It has a granite fountain and a bosque of shade trees. And to some rightwing Americans, the new headquarters of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau is a monument to all that went wrong under eight years of Barack Obama’s presidency. The budget for the refurbishment of the Washington DC building, at about $363 a square foot, makes it more expensive than the Venetian hotel in Macau or […]
BERLIN Online fashion retailer Zalando (ZALG.DE) is pondering opening stores in major cities such as London, Paris or Berlin, the company’s co-chief executive told Germany’s Manager Magazin. “We have proper fans in the metropolises who spend much time with us and order a lot,” co-Chief Executive Rubin Ritter said in an interview published on Saturday. “It could be interesting for them to also experience the brand offline,” […]
Most of the stories we hear about Damascus these days are tales of despair from news bulletins about bombings, water shortages or failed peace efforts. But to Syrian children’s writer and illustrator Nadine Kaadan, who spoke on Friday at the Abu Dhabi International Book Fair, the city is always a source of inspiration. With her first book in English – The Jasmine Sneeze, about a cat who […]
BEIRUT Fighting between rebel groups in the biggest insurgent stronghold near the Syrian capital Damascus entered a second day on Saturday, while government forces pressed an offensive against the besieged enclave, a war monitor said. The clashes broke out in part of the densely-populated rural area east of Damascus known as the Eastern Ghouta which has been besieged by Syrian government forces since 2013. The Syrian Observatory […]
By Ahmad Sultan | MEHTAR LAM, Afghanistan MEHTAR LAM, Afghanistan In his first public speech since signing a peace deal with the Afghan government, one of Afghanistan’s most notorious warlords on Saturday called for the Taliban to stop fighting and begin negotiations. “I invite you to join the peace caravan and stop the pointless, meaningless and unholy war,” Gulbuddin Hekmatyar said to a gathering of his followers […]
When it comes to repackaging bad loans in the eurozone, 2017 has been a tale of two peripheries. While global investors who had been hoping to buy debt backed by Italy’s non-performing loans have been left disappointed, in Ireland deals are gathering momentum. Lone Star this week priced its latest securitisation of Irish mortgages, with the US private equity firm selling €420m of bonds backed by distressed […]
Emerging from an Hermès store in Shanghai with a shiny new watch costing “tens of thousands” of renminbi, Zhao Feifei is emblematic of a younger generation of Chinese consumers driving a rebound in sales of European luxury brands. “I’m earning more than before so I’m more willing to spend,” says Ms Zhao, who works in an internet finance company. The 30-year-old is one of the many customers […]
From the Slope of Hope: Earlier this week, my son asked me a sincere question: “How come Marissa Mayer got $200 million by screwing up Yahoo?” It was a good question, and one I had trouble answering at first, because I’d like him to think that there’s some level of fairness, meritocracy, and sensibility to this world of ours. In Mayer’s case, however, there is none. Her entire massive fortune is […]
By Nobuhiro Kubo | SASEBO SASEBO As tension spikes on the Korean peninsula, a French amphibious assault carrier sailed into Japan’s naval base of Sasebo on Saturday ahead of drills that risk upsetting China, which faces U.S. pressure to rein in North Korea’s arms programmes. The Mistral will lead exercises next month near Guam, along with forces from Japan, the United States and Britain, practicing amphibious landings […]
Russia’s central bank cut its key interest rate, citing the country’s continued emergence from a two-year recession — but the move failed to stop the rouble pushing higher on Friday. The cut — by 0.5 per cent to 9.25 per cent — went further than the incremental 0.25 per cent drop the bank implemented last month, suggesting that the bank was confident of reaching its inflation targets […]
The press freedom situation in the United States is worsening not only because of President Trump’s anti-press rhetoric but because of a constellation of factors including arrests, detainment, lawsuits, physical violence and outright censorship, according to a new report. The report, released by the London-based Index on Censorship this week, chronicles the recent threats to journalist safety and freedom of expression and takes a holistic view of […]
MANILA A strong earthquake measuring 7.2 struck off the coast of Mindanao island in the Philippines on Saturday, and the country’s seismology agency advised people to stay away from coastal areas but expected no major damage. There were no immediate reports of destruction or casualties, but witnesses said the quake was very strong and shook the ground and walls. The Pacific Tsunami Warning Center said there was […]
When the Nasdaq Composite index first spent two days above the 5,000 mark, it signalled the last gasp of a spectacular bull market. Confidence in internet companies’ power to change the world and mint fortunes was about to collapse. Seventeen years later the market has hit a milestone of 6,000, part of a run of record highs for global equity markets. While stocks have again been rising […]
ABU DHABI// The contribution made by labourers in helping to build the UAE was praised yesterday by Sheikh Nahyan bin Mubarak, the Minister of Culture and Knowledge Development. He was speaking to thousands of labourers at the Al Dar Camp 3 on Yas Island, as part of early celebrations to mark International Labour Day in the capital. Sheikh Nahyan thanked them for their hard work over the […]
By Jack Kim and Michelle Nichols | SEOUL/UNITED NATIONS SEOUL/UNITED NATIONS North Korea unsuccessfully test-fired a ballistic missile on Saturday from a region north of its capital, Pyongyang, South Korea’s military said, defying intense pressure from the United States and the reclusive state’s main ally, China. The test came as U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson warned the United Nations Security Council that failure to curb North […]
By Philip Pullella | CAIRO CAIRO Pope Francis celebrates a Mass in a military stadium on Saturday, the last of a two-day visit to Cairo where he has called for leaders of all faiths to reject religious violence and denounce intolerance. Three weeks after Islamic State militants killed at least 45 people in attacks on two Egyptian churches, Francis has used his trip to launch a strong […]
Nobody should ever attempt to judge an investment over a period of just 100 days. It is far too short a time to assess the quality of performance and far too prone to random effects. And in any case, most of us need results over very much more than 100 days. It is therefore a little random to be judging the Trump presidency’s impact on investors after […]
28 April 2017 Beirut, April 27, 2017 US$ 43.9 billion of assets US$ 36.0 billion of customers’ deposits US$ 17.0 billion of loans to customers Advertisement US$ 3.8 billion of shareholders’ equity US$ 110 million of net profits in the first quarter of 2017, of which 23% from Odea Bank and 10% from Bank Audi Egypt, raising the contribution of entities abroad to consolidated net profits to […]
By Girish Gupta | LOS TEQUES, Venezuela LOS TEQUES, Venezuela Hundreds of activists marched on Friday to the hilltop jail of Venezuela’s best-known detained opposition leader Leopoldo Lopez in the latest of a month of protests against the socialist government. Security forces blocked access to the decrepit-looking penitentiary next to a slum in Los Teques, an hour’s drive from the capital Caracas, as the demonstrators shouted “Leopoldo!” […]
After a dismal fourth quarter, it seems that Europe’s investment banks have got some of their swagger back. Switzerland’s UBS grew investment bank profits by more than 50 per cent in the first quarter, even though it is hard to imagine a recovery less well-suited to the Swiss bank which is short on the US exposure and the markets businesses that have driven the strong results of peers. Credit Suisse […]
By Rosalba O’Brien | SANTIAGO SANTIAGO A cluster of tremors shook central Chile on Friday afternoon, leaving locals worried that a bigger earthquake may be imminent and prompting some early closures of schools and workplaces. At least seven tremors struck offshore the coastal city of Valparaiso in less than an hour, with the largest rattling buildings in the Chilean capital Santiago some 102 kilometers (63 miles) away. […]
CAIRO: Pope Francis landed in the Egyptian capital on Friday to promote “unity and fraternity” with Muslims and Christians, who have suffered a series of jihadist attacks.The visit is a “voyage of unity and fraternity,” the pontiff told reporters before he disembarked in Cairo airport to be greeted by Catholic priests and Egyptian Prime Minister Sharif Ismail.It is “less than two days but very intense,” he said.He […]
Our round-up of the best comment and analysis from the Financial Times during the week focuses on US corporate earnings, eurozone interest rates and the future of US economic reforms. The selection is taken from our Markets Insight and Smart Money columns, written by industry contributors and FT commentators. The FT’s John Authers says US corporate earnings have reached a turning point — the earnings recession that […]
Dubai-based business tycoon Mohamed Alabbar is weighing buying in to venture capital firms in the Middle East to help kick start his $1 billion technology fund, according to people familiar with the matter. Representatives for Alabbar held talks with several regional companies, including Middle East Venture Partners and BECO Capital, about either buying them entirely, joining as a co-investor or making a significant investment in the firms, […]
