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The Federal Reserve is likely to hold rates unchanged on Wednesday but keep the markets primed for further monetary tightening as it surveys steady growth and a tightening labour market.  Recent statements from Fed chair Janet Yellen have suggested that she does not want to rush into a third rate increase, but that she also has no intention of letting the US economy overheat.  This points to a […]

Submitted by John Whitehead via The Rutherford Institute, “We are fast approaching the stage of the ultimate inversion: the stage where the government is free to do anything it pleases, while the citizens may act only by permission; which is the stage of the darkest periods of human history, the stage of rule by brute force.”   -Ayn Rand The torch has been passed to a new president. All of […]

WASHINGTON: Iran’s ballistic missile launch on Sunday was Tehran’s “first litmus test” for the Donald Trump administration as much as it was a regional show of force, according to experts.With the launch coming just nine days into the Trump presidency, Iran-watchers expect the new administration to respond through the different levers at its disposal.A more aggressive retaliation could, however, backfire, and lead to an unintended escalation in […]

Elliott Management, the activist investment group, has called for the removal of Klaus Kleinfeld as chief executive of Arconic, the specialist metals and components company created last year by the break-up of Alcoa, arguing that “current management’s persistent failure . . . has destroyed considerable shareholder value”. The fund manager, Arconic’s largest shareholder with direct control of 10.5 per cent of the group’s shares, and a further 1.6 per cent through […]

Photo Refugees at the Ja’adah camp in Iraq. Children who are most in need of assistance come from Syria, Yemen, Iraq, Somalia and Sudan. Credit Sergey Ponomarev for The New York Times Children who are most in need of emergency international assistance come from five of the seven countries covered by President Trump’s order barring entry to the United States, according to a United Nations report. The […]

31 January 2017 Swedish company Qmatic, a global leader in technology solutions and insights for a seamless and personal patient journey, is announcing today that it will participate in the largest healthcare trade show in the Middle East and North Africa – Arab Health 2017, held in Dubai. The show, with over 4 400 exhibitors from over 70 countries, is expected to draw 115 000 visitors. Thirty-eight […]

|By Tim Plenderleith| Who ever said ‘happily ever after’ was just the stuff of fairytales?   These days those words are written into the soles of Lionel Messi’s cleats. (Or at least, that’s the idea.) The “Sport Infinity” range by sports apparel company Adidas uses worn-out cleats and, by combining them with scrap materials from other industries, reimagines them into high quality new shoes. “The football boots […]

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Apple returned to increasing revenue in the holiday quarter and said the growth rate could accelerate in the coming months, as iPhone sales rebounded strongly in North America, western Europe and Japan. However, despite forecasting revenues to grow as much as 6 per cent in the current quarter, its outlook fell just short of Wall Street’s estimates amid continuing sales declines in China and foreign currency headwinds. […]

BD 1.2 million (US$3.2 million) net profit for the three months ending 31 December, 2016 BD 4.3 million 2016 profit as customer base nears one million milestone BD 1.2 million (US$3.2 million) net profit for the three months ending 31 December, 2016 Manama – 31 January, 2016 Zain Bahrain (Ticker: ZAINBH), a telecom innovator focused on enhancing customer experience, reported a 22% surge in its customer […]

Apple has reportedly sold more iPhone 7 Plus models than the iPhone 7 during the 2016 December quarter. The company is expected to release its financial results for the fourth quarter soon and analysts estimate that the company has managed to sell 78 million iPhones in the December quarter. This is a 4 percent increase in sales, when compared to the same period in 2015.    The trend is an unusual […]

Republicans are struggling to advance their policy agenda in the aftermath of President Donald Trump’s confused rollout of a ban on refugees and all travellers from seven Muslim nations entering the United States. The escalating reaction to Mr Trump’s executive order on immigration is also raising concerns about the workings of his White House staff less than two weeks into the presidency. In private conversations, some establishment […]

Photo The Iranian foreign minister, Mohammad Javad Zarif, right, with his French counterpart, Jean-Marc Ayrault, in Tehran on Tuesday. Credit Atta Kenare/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images Already furious over the Trump administration’s visa ban, Iran warned the United States on Tuesday not to escalate tensions over tests of Iranian missiles. The warning, made by Iran’s foreign minister, Mohammad Javad Zarif, came a day after American and Israeli […]

India is looking at a radical idea for reducing poverty: free money for everyone—no strings attached. The Ministry of Finance’s annual survey of the economy, released Tuesday, explores how the country might replace its various welfare programs with a universal basic income, or a uniform stipend paid to every adult and child, poor or rich. Guaranteeing all citizens enough income to cover their basic needs would promote […]

31 January 2017 Abu Dhabi, UNITED ARAB EMIRATES – Etihad Airways is launching a third daily flight on the Abu Dhabi – Bengaluru route, effective 26 March 2017. The triple daily schedule will provide greater choice to local passengers travelling between the two cities, and improved connectivity to destinations across the GCC, North America and Europe via the airline’s Abu Dhabi hub. The capacity increase underscores the […]

DUBAI // “Bubble babies” at risk from the slightest infection as a result of rare genetic conditions will soon benefit from treatment unveiled at the Arab Health Congress on Tuesday. Gene therapy will provide a lifeline for young children in the Middle East, which suffers from the highest rates of genetic diseases in the world. The process involves ineffective genes copied and replaced in a patient’s body […]

ExxonMobil has become the second large oil company to report earnings well below analysts’ expectations, following Chevron on Friday. Exxon’s earnings per share were 41 cents for the fourth quarter of 2016, with net income of $1.68bn, 40 per cent lower than expected. The average of analysts’ forecasts was for earnings per share of 70 cents in the quarter. The lower than expected earnings came after a […]

Dubai-based Majid Al Futtaim on Tuesday reported a 9 percent increase in group revenues to $8.14 billion (AED29.9bn) in 2016 compared to $7.43bn (AED27.3bn) in 2015. Earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) rose by 8 percent, reaching $1.11bn (AED4.1bn), driven by additional hypermarkets, supermarkets and family entertainment centres. Alain Bejjani, Majid Al Futtaim Holding CEO, said the company will continue on its growth trajectory in […]

Royal Dutch Shell has struck deals worth up to $4.7bn to sell offshore oil and gas assets in the North Sea and Thailand, adding momentum to the debt-reduction programme launched after its $50bn takeover of BG Group. The Anglo-Dutch group said on Tuesday it had agreed to sell a package of UK North Sea assets to Chrysaor, a small British company backed by EIG Partners, a US […]

In the past two months, the Islamic State has used more than 80 remotely piloted drones against Iraqi forces and their allies. About one-third of the aircraft, some as small as model airplanes, dropped bombs or were rigged with explosives to detonate on the ground, said Col. John L. Dorrian, the spokesman for the American-led operation against the Islamic State in Baghdad. Continue reading the main story […]

By Praveen Menon and Pairat Temphairojana | KUALA LUMPUR/BANGKOK KUALA LUMPUR/BANGKOK Seeking to capitalise on U.S. President Donald Trump’s controversial new travel restrictions, companies and officials in Asia said they would target greater tourism and education ties with Muslims worried about the curbs. Trump’s Friday directive put a 120-day hold on allowing refugees into the country, an indefinite ban on refugees from Syria and a 90-day bar […]

Executives from The New York Times, BuzzFeed and Bloomberg News have responded to Trump’s recent executive order banning immigrants from Muslim-majority countries in the Middle East. The responses range from outright condemnation of President Trump’s ban to reaffirming their commitment to supporting employees regardless of their countries of origin. Jonah Peretti, the CEO of BuzzFeed, sent a letter to employees over the weekend castigating Trump for “let(ing) […]

The publication of Michael Lewis’s book Flash Boys in 2014 thrust the arcane world of ultra-high frequency trading firms into the popular consciousness, prompting debate over everything from the industry’s morality to the possible risks it posed to financial stability. What was undeniable was how several of these companies were staggeringly profitable, generating hundreds of millions of dollars by trading at speeds made up of fractions of […]

WASHINGTON — Iran conducted its first missile test since President Trump took office, American and Israeli officials said Monday, posing an early test of whether the Trump administration will make good on its promises to strictly enforce all aspects of the Iranian nuclear deal and a side agreement on missile testing. The Iranian missile traveled about 600 miles, but its re-entry vehicle reportedly exploded before the flight […]

JEDDAH: The Palestinian Authority has urged the International Criminal Court (ICC) to speed up rulings on key issues including Israeli settlements, an official has told Arab News. The authority asked ICC chief prosecutor Fatou Bensouda to expedite rulings on three Palestinian files in order to open a judicial inquiry into the Israeli government’s violations of international law, said Saeb Erekat, secretary-general of the Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO).This […]

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