JERUSALEM — Palestinian youths, some of them masked, clashed with Israeli police officers who entered Jerusalem’s Al Aqsa Mosque compound early Sunday in what appears to have become an increasingly familiar occurrence on the eve of Jewish holidays. This time, the police said, they had intelligence that youths had holed up in the mosque overnight and were planning confront Israeli security forces in an attempt to prevent […]
HAJJA, Yemen — The airstrike slammed into Al-Sham water-bottling plant at the end of the night shift, killing 13 workers who were minutes away from heading home. Standing among the strewn bottles, smoldering boxes and pulverized machines a few days after the airstrike here, the owner, Ibrahim al-Razoom, searched in vain for any possible reason that warplanes from a Saudi-led military coalition would have attacked the place. […]
LEBANON. On Sept. 11, 2015, Standard & Poor’s Ratings Services revised its outlook on the Republic of Lebanon to negative from stable. At the same time, we affirmed our ‘B-/B’ long- and short-term foreign and local currency sovereign credit ratings. RATIONALE The outlook revision stems from our view that political uncertainty in Lebanon and regional tensions will continue to weigh on economic growth in the mediumterm. In […]
Middle East By BEN HUBBARD September 11, 2015 IZMIR, Turkey — A large construction crane toppled over and crashed into the Grand Mosque in the holy city of Mecca on Friday, killing at least 107 people and raising fears about the safety of the site before the yearly hajj pilgrimage that is expected to bring in millions of visitors to Saudi Arabia this month. Saudi Arabia’s civil defense authority […]
UAE. As Dubai continues to roll out developments fueling the expansion of the city, there has been pressure on developers to build affordable homes to support the middle-income groups (earners between 3k-10k AED). In the last year, a flurry of new projects has been launched to cater to this segment. As the markets have matured and slowed down, developers have catered to affordability, more often by reducing […]
DUBAI // Fears over what effect overhead power lines could have on the health of families dominate the concerns of Emiratis in Al Barsha as campaigning for votes in the October 3 election to the Federal National Council gains pace. Residents would like detailed studies on the impact of overhead pylons on nearby homes. “Our whole family stays in villas facing the power lines, we have neighbours […]
Middle East Palestinian supporters of mourabitat demonstrated last week against Israeli plans to forbid the group to enter the compound in Jerusalem that Muslims call the Noble Sanctuary, or Al Aqsa, and that Jews call the Temple Mount. By DIAA HADID September 9, 2015 RAMALLAH, West Bank — Israel on Monday officially outlawed an organization of Muslim women who chase and shout at Jewish visitors to a contested holy […]
UAE. Asteco, the Middle East’s largest full service real estate company has released its mid-year UAE market report ahead of Cityscape Global, highlighting stability in Dubai with a continued focus towards the affordable segment, in contrast to the high end market which experienced declines of up to 10%. Affordable apartment units at IMPZ, Discovery Gardens and Dubai Silicon Oasis showed 3%, 6% and 2% sales growth over […]
UAE. JLL, the world’s leading real estate investment and advisory firm, has today published a special report on the middle-income housing segment in the Middle East and North Africa region. The report highlights the social and economic impact of a marked shortfall in the required supply of middle-income housing, suggesting that significant efforts are needed to address the current imbalance. The report clearly outlines that this shortage […]
DUBAI // Two people were killed and one person seriously injured after they jumped from the third floor of an apartment building to escape a fire in a flat where 22 men were living. Dubai Civil Defence crews from Al Rashidiya station rescued seven men from the balcony of the one-bedroom home in the England cluster at International City. The blaze, which was reported at about 9.40pm […]
|By Matein Khalid| The Federal Reserve could well raise its overnight borrowing rate at the next FOMC monetary policy conclave on September 17. Though contagion from China’s 40% stock market meltdown has triggered bear markets from Hong Kong to Frankfurt and plunged Asian/emerging markets equities into ta ghastly replay of 1998’s epic meltdown (General Suharto’s overthrow, the Russian rouble default, Malaysia’s capital controls, the run on the […]
BAGHDAD — Having sold his car for $4,600, and then some of his wife’s jewelry, and having loaded his smartphone with photographs of his five children, all that was left for Haider Abdella to do was say goodbye. “From yesterday to today, we are crying,” he said. His mother sat next to him on the couch, sobbing. “He’s never left me before, from when he was a […]
JERUSALEM — A conference of the Palestinian National Council that had been scheduled for next week has been indefinitely postponed amid boycotts by some political factions and debate about the agenda and structure of the meeting. The 700-plus-member council, which has not had a regular session since 1996, was slated to convene in the West Bank city of Ramallah next Monday and Tuesday to consider, among other […]
|By TAP Staff| Undeterred by the decline in Dubai property market, Emaar Properties has launched the luxury ‘Creekside 18’ residences in The Island District of Dubai Creek Harbour, a one-of-its-kind modern master-planned community located along the historic Dubai Creek in the heart of the city. In close proximity to the Dubai International Airport and the Ras Al Khor Wildlife Sanctuary, Dubai Creek Harbour is located on a […]
As war heroes’ bodies come home, Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed, Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi and Deputy Supreme Commander of the Armed Forces tells Yemen: ‘We are with you until the mission is accomplished’ The UAE on Saturday buried its war heroes, began three days of mourning for their sacrifice and pledged unceasing military and humanitarian efforts to restore peace,security and stability to Yemen. The bodies of […]
BEIRUT, Lebanon — An unusual wave of unrest mounted Saturday in a normally quiet southern Syrian province, according to residents and activists there, after a double car-bombing killed a prominent Druse cleric who had challenged the government by supporting young men who refused to serve in the national army. Angry residents staged demonstrations and attacked security offices, activists said, and by Saturday afternoon the security forces had […]
Middle East By KAREEM FAHIM September 4, 2015 SANA, Yemen — The United Arab Emirates said on Friday that 45 of its soldiers were killed fighting the Houthi insurgents in a province east of Yemen’s capital, in a major setback for the coalition of Arab forces that have been trying for months to vanquish the rebels. The death total was the largest in a single day for the military […]
Middle East Refugees from Syria walked down the railway in Horgos, Serbia, on Sunday before crossing into Hungary. By ANNE BARNARD September 4, 2015 BEIRUT, Lebanon — Arresting images of desperation on the West’s doorstep have brought Syria, for the moment, back to worldwide attention: refugees cramming into train stations and climbing border fences; drowned Syrian toddlers washing up on beaches, a girl in polka dots, a boy in […]
SANA, Yemen — A suicide bomber and a subsequent car bomb killed at least 20 people on Wednesday at a mosque here in Yemen’s rebel-held capital amid the country’s raging civil war, officials said. The suicide bomber struck inside the mosque in Sana during the evening call to prayers, while the car bomb exploded outside an entrance, the authorities said. Medical officials said that wounded people were […]
Brazil’s President Dilma Rousseff gestures during news conference after an event at the Planalto Palace in Brasilia, Brazil September 2, 2015. Reuters/Ueslei Marcelino BRASILIA Brazil’s President Dilma Rousseff criticized ride-sharing software Uber on Wednesday for increasing unemployment, adding to a chorus of labour concerns about the world’s most valuable venture-backed start-up. Rousseff said local authorities must regulate the service, which has led conventional taxi drivers to stage […]
BAGHDAD — In the early morning darkness on Wednesday, masked gunmen in military uniforms rolled up in more than a dozen black sport utility vehicles to a construction site on the edge of Baghdad, subdued the guards and roused 17 Turkish workers and their Iraqi translator from sleep and kidnapped them. Iraqi security officials spent the day scrambling to find the men, who were building a soccer […]
UAE. With a 54% decline in the price of oil prices during the past 12 months the United Arab Emirates (UAE) real estate market is now beginning to feel the effect with property transaction levels falling across Abu Dhabi, Dubai and Sharjah, according to the latest research from international real estate consultancy, Cluttons. Cluttons’ annual 2015 UAE Property Report reveals that the direct correlation between hydrocarbon revenues […]
Middle East Video Protesters took over the office of Lebanon’s environment minister in the capital on Tuesday, calling on him to resign for failing to find a solution to the garbage crisis. By ANNE BARNARD September 1, 2015 BEIRUT, Lebanon — Demonstrators from the “You Stink” movement, protesting a garbage pileup and political dysfunction, occupied the offices of Lebanon’s environment minister in downtown Beirut on Tuesday, declaring that they […]
TORONTO Hundreds of thousands of people signed up for infidelity website Ashley Madison in the last week, parent company Avid Life Media said on Monday, even after hackers leaked data about millions of its clients. The company also struck back at reports that the site had few genuine female users, saying internal data released by hackers had been incorrectly analysed. “Recent media reports predicting the imminent demise […]
