How FIFA turned the World Cup into a giant cash cow

Billions of dollars are streaming into the Swiss-based organisation from broadcasting rights, advertising revenue, and ticket and hospitality sales, but have the fans been left high and dry?

Abdulfattah Khattab

The Blind Leading the Blind

[caption id="attachment_55231770" align="aligncenter" width="620" caption="A Tunisian vendor sells dried fruit before an election poster in Tunis"][/caption] A year after the revolution in Tunisia…

Paula Mejia

The Price of Union

[caption id="attachment_552305" align="aligncenter" width="620" caption="Robert Cianflone/Getty Images"][/caption] The six states of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) have emerged as influential…

Kristian Coates Ulrichsen

Back in Business

[caption id="attachment_55229758" align="aligncenter" width="586" caption="Tunisia’s Minister of Tourism, Elyes Fakhfakh, recently signed a cooperation agreement with the UNWTO "][/caption]The World…

Daniel F. Rivera Gómez

Sanctioning Iran

[caption id="attachment_55229380" align="aligncenter" width="620" caption="Protesters in Berlin against military action in Iran (PA)"][/caption] The United Nations and its individual members…

Richard Weitz

Up and Coming

[caption id="attachment_55229238" align="aligncenter" width="640" caption="The Saudi Stock Exchange hopes one day to compete with major markets"][/caption] The last year has been difficult for Gulf…

Paula Mejia

Egypt’s IMF Lifeline

[caption id="attachment_55229024" align="aligncenter" width="620" caption="Egyptians demonstrate on 25 January 2011, carrying banners to protest against the government, unemployment and about the…

Paula Mejia

Net Investments

[caption id="attachment_55228925" align="aligncenter" width="620" caption="Social media websites, such as Twitter, are becoming increasingly integrated into daily life"][/caption] There has recently…

Desné Masie

The Saudi Economy in 2012

[caption id="attachment_55228910" align="aligncenter" width="620" caption="A Saudi man counts out money. The Saudi oil sector is predicted to slow its growth this year."][/caption] Summary A new…

Thomas Alberts

Oil Sector Reform in Libya

[caption id="attachment_55227813" align="aligncenter" width="620" caption="A worker's helmet lies on the ground at the Zawiya oil refinery, some 40 km west of Tripoli"][/caption] The overthrow…

Thomas Alberts

Syria’s Economic Woes

[caption id="attachment_55227435" align="aligncenter" width="619" caption="A rare tourist takes pictures of a wall decorated with posters of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad in the old city of…

Thomas Alberts