Men stood on a building damaged during Hamas’s last war with Israel. Gaza’s unemployment rate has risen to 44 percent, the highest in the world. By DIAA HADID and MAJD AL WAHEIDI June 1, 2015 GAZA CITY — On a street here crammed with glittery clothing and electronic shops, Mahmoud Matar flipped through the receipt book for his appliance store, much of it blank: His lone sale that day was a $7 […]
NORWICH, UK // A former UAE teacher has published a book on Islamic art for children that she hopes will help to improve perceptions of the Muslim world. Mary Beardwood spent six years researching and writing Discovering Islamic Art, the second book she has written about the culture and traditions of the region. A retired teacher who worked at Jebel Ali Primary School, Rashid School for Boys […]
Pakistani volunteers tried to identify the bodies of some of the 22 people killed Friday night in attacks in Baluchistan. By SALMAN MASOOD and ZIA ur-REHMAN May 30, 2015 ISLAMABAD, Pakistan — Tensions were running high on Saturday in southwestern Pakistan after dozens of heavily armed gunmen, wearing the uniforms of security forces, stopped two buses, singled out ethnic Pashtuns and fatally shot at least 22 of them on Friday night. […]
Japanese Defense Minister Gen Nakatani (L-R), Japanese Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry and U.S. Secretary of Defense Ash Carter shake hands following a news conference as part of the U.S.-Japan Security Consultative Committee (2+2) meeting… Reuters/Andrew Kelly/Files TOKYO The United States will extend its cyber defense umbrella over Japan, helping its Asian ally cope with the growing threat of online attacks against […]
INTERNATIONAL. Happy passengers are the ultimate goal of airlines and airports and new research from global IT provider SITA proves that technology can help. In a ground-breaking survey, SITA investigated the connection between a passenger’s use of technology and their emotions to discover how passengers around the world feel at every point of the journey. The results reveal that airline passengers are happiest and most excited when […]
The Islamic State in Iraq and Syria has ramped up its activities in Southeast Asia so effectively that there is now an entire military unit of terrorists recruited from Indonesia, Malaysia and Singapore, according to Singapore’s prime minister. “Southeast Asia is a key recruitment center for ISIS,” Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong said at the Shangri-La Dialogue here in Singapore Friday. He noted that this included more than 500 Indonesians and dozens of Malaysians. “ISIS has […]
Intel Corp (INTC.O) has resumed talks to buy programmable-chip maker Altera Corp (ALTR.O) and is close to a $16 billion deal, people familiar with the matter said on Friday, paving way for the third mega semiconductor-chip deal this year. The price for Altera could be as much as $54 per share, according to one of the people. This would be a 15 percent premium over the stock’s […]
Remedy Service Management 9.0, the new IT service management (ITSM) platform from BMC, is designed to provide both IT managers and end users with a more intuitive, consumer-type experience. BMC announced the release of the new platform, which it claims can boost IT productivity by up to 75 percent, earlier this month. BMC said the Remedy 9 platform provides a Smart Reporting feature for IT professionals that […]
By SAM BORDEN and JODI RUDOREN May 28, 2015 ZURICH — The protesters outside the arena where FIFA staged the opening ceremony for its annual congress Thursday held Palestinian flags and blunt banners. “Red Card Israel Apartheid,” one read. “Occupation = Segregation,” another said. “EXPEL Israel, Say NO to racism and discrimination.” But as the congress convened, the Palestine Football Association’s proposal to oust its Israeli counterpart from FIFA, soccer’s international […]
Travel tech firm moves to Microsoft Azure cloud technology DUBAI, 22 days ago Microsoft has signed a strategic deal with Illusions, a Dubai-based travel tech firm, to support the transfer of the company’s entire business operating platform onto Microsoft’s cloud technology, Azure, an initiative aimed at enhancing productivity and client satisfaction. The move to Azure will incorporate the existing system on which Illusions operates to provide services […]
UAE. The private equity market in the Middle East has matured in the last five years in terms of deal structures, volumes and values, according to speakers at a debate organised by ICAEW’s Corporate Finance Faculty in the UAE. ICAEW members and guests gathered at Jumeirah Emirates Towers in Dubai last week (Wednesday, 20th May) to discuss private equity in the region. The event, sponsored by Merrill […]
ABU DHABI // The Mohammed bin Rashid Space Centre will send students to American universities this summer as part of the UAE’s Mars Mission Hope. They will undergo an intensive programme in space sciences at the University of California, Berkeley, and the University of Colorado Boulder that will help them along a career path as Emirati scientists and engineers. “We don’t have a proper career path for […]
Video | Reporter’s Brother on Iran Spying Trial Ali Rezaian — the brother of Jason Rezaian, a reporter for The Washington Post — spoke on Tuesday as his brother’s trial on espionage charges began in Iran. By THOMAS ERDBRINK May 26, 2015 Jason Rezaian, the Washington Post correspondent accused by Iran of espionage who has been imprisoned for more than 10 months, went on trial in a Tehran courtroom […]
JORDAN. Technology will be a “game changer” in tackling youth unemployment in the Middle East and North Africa’s emerging Digital Economy, but only if the government, private, and people sectors collaborate effectively, according to a new report released on the eve of the World Economic Forum on the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) 2015. The report “Re-Dynamizing the Job Machine: Technology-Driven Transformation of Labor Markets in […]
ABU DHABI // A medical report proves that the woman accused of murdering an American teacher on Reem Island was aware of and responsible for her actions, prosecutors told the Federal Supreme Court on Monday. Alaa Al Hashemi, 30, an Emirati, is accused of stabbing to death Ibolya Ryan, 47, a mother of three, last December in a toilet cubicle in Boutik Mall. The defendant had previously […]
Buildings that were destroyed during the 50-day war last year between Israel and Hamas militants in the Gaza Strip. By DIAA HADID May 22, 2015 RAMALLAH, West Bank — Gaza’s war-battered economy is on the “verge of collapse,” dragged down by soaring unemployment rates that followed last summer’s war with Israel, border restrictions and government dysfunction, the World Bank says in a new report. Infighting between Gaza’s Islamist Hamas […]
N.R. Narayana Murthy acknowledges the media in Calcutta August 20, 2002. Reuters/Jayanta Shaw/Files MUMBAI The Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) has named Infosys founder N.R. Narayana Murthy to head a panel that will devise rules for a new funding platform for homegrown start-ups, the regulator said on its website. In March, SEBI announced an alternative investment platform targeted at the country’s booming internet start-ups, relaxing […]
UAE. A new study reveals that Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) programs can significantly increase UAE companies’ performance and recognition. The research, commissioned by the social enterprise Consult and Coach for a Cause (C3) and conducted by the global market research company YouGov, presented today at the CSR Summit in Dubai, shows that around three-quarters of residents are more likely to purchase from companies that actively contribute to […]
UAE. Landmark real estate regulatory changes including the UAE-wide Federal Mortgage Cap and Dubai’s doubling of Property Registration Fees last year, which was aimed at curbing speculative activity, have together gradually and successfully contained a market that was in danger of overheating with the level of transactional activity now dramatically reduced, according to latest research released by international real estate consultancy Cluttons. Cluttons Spring 2015 Dubai Residential […]
NEW YORK Billionaire activist investor Carl Icahn said Thursday that mutual funds will increasingly realise that being underweight shares of Apple (AAPL.O) will hurt their performance as the technology giant continues to innovate. “They are underweight Apple in relation to the index funds, and I think more and more of these funds will realise that’s going to hurt their performance in the future as Apple continues to […]
By PETER BAKER May 21, 2015 WASHINGTON — President Obama denied that the United States and its allies were losing the fight against Islamic State forces in the Middle East, but he acknowledged in an interview posted online on Thursday that more should be done to help Iraqis recapture lost territory. While repeating his refusal to commit large-scale American forces to the region, the president said Sunni fighters in […]
Slide Show | The Ancient Syrian City of Palmyra Islamic State militants have destroyed historical sites and sold off artifacts in other cities, and some fear they may do the same in Palmyra. By ANNE BARNARD and HWAIDA SAAD May 20, 2015 BEIRUT, Lebanon — Islamic State militants swept into the historic desert city of Palmyra in central Syria on Wednesday, and by evening were in control of it, residents and […]
|Special by TAP Staff| RERA’s Rent Index system continues to be unrealistic as it fails to factor in variables such as views, size of units, age of the building, and this might may trigger a period of ‘off-grid’ deals, where landlords and tenants agree to rents that are not in sync with RERA’s recommendations, property consultants Cluttons has predicted. The Cluttons’ report highlights that with supply levels […]
