Hugh Grant in Four Weddings and a Funeral Photo: Alamy Anyone who thinks Hugh Grant is not an accomplished actor is surely underestimating how difficult it is to do light comedy. It’s harder than drama, but the secret is making it look effortless, and effortless performances are rarely appreciated – it’s the showy mannerisms and thundering speeches that win awards, not comic timing (which you only notice when […]
|By TAP Staff| Etisalat is planning its first ever sukuk issuance in a follow-up to its debut conventional bond earlier this year, bankers are being quoted as saying. According to these sources, the state monopoly telecom player of the UAE, rated Aa3/AA-/A+, is in talks with banks for the potential Islamic bond issuance, proceeds of which are set to go towards infrastructural improvements of its telecommunications network. […]
October 10, 2014 Open Source By ROBERT MACKEY The American-led coalition’s bombing campaign against Islamist militants in Syria has focused new attention on the Westerners among their ranks. In television interviews broadcast this week, American, Australian and Dutch citizens who traveled to Syria to take part in the jihad against President Bashar al-Assad’s government expressed bitterness at the airstrikes their nations have carried out against Islamist rebels. […]
Fast food chain Dairy Queen is pushing out a security story and it’s anything but sweet. The international firm on Thursday confirmed cyber criminals hit systems at some of its DQ locations and one Orange Julius location in the United States. Dairy Queen blamed the Backoff point-of-sale malware that has been infiltrating retail systems around the country. This is the same malware that invaded Target’s systems last […]
A fantasy nerd named Stentor Danielson, who is also a geographer based in Pittsburgh, applies J.R.R. Tolkien’s whimsical mapping style to turn American cities into fantasy lands of castles and dragons. Maps are 18” X 24” printed on heavy gloss paper. This entry passed through the Full-Text RSS service – if this is your content and you’re reading it on someone else’s site, please read the FAQ […]
Whiskey Elements let you add flavor and aroma to your whiskey in 24-hours. Made with no flavor additives or chemicals, these sticks of wood create flavors like oaky, vanilla, maple, smokey, & peaty turning your run-of-the-mill whiskey into something worth drinking. Just drop one in the bottle. This entry passed through the Full-Text RSS service – if this is your content and you’re reading it on someone […]
An employee counts money at an exchange office in downtown Cairo. Reuters First the good news: Egypt’s foreign reserves ticked up to $16.87 billion at the end of September – enough to comfortably cover imports for more than three months as the country’s economy strengthens and foreign investors continue to buy Cairo-listed stocks. But the Arab country–slowly recovering from a tumultuous past few years that left its […]
JPMorgan Chase & Co. (JPM) hired senior bankers from Rothschild and Standard Chartered Plc (STAN) for its investment banking business in the Middle East. The New York-based bank named Majed Al Mesmari, previously at Rothschild, as head of investment banking coverage in the United Arab Emirates, it said in a statement today. Fahad Al-Deweesh has joined from British lender Standard Chartered to lead investment banking coverage in […]
Emerging market-focused private equity firm Abraaj Group has bought a majority stake in Liberty Star Consumer Holdings (Libstar), a South African food and personal care product manufacturer, it said on Wednesday. Dubai-headquartered Abraaj bought shares in unlisted Libstar from its existing shareholders including Metier, Old Mutual Private Equity, Development Partners International and Lereko, it said in a statement. Abraaj said it would continue to support Libstar’s pan-African […]
|By TAP Staff| The herd mentality on the UAE stock market is once again visible, with a flurry of new stock listings that could scupper the market’s nascent revival. Prospective companies do not seem to be in a mood to wait and want to go to the market ahead of others. The first IPO in five years came when Emaar Malls Group floated an issue and attracted […]
A worsening of the domestic political environment in Kuwait is a potential risk for the country, says Moody’s. European Pressphoto Agency A contentious relationship between Kuwait’s government and parliament has hindered development and diversification, while high dependence on volatile oil exports is causing the Arab Gulf state’s economic performance to fluctuate, according to a new Moody’s Investors Service report. It still has a ‘Aa2′ sovereign rating and […]
Gold futures rose for the second straight day as the dollar’s decline boosted the metal’s appeal as an alternative investment. The greenback fell as much as 0.2 percent against a basket of 10 major currencies, erasing earlier gains, as yields eased on Treasury 10-year notes. Yesterday, the dollar slumped 0.9 percent, the most since Sept. 18, 2013, while gold climbed 1.2 percent, the biggest gain in two […]
Hedge funds cut bullish bets on Brent crude to the lowest level in three years amid speculation that Saudi Arabia may refrain from paring output to tackle global oversupply. Speculative bets that prices will rise, in futures and options combined, outnumbered short positions by 36,704 lots in the week to Sept. 30, the London-based ICE Futures Europe exchange said today in its weekly Commitments of Traders report. […]
Video | Fighting Rages in Syrian Border Town President Recep Tayyip Erdogan of Turkey warned that the Syrian border town of Kobani might fall to Islamist militants as fighting intensified between Kurdish rebels and Islamic State fighters. By KARAM SHOUMALI and ANNE BARNARD October 7, 2014 MURSITPINAR, Turkey — President Recep Tayyip Erdogan of Turkey said Tuesday that the Syrian border town of Kobani, under siege from Islamic State fighters, was […]
IMF FORECAST: SELECTED MENA ECONOMIES Note: Data for some countries are based on fiscal years. 1Movements in consumer prices are shown as annual averages. 2Percent of GDP. 3Percent. 4Includes Bahrain, Libya, Oman, and Yemen. 5Includes Djibouti and Mauritania. Excludes Syria because of the uncertain political situation. IMF The International Monetary Fund has revised its 2015 economic growth projection downward for the Middle East and North Africa by […]
Israeli Finance Minister Yair Lapid last year referred to Israeli expats in Berlin as willing to throw Israel “in the garbage” for a cheaper cost of living. Bloomberg News Back in 2011, rising dairy prices sparked a cottage cheese protest in Israel. Now there’s a pudding protest. The first campaign, which called for a consumer boycott of dairy goods, eventually helped bring hundreds of thousands of middle […]
Some patients recalled seeing a bright light; a golden flash or the Sun shining Photo: Rex “To die, to sleep – To sleep, perchance to dream – aye, there’s the rub, For in this sleep of death what dreams may come …” So says Hamlet, pondering his own mortality in perhaps the most famous soliloquy Shakespeare ever wrote. The question “Is there life after death?” has fascinated human […]
|By TAP Staff| Mobogenie , the fastest growing developer of applications for android and mobile devices, announced the launch of a new app development platform named CYMaker at the Global App Summit in Dubai. Mobogenie claims it will open up the world of app development through a simplified, free of cost solution with no limitations, no hidden fees, and no credit card requirement. Visitors to the Global […]
IMF’s Christine Lagarde says the fund is already talking with Egyptian officials about its economic outlook and value-added tax policy. Reuters The International Monetary Fund may soon take a thorough look at Egypt’s economy for the first time since its revolution in 2011, potentially paving the way for greater cooperation on President Abdel Fattah Al Sisi’s reform agenda and renewing talks about long-delayed IMF financing. The IMF […]
|TAP Special| The oil market scene is turning murky, with indications of a price war developing among major producers to defend their market shares. Crude futures tumbled to a 17-month low on signs that global supply is outstripping demand and by all indications, crude oil is poised to extend the biggest slump in more than two years. To make things worse, Saudi Arabia is said to be […]
Starting a fire like a caveman is cool if you’re Bear Grylls but the fireSLEEVE makes an ordinary Bic lighter waterproof. Much more convenient. The little plastic case also floats, allows you to lock the gas lever on, and features attachment points so you can strap it on and keep it handy. This entry passed through the Full-Text RSS service – if this is your content and you’re […]
Dragon Oil (DGO) proposed a 492 million-pound ($789 million) cash offer for Petroceltic International Plc (PCI) to add exploration and output in North Africa and Kurdistan. Dragon Oil, backed by Dubai’s state oil company and with production in Turkmenistan, is in talks on a 230 pence-a-share offer, a 29 percent premium to the last closing price, Dublin-based Petroceltic said today in a statement. The target’s board is prepared to recommend the […]
|By TAP Staff| RAK Petroleum said it would offer shares worth $25 million to institutional and retail investors in Norway and a private placement to certain international institutions. The IPO would be listed on the Oslo exchange. Current shareholders will be able to place their shares in the offer as well, the company said in a statement. RAK Petroleum said its assets included a 42.8 percent stake in DNO ASA, an […]
Remember BadUSB? If you use a USB device to move digital files from one machine to another, you need to know the latest news on this flaw in design specs that could put your computers at risk. Attack code for this flaw, which is impossible to patch, is now public. Security researchers Brandon Wilson and Adam Caudill released two patches to existing firmware for the Phison 2251-03, […]
