Inside The Middle East

SHOW #53

HOSTED BY HALA GORANI FROM ISTANBUL, TURKEY

NEW BREED OF BILLIONAIRE

The global wealth boom has created a new breed of billionaire in once-destitute countries like Turkey, and a number of them are using their wealth to push for social changes. Turkey's richest man, billionaire Husnu M. Ozyegin, has spent more than $50 million of his own money to build primary schools and girls' dormitories in the poorest parts of the country. Flush with money and ambition, Mr. Ozyegin is doing all that he can to lift Turkish educational standards at the primary and university level. In a country where the ruling party draws its root support from an electorate that is becoming more Islamic in attitude and outlook, Mr. Ozyegin's aim to reach out to undereducated girls touches a sensitive cultural vein. Hala Gorani spent time with Turkey's wealthiest philanthropist.

DRAG-RACING YOUTH OF DUBAI

Deep in the desert, about an hour's drive northeast of Dubai, gearheads gather to test their mettle at a complex for quarter-mile drag-racing. Not long ago, speed demons took to Jumeirah Beach Road, a long stretch of highway that runs through Dubai. But when kids were killed in these impromptu races, Sheik Marwan al-Mualla decided to finance the building of the track with his own money. Although still relatively off the mainstream radar, the Emirates Motorplex has become a safe way for competitors to quench their need for speed. Wilf Dinnick reports from the track.

HOLLYWOOD IN BEIRUT

In the midst of Lebanon's worst political crisis and violence since the civil war, an independent U.S. film company is shooting an action movie in the hills overlooking Beirut. If there weren't enough acts of violence in this war-torn country, the movie makers are locked and loaded to shoot a battle sequence - weapons provided by the Lebanese Army - in an old civil war destroyed area that's a natural set for the cameras. The film is called "Blackline" - the plot inspired by controversy surrounding private military security companies like Blackwater. It's the first non-Arab movie at this level to be shot on location in Lebanon in thirty years - and the producers realize it may be the last, as Lebanon is likely close to another violent meltdown. In the six weeks they were shooting, there was a bombing, deadly street clashes and the Hezbollah assassination and fall-out from Syria. At one point an uninformed Lebanese Army unit surrounded their set in an original bombed-out building, suspecting they were a terrorist group in training. Beirut Bureau Chief Brent Sadler reports from the set.