ASTANA: Russia and regional powers Turkey and Iran backed a shaky truce between Syria’s warring parties on Tuesday and agreed to monitor its compliance, but on the ground fighters faced continued fighting on two fronts which could undermine the deal.After two days of deliberations in Astana, Kazakhstan’s Foreign Minister Kairat Abdrakhmanov said the powers had agreed in a final communique to establish a system “to observe and […]
By Julia Edwards Ainsley | WASHINGTON WASHINGTON President Donald Trump is expected to sign executive orders starting on Wednesday that include a temporary ban on most refugees and a suspension of visas for citizens of Syria and six other Middle Eastern and African countries, according to several congressional aides and immigration experts briefed on the matter. Trump, who tweeted on Tuesday night that a “big day” was […]
Leading above-the-neck protection PPE manufacturer outlines its global re-launch at Intersec and commitment to driving safety standards the region 24 January, 2017, Dubai, UAE: Centurion, world leaders in above-the-neck protection, have today officially unveiled a major global rebrand and focus on the Middle East at the Intersec trade fair in Dubai. This follows news of Centurion putting in place manufacturing tools to mould products for the region […]
Investors are signalling a stronger US economy and the risk of rising inflation under the Trump administration, as robust price gains for precious and industrial metals have this month spurred a rise in miners’ shares. MSCI’s ACWI Metals & Mining index, a broad barometer that tracks companies around the world, has rallied nearly 15 per cent in 2017, the strongest year-to-date showing in more than a decade, […]
The club crest of Spanish soccer team Real Madrid will be altered to remove the traditional Christian cross from clothing apparel sold in some Middle East countries under a regional deal. Marka, a retailing group in the United Arab Emirates, has been granted exclusive rights to “manufacture, distribute and sell Real Madrid products” in the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Kuwait, Bahrain and Oman, the company said in […]
24 January 2017 Warba Bank has today announced that, with immediate effect, Simon Clements has been named Chief Retail Banking Officer, taking over the responsibilities for Warba’s Retail Banking Group. In this role as Chief Retail Banking Officer, Clements will work towards enhancing customer experience and developing new and personalized products and services for our customers, significantly bettering our capability to support the Bank’s growing presence in […]
A family of malware uploaded to at least 10 million Android devices last year has reared its ugly head again by hiding inside Google Play apps. Dubbed as the HummingWhale, the malware is believed to be related to HummingBad, which is another family of malware that invaded non-Google apps in July 2016. During HummingBad’s time, there were 50,000 fraudulent apps installed, 20 million malicious advertisements displayed, and […]
Your daily guide to community and cultural activities across the Emirates for January 25, 2017, including performances, festivals, art exhibitions, film screenings, health and fitness events, talks, classes, workshops and family fun. newslide Abu Dhabi Film screening Catch a screening of A Barefoot Dream, as part of the Cinema Space film series. The Korean film, based on a true story, focuses on former footballer Kim Won-kang (Park […]
President Donald Trump has quickly moved to reverse another of Barack Obama’s signature policies, backing two multibillion-dollar oil pipeline projects that became test cases for Washington’s commitment to addressing climate change. Mr Trump said the Keystone XL and Dakota Access pipelines would help to meet his campaign promise of producing new blue-collar jobs at home, insisting that any portions built in the US would have to use […]
Despite the supposed cease-fire agreement, new clashes were reported in Wadi Barada, a besieged rebel-held area and source for most of the drinking water for Damascus, the Syrian capital. Water supplies have been cut off for weeks, and the government and rebel sides have blamed each other. Continue reading the main story The agreement among Iran, Russia and Turkey was announced a day after the Syrian factions […]
By John Irish and Andrew Osborn | ASTANA/MOSCOW ASTANA/MOSCOW Peace talks between the Syrian government and opposition in Kazakhstan were a coup for their international sponsors, but exposed the limits of what Russia, Turkey and Iran can achieve in their efforts to resolve the six-year-old war. It was the first time in nine months the two sides had come together, albeit briefly and unhappily, and the first […]
Johnson & Johnson, the world’s largest healthcare company, blamed a stronger dollar as it forecast that 2017 profits and sales would fall below Wall Street expectations, sending the group’s shares down by more than 2 per cent. Dominic Caruso, chief financial officer, said it appeared that many Wall Street analysts had not updated their models to account “for the negative impacts of currency movement” as J&J became […]
Photo Construction in the West Bank settlement of Ma’ale Adumim on Sunday. The Israeli government is showing signs that it is increasingly willing to disregard international condemnation of its settlements. Credit Mahmoud Illean/Associated Press JERUSALEM — Israel on Tuesday approved the construction of 2,500 housing units for Jews in West Bank settlements, throwing off diplomatic restraint just a few days into the beginning of the Trump administration. […]
A wave of about 25 African, European and South American countries is set to join the China-led Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank this year, reinforcing Beijing’s determination to push a global agenda even as US President Donald Trump rails against the ills of economic globalisation. Jin Liqun, president of the AIIB, said on Monday that an expanded membership would help boost lending by the $100bn multilateral organisation, which […]
ASTANA, KAZAKHSTAN: Syrian opposition vowed Monday to keep fighting if the peace talks fail with the war-torn country’s government in Kazakhstan, as the two sides opened indirect negotiations.The talks had been billed as the first time armed opposition groups would negotiate directly with President Bashar Assad’s regime since the conflict erupted in 2011.“If the negotiations succeed, then we are with the negotiations,” opposition spokesman Osama Abu Zeid […]
BERLIN German Chancellor Angela Merkel said on Monday that openness, not populism, polarisation or isolation, was the answer to the world’s challenges of globalisation and digitalisation. “I think that, a quarter of a century after German unification, after the end of the Cold War, a new historical era will perhaps be replaced by another one,” Merkel said in a speech to church leaders in Wuerzburg. Even though […]
Now: The Best of Indie Arabia Various artists (Universal Music Mena) Five stars To expats of a certain age, the “Now..!” brand of music compilation albums are synonymous with the kind of plastic pop wheeled out at social gatherings in the days before iPods or YouTube. Since 1983, the brand has shifted more than 100 million copies across five continents. Compiling the biggest hits of the day […]
Three of the world’s largest textbook publishers have subpoenaed Amazon to reveal the names and financial accounts of online vendors who allegedly sell counterfeit books at “too good to be true” prices. Pearson Education, Cengage Learning and McGraw Hill Education are suing 100 unnamed Amazon marketplace sellers for copyright infringement. In a complaint filed in New York federal court earlier this month, the publishers accused the sellers […]
By Ian Simpson | WASHINGTON WASHINGTON A powerful storm system plowed up the U.S. Eastern seaboard with torrential showers and high winds on Monday, hindering airline and rail travel, after killing at least 21 people in the South, many in mobile homes demolished by tornadoes. The storm, which unleashed deadly twisters in Mississippi and Georgia over the weekend, turned cooler as it advanced on the Northeast, where […]
23 January 2017 Foursan Group, a leading Middle Eastern private equity firm, announced today the successful exit by its fund, Foursan Capital Partners (“FCP”), of its investment in Jordan Dubai Islamic Bank (“JDIB”), a premier Islamic banking institution listed on the Amman Stock Exchange. FCP was the second largest shareholder of JDIB and sold its stake to Bank Al-Etihad, a leading, publicly-listed financial services institution, realizing a […]
Generali, Italy’s largest insurer, has bought voting rights amounting to 3.01 per cent in Intesa Sanpaolo in a defensive move designed to block a mooted takeover bid by the country’s largest bank. The move came after shares in the insurer rose nearly 4 per cent on Monday following a report in Turin-based newspaper La Stampa suggesting Intesa was considering a takeover bid in tandem with Germany’s Allianz. […]
The lead government negotiator, Bashar al-Jaafari, speaking to reporters after the opening session, responded by calling the opposition delegation “armed terrorist groups,” and accused them of “impertinent” and “provocative” behavior. Continue reading the main story The tension demonstrated the challenges that remain for Russia, the Syrian government’s most powerful backer, as the Russian government tries to show its approach can accomplish more than the largely fruitless efforts […]
By Michael Georgy | MOSUL, Iraq MOSUL, Iraq Mohamed Mahmoud is relieved he no longer has to watch Islamic State militants hang corpses from electricity poles, now that Iraqi forces have cleared the group from his east Mosul district. But he still fears for his safety. Like other Iraqis, he worries that destructive forces like sectarianism, which already provoked one civil war since the fall of Saddam […]
US President Donald Trump has just days after taking office signed an executive order signalling that America will back-out of the Pacific trade pact that was a key tenet of Barack Obama’s pivot to Asia. Mr Trump had vowed on the campaign trail to dismantle the Trans-Pacific Partnership that the billionaire businessman-cum-politician has argued is bad for US workers and companies. The move is the administration’s first […]
