Dubai, UAE 08 March 2017 Amlak Finance PJSC, a leading specialized real estate financier in the Middle East, today announced its Full Year Financial Results for the year ended 31 December 2016. Amlak reported net profits of AED 107 million at the end of December 2016, a decrease of 20% compared to AED 135 million in 2015. The Company’s total revenues, however, reached AED 778 million in […]
ABU DHABI // A former Russian diplomat said on Wednesday that dialogue was the key to strong international relations and that his country was capable of being good friends with GCC states and Iran. Veniamin Popov, a former Russian ambassador to Yemen, Libya and Tunisia, said in Abu Dhabi that president Vladimir Putin wanted to see an end to all conflict in the Middle East and hoped […]
George Osborne will earn £650,000 a year for working four days a month at BlackRock, more than ten times what he is paid as an MP once expected share awards from the world’s largest fund manager are included. The detail of Mr Osborne’s pay at BlackRock, which he agreed to join as an adviser earlier this year, was disclosed in the register of members’ financial interests at […]
By John Walcott and Andrea Shalal | WASHINGTON/BERLIN WASHINGTON/BERLIN U.S. intelligence and law enforcement officials said on Wednesday that they have been aware since the end of last year of a security breach at the CIA that led to anti-secrecy group WikiLeaks publishing agency documents on its hacking tools. The officials, who asked not to be identified, told Reuters that they believed that the documents published by […]
Confide, a messaging app used inside the White House and touted for its ability to allow staffers to privately leak to the press, isn’t as secure as the company claims. The multi-platform app, which first broke onto the security scene three years ago but only recently made headlines for its use across the Trump administration, claims that nobody can intercept and read messages that disappear after they […]
AMMAN: An official in Jordan’s government says a Jordanian soldier who killed seven Israeli schoolgirls visiting the country on a class trip will be released after serving 20 years in prison.Spokesman Mohammed Momani said Tuesday that Ahmed Daqamseh is to be freed next week, possibly Monday, after completing his term.Daqamseh killed the girls in a 1997 shooting rampage at the “Island of Peace” border post.A military court […]
Apple says it is working fast to fix vulnerabilities in the iPhone and other products after WikiLeaks released material said to show the Central Intelligence Agency was stockpiling malware to break into devices. “While our initial analysis indicates that many of the issues leaked were already patched in the latest iOS [operating system for iPhones and iPads], we will continue work to rapidly address any identified vulnerabilities,” […]
“Talk is cheap, implementation is difficult,” said Fadel Gheit, a senior oil company analyst at Oppenheimer & Company. “They will have to recreate books that never existed.” Photo Khalid A. al-Falih, Saudi Arabia’s energy minister and chairman of Saudi Aramco, speaking at a conference in Houston on Tuesday. Credit Melissa Phillip/Houston Chronicle, via Associated Press As a prize, there are fewer bigger than Saudi Aramco. The Saudis […]
Bahrain’s national carrier has announced an expansion to its bundle of pre-paid services, adding seat selection, excess baggage and lounge access. Gulf Air said in a statement that passengers can now purchase these services in advance of their travel, adding that its prepaid excess baggage rates are 20 percent lower than standard airport rates. The airline said it will be introducing this facility to its official website […]
US-based Hyperloop One on Tuesday put the cost of traffic congestion between Dubai and Abu Dhabi at almost $800 million in lost working hours. Nearly 4,000 vehicles travel on the Dubai-Abu Dhabi highway every day as majority of the people, who work in the UAE capital, reside in Dubai which offers cheaper housing options. “Reducing this commute to 12 minutes opens a whole new realm of options,” […]
For many, South Korea’s decision to host a missile shield to defend against its hostile northern neighbour should not be controversial. In the past month alone, North Korea has fired six ballistic missiles, with a barrage of four successful launches on Monday trumpeted by Pyongyang as being a drill targeting US bases in Japan. But in a region riven by simmering historical grievances, Seoul’s move has sparked a bitter […]
Photo A convoy of United States armored vehicles in Manbij, northern Syria. A Pentagon spokesman said Monday that the deployment was intended as a “visible sign of deterrence and reassurance” to dissuade Turkish-backed militias and other groups from attacking the area. Credit Delil Souleiman/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images WASHINGTON — The top American military officer met Tuesday with his Russian and Turkish counterparts to discuss how to […]
Via Soeren Kern of The Gatestone Institute, “The threat to the UK remains from homegrown terrorism, and is heavily youth- and male-oriented with British nationals prevalent among offenders.” — Islamist Terrorism: Analysis of Offenses and Attacks in the UK (1998–2015). “The increased prevalence of smaller cells and individualistic offending, suggests a rise in terrorism cases that feature shorter lead times to offending and fewer opportunities for identification.” […]
The Chinese government has long resented accusations that, as US President Donald Trump put it in a tweet in early January, it “won’t help with North Korea”. On Wednesday China’s foreign minister used a colourful metaphor to describe his government’s position on the crisis-prone Korean peninsula, likening Pyongyang, Seoul and Washington to “runaway trains” that Beijing was doing its best to stop. The press conference by Wang […]
And Mr. Trump’s conveniently timed call was a not-so-subtle reminder to Israel’s attorney general that indicting Mr. Netanyahu — a step that would precipitate his resignation as a prime minister — could harm Israel’s national security at a dangerous time. Continue reading the main story Mr. Netanyahu has survived past inquiries into his personal trips and home expenses without charges, and he has steadfastly denied wrongdoing in […]
March 8, 2017 by: Shawn Donnan and Demetri Sevastopulo in Washington ZTE has agreed to plead guilty to criminal charges of violating US sanctions on North Korea and Iran and to pay up to $1.2bn in fines, the largest sanctions-busting penalty levied against a Chinese company by Washington. The Chinese telecommunications group also admitted to obstructing a federal investigation as part of a settlement announced on Tuesday […]
Photo A banner calling for the boycott, divestment and sanctioning of Israel hanging from the Manhattan Bridge in New York during a protest against Israel’s military campaign in Gaza in 2014. Credit Michael Appleton for The New York Times Israel’s Parliament has struck back at the international boycott movement against the country and its settlements in the West Bank by passing a law barring entry to foreigners […]
Your daily guide to community and cultural activities across the Emirates for March 8, 2017, including performances, festivals, art exhibitions, film screenings, health and fitness events, talks, classes, workshops and family fun. Aarti Jhurani rounds up 10 things to do today in the UAE. Want to see your event listed here? Email us with the details and contact information at [email protected] newslide Al Ain Heritage event Register […]
The House of Lords has voted in support of a requirement for the government to bring the final terms of Britain’s exit from the EU before parliament for its approval, inflicting a second defeat on Theresa May’s Brexit strategy in the space of a week. With 634 peers voting — the largest number of peers to participate in a vote in the upper chamber on record, according […]
Canadian financial services group Canaccord Genuity’s aims to double the contributions to its investment banking business from the Middle East and India in the next five years, its regional head told Reuters. It recently helped broker a C$5 billion ($3.7 billion) investment partnership between Dubai ports operator DP World and Caisse de depot et placement du Quebec, Canada’s second-largest public pension fund. “We think this could be […]
The inner workings of the CIA’s cyber-espionage operations were at risk of being laid bare on Tuesday, after WikiLeaks published what it claimed was the first part of a large trove of documents detailing the US agency’s techniques for hacking into smartphones, internet-connected TVs and other devices. The documents purported to reveal a stockpile of malware used by the CIA to break into some of today’s most […]
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — Bahrain’s justice ministry has filed a lawsuit intended to dissolve a major opposition group that it accuses of supporting terrorism, the state-run Bahrain News Agency reported on Monday. The group, the National Democratic Action Society, or Waad, was accused by the ministry of “serious violations targeting the principle of respecting the rule of law, supporting terrorism and sanctioning violence.” The secular organization […]
MOSUL, Iraq: Crawl through a labyrinth of narrow tunnels in near total darkness and suddenly they appear: two great winged bulls dating from the Assyrian empire found intact under the ground of Mosul.But as fighting rages to evict the Daesh group from the main city in northern Iraq, it will be a race against time to save the archaeological treasures uncovered in the tunnels.The jihadists dug the […]
Brazil’s economy shrank 3.6 per cent last year as high inflation, a runaway budget deficit and political turmoil drove the country to its worst recession on record. The contraction, which was felt across almost all economic sectors from industry to services, was slightly worse than economists’ estimates and only marginally better than 2015, when gross domestic product contracted 3.8 per cent. GDP in the final three months […]
