TEHRAN — For Jason Rezaian, the Washington Post reporter now on trial for espionage in Iran, the incident was extraordinary but still looked like another example of the difficulties in covering the country’s politics. On a spring day in March 2014, his wife and a female photographer were stopped in broad daylight in their car on a busy Tehran highway and taken into a van, where, friends […]
Beirut Journal A restaurant worker took two bags of trash to add to a giant pile of garbage left uncollected for a week outside a bar named Floyd the Dog in Beirut. By BEN HUBBARD July 27, 2015 BEIRUT, Lebanon — On a normal weekend night, the revelers at Floyd the Dog, a bar in one of this city’s rowdiest party neighborhoods, spill onto the sidewalk, drinks in hand, […]
The Incirlik Air Base in southern Turkey on Monday. Turkey and the United States agreed on a plan that would create what officials are calling an Islamic State-free zone, which the Turks say could also be a “safe zone” for displaced Syrians. By ANNE BARNARD, MICHAEL R. GORDON and ERIC SCHMITT July 27, 2015 BAGHDAD — Turkey and the United States have agreed in general terms on a plan that envisions American warplanes, […]
JERUSALEM — The two issues with perhaps the broadest consensus and resonance in Israeli politics are opposition to the Iran nuclear deal and support for the release of Jonathan J. Pollard, the convicted Israeli spy, from a North Carolina prison. Now the two could be tied together, as some in Washington appear to be highlighting Mr. Pollard’s likely parole in November in hopes of quieting the vigorous […]
UAE. The Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales – ICAEW, has welcomed the new UAE oil price deregulation policy which aims to support the national economy, lower fuel consumption, protect the environment and preserve national resources. Commenting on the new policy, Michael Armstrong, FCA and ICAEW Regional Director for the Middle East, Africa and South Asia (MEASA), said: “Deregulating oil prices should support the national […]
July 24, 2015 By LAILA LALAMI One afternoon last April, I stood in the doorway of my daughter’s room, watching her prepare for a big recital. She was going to perform with her middle-school orchestra in Santa Monica. She packed her violin, rosined her bow, put on a black dress and tamed her wild hair into a bun. ‘‘There,’’ she said. ‘‘I’m ready.’’ How lovely she looked, […]
It could be a match made in heaven. Wall Street says Intel Corp (INTC.O) is the best suitor for Qualcomm Inc’s (QCOM.O) chip unit, if the maker of Snapdragon mobile processors decides to break itself up. “The chip deal to end all chip deals,” says Cowen and Co analyst Timothy Arcuri, would give Intel’s smartphone chip making business a much-needed boost. It would also allow Intel to […]
UAE. Wermuth Asset Management has announced its expectation that, given the availability of solar power at $4 cents/kWh, a price with which crude oil could only compete if offered below $7/barrel, the ‘carbon bubble’ will burst and that it will have profound implications for the Middle East’s oil producing countries, global financial markets and the world economy. If COP21 leaders this year commit to a global 2⁰C […]
INTERNATIONAL. In my “Net Assessment of the World,” I argued that four major segments of the European and Asian landmass were in crisis: Europe, Russia, the Middle East (from the Levant to Iran) and China. Each crisis was different; each was at a different stage of development. Collectively the crises threatened to destabilize the Eurasian landmass, the Eastern Hemisphere, and potentially generate a global crisis. They do […]
Apple Inc. shares tumbled, wiping out $32 billion in market value, after disappointing iPhone sales rekindled concerns over whether the company can keep making must-have products. Even though iPhone sales climbed 35 percent to 47.5 million units in the fiscal third quarter, the result fell short of the 48.8 million shipments projected by analysts. That, plus a revenue forecast for the current period that missed estimates, on […]
Crude slumped below $50 a barrel in New York for the first time in more than three months on speculation that Iranian shipments will climb, extending a global glut. West Texas Intermediate decreased as much as 1.9 percent. Iran will focus on regaining oil sales it lost due to sanctions regardless of the impact on prices, Oil Minister Bijan Namdar Zanganeh said in Tehran Monday. U.S. crude […]
ABU DHABI // It has gone so fast – and so far, so good. It’s already the third anniversary of work starting on the UAE’s first nuclear power plant at Barakah, near the border with Saudi Arabia. And it is still on budget and set to go live in late 2017, ultimately providing a quarter of the Emirates’ energy needs. But becoming the first new member to […]
TEHRAN — Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, the supreme leader of Iran, voiced support on Saturday for his country’s nuclear deal with world powers while emphasizing that it did not signal an end to Iran’s hostility toward the United States and its allies, especially Israel. “Their actions in the region are 180 degrees different from ours,” he said. Speaking after a special prayer marking the end of the Muslim […]
Google Inc’s (GOOGL.O) shares soared as much as 16.8 percent on Friday, crossing the $700 mark and adding nearly $68 billion to its market value, as strong growth in YouTube viewership allayed concerns about Facebook Inc’s (FB.O) push into video. The stock’s surge, which sent the Nasdaq composite index to a record intraday high, came a day after Google reported better-than-expected profit for the first time in […]
VIENNA — One by one, the roadblocks to a nuclear accord between Iran and the United States had been painstakingly cleared. But as the negotiations went into their third week in the neoclassical Coburg Palace hotel this month, a major dispute lingered over whether a ban on Iran’s ability to purchase conventional weapons and missile technology would remain in place. The American delegation, led by Secretary of […]
|By TAP Staff| The UAE is taking the world’s most popular landmarks and attractions in Vegas, Orlando, London, Paris, New York and Ibiza to the next level for 2020. “Dubai is now considered as an international city on the same stage as New York, London, Paris and Tokyo, and is leading the development of the UAE leisure market together with Abu Dhabi,” said Phil Taylor, Director of Team Leisure LLC, previously Chief Executive of […]
WASHINGTON — President Obama on Wednesday urged lawmakers to support the nuclear deal reached with Iran, saying that failure to put it into effect would increase the likelihood of war in the Middle East and accelerate a nuclear arms race in the region that would threaten the safety of the United States. “That’s the choice that we face,” Mr. Obama said in opening comments at a news […]
RAMALLAH, West Bank — Five Palestinian men, including at least three members of the military wing of the Fatah faction, were arrested on Wednesday, accused of planning and executing a particularly audacious shooting last month, the Israeli military and police said. The shooting, which killed one Israeli man and wounded another, came amid a wave of attacks targeting Israeli civilians and military forces in the occupied West […]
UAE. Dubai continued to see steady supply growth during the first six months of the year, as performance within the residential and hospitality markets began to soften after a three year period of sustained growth, according to the Q2 2015 Dubai MarketView by global property consulting firm CBRE. According to the CBRE report, Dubai’s rental market continues to outperform the transactional market in 2015, although residential leasing […]
Anti-Houthi militiamen on Tuesday at the entrance to Aden’s international airport, which they recaptured from Shiite Houthi rebels. By SAEED AL-BATATI and KAREEM FAHIM July 14, 2015 AL MUKALLA, Yemen — Southern fighters battling Houthi rebels seized control of the international airport in Yemen’s port city of Aden on Tuesday, dealing the Houthis their most significant defeat in the city since they stormed it more than three months ago, witnesses and […]
Video | Accord is ‘Bad Mistake,’ Netanyahu Says Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel said the nuclear agreement would enable Iran to continue its “aggression and terror” throughout the region. By ISABEL KERSHNER July 14, 2015 JERUSALEM — Furiously denouncing the accord to limit Iran’s nuclear program on Tuesday as “a historic mistake,” Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that Israel would not be bound by the agreement and warned […]
Shiite fighters launched a rocket on Sunday toward Islamic State militants from the outskirts of Fallujah, in Anbar Province, Iraq. By OMAR AL-JAWOSHY and ANNE BARNARD July 13, 2015 BAGHDAD — The Iraqi government declared on Monday that it was beginning a major military operation to retake the western province of Anbar from the Islamic State, which occupies much of the area including its major cities, Ramadi and Falluja. It was […]
A worker works on a Samsung outdoor advertisement installed atop an office building in central Seoul March 23, 2015. Reuters/Kim Hong-Ji/Files SEOUL With four days to go in a landmark proxy battle, a Samsung firm is going all out to coax a legion of undeclared investors into backing an $8 billion merger with a sister company that is key to the future of the country’s biggest family-run […]
Reporter’s Notebook By DAVID E. SANGER and MICHAEL R. GORDON July 11, 2015 VIENNA — Absent real pronouncements 11 days after the hard-and-fast deadline for a nuclear deal with Iran, people have begun looking to the balconies to determine if a deal is imminent. Well, one balcony: Mohammad Javad Zarif’s, Iran’s foreign minister, who on Saturday spent a lot of time in the sun. As the diplomacy churned on, Mr. Zarif was reading […]
