(Image: file photo) Earlier this year, we were sent a series of large, encrypted files purportedly belonging to a US police department as a result of a leak at a law firm, which was insecurely synchronizing its backup systems across the internet without a password. Among the files was a series of phone dumps created by the police department with specialist equipment, which was created by Cellebrite, […]
Mr. Trump, who last week nominated as ambassador to Israel a bankruptcy lawyer who heads a fund-raising effort for a West Bank settlement, made clear on Thursday that he would not wait for his inauguration to weigh in. In a statement, he said bluntly that the resolution should be vetoed. Continue reading the main story “As the United States has long maintained, peace between the Israelis and […]
US trade policies under Donald Trump will be key to agricultural commodities next year, as the world continues to grapple with high levels of grain production and inventories, according to a leading forecaster. “The area of concern is whether anything is going to happen that is going to affect our trade with China, which is a big agricultural buyer,” said Don Riffe, senior vice-president for agribusiness intelligence […]
PANAMA CITY: From the Panama Papers to the impeachments of the presidents of Brazil and South Korea, 2016 was a year marked by corruption scandals, and by rising public outrage over graft. The question is, will that translate into a lasting demand for cleaner politics? “A new phenomenon” is being seen, said Jose Ugaz, a renowned Peruvian lawyer and the chairman of Transparency International, a Berlin-based anti-corruption […]
After India took the radical step of voiding the majority of its currency overnight to cut corruption and the nation’s reliance on cash, other countries with similar problems have been watching closely. Venezuala already followed suit by taking nearly half its bank notes out of circulation and now some politicians in Pakistan, India’s rival and neighbor, want their country to do the same. The upper house of […]
By Lucia Mutikani | WASHINGTON WASHINGTON U.S. consumer spending increased modestly in November as household income failed to rise for the first time in nine months, suggesting the economy slowed in the fourth quarter after growing briskly in the prior period. The economy, however, remains on solid footing as other data on Thursday showed new orders for capital goods rising last month amid demand for machinery, indicating […]
DUBAI // Three Pakistanis used fake UAE residency papers to forge visit visas to Turkey, Dubai Criminal Court heard last week. The defendants deny charges of forgery, using forged documents and forging stamps of a number of UAE banks. Two of the defendants were arrested when they presented the forgeries to the Turkish embassy. During questioning by police, they tipped off the authorities to the third person. […]
The UAE has among the lowest travel insurance penetration rates in the world, a Dubai-based financial consultancy has claimed. UAE holidaymakers are failing to take out adequate insurance when travelling abroad, with Nexus Group estimating that less than 1 percent of people are covered by a comprehensive insurance policy. The figure excludes minimal coverage that individuals have from a third parties such as a bank or as […]
Submitted by Simon Black via SovereignMan.com, In the late 1400s, the city-states of Italy were among most dominant powers in the world. Most of the city-states had abandoned the feudal system that persisted across Europe. So Italy was one of the only places on the continent where anyone, including foreigners, could work hard, take risks, and become wealthy. People could start businesses and own private property– revolutionary […]
The pound stumbled towards Christmas, falling for the fourth consecutive day against the euro reflecting investors’ concerns about the UK’s economic prospects in 2017. Sterling was half a per cent weaker against the euro on Thursday, pushing it a two-week low of €1.1780. Against the dollar, the pound hovered just above $1.23, its lowest level since November 23. Over the past two weeks the pound has fallen […]
Law Blog rounds up the morning’s legal news: Repeal rejected: A bipartisan agreement to repeal North Carolina’s transgender bathroom law fell apart Wednesday, after Republican legislative leaders required a late addendum of a six-month “cooling-off” period for local policies that Democrats said was a violation of a hard-fought deal. [WSJ, Charlotte Observer] Goldman and 1MDB: Investigators are trying to determine whether Goldman Sachs had reason to suspect […]
PANAMA CITY: From the Panama Papers to the impeachments of the presidents of Brazil and South Korea, 2016 was a year marked by corruption scandals and by rising public outrage over graft. The question is will that translate into a lasting demand for cleaner politics? “A new phenomenon” is being seen, said Jose Ugaz, a renowned Peruvian lawyer and the chairman of Transparency International, a Berlin-based anti-corruption […]
By Claire Milhench | LONDON LONDON Global investors’ equity holdings rose to six-month highs in December on bets that U.S. President-elect Donald Trump’s promised fiscal splurge would spur higher growth and inflation, a Reuters monthly poll showed on Thursday. Trump’s plans to cut taxes and boost spending have sent Wall Street .DJI .IXIC to record highs in December as investors pile into everything from banks, to energy […]
After five grinding years of losses, commodities are set to end higher in 2016 and investors are staking out increasingly bold calls for the coming year. This reflects signs that the prolonged decline in markets such as oil and metals is finally having an effect. Cuts in capital spending by producers have begun to choke off supplies as global demand creeps higher. It might not be a […]
Gulf stock markets barely moved in quiet, early trade on Thursday before the announcement of Saudi Arabia’s 2017 state budget, expected in the afternoon. The Saudi stock index edged up 0.1 percent in the first 40 minutes. Much activity focused on second-tier stocks such as Saudi Printing and Packaging, up 4.9 percent, although Saudi Electricity rose 0.9 percent. Saudi Electricity’s profits rose in the wake of the […]
A study by RMIT University has found that around 2 million Australians are often risking data breaches by logging into internet banking and conducting other financial transactions on unsecured public Wi-Fi networks. In compiling its report [PDF] Practicing safe public Wi-Fi: Assessing and managing data-security risks, RMIT surveyed 1,200 adult Australians, asking explicitly what they do on public Wi-Fi networks, as well as what they know about […]
AP Images A new European Court of Justice ruling has made it more difficult for Britain to seal a major trade deal with the European Union post-Brexit. The European Court of Justice’s Advocate General Eleanor Sharpston published a legal opinion saying that all 38 national and regional parliaments, around five regional and linguistic parliaments in Belgium, and at least five upper chambers in Europe have to approve […]
By Lawrence Delevingne and Olivia Oran | NEW YORK NEW YORK Wall Street holiday parties this year took place in luxury venues like the Waldorf Astoria, featured women dressed as glowing angels, and had fine wine, scotch and bourbon on hand. But organizers of the soirées, conscious of tighter budgets and public scrutiny, are not eager to discuss the merriment. Big financial firms started curtailing year-end bashes […]
Thursday 08:10 GMT Overview European stock indices are slipping back, following Wall Street’s lacklustre lead as the Dow Jones Industrial Average moved further away from the 20,000-point milestone while the US dollar weakened, also cooling from its strong run. Hot topic European banking stocks are under scrutiny. It comes after news that Monte dei Paschi di Siena is to be rescued by the Italian state using a […]
Iceland Of all the world leaders shamed over hidden wealth stashed offshore, none was more unfortunate than Sigmundur Davíð Gunnlaugsson. The hapless prime minister of Iceland was caught on camera desperately trying to work out how to explain the presence of his signature on the documents of Wintris Inc, a company in the British Virgin Islands that held shares in one of the country’s failed banks. As […]
Infrastructure of Berth 5 and Berth 6 at final stages of this year’s strategic expansion 21 December 2016 King Abdullah Economic City, The infrastructure works for Berth 5 and Berth 6 are about to be finished in a few weeks, King Abdullah Port announced on Wednesday. The two berths are part of the port’s strategic expansion plan, which aims to significantly uprate the port’s capacity, thus boosting […]
ZURICH Swiss biotech group Actelion’s (ATLN.S) shares rose by more than 3 percent on Wednesday following a report that talks with Sanofi (SASY.PA) are making progress, increasing optimism that the two will strike a deal. Reuters reported late on Tuesday that discussions between the Swiss and French companies are progressing, despite investors’ fears that the Swiss biotech firm’s chief executive and founder might not want to sell. […]
This is part of a series on the global rise of exchange traded funds You only need to look back to the tumultuous November in markets to see the growing significance of exchange traded funds that track bonds. While a bond from brewing behemoth Anheuser-Busch claimed the crown of being the most heavily traded corporate debt security last month, those volumes were dwarfed by bond ETFs. The average […]
Oman’s Electricity Holding Company (EHC) has signed an agreement for a $325 million working capital loan, the state-owned company’s finance chief said on Tuesday. The company, which holds the Omani government’s stake in nine electricity firms, has raised the funds to support four of its distribution subsidiaries, Hussain Al Balushi told Reuters. Bahrain’s Bank ABC coordinated the facility, which has a one-year maturity extendable for an additional […]
