ME property market among world’s fastest growing NEW DELHI, 2 days ago Middle East real estate market revenues have augmented at a compounded annual growth rate (CAGR) of 4.7 per cent between 2009 and 2014, making it one of the fastest growing sectors across the world, a report said. Foreign real estate developers have infused billions of dollars into places such as Oman, Qatar, Dubai (UAE), Saudi […]
INTERNATIONAL. Greece’s seeming hour-by-hour descent into chaos at the end of the second quarter has fashioned an intensely uncertain framework casting markets at the mercy of headline risk. It is with that ever-changing caveat that Saxo Bank publishes its Q3 Outlook ahead of the Greek referendum on EU membership which, as things stand, will take place July 5. The outlook for Q3, therefore hangs in the balance, […]
DUBAI // Staff should not be forced into making up “lost hours” because of the reduced working day during Ramadan, recruitment experts and the Ministry of Labour have warned. The ministry has ordered that the working day be cut by two hours during the holy month, for Muslim and non-Muslim staff. Companies that do not comply face punishments including having employees’ visas cancelled, which would be a […]
Mohammad Javad Zarif, Iran’s foreign minister, during a meeting with Secretary of State John Kerry as part of nuclear negotiations in Vienna on Friday. By MICHAEL R. GORDON and DAVID E. SANGER July 4, 2015 VIENNA — The head of the International Atomic Energy Agency said on Saturday that, with Iranian cooperation, his agency could complete an assessment on Iran’s suspected past nuclear work by December, potentially removing a major obstacle to a […]
By RICK GLADSTONE and MAHER SAMAAN July 3, 2015 Islamic State militants indulged in new public displays of artifact destruction this week, sledgehammering a half-dozen statues said to have been stolen from the ancient Syrian city of Palmyra. The militants also broke up a hidden 2,000-year-old lion statue they discovered in a Palmyra museum garden and demolished a 13th-century tomb near the northern Iraqi city of Kirkuk. The destruction, publicized in […]
By ANNE BARNARD and MAHER SAMAAN July 3, 2015 BEIRUT, Lebanon — The fiercest fighting in months raged in the divided Syrian city of Aleppo on Friday, as newly reorganized insurgents carried out a new offensive on government-held areas. Two insurgent coalitions — a new one that includes the Nusra Front, Al Qaeda’s branch in Syria, and one formed in May by local factions long active in Aleppo — attacked simultaneously […]
Palestinians carrying the body of Muhammad Hani al-Kasba in the Qalandia refugee camp in the West Bank, on Friday. By ISABEL KERSHNER July 3, 2015 JERUSALEM — Israeli forces shot and killed a Palestinian teenager in the occupied West Bank on Friday as he and others hurled stones and rocks at their army vehicle, the Israeli military said, while Palestinian Authority security forces in the West Bank arrested more […]
Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed, Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi and Deputy Supreme Commander of the Armed Forces, paid his condolonces to the Prime Minister of Britain on the deaths of British citizens in last week’s attack in Tunisia. Sheikh Mohammed, during a meeting with David Cameron on Thursday, also wished those who were injured in the attack in Sousse a speedy recovery. The attack, he said, was […]
A funeral on Thursday in Ashmoun, in the Nile Delta, for First Lt. Mohamed Ashraf, one of the soldiers killed Wednesday in a militant attack in the Sinai Peninsula. By KAREEM FAHIM and MERNA THOMAS July 2, 2015 CAIRO — Egypt’s military killed 23 militants in the northern Sinai Peninsula early Thursday, a senior security official said, as the government sought to reassert control and eradicate what it called the area’s […]
UAE. John Mullins, Associate Professor of Management Practice in Marketing and Entrepreneurship, London Business School, comments: “As in most places, the best thing regional governments can do to help entrepreneurs grow their businesses in the Middle East is to not over-engineer their efforts to assist. A key strategy to adopt is to focus on nurturing local talent by encouraging professional development through education and apprenticeships, rather than […]
UAE. 85 percent of financial institutions from around the world reported that their boards of directors currently devote more time to oversight of risk than they did two years ago, while 79 percent felt that increasing regulatory requirements and expectations were their greatest challenge, according to the ninth edition of Deloitte’s Global risk management survey. In addition, the most common board responsibilities are approving the enterprise-level statement […]
Open Source By ROBERT MACKEY Apparently undeterred by the backlash over its last venture into cartoon diplomacy, Israel’s government released an animated video on Tuesday that equates the threat from Islamic State militants to that of a nuclear-armed Iran. The 28-second animation, uploaded to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s official accounts on social networks, attempts to erase the distinction between the Sunni Muslim extremists of the Islamic State […]
The United Church of Christ, one of the largest Protestant denominations in the United States, overwhelmingly approved a resolution Tuesday calling for divestment from companies that profit from Israel’s occupation or control of Palestinian territories and to boycott products from Israeli settlements. Approval came at the church’s general synod in Cleveland, where delegates voted 508 to 124 in favor, with 38 abstentions. It was one of two […]
|TAP Special|Emirates has released a point-by-point rebuttal of subsidy allegations, asserting that the US legacy carriers got the facts wrong, got the law wrong, and set their sights on an outcome that will be wrong for American consumers, communities and the national economy. This is the airline’s response to allegations of subsidy and unfair competition leveled by the “big three” US legacy carriers – Delta, United and […]
ABU DHABI // Dr Anwar Gargash has responded to the spate of terrorist attacks across the Arab World in the past week. The Minister of State for Foreign Affairs tweeted about the threat of extremism and its effect on the region. He said the Arab Spring “revolution has failed” and called for a clear vision to fight extremism. His tweet read: “Many Arab states scarred by Spring’s […]
UAE. A new report by The Boston Consulting Group (BCG), a global management consulting firm and the world’s leading advisor on business strategy, delves into the challenges faced by Exploration & Production (E&P) companies here in the GCC region. The fact is, these are trying times for E&P companies globally. Following more than a decade of strong financial returns, the industry has experienced several difficult years caused […]
BEIRUT, Lebanon — Kuwait has identified the bomber who carried out a deadly suicide attack in a Shiite mosque as a citizen of Saudi Arabia who arrived in the small Persian Gulf nation just hours before blowing himself up, the Kuwaiti Interior Ministry said on Sunday. Kuwaiti authorities also arrested a local man who had driven the car that dropped the bomber off and the Kuwaiti owner […]
VIENNA — Iran’s top nuclear negotiator was heading back to Tehran on Sunday to consult with his nation’s top leadership, as negotiators remained divided over how to limit and monitor Tehran’s nuclear program and even on how to interpret the preliminary agreement they reached two months ago. With all sides now acknowledging the talks would need to continue beyond what was once considered the absolute deadline for […]
VIENNA — Secretary of State John Kerry began on Saturday what the Obama administration hopes will be the final push for a nuclear accord with Iran, just three days before a deadline for concluding an agreement. However, American officials have almost discounted the notion that a deal will be made by Tuesday’s deadline. Their goal is to bridge a number of technical and political divides over the […]
UAE. MENA’s digital market value is expected to reach US$35 billion in 2015, and overall digitization initiatives could add $820 billion to regional GDP, creating 4.4 million jobs by 2020. However, this rapid digitization and the resources of the region make MENA an attractive target for a wide array of cyber-threats, according to a study by Strategy&. The Strategy& study looks into national cyber-security efforts by the […]
BEIRUT, Lebanon — Terrorists attacked sites in France, Tunisia and Kuwait on Friday, leaving a bloody toll on three continents and prompting new concerns about the spreading influence of jihadists. In France, attackers stormed an American-owned industrial chemical plant near Lyon, tried unsuccessfully to blow up the factory, and left behind a decapitated corpse. In Tunisia, at least one gunman disguised as a vacationer opened fire at […]
VATICAN CITY — The Vatican on Friday signed a treaty with the “state of Palestine,” a development that the church hopes will lead to improved relations between Israel and the Palestinians. The accord, the result of 15 years of negotiations, covers “essential aspects of the life and activity of the Catholic Church in the State of Palestine,” the Vatican said in a statement. The Vatican’s foreign minister, […]
RAMALLAH, West Bank — A Palestinian man was shot after he opened fire on Israeli forces in the occupied West Bank early Friday, the Israeli Army said. Lt. Col. Peter Lerner, a spokesman for the Israeli military, said the attack had occurred at a checkpoint in the Jordan Valley, a fertile basin that extends across much of the east West Bank along the border with Jordan. No […]
GCC construction … buoyant. GCC construction sector in major growth phase DUBAI, 1 days ago The GCC construction industry foresees growth for the next three years, encouraged by factors such as favourable macroeconomics, positive demographics, and rising tourism activities, said an industry expert. “Higher budget allocation towards construction sector, as part of the strategic vision of the member nations, lends an added push to the industry,” added […]
