logo

News related to
Middle East

October 10, 2014 Open Source By ROBERT MACKEY The American-led coalition’s bombing campaign against Islamist militants in Syria has focused new attention on the Westerners among their ranks. In television interviews broadcast this week, American, Australian and Dutch citizens who traveled to Syria to take part in the jihad against President Bashar al-Assad’s government expressed bitterness at the airstrikes their nations have carried out against Islamist rebels. […]

An employee counts money at an exchange office in downtown Cairo. Reuters First the good news: Egypt’s foreign reserves ticked up to $16.87 billion at the end of September – enough to comfortably cover imports for more than three months as the country’s economy strengthens and foreign investors continue to buy Cairo-listed stocks. But the Arab country–slowly recovering from a tumultuous past few years that left its […]

JPMorgan Chase & Co. (JPM) hired senior bankers from Rothschild and Standard Chartered Plc (STAN) for its investment banking business in the Middle East. The New York-based bank named Majed Al Mesmari, previously at Rothschild, as head of investment banking coverage in the United Arab Emirates, it said in a statement today. Fahad Al-Deweesh has joined from British lender Standard Chartered to lead investment banking coverage in […]

Emerging market-focused private equity firm Abraaj Group has bought a majority stake in Liberty Star Consumer Holdings (Libstar), a South African food and personal care product manufacturer, it said on Wednesday. Dubai-headquartered Abraaj bought shares in unlisted Libstar from its existing shareholders including Metier, Old Mutual Private Equity, Development Partners International and Lereko, it said in a statement. Abraaj said it would continue to support Libstar’s pan-African […]

|By TAP Staff| The herd mentality on the UAE stock market is once again visible, with a flurry of new stock listings that could scupper the market’s nascent revival. Prospective companies do not seem to be in a mood to wait and want to go to the market ahead of others. The first IPO in five years came when Emaar Malls Group floated an issue and attracted […]

Video | Fighting Rages in Syrian Border Town President Recep Tayyip Erdogan of Turkey warned that the Syrian border town of Kobani might fall to Islamist militants as fighting intensified between Kurdish rebels and Islamic State fighters. By KARAM SHOUMALI and ANNE BARNARD October 7, 2014 MURSITPINAR, Turkey — President Recep Tayyip Erdogan of Turkey said Tuesday that the Syrian border town of Kobani, under siege from Islamic State fighters, was […]

IMF FORECAST: SELECTED MENA ECONOMIES Note: Data for some countries are based on fiscal years. 1Movements in consumer prices are shown as annual averages. 2Percent of GDP. 3Percent. 4Includes Bahrain, Libya, Oman, and Yemen. 5Includes Djibouti and Mauritania. Excludes Syria because of the uncertain political situation. IMF The International Monetary Fund has revised its 2015 economic growth projection downward for the Middle East and North Africa by […]

Advertisements

Israeli Finance Minister Yair Lapid last year referred to Israeli expats in Berlin as willing to throw Israel “in the garbage” for a cheaper cost of living. Bloomberg News Back in 2011, rising dairy prices sparked a cottage cheese protest in Israel. Now there’s a pudding protest. The first campaign, which called for a consumer boycott of dairy goods, eventually helped bring hundreds of thousands of middle […]

|By TAP Staff| Mobogenie , the fastest growing developer of applications for android and mobile devices, announced the launch of a new app development platform named CYMaker at the Global App Summit in Dubai. Mobogenie claims it will open up the world of app development through a simplified, free of cost solution with no limitations, no hidden fees, and no credit card requirement. Visitors to the Global […]

By S. Sethuraman   The world economy is yet to make a full exit of the 2008 financial crisis and its recessionary aftermath, so that growth prospects for 2014, the sixth year, have had to be revised down, with the disappointing and uneven recovery, mainly among advanced nations. And geopolitical tensions in Eastern Europe and the Middle East, with limited impact so far, may hold greater risks […]

|By TAP Staff| RAK Petroleum said it would offer shares worth $25 million to institutional and retail investors in Norway and a private placement to certain international institutions.  The IPO would be listed on the Oslo exchange. Current shareholders will be able to place their shares in the offer as well, the company said in a statement. RAK Petroleum said its assets included a 42.8 percent stake in DNO ASA, an […]

Big On Telecom signs distribution deal with Blackphone DUBAI, 3 days ago Blackphone has signed a master distributor partnership with Big On Telecom, a Big on Group company headquartered in Dubai, to expand the brand’s presence in the Middle East and Africa (MEA) regions. The agreement marks a significant step in Blackphone’s growth, with Big On Telecom having started testing and launch discussions with telecom operators in […]

Officials at the announcing of the Gitex Technology Week 2014 Mideast ICT market to hit $20bn, outpacing global average DUBAI, 3 days ago The Middle East region’s information and communication technology (ICT) market is set to jump from a projected $15 billion this year to $20 billion in 2020, outpacing the global average, according to market intelligence firm IDC. The growth is being buoyed by region-wide investment […]

Slide Show | Preparing for New Risks in Golan Heights The fighting in Syria has prompted residents of the Golan Heights, Israel’s quietest frontier, to reassess the potential danger. By JODI RUDOREN October 4, 2014 EIN ZIVAN, Golan Heights — The updates poured in by two-way radio and cellphone as Tomer Lahav’s pickup sped around this kibbutz near Israel’s cease-fire line with Syria one recent evening. Mortars were falling […]

By ANNE BARNARD October 4, 2014 BEIRUT, Lebanon — Fighting continued Saturday across Syria, with the militant group Islamic State assaulting a Kurdish enclave on the Turkish border, American-led airstrikes hitting Islamic State positions in northeastern Syria and Syrian government airstrikes pounding other insurgents near Damascus, Syria’s capital. Video surfaced of Peter Kassig, an American medical worker held by the Islamic State, in which the militants threatened that he […]

By JEFFREY MARCUS October 3, 2014 After fighters from the Islamic State militant group attacked her village in northern Iraq in August, an adolescent Yazidi girl was abducted, raped several times by different men and then sold in a public market as a sex slave. The episode is one chilling example from a United Nations report released Thursday that details a litany of atrocities committed by Islamic State militants […]

By JEFFREY MARCUS October 3, 2014 After fighters from the Islamic State militant group attacked her village in northern Iraq in August, an adolescent Yazidi girl was abducted, raped several times by different men and then sold in a public market as a sex slave. The episode is one chilling example from a United Nations report released Thursday that details a litany of atrocities committed by Islamic State militants […]

DUBAI // The fifth Big Boys Toys arrived in Dubai yesterday, featuring 80 of the fastest and most luxurious products from makers across the globe. From one of the smallest drones to the world’s most expensive bicycle, and with extreme buggies and electronic motorcycles thrown in, there was plenty to keep petrolheads and gadget geeks happy. Hundreds arrived to see what the 65 exhibitors at the three-day […]

Nasser Al Sayer, chairman of NBK NBK to sell IBQ stake to Qatari investors for $538m KUWAIT, 1 days ago National Bank of Kuwait (NBK) has agreed to sell its 30 per cent stake in its Qatari associate, International Bank of Qatar (IBQ), to Qatari investors in a transaction worth $538 million (KD155 million), at a $87 million profit. Nasser Al Sayer, chairman, highlighted that this transaction […]

A trading screen on the floor of Dubai Financial Market shows the bid and offer levels for Emaar Malls Group shares. Asa Fitch for The Wall Street Journal Shares of Emaar Malls Group started trading on the Dubai Financial Market on Thursday, marking the first significant new share sale in Dubai since the global financial crisis. Emaar Malls isn’t a big deal globally. But traders here say […]

By Subrata Majumder At the time when India unveiled its much hyped “Make in India” dream of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, China silently unleashed its “Made in China” programme to re-build its manufacturing hub. “Make in India” and “Made in China” sound similar in their perspectives. But, conceptually they are different. While “Make in India” was a call to establish world’s biggest manufacturing hub and increase share […]

Gulf banks are feeling the pinch of rapidly shrinking corporate loan margins, with some predicting a bounce in lending rates as soon as the first half of 2015 as the escalating price war bites into profitability. Lenders are being forced to cut rates and loosen lending terms to secure business as local banks, flush with cash as their balance sheets recover from the global financial crisis, seek […]

|By TAP Staff| Following the huge success of Emaar’s malls IPO, Chairman Mohammed Alabbar indicated the possibility of floating the group’s hotel business, which includes the signature Armani Hotel. Meraas Holding, a Dubai government-controlled developer, has picked banks to manage the IPO of its theme park unit, three people with knowledge of the matter said earlier this month. The company’s IPO is planned for the fourth quarter, […]

Participants at a microfinance conference in Dubai this week. Sanabel Microfinance has blossomed in recent years, helping fill a funding need for businesses too tiny and risky for traditional banks. Curiously perhaps, while microfinance has been a big hit across parts of Asia and South America, its start in the Middle East and North Africa hasn’t been as auspicious. Microfinance institutions have existed in the Middle East […]

VISHNU RAJA
RYO YAMADA
HITORI GOTOH
IKUYO KITA
Just in:
Meraas showcases five residential zones at Dubai Design Week // Emaar approves Development buyout ahead of planned delisting // Dubai boat show confirms international shipyard line-up for November // Hong Kong mandates crypto transaction disclosures to tax authorities // Middle East governments assess Iran war after US vote // Ta’ziz finalises $1.39bn funding for Ruwais industrial facilities // Cloudflare unveils Zero Wire vulnerability intelligence service // e-Crime Bureau Signs Cybersecurity Partnership With Smart Africa, Reinforcing Its Global Expansion // After Reaching 7 Million Users in the Philippines, Skyro Launches Transparent Cash Loans in Malaysia // Asia Left Behind: Ten international companies have yet to report delivering on their cage-free egg pledges across the region // CR Longdation Aethereal Cybersecurity × Global Cybersecurity Alliance (GCSA) Join Hands to Establish the “AI and Cybersecurity Research Centre” // UK air traffic outage inflicted £33m financial losses // Kochi police detain two actors over bid to honey trap doctor // Geely’s i-HEV Intelligent Hybrid Technology Offers a New Direction for Gasoline-Powered Vehicles // Oil advances towards $100 as tanker attacks persist // OpenAI identifies 948 Linux privilege escalation flaws using AI // Millions Of Indians May Soon Be Deprived Of Government Assistance // Ousted top Kochi cop gets IG post // Fast Just Got Fastest: STING Energy Boost™ Celebrates Kimi Antonelli’s Formula 1® World Championship and the Fan Energy Behind It // Private varsities bill all set to face the axe //