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SMG reaches a deal to sell Virgin Radio - for less than a quarter of the amount it bought the station for.

Bahrain: Al Salam Bank-Bahrain announced the establishment of Amar Holding Company B.S.C (c) to develop an investment area in Al-Hidd city near the Bahrain International Airport and Khalifa bin Salman Port. [AMEInfo.com]

United Arab Emirates: More than 5,500 retail professionals are expected to participate at Retail City 2008, the three-day industry showcase for investment and development of retail real estate, which starts Sunday 1st June at the Dubai International Exhibition Centre. [AMEInfo.com]

Kuwait: Kuwait Finance House (KFH) has gained the right of organizing and managing the first Shariah compliant deal in Singapore for the benefit of "TPLIS" India Singapore Pte Ltd to finance building regular $120m paraffin factory. [AMEInfo.com]

More news in brief.

ISRAEL: Embroiled in a scandal, Ehud Olmert's allies have begun to turn on him, writes Peter Hirschberg in Jerusalem.

AMERICA: AT THE very end of the presidential nominating race when both parties have usually decided on their standard-bearer, South Dakota's primary seldom matters and candidates often ignore it, writes Denis Staunton.

CHINA: AN EERIE oil-on-canvas diptych by Chinese artist Zeng Fanzhi, showing mask-clad figures wearing scarves of the Red Guard, China's communist youth organisation, set an Asian contemporary art record of HK$75.4 million (€6.14 million) during lively spring auctions in Hong Kong.

THE WORLD Bank has unveiled a $1.2 billion (€771 million) fast-track funding facility to help combat the impact of rising food prices on the poor. The facility includes a $200 million trust fund to provide grants for the world’s poorest countries.

SAUDI ARABIA: IT'S A profanity uttered countless times a day around the globe, but a barber in Saudi Arabia faces beheading for the crime of using God's name in vain. Sabri Bogday, a Turk who cuts hair in this Saudi port city, is awaiting appeal on his sentence.