Surf Arab States

Arab States Weekly Review 19 Dec – 30 Dec 09

Al-Qaeda in Yemen has claimed responsibility for a attempted terror attack on an airplane from Amsterdam to Detroit on Christmas day. Nigerian Umar Farouk Abdulmutalleb attempted to detonate explosives but was overpowered by fellow passengers. The incident has sparked debates about airline security, as well as the (already fragile) situation in Yemen, where Abdulmutalleb was reportedly trained by Al-Qaeda.

A South Korean consortium was awarded a $40bn contract to build and run four nuclear power reactors in the United Arab Emirates. The project is to be the first civilian nuclear-energy initiative in the Arab World.

British hostage Peter Moore was released alive after two-and-a-half years in captivity in Iraq. The IT consultant was captured in Baghdad in May 2007.