Dina al-Shibeeb: Is the Arab brotherhood, like the Euro sisterhood, of an economic nature?

The answer is clearly yes! In a world run by capitalist modus-operandi, business reigns supreme.

However, one cannot deny the political solidarity and the human mobilization beyond their materialistic necessities and economic rights.

In the Arab World, political solidarity receded after continuous losses especially in wars against Israel. What it is left from Arab nationalism and political solidarity are toothless Arab institutions like the Arab League. 

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BBC News - Small businesses make it big in Qatar - click for video

The economy in Qatar is forecast to grow by an impressive 20% in 2011. Often it is the big, billion-dollar deals that grab the business headlines but smaller businesses are increasingly helping to fuel growth. It is creating an entrepreneurial shift among young people.

With the World Cup coming to the country too, the opportunity to develop Qatar's SME sector has never been greater.

Stephanie Hancock reports from Doha on who is making it big in small business.

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Foreign oil companies return to Libyan fields - The National

Foreign oil companies are returning to Libya to revive its most important industry after half a year of civil war.

An offshore field operated by a Total joint venture was due to start pumping yesterday and could begin exporting in as little as three weeks, an executive told Dow Jones.

Meanwhile Austria's OMV is set to redeploy foreign staff within days.

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Stocks in U.S. Rebound, Treasuries Retreat as Silver, Gold Prices Plunge - Bloomberg

U.S. stocks rose, trimming the Dow Jones Industrial Average’s worst weekly loss since 2008, European equities rebounded and Treasuries fell amid signs policy makers will act to prevent the debt crisis from worsening. Silver plunged the most since at least 1979.

The Dow added 0.4 percent to 10,771.48 at 4 p.m. New York time, paring this week’s loss to 6.4 percent. The Standard & Poor’s 500 Index climbed 0.6 percent to 1,136.43 after losing 7.1 percent in the first four days of the week. The Stoxx Europe 600 Index rose 0.6 percent. Ten-year Treasury yields surged 11 basis points to 1.82 percent after touching a record low 1.67 percent. Silver sank 18 percent and gold slid 5.9 percent, giving futures the biggest two-day loss since 1983.

Europe’s governments are speeding the setup of a permanent rescue fund, an internal working paper shows. The European Central Bankmay step up efforts to ease financial-market tensions, including offering banks 12-month loans, Governing Council members said. About $3.5 trillion had been erased from global equity values this week before today, driving the MSCI All-Country World Index into a bear market and price-earnings ratios down to the lowest levels since March 2009.

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Arab Governments May Buy Egyptian Debt to Reduce Highest Yield Since 2008 - Bloomberg

Arab governments or their investment arms may soon buy Egyptian treasury bills to help the government reduce the highest borrowing costs since 2008, Egypt’s Deputy Prime Minister Hazem El Beblawi said.

Egypt is in talks with Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates to buy the instruments, El Beblawi, who is also the country’s finance minister, said in an interview in Washington yesterday, where he is attending the annual meetings of the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank.

“It can materialize anytime but we have not yet finalized the agreement,” he said. “We are really concerned about increasing interest rates.”

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