ABU DHABI // It’s never too early to start learning about road safety. Over the past two weeks, thousands of youngsters have been getting instructions in the correct way to drive by taking mini pedal cars around a mock-up of a town centre, complete with road signs, pedestrian crossing, roundabout and traffic lights. My First Licence — I Know My Road Rules helped 3,000 children from nine […]
By NICOLA CLARK May 27, 2016 PARIS — A French naval vessel fitted with sophisticated underwater sensors raced on Friday toward the eastern Mediterranean Sea, as the window for locating the so-called black boxes of a downed Egyptian airliner rapidly closed. The ship is expected to arrive in the search zone early next week to help locate and recover the EgyptAir jet’s cockpit voice and data recorders. The recorders, […]
By THOMAS ERDBRINK May 27, 2016 TEHRAN — More than 30 college students were arrested, interrogated and within 24 hours were each given 99 lashes for attending a graduation party that included men and women, Iran’s judiciary has announced. The punishments, which were believed to be part of a wider crackdown by a judiciary dominated by hard-liners, were meted out in Qazvin, about 90 miles northwest of the capital, […]
By THOMAS ERDBRINK May 27, 2016 TEHRAN — More than 30 college students were arrested, interrogated and within 24 hours were each given 99 lashes for attending a graduation party that included men and women, Iran’s judiciary has announced. The punishments, which were believed to be part of a wider crackdown by a judiciary dominated by hard-liners, were meted out in Qazvin, about 90 miles northwest of the capital, […]
SAUDI ARABIA. The recent Ministerial Resolution on the Saudisation of the sale and repair of mobile phones, together with the earlier resolutions on the retail of female clothing, indicate a growing approach by the Ministry of Labour to require the complete Saudisation of certain activities within the retail sector. In this article we examine the existing requirements and also the proposal for a weighted Nitiqat. Sale and […]
SHIRAZ, Iran — For centuries, Iran’s famed carpets have been produced by hand along the nomad trail in this region of high plains around the ancient city of Shiraz. Sheep grazed in high mountain pastures and shorn only once a year produce a thick, long wool ideal for the tough thread used in carpet making. But high-quality production of hand-woven carpets is no longer sustainable on the […]
|By Matein Khalid| In retrospect, 2016 will go down in German political and economic history as a significant game changer, on the scale of 1989 (fall of the Berlin Wall), 1990 (reunification) and 1999 (the Euro), even 1945 (launch of Deutschemark), 1945 (Third Reich surrenders), 1943 (Stalingrad) and 1933 (Hitler elected). Chancellor Merkel, renamed Mutti Multi kulti, allowed a million migrants to settle in Germany. The far right […]
The study found that 29 per cent of Emiratis are keen to use their Emirates ID cards to make payments, making them the highest demographic group in the GCC to want to do so. Dubai: Seventy seven per cent of residents across the GCC would opt for alternatives to cash and card payments, should they be available in their country, according to a study commissioned […]
Books of The Times By MICHIKO KAKUTANI The title of Janine di Giovanni’s devastating new book, “The Morning They Came for Us,” refers to those terrible moments in ordinary Syrians’ lives when the war in their country becomes personal. Those moments when there is a knock on the door and the police or intelligence services take a family member away. Those moments when a government-delivered barrel bomb […]
By PATRICK SCOTT May 23, 2016 LUXOR, Egypt — After five and a half years of misery, the people in Egypt’s depressed tourism industry had reason for a bit of hope. The United Nations World Tourism Organization on May 11 chose Luxor to host two of its major gatherings later this year, potentially drawing 400 to 600 people and plenty of attention to this ancient city along the Nile […]
BEIRUT, Lebanon — Two teams of suicide attackers waged coordinated assaults on Monday deep inside Syrian government territory, killing scores of people and piercing a sanctuary for supporters of President Bashar al-Assad. Merely pulling off the bombings was a logistical feat that calls into question the effectiveness of Syria’s defenses. To reach the areas attacked, the jihadists would have had to move large quantities of explosives and […]
YISHUV HADAAT, West Bank — With shoulder-length hair tumbling from beneath his knit skullcap, Hanamel Dorfman, a radical young Israeli settler, explains matter-of-factly on camera how hilltop settlement outposts like his own will continue to proliferate across the West Bank. From there, he says bluntly, Israelis will cross the Jordan River and start building on the other side. Reminded that beyond the river there is another sovereign […]
UAE. According to EY’s latest Global Fraud Survey, Corporate misconduct – individual consequences, only 29% of executives in the Middle East recognize cybercrime risk, compared to 47% globally. T he survey found that many respondents maintain the view that fraudulent activity is not their problem, despite recognizing the prevalence of the issue in their own countries. Michael Adlem, EY’s MENA Fraud Investigation & Dispute Services (FIDS) Leader, […]
UAE. Cyber-crime is not a new phenomenon, but it’s hitting the headlines as never before. According to PwC Middle East’s latest report, there is a renewed willingness among organizations to invest in security, with many organizations incorporating strategic initiatives to improve security and reduce risks. PwC Middle East’s Global State of Information Security survey 2016 looks at how the survey results from over 300 Middle East companies […]
ABU DHABI // Car dealers are looking to the traditionally busy holy month to recoup on poor sales this year – so don’t be afraid to squeeze them, an industry insider advises. With low oil prices hitting the economy and job losses in major sectors, some dealers are reporting sales 25 per cent lower than normal for the first five months of the year. “Car sales across […]
From David Bowie’s We Are the Dead to Katy Perry’s Firework, art imitates art in this selection of literature-inspired songs Katy Perry performs at the Odyssey Arena, Belfast. Do you know which book inspired her song Firework? Wuthering Heights by Kate Bush is inspired by Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte Perhaps the most famous song with literary references, Kate Bush’s […]
|By Matein Khalid| If ever there was a year to win or lose money big time in emerging markets, 2016 was it. As an investor in the world’s dark alleys (the Third World rebranded as EM!), I am forced to dissect geopolitical, government/monetary policy, foreign exchange, flows, positioning and current account, volatility and credit cycle trends across emerging markets to develop money making strategies. It helps that I […]
|By Arabian Post Staff| Saudi Arabia ranks among the top dozen foreign holders of U.S. debt, the Treasury Department disclosed, breaking its silence on the issue for the past four decades. “The stockpile of the world’s biggest oil exporter stood at $116.8 billion as of March, down almost 6 percent from a record in January, according to data the Treasury disclosed Monday in response to a Freedom-of-Information […]
INTERNATIONAL. /PRNewswire/ — The CFO has never been held more accountable for the company’s success, and the ability of finance teams to extract value from company data is the key to delivering on the chief executive’s expectations. Oracle’s study, Modern Finance: Driving Transformation from Within, found that closer alignment between the CFO and CIO is crucial if finance leaders are to effectively help the business achieve its […]
UAE. According to a new survey released by PwC Middle East, capital projects and infrastructure has been greatly impacted by slowdowns and deferrals of government spending as a result of ‘lower for longer’ oil prices. PwC Middle East’s survey titled “Delivering during change” includes responses from over 130 owners and developers across the region from a range of sectors including transport, cities and urban development, social infrastructure, […]
UAE. The Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region witnessed only two IPOs raising US$615.0m in Q1 2016, representing another quarter with limited IPO activity, according to EY. Capital raised through MENA firms in Q1 2016 increased by 141%, while the number of IPOs were consistent (2 IPOs), compared with Q1 2015. Phil Gandier, MENA Transactions Leader, EY, says: “Q1 2016 witnessed limited IPO activity, in line […]
|Arabian Post Special|The leaked Panama Papers figure over 7700 offshore entities from the United Arab Emirates, which include more than 180 intermediaries, the latest release from the whistle blower reveals. Most of these are registered in British Virgin Islands and Panama. These entities belong to various nationalities, but a large number of them feature Indian names. Considering the large presence of Indian community in the UAE and […]
|By Arabian Post Staff| The UAE has earned the distinction of being the fastest growing market in the world for card transactions. The UAE is a clear front runner in a rapidly expanding regional payment environment as card transactions experienced an estimated 10 percent growth in 2015 compared to the previous year, amid a total 24 per cent growth in the MEA region, making it the fastest expansion rate in card transactions in […]
|By Matein Khalid| Habib Bank Ltd is one of the Pakistan’s oldest, biggest retail/corporate banks, privatized last year with a 51% controlling stake held by the Aga Khan Fund for Economic Development. Its recent price fall from 240 to 172 rupees (PKR, not INR!) is a compelling opportunity to own an undervalued, well managed proxy for consumption and credit offtake in a 190 million population country now […]
