ESSEN, Germany German police sealed off and closed a shopping mall in the heart of the western city of Essen on Saturday after the security services warned of a possible terrorist attack. Germany is on high alert following deadly militant Islamist attacks in France and Belgium and after a failed asylum seeker from Tunisia drove a truck into a Berlin Christmas market in December, killing 12 people. […]
The Abu Dhabi Festival’s main programme kicks off with arguably the most-important singer from the region. Tickets to Mohamed Abdo’s long-awaited concert on Tuesday evening at Emirates Palace have been sold out for a while now. Popularly known as “Fanan Al Arab” or “Artist of the Arabs” (a title he was given in the 1980s during a concert in Tunis by then president Al Habib Bou Rakiba), […]
In the eternal search for next generation high-efficiency solar cells and LEDs, scientists are creating innovative 2-D layered hybrid perovskites that allow greater freedom in designing and fabricating efficient optoelectronic devices. Industrial and consumer applications could include low cost solar cells, LEDs, laser diodes, detectors, and other nano-optoelectronic devices. (via WSJ)
The two most powerful men in the world oil market appeared together in Houston on Tuesday to tell the world that their strategy was on track. In December, Khalid al-Falih and Alexander Novak, the energy ministers of Saudi Arabia and Russia, orchestrated a 24-nation plan to cut oil output in the first half of 2017. This week they spoke to reporters in a hotel conference room at the […]
The way that markets are reported affects the way they are perceived, and the way that investors behave. So can the way journalists report the markets be measured? Are we doing a good job? Historically, it appears that we are not. This week, Diego Garcia of the University of Colorado at Boulder presented a paper to a conference on journalism and markets at Columbia Business School. Entitled […]
By Caroline Valetkevitch | NEW YORK NEW YORK U.S. stocks rose on Friday after a solid jobs report pointed to strength in the domestic economy and supported expectations the Federal Reserve will raise interest rates next week. Indexes ended lower for the week, however, with the S&P 500 and Nasdaq breaking a six-week streak of gains. Government data showed 235,000 jobs were added in the public and […]
Saudi Arabian corporate earnings may finally have bottomed out after two years of falls due to low oil prices and the government austerity which followed, with the petrochemicals sector leading signs of recovery. But a sharp rebound is unlikely for companies in the Middle East’s biggest economy as further austerity looms and they are competing for customers who are no longer flush with cash. Analysts say stronger […]
By Kentaro Hamada and Makiko Yamazaki | TOKYO TOKYO The Japanese government, fretting over the future of Toshiba Corp’s flagship memory chips unit, is prepared to block a sale to bidders it deems a risk to national security, sources said, a stance that gives U.S. suitors a major advantage. The government would use Japan’s foreign exchange and foreign trade laws to control the auction if need be, […]
By Christian Shepherd | BEIJING BEIJING Doubling China’s Lunar New Year break, labelling Chinese cuisine “intangible cultural heritage” and restricting foreign influence in schools are among the patriotic recommendations made by delegates at this year’s meeting of Chinese parliament. Many of the 3,000 delegates from across China currently in Beijing for the 10-day meeting of the National People’s Congress, closing on Wednesday, came armed with proposals for […]
Comcast has completed its acquisition of Icontrol Networks’ Converge business, which creates Internet of Things (IoT) and connected home security solutions. Converge already powers Comcast’s XFinity Home, in that it allows Comcast to communicate with and manage security sensors that are part of Xfinity Home, and also supports home-automation devices like cameras and thermostats. While the terms of the deal remain undisclosed, Comcast SVP and XFinity Home […]
DUBAI // The Middle East needs more people like Dr Ismahane Elouafi. In fact, much of the world does. An expert in food and water security, she has a crucial role to play at a time when farmers across the region are increasingly struggling to grow crops in what is clearly a harsh climate. But the director general of the Dubai-based International Centre for Biosaline Agriculture relishes […]
By Shinichi Saoshiro | TOKYO TOKYO Asian stocks edged up and the dollar rose to 1-1/2-month highs versus the yen on Friday, ahead of the closely-watched U.S. non-farm payrolls report due later in the day. MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan added 0.2 percent, taking cues from a modest bounce in Wall Street overnight. Japan’s Nikkei climbed more than 1 percent on the back of […]
The WikiLeaks-hosted “Vault7” collection of documents allegedly leaked from within the CIA’s Computer Operations Group is a messy mix of jargon, incomplete info, and broken (or redacted) links. The information is interesting, but it’s quite difficult to find a basic description of many of the terms used, even using the search function. So for everybody’s convenience I’ve gone through the whole pile of docs and listed as […]
Dutch paints and coatings maker Akzo Nobel has rejected an unsolicited €20.9bn takeover bid by US industrial chemicals rival PPG Industries and said it is instead looking at spinning off its specialty chemicals business. Akzo Nobel said on Thursday that the PPG bid substantially undervalued its prospects and it made a broader appeal to its stakeholders by saying the takeover was not in the interests of customers […]
By Toby Sterling | AMSTERDAM AMSTERDAM Dutch paints and coatings maker Akzo Nobel NV (AKZO.AS) rejected a 21 billion euro ($22 billion) bid from larger U.S. rival PPG Industries Inc (PPG.N) on Thursday, saying instead it wanted to “unlock value” by spinning off its chemicals business. PPG’s unsolicited offer comes just days before an election where the vulnerability of the biggest Dutch companies to foreign takeover has […]
|By Matein Khalid| Janet Yellen confirmed the Wall Street consensus that the Federal Reserve will raise its overnight borrowing (Fed Funds) rate at the March FOMC. Wage growth, inflation, crude oil, asset prices, economic data momentum and Trump’s fiscal stimulus all reinforce the dual mandate logic of a rate hike. Only a really awful February non-farm payroll shock (consensus is 200,000 jobs) will avert a rate hike […]
Continue reading the main story But the agent has his passport and has refused to refund his recruitment fee, he said. He has no money for a plane ticket. “There is a huge dependence on migrant workers who have employment terms that are no different than indentured servitude,” said Sarah Leah Whitson, director of the Middle East and North Africa division of Human Rights Watch, an advocacy […]
By Yashaswini Swamynathan U.S. stocks were little changed on Wednesday as investors focused on Friday’s crucial nonfarm payrolls report after a better-than-expected private hiring report strengthened chances of a rate increase next week. Financial stocks rose after the ADP National Employment report showed that the U.S. private sector added 298,000 jobs last month, blowing past economists’ average estimate of 190,000. The S&P 500 financial index .SPSY rose […]
Providing Innovative Financing Solutions to Buyers Interested In Purchasing Residential Units Muscat, March 08, 2017 Sohar Islamic, Bank Sohar’s Islamic Banking Window signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with National Mass Housing, a developer of integrated housing communities, to provide preferential Shari’ah Compliant financing solutions to potential Omani’s buyers for purchasing residential units in the upcoming Areej project – phase 2 located in Muscat. The purpose of […]
By Saikat Chatterjee | HONG KONG HONG KONG Asian stocks edged lower on Wednesday after a strong start to the week due to profit-taking as investors lacked conviction to buy risky assets before a U.S. policy meeting next week that may see interest rates rising for the second time in three months. MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan eased 0.1 percent in early trade, a […]
As Abdelmonem Alserkal tours his latest architectural commission, his pristine white kandura stands in contrast to the monochrome building that broods in Alserkal Avenue – the warehouse creative community he has brought to life in Dubai’s industrial neighbourhood of Al Quoz. A muted study in steel, small mirrors, translucent polycarbonate and sprayed, shot-blast and polished concrete, the new venue is the latest milestone in Alserkal Avenue’s decade-long […]
A quantum cascade laser (QCL) frequency comb has been developed that is dramatically more efficient than previous iterations. The device could detect many different kinds of chemicals, including industrial emissions, explosives, and chemical warfare agents, say scientists. (via WSJ)
The Supreme Court on Tuesday asked the Centre to file the six reports of various agencies in a sealed cover within four weeks in connection with the Panama papers leak case. Lawyer Manohar Lal Sharma had filed a plea in the apex court seeking a thorough investigation into the case. The apex court said after going through the reports it would see whether […]
GoldenEye ransomware targets human resources departments because they’re used to opening emails and attachments from unknown sources. Image: Ali Donzanti What is a ransomware attack? Cybercriminals didn’t use to be so obvious. If hackers infiltrated your corporate network, they would do everything possible to avoid detection. It was in their best interests not to alert a victim that they’d fallen victim to cybercrime. But now, if you […]
