Yahoo Buys Maktoob Arabic Portal,Boosts Emerging Mkts

DUBAI (By Dania Saadi)-Yahoo Inc. (YHOO), said on Tuesday it agreed to buy Arabic online portal Maktoob.com as it seeks to add the Middle East to its expanding strategy for the fast-growing emerging markets.
"This deal reinforces Yahoo's commitment to invest in emerging markets," Keith Nilsson, senior vice president of emerging markets for Yahoo, said at a press conference in Dubai, United Arab Emirates.
"With online user penetration and advertising penetration at its infancy, we see tremendous growth potential in this region," he said.
Nilsson and Maktoob officials declined to disclose the value of the deal.
Yahoo Inc. is looking at further expansion in emerging countries, which are the company's fastest growing regions. Yahoo 's emerging markets include South East Asia, India, Latin America, Africa and the Middle East.
The Sunnyvale, Calif.-based company said in July its second-quarter revenue fell 13% as its online advertising business continued to deteriorate. Yahoo has 44 million users a month in the North Africa and Middle East region, Nilsson said. Maktoob.com has over 16 million users, according to the company.
The deal comes a month after Yahoo agreed to join forces with Microsoft Corp. (MSFT) in the Internet search and advertising business to help create a counterweight to Google Inc. (GOOG) and has upgraded its services as the Internet portal tries to make its core properties more appealing.
Yahoo and rival Google, which already has Arabic internet services, are competing to tap the Arab World's fast-growing population of over 320 million and high per capita gross domestic product, one of the highest in the world.
"Saudi Arabia and Egypt offer tremendous size and growth opportunities that we will be looking at in addition to other countries in the Middle East," Nilsson said.
With a population exceeding 70 million, Egypt is the Arab World's most populous state, and Saudi Arabia is the region's largest economy and the world's biggest oil exporter.
Yahoo's acquisition follows a wave of consolidation in the Middle East's internet and media industry over the last few years.
Abraaj Capital, a Dubai-based private equity firm, sold in 2007 its 40% stake in Maktoob.com to U.S.-based hedge fund Tiger Global Management. Abraaj bought this year a stake in Mediaquest Corp., a Dubai-based company mainly involved in publishing.
Emap, a London-based media group, paid in 2006 an initial $24 million for AME Info, an online business and information service provider in the Middle East, according to its Web site.
The Arab World's online advertising market is growing anywhere between 25 and 50 percent a year as internet usage soars, Nilsson added.
Samih Toukan, who helped found Maktoob in 2000, said the shift in advertising expenditure has helped fuel growth in the online advertising industry.
"We are talking of an online advertising budget of probably $40 to $50 million that is even growing this year at 30% to 40% even with this global financial crisis," Toukan said at the press conference.
Besides the Maktoob.com portal, the Maktoob Group includes web sites such as Souq.com and cashU.com, which will operate under into a new entity called Jabbar Internet Group to be managed by Toukan.

Hakeem,Wali confirm Mehsud’s death

PAKISTAN: Taliban leaders Hakeemullah Mehsud and Waliur Rehman confirmed the death of Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) chief Baitullah Mehsud. Talking to a British news agency, both the Taliban leaders said their chief Baitullah Mehsud has passed away two days back on Sunday.
They said Mehsud was unconscious ever since he was hit in a drone attack on August 5 near Pak-Afghan border, he died in this state of unconsciousness, succumbing to injuries.
Both the Taliban leaders told that Hakeemuall has assumed the chieftaincy of the outfit, after the death of Baitullah Mehsud.
It should be mentioned here that Baitullah Mehsud was the chief of Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) and accepted the responsibility for several sabotage activities across Pakistan.

US Muslims turn to Jews for Ramadan prayers

Muslims flock to synagogues due to mosque overcrowding
..................
DUBAI - A booming Muslim population in the United States is creating a shortage of mosques and prayer space, forcing the faithful to get creative during the holy month of Ramadan as Muslims in Virginia rent out Jewish synagogues.
In Reston, Virginia, a synagogue has opened its doors to Muslim worshipers to perform daily prayers during Ramadan, according to the Washington Post. The extra space is crucial to accommodate the additional worshippers expected.
"Just like you have Easter Christians, Hanukkah Jews, we have what we call Ramadan Muslims. They just come out of the woodwork on the holy days," Imam Johari Abdul-Malik, outreach director at the Dar Al-Hijrah mosque in Falls Church, told the Post.
With estimates of the numbers of Muslims in America ranging anywhere between 2.5 and seven million, the Muslim population has doubled since 1990 according to a Trinity College study, challenging the ability of Muslims to build enough mosques to keep up with demand.
The Northern Virginia Hebrew Congregation once depended on space in a Catholic church before its synagogue was built. Rabbi Robert Nosanchuk noted that: “The prophet Isaiah said our houses would be houses of prayer for all people. Now, I don’t know if Isaiah could have imagined us hosting Ramadan in the synagogue, but the basic idea is there."
Overcrowded mosques
Islam prohibits the charging of interest, so most congregations spend years raising the entire amount needed to build a mosque in cash in order to avoid taking a mortgage. Despite a building boom in suburban Virginia, mosques are often full from the minute they open and must rent additional space.
Mosques like the 4,000-strong ADAMS mosque in Herndon, whose membership has increased by a factor of 13 since 2000, have not been able to build apace with membership growth.
The mosque rents space from hotels, a wedding hall and two synagogues to accommodate those attending Friday prayers.
Others, like the 2,000-capacity Dar al-Hijrah, have had to turn away worshippers because of space constraints.
Abdul-Malik said he had to turn many away last Ramadan to avoid violating occupancy rules, and refused to say how many the mosque would accommodate this year out of concern for the fire inspector.

Young Guantanamo detainee returns to Afghanistan

KABUL: A young Afghan whose six-year detention at Guantanamo arrived in his home country, less than a month after a federal judge in Washington ordered his release.

Mohammed Jawad, whose confession to throwing a hand grenade that wounded two U.S. soldiers was rejected as coerced by torture, was helicoptered into Kabul from Bagram Air Base and taken to the office of the Afghan attorney general.

One of his defense attorneys, Marine Major Eric Montalvo, said Jawad then met with President Hamid Karzai and was scheduled to be released to an uncle.

French court accepts SMS as divorce proof

PARIS: French appeal court has ruled that a text message can be used as evidence of an affair in divorce proceedings.

The ruling stems from a case, which hinged on a text found by a woman on her husband’s phone.

While a lower court in Lyon initially ruled this was a breach of the husband’s privacy, this decision has been overturned by the appeal court ruling.

Like letters and emails, text messages will be accepted as evidence as long as they were obtained “without violence or fraudulently”.