal to freeze oil output", Reuters, April 17)...

Oil prices tumbled on Monday after a meeting by major exporters in Qatar collapsed without an agreement to freeze output, leaving the credibility of the OPEC producer cartel in tatters and the world awash with unwanted fuel. Tensions between Saudi Arabia and Iran were blamed for the failure, which revived industry fears that major government-controlled producers will increase their battle for market share by offering ever-steeper discounts. "OPEC's credibility to coordinate output is now very low," said Peter Lee of BMI Research, a unit of rating agency Fitch. "This isn't just about oil for the Saudis. It's as much about...

"Thus saith the LORD: I return unto Tzion and will dwell in the midst of Yerushalayim; and Yerushalayim shall be called the city of truth; and the mountain of the LORD of hosts the holy mountain." Zechariah 8:3 (The Israel BibleTM) On Friday, the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization's (UNESCO) Executive Board in Paris adopted a resolution erasing Israel's ties to the Temple Mount and the Western Wall. The UNESCO resolution referred to the Temple Mount area solely as the Al-Aqsa Mosque or Al-Haram Al Sharif, ignoring the Jewish claim to the site. The resolution called Israel "the...

Santa Fe Mayor Javier Gonzales will travel this week to Qatar, and the trip is drawing criticism that the mayor is breaking his own directives. Qatar is known for its anti-LGBT laws, and Gonzales' trip was announced just days after the mayor reaffirmed Santa Fe's ban on city employee travel to states that have passed what advocates say are discrimination laws against the LGBT community.

Santa Fe Mayor Javier Gonzales will travel this week to Qatar, and the trip is drawing criticism that the mayor is breaking his own directives. Qatar is known for its anti-LGBT laws, and Gonzales' trip was announced just days after the mayor reaffirmed Santa Fe's ban on city employee travel to states that have passed what advocates say are discrimination laws against the LGBT community.

Editors note: We at the USA Transnational Report has been covering the thawing of relations between Israel and the Arab countries for some months. The geopolitical map in the Middle East has changed totally. In a true sign of change in the Arab world, Kuwaiti media personality Yousuf ‘Abd Al-Karim Al-Zinkawi called on all Arab and Muslim states to recognize Israel, openly and without delay, and stop calling it “the Zionist Entity” or “the Israeli occupation,” terms which undermine Israel’s legitimacy. In an article published in the Kuwaiti daily Al-Siyassa on Saturday, he argued that by sitting alongside Israel at...

American B-52 Stratofortress bombers have been sent for their first Middle East operational deployment since the 1991 Gulf War 26 years ago. The aircraft are flying from Qatar to bomb Islamic State targets. An undisclosed number of B-52s have arrived at the Al Udeid Air Base on Sunday, the US Air Force said. “The B-52 will provide the coalition continued precision and deliver desired airpower effects,” Lt. Gen. Charles Q. Brown Jr., commander, US Air Forces Central Command said in the statement. The B-52 is a long-range multi-purpose heavy bomber. The Central Command last used them during Operation Desert Storm...

The U.S. Air Force deployed B-52 bombers to Qatar on Saturday to join the fight against Islamic State in Iraq and Syria, the first time they have been based in the Middle East since the end of the Gulf War in 1991. U.S. Air Forces Central Command said it last flew the long-range bombers operationally in the region in May 2006 as part of the war in Afghanistan, and during a U.S.-led military exercise in Jordan in May 2015. "The B-52 demonstrates our continued resolve to apply persistent pressure on Daesh and defend the region in any future contingency," said...

Migrant workers building a stadium for the 2022 World Cup in Qatar "have suffered systematic abuses, in some cases forced labor," a new report from Amnesty International claims. The report, titled "The ugly side of the beautiful game: Exploitation on a Qatar 2022 World Cup site", paints a damning picture of conditions for migrant laborers.