Gre costrum is our middle east correspondent. Cloudy arabia's vision for of vast, frankly improbable, 500 billion dollar city in the desert. Could profits from soaring oil prices make what once seemed like a flight of fancy a realistic prospect? The i m f estimates that energy exporters in the middle east and central asia will net about 320 billion dollars this year in oil revenues above what they expected.
A conflict smouldering since a war in 2020 has again caught alight; Azerbaijan may feel emboldened by a distracted Russia and its own energy prospects. Gulf countries are swimming in piles of unexpected, oil-derived cash: we ask whether they will sock it away or splurge on citizens and pet projects. And why many Lebanese couples are choosing to wed online.
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