Abu Dhabi’s gold industry sales fell 40 percent year-on-year in February as high prices dampened demand, Tushar Patni, the chairman of the emirate’s Gold and Jewellery Group, said on Saturday.

RIYADH, Saudi Arabia — Saudi Arabia’s king personally welcomed Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad upon his arrival Saturday, a rapprochement many hope will help calm sectarian tensions threatening the Middle East.

Researchers at Yale have identified multiple pathogenic “alien islands” in the genome of the A. baumannii, bacteria that has been responsible for new and highly drug-resistant infections in combat troops in the Middle East, according to a report in the March 1 issue of Genes and Development.