George Mitchell, Obama’s envoy to the Middle-East, will set off to the region to initiate another round of ‘proximity talks’ between the Israeli’s and the Palestinians. The Arab League has welcomed the news of the negotiations, which have stalled for over a year.

Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi criticised a Swiss vote against the building of minarets, and urged all Muslims to boycott the country. Libyan-Swiss tensions date back to 2008, when Mr. Gaddafi’s son was arrested in Geneva, accused over assaulting two servants. The Swiss foreign ministry declined to comment on Gaddafi’s call to Jihad.

US-Syrian diplomatic relations are being restored as the US nominated its first ambassador to Syria in five years.

Prime Minister Saad Hariri of Lebanon expressed his concerns over ‘escalating threats’ posed by Israel to the Middle-East. His comment came just days after aggressive exchanges of accusations between the foreign ministers of Syria and Israel, fueling media speculations over a next ‘imminent war’.

Yemeni government forces reported to have killed 16 Houthi rebels in Saada. An agreement on a truce between the Houthi rebels and the Yemeni government earlier broke over an extra condition that Houthi’s stop attacking Saudi forces across the border.

The Mossad (Israel’s secret service) was suspected of the recent assassination in Dubai of Mahmoud al-Mabhouh, a senior military commander of the Hamas.

Ali Hassan Al-Majid, a.k.a. “Chemical Ali” was executed by hanging after he was found guilty by an Iraqi special tribunal of ordering poison-gas attacks against Kurds in 1988. Al-Majid was a couson and confidant of Saddam Hussain.

An parliamentary panel in Iraq recommended that some 500 candidates should not be allowed to participate in a general election due in March, due to alleged past ties to the Baath party. Sectarian tensions resulted.

It was leaked that Abu Dhabi’s bailout of (Dubai) state-backed Dubai World was only half of the USD 10bn which was previously reported, as USD 5bn was a prior credit commitment. The announcement fueled fears about Dubai’s rescue.

A Dutch committee investigating the Netherland’s entry into the Iraq war concluded it was illegal in international law. The conclusion led to a brief crisis in Dutch parliament as the prime minister seemed reluctant to accept the results of the investigation.

A suicide bomber from Jordan operating as a CIA double-agent killed seven American CIA men and a Jordanian intelligence officer at a base in Khost (Afghanistan). The bomber was a trusted double-agent whose task it was to track down Ayman Al-Zawahiri, Al-Qaeda’s number two.

The Burj Khalifa Tower was officially opened in Dubai. Standing at 828 meters, the tower is the world’s tallest building and cost USD 1.5 billion to build. The ceremony came at a time of financial difficulty for Dubai, only having received a USD 10bn bailout from (neighbouring emirate) Abu Dhabi a few weeks ago for state-backed Dubai World.

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.