By Ashis Biswas Relations between India and Bangladesh are on the upswing if recent Dhaka-based media reports are any indication. The Government of India’s decisive intervention into the law and order situation in West Bengal, following the Burdwan blast on October 2, ignoring the state Government’s objections, has been welcomed among the ruling Awami League circles in Bangladesh. Significantly, Bangladesh authorities have been interacting […]
Russell Brand shares his views at the Occupy Wall Street Rally in New York Photo: REX FEATURES Oh dear, what a fusillade of hatred against poor old Brandy Wandy. I have before me a slew of Sunday papers and in almost all there is a broadside against Russell Brand, the crinkle-tressed comedian. Commentators from Left and Right denounce him as a prancing, prinking, pompadoured popinjay; a know-nothing narcissist […]
Twenty-five lenders including Banca Monte dei Paschi di Siena SpA failed a stress test led by the European Central Bank, which found the biggest capital hole in the region’s banking system in Italy. The Frankfurt-based institution identified a total gap of 25 billion euros ($32 billion) as of the end of 2013, most of which has now been raised by banks. Among lenders still in need of […]
Kuwait’s privately owned Jazeera Airways is preparing to bid for a big stake in state-run flag carrier Kuwait Airways, Jazeera’s chairman told Reuters. If the deal goes through, it will be a sign that the business scene is changing in the Gulf. For several decades, Gulf Arab economies have been dominated by the heavy hand of the state. Governments’ huge oil revenues have eclipsed private sector activity. […]
Kuwait Investment Authority, the sovereign wealth fund which started as a Bank of England account dedicated to receiving oil money, will sell stakes in three local companies worth 1.56 billion dinars ($5.4 billion). The KIA, as the fund is known, will sell its Kuwait Investment Co. holding in a public offering in the first half of next year, according to a statement on the website of the […]
In a victory for international banks, New York’s top court has ruled that a Motorola subsidiary cannot freeze $30 million held by a “fugitive” Turkish family in a Dubai bank. In 2003, U.S. District Judge Jed Rakoff in Manhattan found that the Uzan family had dipped into loans that Motorola Credit Corp had made more than a decade ago to Turkish mobile phone company Telsim, which the […]
By THOMAS ERDBRINK October 25, 2014 TEHRAN — An Iranian woman convicted of murder for killing a doctor she said had tried to rape her was executed on Saturday morning, despite international condemnation of what Western human rights organizations described as a miscarriage of justice and efforts by the Iranian president to commute her death sentence. The woman, Reyhaneh Jabbari, 26, admitted during her trial in 2009 that she […]
Afghanistan’s new president, Ashraf Ghani, is making his first foreign trip since taking office, fulfilling a promise to undertake a religious pilgrimage to Saudi Arabia. Ghani’s office said in a statement Saturday that he will perform Umrah, a pilgrimage to Mecca that can be undertaken at any time of the year. The president will also meet with Saudi King Abdullah and other officials during his visit […]
The Islamic finance industry…boasts $1.6 trillion in bankingsystem assets Islamic finance grows twice as fast as traditional banks MUSCAT, 2 days ago Islamic finance is growing at twice the rate of the traditional banking industry in its core markets, which include Malaysia, Indonesia, Turkey and the GCC countries, according to an expert. The industry currently boasts $1.6 trillion in banking system assets, said Mohammed Mahfoodh Al Ardhi, […]
ADCB report 16.4 per cent profit in Q3 ADCB records 16.4pc rise in net profit ABU DHABI, 2 days ago Abu Dhabi Commercial Bank (ADCB) reported a 16.4 per cent increase in third-quarter net profit on Wednesday, in line with analyst expectations. The fourth-largest lender in the UAE by assets made a net profit attributable to equity holders of Dh1.02 billion ($277.7 million) in the three months […]
Emirates NBD… aided by a fall in provisioning Emirates NBD Q3 net profit doubles DUBAI, 3 days ago Emirates NBD, Dubai’s largest lender, made a net profit of Dh1.56 billion ($424.7 million) in the third quarter (Q3) of the year aided by a fall in provisioning, compared to Dh775 million ($211 million) in the same period last year. The earnings of the lender, 55.6-per cent owned by […]
The atmosphere at Westminster has always been more to Alex Salmond’s taste Photo: Getty Images So, will Alex Salmond make that return trip to Westminster, again? And does anyone care? His almost coquettish refusal to say for definite, on BBC’s Question Time, whether he plans to swap the IKEA-like backbenches of Holyrood for their green-leather equivalents at Westminster created a fair old stir in certain quarters yesterday. And, […]
Aabar Investments is demanding a hefty premium for its minority stake in Malaysia’s No.4 bank, sources say, as the Abu Dhabi state fund leverages on its amplified role in a $22 billion merger that will create Southeast Asia’s fourth-largest lender. When the Malaysian stock exchange last week barred the Employees Provident Fund (EPF) from voting on a plan to merge CIMB Group Holdings, RHB Capital Bhd and […]
Dubai is racing ahead to dominate the Middle East’s plastic surgery market with plans to attract half a million medical tourists in six years. Where cosmopolitan Beirut was once the region’s best known city for going under the knife, turmoil in Syria and violence often spilling into Lebanon is driving away wealthy Arab tourists. After splashing out on medical infrastructure over the past years, Dubai already ranks […]
A businessman has obtained a €1 million judgment against a developer arising out of a failed deal to purchase several apartments in Dubai. James Byrne (56), a native of Waterford now living in Dubai, claimed he gave €633,000 to Caoimhin McGeever, otherwise known as Kevin McGeever and his company KMM International Ltd, in 2006 to purchase three studio apartments and a duplex apartment close to the centre […]
With enterprises now averaging more than three dozen infected IT devices daily and attacks by point-of-sale (POS) malware like Backoff rising by double digits, companies today need to “operate under the assumption they are in a state of continuous breach.” That’s one of the findings from enterprisesecurity firm Damballa’s “Q3 State of Infections Report,” released today. During the third quarter of this year, global ISPs and enterprise […]
Bang & Olufsen’s more wallet-friendly BeoPlay division has just released its first-ever portable Bluetooth speaker, the A2. Shaped from a single chunk of solid aluminum it features internals consisting of a large woofer and smaller tweeter connected by a passive bass radiator to produce 180 watts of premium sound. Available in three colors all featuring a leather strap handle. This entry passed through the Full-Text RSS service […]
Wintercroft’s 3D masks come as downloadable DIY kits that include templates and instructions that make construction and assembly of your mask a cinch. Using your own cardboard or cardstock material you simply cut out the template shapes, tape the pieces together and then decorate it however you want. This entry passed through the Full-Text RSS service – if this is your content and you’re reading it on […]
Maids from the Philippines break their Ramadan fast at a shelter managed by Labour and Welfare officers in Dubai. The house maids live at the refuge after fleeing their employers’ homes. Agence France-Presse/Getty Images Maids, housekeepers, nannies and other female domestic workers in the United Arab Emirates are often denied wages, have their passports confiscated, don’t get proper medical care and are even in some cases subject […]
China reduced oil imports from Saudi Arabia even as the world’s largest crude exporter cuts prices to lure Asian customers amid intensifying competition from Colombia to Oman. Oil deliveries from Saudi Arabia fell 2.7 percent to 4.74 million metric tons last month from a year earlier, according to data released today by the General Administration of Customs in Beijing. Shipments from Colombia surged 389.6 percent, while Russian […]
U.S. stocks were lower in afternoon trading on Wednesday, with major indexes erasing earlier gains as a shooting at the Canadian parliament unnerved investors and Boeing and Biogen sold off following results. Indexes had traded in positive territory for much of the session, putting the S&P 500 on track for a fifth straight day of gains. Earnings initially drove the move higher, with technology and material shares […]
The Dubai government has borrowed more than 100 billion U.A.E. dirhams ($27.24 billion) from Emirates NBD as of the end of the third quarter, according to the bank’s most recent financial statements, underscoring the extent to which the emirate has come to rely on its biggest lender for financing after the global recession. Emirates NBD, which is majority-owned by the Dubai government through the Investment Corporation of […]
Even though it’s an SB, it’s clearly not a Nike skateboard shoe. The Lunar One Shot is part of Nike SB’s “Rest & Recuperation” line which means it’s perfect for all the non-skaters who want the cushy, lightweight feel of a Lunarlon midsole & a full mesh upper but don’t want the look of an off-duty jogger. This entry passed through the Full-Text RSS service – if […]
Emirates NBDs lending to the Dubai government has increased despite recent attempts by regulators to rein in local banks exposures. Bloomberg News The Dubai government has borrowed more than 100 billion U.A.E. dirhams ($27.24 billion) from Emirates NBD as of the end of the third quarter, according to the bank’s most recent financial statements, underscoring the extent to which the emirate has come to rely on its […]
