In this Wednesday, April 4, 2012 photo, an employee of RAK Pearls Holding rubs a cultured pearl with salt to add polish in Ras al-Khaimah, United Arab Emirates. Long before the discovery of oil transformed the Gulf, the region's pearl divers were a mainstay of the economy. Their way of life, however, also was changed forever after Japanese researchers learned how to grow cultured pearls in 1930s. Now a collaboration between pearl traders in Japan and the United Arab Emirates had brought oyster farming to the UAE for the first time.

Section:Photo

Tue., June 12, 2012