Irony Watch: Islamic Solidarity Games Break Down Over Gulf Naming Dispute

The Riyadh-based Islamic Solidarity Sports Federation on Sunday called off the athletic games planned for Tehran in April because of Iran's use of the term "Persian Gulf" on winners' medals.The ISSF, headed by Saudi Olympic Federation president Prince Sultan bin Fahd, said after an emergency board meeting that Iran's local organising committee "unilaterally took some decisions without asking the federation by writing some slogans on the medals and pamphlets of the games."

DAMASCUS, Syria — Syrian rebels on Wednesday freed 48 Iranians held captive since August after President Bashar Assad’s regime promised to release hundreds of detainees in the first major prisoner swap of the country’s civil war, officials said. The exchange came just days after Assad vowed to press ahead with the fight against rebels despite international pressure to end the bloodshed that has left more than 60,000 people dead.

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DUBAI (Reuters) - Most economies hit by the Arab Spring uprisings will recover slowly next year, grappling with high inflation and rising unemployment due to poor global conditions, the International Monetary Fund predicted in a report on Sunday. In its twice-yearly outlook for the Middle East and North Africa, the global lender said a partial return of political stability could permit somewhat faster growth in the combined output of Egypt, Jordan, Morocco, Libya, Tunisia and Yemen during 2013. But weak demand in Europe and other regions will weigh on the Arab Spring states, it said. ...

Gulf Arab monarchies including Saudi Arabia denounced Iran's "flagrant interference" in regional affairs and said Tehran was destabilising their countries, at a ministerial meeting overnight Saturday.Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) foreign ministers said in a statement they were "deeply worried about continuing Iranian meddling" in their region.In addition to Saudi Arabia, Bahrain and Kuwait, the GCC groups Oman, Qatar, and the United Arab Emirates.

Gulf Arab monarchies including Saudi Arabia denounced Iran's "flagrant interference" in regional affairs and said Tehran was destabilising their countries, at a ministerial meeting overnight Saturday.GCC foreign ministers said in a statement they were "deeply worried about continuing Iranian meddling" in their region.In addition to Saudi Arabia, Bahrain and Kuwait, the GCC groups Oman, Qatar, and the United Arab Emirates.

The most important news of the day is clearly out of Egypt, but this is (a) well outside my expertise, and (b) something especially hard for me to keep tabs on while on vacation. So I’ll offer a link to my colleague Brian Katulis who’s actually knowledgeable about the region and has some tough words about the Obama administration’s overall approach to the area:

Some 1,500 mentally handicapped athletes are set to take part in the latest European edition of the Special Olympics next month in the Polish capital Warsaw, organisers said Monday."The participants are coming from 56 countries of Europe and Central Asia," organising committee spokesman Mariusz Piaseczny told AFP.The September 18-24 games are also set to draw personalities from the sporting world including football icons David Beckham and Zinedine Zidane, who are due to attend the opening ceremony.