BAGHDAD — A devastating truck bomb struck a food market early Thursday morning in the teeming Shiite neighborhood of Sadr City, killing about 60 people and wounding more than 100 others, according to security officials. The blast, which was almost immediately claimed by the Islamic State, came just after dawn, when the market was already crowded with shoppers stocking up on fruit and vegetables for the weekend. […]
The lowest crude prices since 2009 might still not be enough to end the U.S. energy renaissance. Some parts of North Dakota’s Bakken shale play are profitable at less than $30 a barrel as companies tap bigger wells and benefit from lower drilling costs, according to a Bloomberg Intelligence analysis. That’s less than half the level of some estimates when the oil rout began last year. The […]
A logo is pictured at Google’s European Engineering Center in Zurich April16, 2015. Reuters/Arnd Wiegmann/Files Google Inc’s overhaul of its operating structure is an acknowledgement of the lack of transparency surrounding its disparate businesses and projects, analysts said, but it remains to be seen how much more the company will actually disclose. Analysts and investors have long sought more granular detail on Google’s capital spending and cash […]
SAN FRANCISCO Google Inc (GOOGL.O) announced a surprise overhaul of its operating structure on Monday, creating a holding company called Alphabet to pool its many subsidiaries and separate the core web advertising business from newer ventures like driverless cars. The move appeared to be an attempt by the search engine giant to focus on its more creative and ambitious projects, while investors cheered the potential for more […]
A Tunisian police officer stood guard at the scene of a shooting attack in June at the Imperial Marhaba hotel in the Mediterranean resort of Sousse. By CARLOTTA GALL August 9, 2015 MONASTIR, Tunisia — A dozen police officers, one with an assault rifle across his knees, guard the presidential mausoleum in this sleepy seaside resort, easily outnumbering the foreign visitors on a recent morning. It was here, the […]
UAE. Media outlets in the UAE and elsewhere have picked up on a variety of recent stories regarding the use of social media in the UAE. These stories include one about an Australian expat being arrested, jailed and deported after posting a picture of a car taking up two disabled parking spots. A similar story from earlier in the summer related to an appellate decision to overturn […]
By WILLIAM J. BROAD August 8, 2015 Twenty-nine of the nation’s top scientists — including Nobel laureates, veteran makers of nuclear arms and former White House science advisers — wrote to President Obama on Saturday to praise the Iran deal, calling it innovative and stringent. The letter, from some of the world’s most knowledgeable experts in the fields of nuclear weapons and arms control, arrives as Mr. Obama is lobbying […]
While excess capacity and price volatility are among the key challenges faced by the steel industry, digital is shaping the future of metals in a complex business environment, said the managing director of Accenture metals. John Lichtenstein shared his passion for steel and how the industry can address growth challenges in an interview published by Accenture, a multinational management consulting, technology services, and outsourcing company. What are […]
The days of very easy money are drawing to a close in the rich Gulf Arab oil-exporting economies as money market rates start to rise, partly because of the damage which cheap oil is doing to government finances. Loose liquidity created by inflows of oil money pushed short-term rates in Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and neighbouring states to record lows last year, fuelling frenzied competition […]
SAUDI ARABIA. JLL, the world’s leading real estate investment and advisory firm, today has released its second quarter (Q2 2015) Jeddah Real Estate Overview report that assess the latest trends in the office, residential, retail and hotel sectors. Mr Jamil Ghaznawi, National Director and Country Head of JLL KSA, commented: “In the second quarter, the Jeddah real estate market remained in the upturn stage of its cycle. […]
RAS LAFFAN, Qatar — The temperature hovered around 100 degrees on the jetty here, where a set of pipes were connected to a giant red-hulled ship. But the moisture in the air froze on the pipes and flaked off, creating snowlike flurries on the early summer evening. The incongruous sight is common on the Qatari ship, the Al Rekayyat, which carries a frigid fuel known as liquefied […]
ISTANBUL — Confronted with widespread protests two summers ago, Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan ordered a harsh police crackdown and tarnished the demonstrators as traitors and spies. Faced with a corruption inquiry focused on his inner circle, he responded by purging the police and judiciary. So when Mr. Erdogan, now president, suffered a stinging electoral defeat in June that left his party without a majority in Parliament […]
An Apple logo hangs above the entrance to the Apple store on 5th Avenue in the Manhattan borough of New York City, July 21, 2015. Reuters/Mike Segar NEW YORK Has the “curse of the Dow” finally caught up with Apple? Shares of the iPhone maker have been in a rut since posting disappointing quarterly results in late June, falling to a six-month low of $113.25 on Tuesday. […]
JERUSALEM — He has the pedigree: Meir Ettinger is the grandson and namesake of Meir Kahane, the slain American-Israeli rabbi considered the father of far-right Jewish militancy. He has the record: For years, Mr. Ettinger has joined the radical group of Israeli settlers known as the hilltop youth in clashes with Palestinians and Israeli forces, leading to a ban on his entering Jerusalem or the occupied West […]
Terry Gou, founder and chairman of Taiwan’s Foxconn Technology, gestures during a news conference in New Delhi, India, August 4, 2015. Reuters/Anindito Mukherjee NEW DELHI/MUMBAI Foxconn, the trade name for Hon Hai Precision Industry Co Ltd, will invest in India as it builds a supply chain in the country, in a move that may help the country’s efforts to build a technology manufacturing base. Taiwan-based Foxconn is […]
GAZA — The new road known as Jakar Street is a rough dirt expanse that Hamas bulldozers cleared parallel to the fence separating this restive Palestinian strip from Israel. Jakar comes from a slang Arabic term that suggests provocation, stubbornness, an effort to vex or annoy or irritate. Leaders of Hamas, the militant movement that dominates Gaza, have been variously quoted as saying that they built the […]
CAIRO — Secretary of State John Kerry told the Egyptian authorities on Sunday that they would not be able to defeat terrorism at home unless they showed greater respect for human rights. “The success of our fight against terrorism depends on building trust between the authorities and the public,” Mr. Kerry said at a joint news conference with his Egyptian counterpart. “If that possibility does not exist, […]
JALAZOUN REFUGEE CAMP, West Bank — Palestinian youths clashed with Israeli forces while thousands of Israelis flocked to rallies, all of them protesting an arson attack that killed a Palestinian toddler — a rare instance of mutual shock in a land attuned to bitter violence. Israel’s president implored the country to consider how the attack on Friday morning could have happened; Palestinians pointed to a widespread sense […]
INTERNATIONAL. New research from PwC projects that traditional assets under management (AuM) in 12 markets across Africa will rise to around $1,098 billion by 2020, from a 2008 total of $293 billion. This represents a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of nearly 9.6%. Traditional asset management, in particular the mutual fund industry, is expanding aggressively across Africa. This will largely be driven by a number of factors: […]
FRANKFURT/SAN FRANCISCO BMW (BMWG.DE) and Apple (AAPL.O) may rekindle a courtship put on hold after an exploratory visit by executives of the world’s top maker of electronic gadgets to the headquarters of the word’s biggest seller of premium cars. Apple Chief Executive Tim Cook went to BMW’s headquarters last year and senior Apple executives toured the carmaker’s Leipzig factory to learn how it manufactures the i3 electric […]
UAE. The MENA Private Equity Association, a non-profit organisation supporting the development of the private equity and venture capital industry in the Middle East and North Africa, launched today its ninth “MENA Private Equity & Venture Capital” Annual Report. According to the Report, which was compiled in collaboration with Deloitte and Zawya – Thomson Reuters, 2014 was a significant year for the industry and has demonstrated the […]
Gold fell, heading for its largest monthly decline in two years, as the Federal Reserve moved closer to boosting US interest rates for the first time since 2006. While Fed policy makers refrained from signaling the timing of a rate rise after a two-day meeting, they described job gains as solid amid an improving economy, according to a statement Wednesday. The market expects a move as early […]
|By Matein Khalid|So Pearson PLC has sold the FT Group (with its flagship Financial Times newspaper) to Japan’s Nikkei Inc for $1.32 billion. Pearson will use the cash proceeds to increase its investment in education publishing businesses in the US and Canada, now 75% of revenues. This deal is a milestone in the history of newspaper publishing and my own life as an investor/financial journalist. I discovered […]
WASHINGTON — Jonathan J. Pollard, who was sentenced to life in prison in 1985 for passing classified documents to the Israeli government, will be released on parole in November after 30 years in prison, a government panel decided on Tuesday. Mr. Pollard’s lawyers announced the decision of the United States Parole Commission on Tuesday afternoon, and officials at the Department of Justice confirmed that Mr. Pollard had […]
