MIDEAST STOCKS - Factors to watch - March 12

MIDEAST STOCKS - Factors to watch - March 12 Tue, Mar 11 23:00 PM EDT DUBAI, March 12 (Reuters) - Here are some factors that may affect Middle East stock markets on Wednesday. Reuters has not verified the press reports and does not vouch for their accuracy. INTERNATIONAL/REGIONAL * GLOBAL MARKETS-Asian stocks give ground, copper takes a spill * U.S. oil falls to $100 on China bond concern, stockpiles * Gold holds gains near 4-month high on safe-haven demand * MIDEAST STOCKS-Egypt climbs on talk of Sisi presidential bid; Qatar drops as IQ goes ex-div * India to slash Iran oil imports to meet nuclear deal parameters- sources * Libyan parliament sacks PM after tanker escapes rebel-held port * Ukraine appeals to West as Crimea turns to Russia * Rouhani has not increased freedoms in Iran, UN chief says * Shoulder-launched anti-aircraft missiles flow abroad from Libya -UN * Syrian forces advance to edge of rebel border town * Israel says regrets killing of Jordanian judge * Lebanon's snow-free ski resorts push economy downhill * Anti-corruption chief appointed to head Cyprus central bank * Al Qaeda hijacks spirit of Syria revolt three years on * U.N. anti-drugs chief praises Iran fight despite executions TURKEY * Death of Turkish boy hurt in protests rekindles unrest across country * Swiss to ask European court to review genocide denial case * Turkish lira weakens, dollars hoarded ahead of elections * Turkish central bank sells $50 mln in forex auction, bids $70 mln * Turkish central bank sells 1 bln lira in repo, bids 1.97 bln * RESEARCH ALERT-Coca Cola Icecek: Nomura cuts price target * RESEARCH ALERT-Anadolu Efes: Nomura cuts price target EGYPT * Bomb explodes near Israeli embassy in Cairo, no one hurt * Egyptian security forces kill "terrorist" in Cairo shoot-out * Egypt's Moussa: political future possible for Brotherhood * Egyptian court drops verdict against Juhayna Food Industries UNITED ARAB EMIRATES * UAE's NBAD predicts loan growth of 8-10 pct in 2014 * Emirates REIT to raise $135 mln in first Dubai IPO since 2009 * TABLE-Abu Dhabi Feb inflation at 2.6 pct, highest since Jan 2011 * UAE's NBAD picks banks for five-year Aussie bond-IFR SAUDI ARABIA * Saudi Aramco to produce gas for phosphate project, power plant * Saudi Arabia's Feb crude oil output inches up to 9.849 mln bpd - source QATAR * Consortium led by Spain's FCC gets Doha Metro contract * Reuters Insider - Qatar's ambitious World Cup goal * Qatar sells Q2 condensate at lower premiums -sources KUWAIT * Kuwait Petroleum eyes stake in IOC's Paradip refinery-PTI in Economic Times BAHRAIN * Bomb wounds two policemen in Bahraini Shi'ite village OMAN * Mill in Oman tenders for 60,000 tonnes wheat * Oman c.bank tells lenders to avoid conflicts of interest ============== Doha Metro contract awarded to construction consortiumPosted about 16 hours ago by QatarNews in News FCC has been awarded a contract by the Qatar Railways Company to build a section of Doha Metro red line (Qatar) for 506 million euro. The winning consortium led by FCC, the Citizen Services Group, also comprises Archirodon (Greece), Yüksel (Turkey) and Petroserv Ltd. (Qatar). This is FCC's first major project in this Arab Emirate. The execution period is 31 months and the project will create more than 1,000 jobs. In the bidding process, the FCC-led consortium competed with groups from South Korea, Germany, Italy and India, among other countries. The contract includes building three elevated stations (Barwa Village, Al Wakrah and Qatar Economic Zone) and a 6.97-kilometre section, plus tunnelizing the road at the entrance to Al Wakrah. The total budget for the Doha Metro project exceeds 20 billion euro. This project comes just six months after FCC obtained the largest international contract in its history: the construction of three lines of the Riyadh Metro, for over 6 billion euro. In that project, FCC heads the FAST consortium, which comprises Samsung (Korea), Alstom and Setec (both from France), Strukton (The Netherlands), Freyssinet Saudi Arabia, Typsa (Spain) and Atkins (UK). The total budget for the Riyadh Metro is more than 16.3 billion euro. As FCC executives discussed with Saudi authorities and the Spanish Development Minister, Ana Pastor, during an official trip, construction of lines 4, 5 and 6 will begin in the second quarter of the year, employing over 15,000 people from 15 countries. Thus far, geological studies and terrain surveys have been completed, in line with the proposed calendar. The consortium team in Riyadh numbers some 160 people, around 40 of whom are FCC employees from Spain. Another 220 people are located in Madrid, Paris, London, New Delhi and Dubai to provide support for the project. The execution period is five years. ======================== Qatar issues tender for Doha Metro trains, tracks - sources Wed, Mar 19 08:23 AM EDT By Praveen Menon DOHA, March 19 (Reuters) - Qatar has issued a new tender for phase one of its Doha Metro, a key infrastructure project in the Gulf country as it prepares to host the 2022 World Cup. Three sources, who did not wish to be identified since the information is not public, said the tender, issued earlier this month, is for the rolling stock, systems, depot facilities, trackwork and other aspects of Doha Metro. The project has been under scrutiny due to delays in giving contracts and starting work. The tender, which could go over 8 billion riyals ($2.2 billion) according to one source, would be the final one for phase one of the metro. "It's a big one and all major global companies are bidding for the deal," said one industry source. The Qatari authorities are expected to award the contract in the next five months. Qatar awarded four design-and-build contracts worth about $8.2 billion for phase one of the Doha Metro last year. The contracts were given to local and international companies including Italian construction firm Impregilo S.P.A and France's Vinci Construction among others. Many projects have been slower to get started than the business community expected, apparently because of bureaucratic and planning problems. In the fiscal year that ended last March, actual government spending rose only 2.2 percent, undershooting the budget plan for the first time since 1990. The ambitious $15 billion airport has yet to open for commercial operations, despite plans for a launch last year. However, the government appears determined to pick up the pace, and a planning ministry report in December said state spending would climb 11.6 percent in calendar 2014. It said on Tuesday that contracts for construction projects worth as much as $50 billion would be signed this year, an indication that the Gulf country is stepping up infrastructure spending sharply this year. After it won the right to host the 2022 World Cup four years ago, Qatar announced plans to spend some $140 billion on projects including a new airport, port facilities, railways, stadiums and other infrastructure. ($1 = 3.6415 Qatar Riyals) (Reporting by Praveen Menon; Editing by Stephen Powell)

Google to build high-speed Internet network

SAN FRANCISCO/WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Google Inc plans to build a super-fast Internet network for up to half a million people, a project that could pressure telecommunications companies to loosen their control of Web access in the United States.



The Internet company has locked horns with the likes of AT&T Inc and Verizon Communications Inc over the issue of net neutrality: Google wants telephone companies to permit consumers to run any Web application they want, while carriers do not want to lose control of networks they have invested billions of dollars to build.

In building the test network, Google wants to demonstrate a carrier could easily manage complex applications that use a lot of bandwidth without sacrificing performance.

Google said on Wednesday it does not plan to build a nationwide network and its goal is only to develop a trial service at a "competitive price" to 50,000 to 500,000 people, offering Web speeds of up to 100 times faster than most consumers get today.

"In a big way, this is about Google wanting to make a case for net neutrality," said PRTM consultant Daniel Hays, adding that Google wants to "demonstrate these services can be provided profitably at satisfactory levels of performance."

In a blog describing the new network, Google imagined a doctor discussing and looking at three-dimensional medical images with a patient far away, students joining a class from various locations in 3-D, or someone downloading a high-definition movie very quickly.

Google said the network would run on fiber optic lines to homes, but declined to give more details.

FCC WELCOMES MOVE

Google asked cities and states interested in joining the experiment to apply to Google by March 26 and said it eventually would build the network in a number of U.S. locations. here th-gig-our-experimental.htm

Federal Communications Commission Chairman Julius Genachowski immediately hailed the move, saying "big broadband creates big opportunities." The FCC is about a month away from submitting a national broadband plan to Congress.

Google's "significant trial will provide an American test bed for the next generation of innovative, high-speed Internet apps, devices and services," Genachowski said in a statement.

Google has long argued it can sell more Web ads -- the way it makes money -- by encouraging Internet use.

Analysts said they did not think Google would end up competing directly with carriers as it would cost the Internet company hundreds of billions of dollars to build a nationwide broadband network from scratch.

"If somehow they were able to widely deploy this, it would be bad for the cable and telecom folks. I'm skeptical the economics will work to allow them to deploy it widely," said Hudson Square Research analyst Todd Rethemeier.

A Verizon spokesman described the Google move as a "new paragraph" in the "exciting story" of Internet development.

AT&T declined to comment.

Google has had mixed success in previous attempts to become an Internet service provider. In 2006, it partnered with EarthLink Inc in an attempt to provide free wireless Internet access to the entire city of San Francisco. The plan fell through in 2007 over financial concerns.

At the same time, however, Google built a free wireless network across its headquarter's city of Mountain View, Calif.

Each of those attempts, however, leveraged wireless broadband access. This time, Google is dealing in hard lines.

HOW MUCH WOULD IT COST?

Oppenheimer & Co analyst Timothy Horan said he suspected building out the trial broadband network would cost Google about $1,000 to $2,000 per subscriber if it bought unused fiber lines already underneath many cities.

"They can buy a lot of this stuff fairly inexpensively that's out there already," he said, adding that communications service providers, such as Level 3 Communications Inc, would have lines to sell to Google.

Google said it would pay for building the network itself without seeking financial partners or government subsidies and then charge consumer and business customers.

"We'll deliver Internet speeds more than 100 times faster than what most Americans have access to today with 1 gigabit per second, fiber-to-the-home connections," Google product managers Minnie Ingersoll and James Kelly wrote in the blog.

Google said it wanted the project to become an open-access network, enabling products such as Internet telephony.

"I think there are a lot of partnership opportunities and we are definitely interested in having those discussions," Ingersoll said.

Mountain View, California-based Google's shares fell about 0.4 percent to close $534.44 on the Nasdaq.

(Additional reporting by Sinead Carew and Gabriel Madway; editing by Peter Henderson, Tiffany Wu and Andre Grenon)