U.S. Rep. Louie Gohmert (R-TX) has a lot to say about the impact of trade deals and other events on the modern Gulf region. Gohmert spoke on the House floor last week about the Obama administration’s Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, a deal with Iran intended to stave off the country's nuclear ambitions and promote international diplomacy. Read More »

A recent Wall Street Journal article indicates various community colleges and other American educational institutions are trying out the idea of satellite campuses in the Gulf region. Houston Community College Vice Chancellor Edmund Herod said there are certain challenges to these kinds of ventures, but he is ultimately positive about the way these projects can work. Read More »

A new Amnesty International report is shedding light on the status of the Gulf state of Qatar, a small country that’s been under fire because of various human rights issues within its borders. Read More »

After only about three years on the air, Al-Jazeera America is shutting down. As of this month, the network will no longer broadcast in the U.S. The somewhat abrupt closure leaves those with an interest in the industry wondering exactly what factors led to the takedown of a broadcasting office that, while battling some very serious charges and accusations, played a role in cross-continental news delivery and was a mainstay for many Gulf Region natives living in America. Read More »

Northwestern University professor Stephen Eisenman seems to be crying foul, or at least asking questions about the school’s exported journalism program educating students in Qatar. In an interview with the Washington Post published in December of last year, Eisenman talked about things like censorship and human rights violations in Qatar that hamper the efforts of the American universities to maintain a presence there. Read More »

Questions about how sovereign wealth funds work practically and what happens when they are not handled in a transparent way loom large especially when it comes to the Qatar Investment Authority (QIA). Read More »

As reported in Bloomberg news and other venues, Qatar’s government is looking to get involved in the U.S. in a big way. The country's sovereign wealth fund, the Qatar Investment Authority, has opened a New York office and is aggressively looking to acquire U.S. assets with $35 billion. At the same time, Qatar and its related investors are also spending money elsewhere around the world. Read More »

A nonprofit human rights advocacy group called Freedom House publishes annual 'Freedom in the World' reports, rating countries around the world for their track records on items such as press freedom and overall human rights. Read More »

U.S. newspapers have reported that the Qatar Foundation, a nonprofit founded in 1995 by Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani, has paid $400 million in 2014 to host six U.S. universities in a facility near Doha, Qatar's capital Read More »

Real estate company Colliers International is opening an office in Cairo to reach new investors in the Middle East-North Africa region. “We are establishing an on-the-ground presence in Cairo to meet client demand and we look forward to providing services from our first office for many years to come,” Ian Albert, regional director of Colliers International MENA, told the Gulf News Journal. Read More »

The Qatar Investment Authority's (QIA) plan to channel an estimated $35 billion into U.S. investments, along with opening an office in New York City, is raising questions about how this move might influence American foreign policy -- particularly given Qatar's poor track record with human rights. Read More »

Among the sovereign wealth funds that allow nations to make foreign investments in their national interests, the Qatar Investment Authority (QIA), representing the oil-rich Gulf state, is one of the wealthiest. This year, the QIA is poised to put $35 billion into a set of U.S. investments, including the buyout of a division of American Express and other key investments. The QIA also plans to set up a new office in New York. Read More »

The Digital Rock Physics (DRP) Project, undertaken as part of a partnership between the Masdar Institute of Science and Technology in the United Arab Emirates, the Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (ADNOC), the Petroleum Institute and a number of other organizations, hopes to change energy exploration by making the collection of raw materials much more efficient. Read More »

GE Oil & Gas chose the end of March to break ground on a new multimodal manufacturing and service facility at the MODON site in Dammam, Saudi Arabia. Read More »