The official groundbreaking for the Cleveland Clinic Abu Dhabi (CCAD) hospital was held over the weekend on Sunday in the United Arab Emirates' capital city. The facility, which is scheduled to welcome its first patients in early 2011, will be a unique extension of the Cleveland Clinic model, who will play a vital role in the success and operation of the hospital.

CCAD will be a 360-bed (scalable to 490), multi-specialty facility located on Al Sowa Island in the UAE, across from the Abu Dhabi Mall. One of the main objectives of the CCAD is to meet the needs of patients that currently travel abroad for treatment.

CCAD will be a physician-led medical facility served by United States trained and board certified physicians. Medical professionals working at CCAD will receive on going training directly from the Cleveland Clinic here in Cleveland, Ohio.

Through a comprehensive range of specialties and sub-specialties, CCAD will ofer the region's most advanced tertiary/quaternary medical services. Both local and international patients will receive world-class care in an unique environment combining "seven star" amenities and service standards with the highest quality patient care and superior clinical outcomes.

President George Bush gave his radio address this morning to the nation. His focus today was on his trip Israel and Palestinian where he is attempting to broker a peace agreement.

Here is what he said:

THE PRESIDENT: Good morning. I'm speaking to you from the Middle East, where I have been meeting with friends and allies. We're discussing how we can work together to confront the extremists who threaten our future. And I have encouraged them to take advantage of the historic opportunity we have before us to advance peace, freedom, and security in this vital part of the world.

My first stop was Israel and the Palestinian Territories. I had good meetings with Israeli Prime Minister Olmert and Palestinian President Abbas. Both these men are committed to peace in the Holy Land. Both these men have been elected by their people. And both share a vision of two democratic states -- Israel and Palestine -- living side by side in peace and security.

On early Friday morning, a light snow fell on the city of Baghdad, a phenomenon not experienced by the Iraqi city in about 100 years. Other rare snowfalls were also reported in the west and center of Iraq, where temperatures fell to 32 degrees Fahrenheit (0 degrees Centigrade) and lower.

The snow that fell in Baghdad, however, was short-lived. The snow melted almost immediately as it touched the ground. The snow began falling just before dawn, and continued until after 9am.

Iraqi weather officials issued the following statement:

"Snow has fallen in Baghdad for the first time in about a century as a result of two air flows meeting. The first one was cold and dry and the second one was warm and humid. They met above Iraq."

However, Dawood Shakir, director of the meterology department in Iraq, said that climate change may be due to the rare event:

"It's very rare. Baghdad has never seen snow falling in living memory. These snowfalls are linked to the climate change that is happening everywhere. We are finding some places in the world which are warm and are supposed to be cold."

Benazir Bhutto, a Pakistan opposition leader and former prime minister, was assissinated on Thursday in a suicide attack that killed 20 others at a campaign rally. Bhutto's death has now thrown the upcoming January 8th parliamentary elections into chaos, and has created fears of mass protests and violence across the country.

The suicide bomber struck just minutes after Bhutto had addresses thousands of supporters in the city of Rawalpindi, about 8 miles south of Islamabad. Bhutto, 54, was shot in the neck and chest by the attacker, who thus blew himself up. 20 others were also killed at the rally.

Wasif Ali Khan, a member of Bhutto's party, said, "At 6:16 p.m., she expired." And Bhutto's lawyer, Babar Awan, said, "The surgeons confirmed that she has been martyred."

Supporters at the hospital where Bhutto was taken exploded in anger as news of her death circulated, smashing the glass door at the main entrance to the emergency unit. A few also began stoning cars outside the parking lot.

So far, no one has claimed responsibility for the attack on Bhutto. However, that did not stop Bhutto's supporters from pointing fingers as they began chantting "Killer, Killer, Musharraf," which referrs to the current Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf, Bhutto's primary political opponent.

Instead of ripping out the offending pages like they normally do, Saudi Arabia has outright banned the latest issue of the Arabic language version of Forbes magazine. The reason the magazine is banned is an article that talked about the wealth of the King and other Arabic country leaders.

Refaat Jaafar, managing editor of Forbes Arabia, which is based out of Dubai, said "The reason was a two-page report on the wealth of 15 ruling dynasties, seven of which are Arab."

A government official speaking on the condition of anonymity told reporters, "Instead of ripping out the pages of the report, the authorities decided to ban the magazine altogether."

Officials from the Saudi government have so far not been available to comment on the ban. The report in Forbes ranked King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia third, behind the rulers of Brunei and the United Arab Emirates. Apparently, Saudis shouldn't know this kind of information.

Haitham Wihaib, once the right-hand man of Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein, is selling gifts that he claims Saddam gave him in an effort to raise over $700,000 for Iraqi schools. Wihaib worked for more than a decade as the Iraqi Chief of Protocol under Saddam Hussein, and has now set up a website where he is accepting bids for a variety of Saddam's former possessions, including watches, jewelry, clothing, and pens.

The highlight and centerpiece of Waihaib's collection is a custom-made gold Rolex watch, featuring dozens of diamonds laid into the watch face and bracelet. UK newspaper, The Mail on Sunday, confirmed the watch is real and asserts that his $200,000 valuation is accurate.

Wihaib also claims that Saddam was partial to French designer accessories, such as his Christian Dior sunglasses and Cartier pens. As expected, these items are also up for grabs. The Dior sunglasses are being offered for $12,000, and a Cartier pen he claims Saddam used to sign death warrants is going for about $5,000.

Wihaib has no way to prove that the items did in fact belong to Saddam Hussein, but he has built up an international reputation as an expert on his former boss, conducting lectures in the U.S., Japan, South American, and Australia.

Tuesday evening it was revealed that Saddam Hussein had offered to go peacefully into exile just one month before the invasion of Iraq for a staggering $1 billion. The offer was revealed in a transcript of talks from February 2003 between George Bush and the then Spanish Prime Minister Jose Maria Azna at the President's ranch in Texas.

If the transcripts are legitimate, the President appeared to have been convinced that Hussein was serious about going into exile. The transcripts of the conversation were published this week in the Spanish newspaper, El Pais.

"The Eqyptians are speaking to Saddam Hussein. It seems he's indicated he would be prepared to go into exile if he's allowed to take $1 billion and all the information he wants about weapons of mass destruction," said President Bush.

And then, when Prime Minister Azna asked him if he could really leave, Bush said: "Yes that possibility exists. Or he might even be assassinated." However, he added that whatever happened, "We'll be in Baghdad by the end of March."

The U.S. military is now accusing Iran of smuggling surface-to-air missiles and other advanced weaponry into the country of Iraq for use against American troops.

Rear Admiral Mark Fox, a military spokesman, said that U.S. troops continue to find Iranian-supplied weaponry in Iraq, including the Misagh 1 (a portable surface-to-air missle), RPG-29 rocket-propelled grenades, 240 mm rockets and roadside bombs known as EFPs (explosively formed penetrators).

Iran has denied U.S. allegations that they are smuggling weapons to Shiite militias in Iraq. Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad repeated the denial on an interview with CBS' "60 Minutes", which aired on Sunday.

"We don't need to do that. We are very much opposed to war and insecurity. The insecurity in Iraq is detrimental to our interests." said Ahmadinejad.

Iraqi officials are now worried about the worsening tensions between Iran and the United States.

Iraqi investigators claim to have a videotape that shows that Blackwater USA guards opened fire against Iraqi civilians without provocation in a shooting incident last week that left 11 people dead, including one police officer. Major General Abdul-Karim Khalef of the Interior Ministry said that Iraqi authorities had completed an investigation into the Sept. 16 shootings, and have concluded that Blackwater security guards were responsible for the deaths.

Khalef said that the conclusion was based on witness statements, as well as videotape shot by cameras at a nearby headquarters of the national police command. Eight people were killed on scene, and three of the fifteen wounded in the incident died in hospitals.

Osama bin Laden has called for the removal of Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf in a newly released audio tape that was found on a Islamic website.

bin Laden reportedly says on the tape:

"We in al-Qaeda organisation call on God to witness that we will retaliate for the blood of … Abdul Rashid Ghazi and those with him against Musharraf and those who help him, and for all the pure and innocent blood," said the speaker on the recording who sounded like bin Laden.

"So Pervez, his ministers, his soldiers and those who help him are all accomplices in spilling the blood of ... Muslims. He who helps him knowingly and willingly is an infidel like him,"