Islamic finance has been one of the fastest-growing sectors in global finance but the industry has yet to shake off perceptions about high costs and complexity that are holding back some issuers. Sukuk, or Islamic bonds that follow religious principles such as a ban on interest and speculation, are now a major funding tool for companies in the Middle East and southeast Asia, and are becoming increasingly […]
The MIT Enterprise Forum Arab Startup Competition, one of the biggest startup events in the Middle East, will announce its winner on Thursday evening at an event in Cairo. Here’s the five startups that caught the Wall Street Journal’s eye from the shortlisted semi-finalists. Elwafeyat.com: The concept of Cairo-based Elwafeyat.com is dead easy to understand. The website is an online platform to honor deceased family members and […]
Uber San Francisco-based Uber — a smartphone app that connects passengers with cars for hire — officially launches in the Saudi capital Riyadh today after three months of beta testing, entering a new market with some unique opportunities. Saudi Arabia is a country with virtually no public transport and where half of the population — women — is not allowed to drive. Many of the regular cabs available […]
|By TAP Staff| Dubai outscores all US cities in terms of its healthcare system, the latest Cities of Opportunities report has revealed. Dubai is the only Middle Eastern city that features in the Price Waterhouse Cooper study takes the pulse of 30 cities at the heart of the world’s economy and culture. Dubai ranked 5th in global affordability, that measures cost of living, purchasing power and corporate […]
Tehran police have released most of the Iranians who had been arrested on Tuesday for posting a video in which they danced to the song “Happy” by Pharrell Williams, but kept the director in detention, according to the Facebook page created in support of the group. Reihane Taravati, who appears in the video, posted a photo and an expression of gratitude to her Instagram account: The arrest sparked global […]
What do you do if you are a cheerful 25-year-old college student in Iran tired of your country and its people being portrayed in the world as angry, provocative and depressed? Answer: You make a video of your friends being happy, singing and dancing in the streets of Tehran to Pharrell Williams’ smash hit song “Happy.” “People of Tehran are happy! Watch and share our happiness! … […]
FIFA, the governing body of world soccer, is no stranger to controversy. Allegations of bribery, corruption and vote-rigging have swirled around the organization for years, many of them recently centered on Qatar and its winning bid for the 2022 World Cup. Jerome Champagne, a French former diplomat and FIFA executive, wants the chance to right the ship. Jerome Champagne is running for FIFA president next year. Reuters […]
Some 10 days before the overthrow of Hosni Mubarak in Egypt in 2011, a small startup accelerator was born with grand ambitions to serve the region’s entrepreneurs. Those ambitions had to be put on hold for six months with the ensuing political turmoil in the country. But now, in less than three years, Cairo’s Flat6Labs has established a platform, and most notably a brand, across the Middle […]
Coca-Cola’s Facebook page is supposed to have the biggest fan base for any brand. As per the latest tally, the page has over 82 million ‘likes’. A large part of this is obviously built up through paid promotion, but given that this is the highest number any single brand has managed to pull together on any social media platform, it is an achievement that the soft drink […]
|TAP Special| Sharjah might soon have its own Metro, which could be linked to Etihad Rai, as part of a massive plan to develop the emirate’s transport infrastructure, according to sources familiar with the plan. The newly-created Sharjah Roads and Transport Authority has been tasked with the responsibility of undertaking the feasibility studies in this regard. The plan also includes the development of new road networks and […]
|By TAP Staff| Ooredoo has announced a new collaboration with the world-renowned MIT Media Lab, in order to drive cutting-edge ICT innovation and research. Since 1985, the MIT Media Lab has pioneered unconventional research in the ICT sector to radically improve people’s daily lives. Ooredoo joins the MIT Media Lab as a Consortium Lab Member. Dr. Nasser Marafih, Group CEO, Ooredoo, said: “ICT is rapidly converging, and […]
GAZA — For 14-year-old Aseel Radi, the promised reconciliation between warring Palestinian political factions is viewed through a forlorn fountain in a crowded market on the eastern side of Gaza City. Aseel used to visit the fountain in what is known as Palestine Square with her father, Maher, a member of the Fatah faction’s armed wing who was killed by militants from its rival, Hamas, during the […]
HERMEL, Lebanon — For many months, Shiite communities across Lebanon lived in fear as car bombs tore through their neighborhoods, punishing Hezbollah and its supporters for sending fighters to aid President Bashar al-Assad in the civil war in neighboring Syria. But Hezbollah succeeded on the Syrian battlefield in chasing rebels from the border towns where many of the attacks originated. The bombings have since stopped, leaving Lebanon’s […]
BP’s chief economist is jumping ship to the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority to establish and run a global research team for the sovereign wealth fund. Christof Ruhl is joining the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority to establish and run a global research team. Bloomberg News Christof Ruhl, a German academic who specializes in energy economics and has been with BP since 2005, will start at ADIA in July, […]
Sheikh Hamad bin Jassim bin Jabr Al Thani, who played a key role in Glencore International Plc’s takeover of Xstrata Plc, is returning to dealmaking a year after his ouster as prime minister and head of Qatar’s sovereign wealth fund. Sheikh Hamad is injecting 1.75 billion euros ($2.4 billion) into Deutsche Bank AG through his Paramount Holdings Services Ltd. investment vehicle, the Frankfurt-based bank said May 18. […]
King Abdullah has approved a five-year plan worth more than 80 billion riyals ($21.33 billion) to develop Saudi Arabia’s education sector, state news agency SPA reported on Monday. The plan includes building 1,500 nurseries, providing training for about 25,000 teachers and establishing educational centers and other related projects, Education Minister Prince Khaled al-Faisal was cited by SPA as saying. The 80 billion riyals are in addition to […]
Bahrain-based Al Baraka Banking Group said it is considering issuing subordinated Islamic bonds through its South African and Pakistani units to boost their regulatory capital. The Islamic bank’s plans come at a time when sovereign sukuk are expected from both countries later this year. The lender has operations in 15 countries across the Middle East, Asia and Africa. Al Baraka is working with the authorities in South […]
Dubai’s index makes its one-day decline in eight months on Monday and technical indicators suggest it will fall further, while most other Middle East markets also retreated. Dubai fell 5.5 percent to 4,856 points, its lowest close in a month and biggest one-day loss since Aug. 27. “I think we’ll see more selling – the key is that Dubai broke and then closed below 5,000 points,” said […]
An overwhelming majority of young Arabs believe Expo 2020 will improve the international image of the Arab world, with 89 per cent agreeing that it will have a positive effect, according to the findings of the 6th Annual ASDA’A Burson-Marsteller Arab Youth Survey. When asked if they thought the UAE’s successful bid to host the Expo 2020 would positively impact the way the international community views the […]
Chief executives in the Middle East are the world’s most upbeat about economic growth next year on hopes that the region will see a period of increased stability following the geo-political turmoil of recent years, says consultancy firm PwC. Of those regional CEOs who say their companies will grow revenues in the next 12 months, 66% are “very confident” compared to the global average of 39%. The […]
Middle Eastern pay-television operator OSN has “no current plans” for a stock market flotation, its chief executive said on Sunday, following comments from its parent company that an initial share sale was expected to happen this year. OSN has operations across the Middle East and North Africa and annual revenue currently around $700 million. Last year, brokerage Arqaam Capital valued the company at $4.3 billion. Kuwait Projects […]
BEIRUT, Lebanon — The general in charge of Syria’s air defense has been killed in fighting near Damascus, an opposition monitoring group and Syrian security officials said Sunday. The officer, Lt. Gen. Hussein Ayoub Ishaq, one of the highest-ranking officers to die during the country’s three-year conflict, commanded 60,000 troops in Syria’s air defense forces, said Hisham Jabber, a retired Lebanese Army brigadier general who closely follows […]
WASHINGTON — To those who lost loved ones in the suicide bombing of the American Embassy in Beirut, Lebanon, in April 1983, it is often called “the forgotten bombing” — overshadowed by an even deadlier attack on a Marine barracks at the Beirut airport six months later. Now, a new book shines a spotlight on the embassy bombing, which killed 63 people, 17 of them American, including […]
ABU DHABI, United Arab Emirates — The strike had entered its second day when construction workers at Labor Camp 42 got word that their bosses from the BK Gulf corporation had come to negotiate. Mohammed Amir Waheed Sirkar, an electrician from Bangladesh, scrambled down the stairs to meet them. But when he got to the courtyard, he saw the truth: It wasn’t the bosses who had come. […]
