By SOMINI SENGUPTA July 31, 2014 UNITED NATIONS — In the midst of Israel’s battle with militants in Gaza over the past three weeks, skirmishes opened on a second front in recent days: Its strikes on United Nations facilities and the steep civilian casualties brought a barrage of rebukes and warnings from senior United Nations officials around the world, reaching a fever pitch just before the announcement of a […]
|By K Raveendran| The Dubai real estate scene today has several similarities with the pre-crisis situation of 2008, which ultimately led to the emirate’s property bubble. Conflicting signals, including a series of big ticket announcements, entry of new developers and growing concern about overheating in the market, are making it a thoroughly confusing proposition. The announcement of the Mall of the World, a domed, climate-controlled city more […]
Middle East funds are heavily bullish towards Saudi Arabian stocks after news the market will open to direct foreign investment, while they are bearish on the United Arab Emirates because of concern about high valuations. The latest Reuters survey of 15 leading investment managers,conducted over the past 10 days, showed two-thirds expected to raise their equity allocations to Saudi Arabia in the next three months, up from […]
Dubai shares gained the most in almost seven years in July, helping claw back some of the losses sustained in a bear market that wiped a quarter off the benchmark index. Real estate-related companies led the rally. Arabtec Holding Co. (ARTC), which spurred the DFM General Index’s collapse in May and June, advanced 4.9 percent today to bring monthly gains to 63 percent. Emaar Properties PJSC, the […]
Dubai luxury property developer DAMAC is offering investors the option of converting its Global Depositary Receipts (GDRs), listed on the London bourse, into ordinary shares that would be listed on Dubai’s main stock market. Investors would get around 23.08 shares per GDR. They have until Sept. 2 to decide on the offer, the developer said in a statement to the London bourse on Wednesday. No new shares […]
Damac Properties is recommending investors convert GDRs, listed on the London bourse, into shares that would be listed on Dubai’s stock market. Reuters A company needs to sell at least 55% of its stock to list on the main U.A.E. bourses – a regulation that has been blamed in part for the weak IPO market in the Arab Gulf country. After all, most big companies in the […]
Even the best albums contained the occasional dud – did anyone ever look forward to hearing the obligatory Ringo song on a Beatles album? . Photo: AFP/Getty Images My home is full of vinyl. It’s there in the living-room, the study, the spare bedroom – all my yesterdays, the good, the bad the ugly, filed in batches of 30 in sturdy black plastic boxes (they weigh a ton!), […]
Video | Behind the Escalations in Gaza A look at why Israel and Hamas have repeatedly chosen to intensify the violence at every stage of the continuing conflict. By JODI RUDOREN July 30, 2014 JERUSALEM — After years in which Israel’s prevailing approach to the Gaza Strip was a simple “quiet for quiet” demand, there is growing momentum around a new formula, “reconstruction for demilitarization.” Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu […]
A cease-fire proposal by President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi of Egypt met most of Israel’s demands; Hamas immediately rejected it. By DAVID D. KIRKPATRICK July 30, 2014 CAIRO — Battling Palestinian militants in Gaza two years ago, Israel found itself pressed from all sides by unfriendly Arab neighbors to end the fighting. Not this time. After the military ouster of the Islamist government in Cairo last year, Egypt has led a […]
Tata group will invest about $35 billion over the next three years to focus on new business areas such as infrastructure, defence and aerospace, as well as expanding its global footprint. The salt-to-software group has operations in more than 100 countries and combined revenue of $103 billion at the end of the fiscal year in March, with 67 percent coming from outside India. The Tata group includes […]
DUBAI // Moein Al Bastaki was not aware of the controversy that becoming a magician would bring to his life. But Al Bastaki, 34, is adamant he can change the perceptions of magic and illusions among Gulf Arabs. “Coming from an Islamic background I faced a lot of difficulties,” he says. “This concept of being a magician is totally wrong and, in the Quran, it’s totally against […]
NEW DELHI: Under fire for sitting on foreign investment proposals for singlebrand retailing, the department of industrial policy and promotion has set a maximum time frame of 90 days to process all applications pending with it.
As many as 13 applications from foreign retailers, including Forever 21, Furla and Swarovski, to open single-brand company-owned stores in the country have been pending with the department of industrial policy and promotion (DIPP) for several months.
“We will ensure zero pendency of applications at DIPP and strict compliance to the timeline from now on,” a department official said. DIPP, under the ministry of commerce and industry, is mandated with first-stage vetting
NEW DELHI: Gautam Adani plans to acquire power plants with a total capacity of 5,000 mw, but he will avoid aggressive bids to ensure good returns, a source close to the tycoon said a day after Anil Ambani-led Reliance Group outbid him to buy 1,800 mw hydro power capacity from Jaypee Group.
Gautam Adani is directly involved in evaluating offers and negotiations, something he left to company executives in the past, the source said. The company is in talks with several power sector players, including GMR, Lanco, Indiabulls, Avantha Power and Athena, the source said.
Another person in the Adani Group said there are many sellers in the market, offering projects with a combined capacity of nearly 50,000 mw.
 
Mumbai: State-run Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Limited may go solo on its plans to build its second underground liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) storage facility in Mangalore.
The company which was planning to rope in Total SA of France, to build the cavern jointly, said Total is not interested at present and may join the company at a later stage.
“We see merit in the project and have decided to go ahead. We will commission the detailed feasibility report shortly and then call for tenders in the next four-six months,” said a senior HPCL official.
The cavern, will cost HPCL Rs 700 crore and will store 60,000 tonnes of LPG. HPCL and Total, through their equal joint venture, South Asi
Bangalore: Electronics production in the country’s Defence sector touched Rs. 13,800 crore during 2013-14 and is expected to grow over 15 per cent this year, said Electronic Industries Association of India (ELCINA) President Subhash Goyal.
The production of strategic electronics stood at Rs. 12,000 crore in 2012-13 and has been growing steadily from Rs. 5,700 crore in 2007-08 to Rs. 9,000 crore during 2010-11.
ELCINA has been holding the strategic electronics summit (SES) since 2010. This year it is being held in Bangalore on July 30 and 31.
The SES brings all stakeholders together on one platform to enable a better understanding of Defence requirements. The summit also aims to facilitate
The European Commission has already said it will investigate the new policy statement from the Prime Minister to see if it complies with European law Photo: REUTERS The Prime Minister has scored a brilliant summer hit with the headline writers. “EU migrant benefit curbs fast-tracked”; “Government announces limits on EU migrants’ benefits access”; “New rules on migrant benefits to be announced as UK makes system more robust against […]
Emerging-market stocks fell as the European Union and U.S. said they’re imposing tougher sanctions against Russia to punish President Vladimir Putin for supporting Ukrainian rebels. The Ibovespa fell the most in a month after Brazilian industrial production declined. India’s S&P BSE Sensex Index dropped for a second day as motorcycle manufacturer Hero MotoCorp Ltd. slid 1.6 percent. Stocks in South Korea and China advanced as automakers and […]
JPMorgan Chase & Co. (JPM), the biggest U.S. lender, is cutting hundreds of technology support employees in its corporate and investment bank amid a revenue decline, people with knowledge of the move said. Workers in locations including New York, Tampa, Chicago and Dubai were notified of the cuts this month, said the people, who asked not to be identified because they weren’t authorized to discuss the matter. […]
DUBAI // One of the UAE’s most well-known designers, Lamya Abedin, wants to make the abaya an essential fixture in every woman’s wardrobe – not just in the Arab world, but around the globe. The founder of the couture line the Queen of Spades already sells her clothes in South Africa, her first venture outside the GCC. The popularity of her designs comes from the abaya doubling […]
A Palestinian displays a portrait of the deputy chief of the Hamas movement, Ismail Haniya, in the rubble of his home in Gaza. By BEN HUBBARD and JODI RUDOREN July 29, 2014 GAZA CITY — Israeli airstrikes flattened the four-story home of Hamas’s top political leader in the Gaza Strip and destroyed offices of the movement’s radio and television station early Tuesday, suggesting a slight operational shift as the battle entered its 22nd […]
It seems that Generation Y has mistakenly taken its inspiration for matrimony from the short-lived marriages of Hollywood celebrities. Although many of them are in happy relationships now, their early attempts at marriage were famed for their brevity. Take Angelina Jolie and Billy Bob Thornton – they managed two years. Kim Kardashian and Kris Humphries lasted three. Renée Zellweger and Kenny Chesney quit after six months. Till […]
U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry visits India this week as Washington tries to revitalize ties it sees as a counterbalance to China’s rising power, but rapid progress is unlikely, despite the reformist reputation of India’s new leader. The visit by Kerry, and a trip by Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel next month, follow the resounding election win of Prime Minister Narendra Modi in May and are meant […]
The Gulf states have become the most stable and influential force in the Arab world, with the decline of the Egyptian role, the spread of turmoil and chaos in Syria and Iraq and Algeria’s retreat on itself after the “black decade” of the 1990s. Because of political stability and increasing oil revenues, the Gulf states have accumulated financial wealth that has strengthened their political, economic and media influence in […]
World Briefing By RICK GLADSTONE July 28, 2014 Amir Hekmati, an American of Iranian descent incarcerated in Tehran for nearly three years, spent his 31st birthday in prison on Monday, despite new pleas to Ayatollah Ali Khamenei for his compassionate release sent from prominent Muslim American figures in his home state, Michigan. Letters from the Michigan chapter of the Council on American Islamic Relations and from the Imams’ Council […]
