Topic: Middle East

This Memorial Day weekend, motorists will find gasoline plentiful and at the lowest price it’s been for two years. Good news. And it may get better. The Christian Science Monitor reports.

Egypt made history on Wednesday as it kicked off its first free presidential election and put its fragile democratic transition to the test. Just over 50 million eligible citizens are expected to cast their votes over the course of two days.

Amr Moussa, one of Egypt’s top presidential candidates, has reiterated his belief in free markets and told CNBC in an interview on Tuesday that the country needed to “open up”.

A preliminary count of votes for Egyptians living abroad has put Islamist candidate Abdul-Moneim Aboul-Fotouh in the lead, followed by left-leaning Hamdeen Sabahi .

In April, the HSBC UAE Purchasing Managers' Index rose to 53.5, the highest level since June 2011. The one-point increase is the strongest monthly gain since October of last year.

To understand the effect that events have  on global oil markets a key figure to watch is the amount of crude produced daily in each country. With data from the Energy Information Administration (EIA), a division of the Department of Energy, CNBC.com took a look at the countries that produce the most crude oil on that basis. (Production is defined as extraction from the Earth’s crust, prior to the refining process.)

Pizza Hut has released a pizza lined with tiny cheeseburgers in the Middle East, just weeks after releasing the "Hot Dog Stuffed Crust Pizza" in the UK,  the Christian Science Monitor reports.

About 20 jailed foreign businessmen have gone on hunger strike in Dubai to protest against lengthy sentences for writing checks that bounced, a criminal offence in the United Arab Emirates.

Anti-government protestors calling for political reform burned tires as a controversial Formula One race was held in Bahrain on Sunday.

Formula One drivers will race in Bahrain on Sunday while rage boils on the streets outside, among protesters who denounce the Grand Prix as a gaudy spectacle by a ruling family that crushed Arab Spring demonstrations last year.

As drivers and teams prepare to travel to the Kingdom of Bahrain for the fourth race of the season, protests in the capital Manama reflect a political situation that is far from resolved. And it isn’t the first time Formula 1 has courted international condemnation in order to keep its racing schedule.

Turkey’s carefully-watched current account deficit narrowed more than analysts expected in February, official data released on Wednesday showed. The Turkish lira strengthened following the announcement.

After charting five consecutive years of steady growth in the unemployment rate for post-9/11 veterans, the Bureau of Labor Statistics recently reported a sharp five-percentage point decline in January and February of this year, bringing the unemployment rate for post-9/11 veterans below that of the general population for the first time since 2008.

Iran expects to reopen talks with world powers that could defuse mounting tensions over its disputed nuclear program on April 13, Iranian media quoted Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi as saying on Wednesday.

Dubai’s chief of police has thrust himself into a regional controversy, becoming the voice of Emirati opposition to the rising power of Islamists in the Arab world. The Financial Times reports.