KRG, sitting on top of huge oil reserve, is broke

rudaw, Kurdistan Region — Projects underway by companies and contractors have stalled in Kirkuk under pilling local administration debt as the province is complaining that the federal government hasn’t sent its share of the Iraqi budget or petrodollar for four years.

"There are no projects [underway]. We don't see anything. It isn't only the Kurdish areas. There are no projects anywhere. We had the petrodollar in this city. Things were done," shop owner Walid Mohammed told Rudaw.

All major powers cooperating to commit war crimes

Today again the displacement of the countryside is repeated #Homs North. #Children, #women and displaced civilians are sitting on the roads now after their arrival in the #Syrian_north and the rain is falling on them
the suffering of displacement starts now#syria pic.twitter.com/82qzdpvfwY

— muhammad najem (@muhammadnajem20) May 7, 2018

Who controls #kirkukoil has great leverage on world economy

The Energy Giant Taking Over Kurdistan | OilPrice.com: "No matter how one sees the Erbil-Baghdad row, it is highly remarkable that Rosneft has factually become an arm of Russian foreign policy in the Middle East. Practically negotiating state-to-state diplomatic and military relations, the Russian IOC has managed to wriggle itself into almost all energy-related equations, without seemingly antagonizing anyone, even more so, promising investment to both quarreling sides. No small feat."

Amman, Jordan, car culture very unpleasant, expensive.

Lack of public spaces, inefficient public transportation in capital come under spotlight | Jordan Times: "“We need to create a sense of belonging to the city,” said an architect and urban planner Rami Daher during the event, denouncing the lack of “public spaces” in the city. 

“Just a very exclusive type of public space is being created which leads to geographies of inequality,” he insisted. 

The architect, along with the audience, asked for a bigger involvement of the state in the future development of the Jordanian capital with most of the claims focusing on transportation and public projects targeting the whole Ammani society. 

Nemeh Qatanani, GAM’s engineering director, referred to the Bus Rapid Transit (BRT), which he said would help improve public transportation.

“The share of the public transport is very humble currently, with 5 per cent of rides made by buses and 8 per cent by shared taxi,” Qatanani stated. 

GAM highlighted its keenness to complete an organised public transportation system. “Between 20 and 25 per cent of household income of the Amman population is used for mobility expenses solely,” he said."

Saudis fear true Islam

Middle East Eye: "Their real demands, which were conveyed to the Emir of Kuwait - who is acting as an intermediary - are the closure of Al Jazeera, de-funding of Al Arabi al Jadid,  Al Quds al Arabi, and the Arabic edition of Huffington Post, along with the expulsion of Palestinian public intellectual Azmi Bishara.

This is the media that reveals - in Arabic - the stories that these Arab dictators most want their citizens not to read. Not content with muzzling their own media, they want to shut down all media that reveals the inconvenient truth about their despotic, venal, corrupt regimes, wherever it is in the world."

Rich grabbing last of usable biosphere

A firm in the UAE has plans to tow icebergs from Antarctica to its own coast in 2018, to help solve water access issues. pic.twitter.com/7wgRjClxDq

— The Spectator Index (@spectatorindex) May 6, 2017

Walking past miles of gridlocked cars in Egypt

The National: "Not just priority, the lack of local public transport should be put at the level of a national emergency: the inability to move efficiently around cities is stifling economic growth, generating the destruction of vast tracts of agricultural land and historic buildings and causing severe hardship to the country’s citizens.
....There can be no good reason to need over an hour to drive a kilometre or two through the centre of the city. I have walked for miles while passing cars, buses and lorries stalled in traffic. It’s maddening that it can be quicker to walk across town than to go by car. The gridlock likewise hinders goods and spare parts from reaching markets, at great cost to the economy as a whole."