Fears of a "towering inferno" disaster in the Gulf are growing after fires left residential buildings heavily damaged in the United Arab Emirates cities of Sharjah and Dubai.

BBC: 'Towering inferno' fears for Gulf's high-rise blocks

The company, commonly known as Etisalat, in September began 4G services in the United Arab Emirates' major cities.

WSJ: Apple's New iPad Faces 4G Snags Outside U.S.

The network, which is expected to start carrying commercial traffic by the end of 2014, will link Malaysia's Penang city and Singapore with Oman, and the United Arab Emirates with the Indian cities of Chennai and Mumbai, and with Sri Lanka.

WSJ: Telecom Consortium to Build Undersea Cable Network

Much of Mr Annan's plan reiterates Arab League demands: Mr Assad must pull out troops from cities, release political prisoners and talk to the opposition.

ECONOMIST: Syria and the UN

Even after the Arab conquest, Persian remained the language of local rulers, as Iranian administrators, mullahs and traders settled in the cities of Transoxania (which covered much of today's Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan and Tajikistan), and is the basis of the language spoken by the Tajiks today.

ECONOMIST: At the crossroads | The