By David Morgan | WASHINGTON WASHINGTON President Donald Trump on Friday promised a big announcement about tax reform next week and ordered an administration review of Obama-era tax rules written to discourage U.S. companies from relocating overseas to cut their tax bills. “We’ll be having a big announcement on Wednesday having to do with tax reform. The process has begun long ago, but it really formally begins […]
ABU DHABI // Etihad Airways will donate one dirham from every flight ticket sold in the UAE this year towards the UAE’s Year of Giving causes, the airline announced yesterday. The move is one of many initiatives by Etihad Aviation Group, including free cargo space for humanitarian causes. Each month, the airline will donate proceeds to Emirates Red Crescent’s local and international projects, including For Your Sake, […]
After a surly first conversation between the two leaders in January that rattled the United States and Australia’s long-standing alliance, Pence will take a more amiable approach and try to focus on cooperation on trade, defence and more. Trump reportedly exploded and cut short the call when he was told about a deal to move some refugees from Australia to America. That left some in Australia questioning […]
MOSCOW Russia has told the United States it regrets Washington’s opposition to letting its inspectors take part in an investigation into a chemical weapons attack in Syria earlier this month, the foreign ministry said on Friday. It said Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov spoke by phone to U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson and the two sides agreed to consider one more time an “objective investigation into the […]
TEL AVIV U.S. Defense Secretary Jim Mattis said on Friday that Syria had dispersed its warplanes in recent days and that it retained chemical weapons, an issue he said would have to be taken up diplomatically. The United States launched dozens of missiles earlier this month against a Syrian air base in response to a chemical attack that killed 90 people, including 30 children. It says the […]
Photo President Trump met with Aya Hijazi in the Oval Office on Friday. Credit Gabriella Demczuk for The New York Times WASHINGTON — President Trump welcomed Aya Hijazi, an American aid worker detained for three years in Egypt, to the Oval Office on Friday after quietly working to secure her release this week. “We are very happy to have Aya back home and it’s a great honor […]
Morgan, Lewis & Bockius LLP has a lost client because of its work for another client: President Donald Trump. Wallace Global Fund, a left-leaning private foundation, has terminated its relationship with Morgan Lewis as a protest against Mr. Trump and the firm’s handling of his business conflicts. The fund’s decision was “out of profound disagreement […] (via WSJ)
By Eyanir Chinea and Efrain Otero | CARACAS CARACAS Eight people were electrocuted to death during a looting incident in Caracas, a firefighter said on Friday, amid violent protests against Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro by opponents accusing him of seeking to create a dictatorship. The accident occurred when a group of looters broke into a bakery in the working class neighborhood of El Valle, according the firefighter, […]
Just when you thought it was over – after Trump ‘Tomahawks’ Putin’s pal Assad, and Tillerson trounces Lavrov – and the media had stopped the constant “Russia did it” narrative, the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence (which seems like as big an oxymoron as can occur) has called numerous current (and former) officials to testify once again on Russia’s “active measures during the 2016 election.” As […]
International law firm and lobbying shop Squire Patton Boggs is getting cozy with one of President ‘s most trusted advisers. The firm said this week that it’s formed an alliance with Michael D. Cohen, a personal lawyer to Mr. Trump who has served as his fixer for many years and credits himself as the originator of the […] (via WSJ)
WASHINGTON The U.S. House of Representatives Intelligence Committee, which is investigating Russia’s involvement in the 2016 U.S. election, said on Friday it had invited the directors of the Federal Bureau of Investigation and National Security Agency to appear at a closed hearing on May 2. Apparently ending a dispute between Democrats and Republicans over who would testify as it investigates possible links between President Donald Trump’s campaign […]
Investor sentiment is leaning towards a market-friendly outcome ahead of Sunday’s first round of voting in the French presidential election. The euro was on course for its best week in three months near $1.07, while a key proxy of election risk, the premium demanded by investors to own French government bonds over German Bunds, has narrowed sharply. “The most likely outcome is for a second round run-off […]
CARACAS A man was killed in a protest in the Venezuelan capital on Thursday night, an official said on Friday, marking the ninth death in a wave of sometimes violent demonstrations against President Nicolas Maduro’s government. Melvin Guaitan died of a bullet wound in the slum of Petare, municipal mayor Carlos Ocariz said via Twitter. Local media reported looting and street clashes with security forces in poor […]
ANKARA Turks approved by a narrow margin an April 16 referendum to change the constitution and hand President Tayyip Erdogan sweeping powers. The opposition and overseas observers say the vote was riddled with irregularities, including the electoral board’s decision to accept ballots that had not been officially stamped by authorities at polling stations. The following is a timeline of events on the day of the vote. 6:01 […]
ROME The number of migrants crossing Niger to reach Libya has declined, the International Organisation for Migration (IOM) said on Friday, after Europe pledged Niger money to help it fight people-smuggling. The IOM monitors trucks carrying migrants at a desert crossroads in eastern Niger commonly used to reach Libya, where more than half a million have set out on flimsy boats for Europe in the past three […]
The Federal Reserve appears to believe that the size of its balance sheet matters, but not that bigger is better. The question is, why not? As the Fed pushes ahead with plans to shrink its stock of about $2.5tn of Treasuries and $1.8tn of mortgage-backed securities to “normal”, it is puzzling that officials haven’t provided a compelling case for why the move is either necessary or desirable. […]
Good morning. Program changes are same old The swashbuckling Murdochs now look as milquetoast as old media rivals whom they upended and disdain. With the belated firing of Bill O’Reilly, the monarchical lords of 21st Century Fox turned 1990s with their initial programming decisions. Yes, you can easily make dumb decisions when you’re king of any media hill and a financial juggernaut. But the initial post-O’Reilly programming […]
PARIS French presidential frontrunner Emmanuel Macron on Friday said France should not yield to fear and candidates in the election should avoid one-upmanship after the killing of a police officer in an Islamic State-claimed attack claimed. “Don’t yield to fear, don’t yield to division and intimidation. Our generation must rise to this challenge,” he said in a statement broadcast from his campaign headquarters. Macron said he had […]
Although Google is processing more requests, it’s also producing data for a smaller share of them. Image: Google Government requests for Google user data in the second half of 2016 were the highest since the firm first reported the figures in 2009. As Google notes in its latest Transparency Report, it received 45,549 government requests for user data in the second half of 2016, of which about […]
By Mica Rosenberg and Yeganeh Torbati | NEW YORK/WASHINGTON NEW YORK/WASHINGTON When Raj, a Sri Lankan fisherman, sought refuge in the United States in 2005, he had precisely the kind of fear of returning home that U.S. asylum laws require. In 2004, he was kidnapped by the separatist rebel group the Tamil Tigers and had to pay $500 to secure his release, according to Raj, his lawyer […]
SYDNEY U.S. Vice President Mike Pence is expected to discuss trade and regional security when he meets Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull on Saturday, Australian officials said. Pence arrives in Australia late on Friday for the last stop on his 10-day tour of U.S. allies in the Asia-Pacific region that has included a series of roundtables with leading business executives in South Korea, Japan, and Indonesia. His […]
HMH – Hospitality Management Holding is all set for a strong presence at Arabian Travel Market 2017 (ATM). 21 April 2017HMH – Hospitality Management Holding is all set for a strong presence at Arabian Travel Market 2017 (ATM). Mr Ferghal Purcell, COO of HMH, said, “We have a number of strategic announcements lined up for ATM this year that is the MENA region’s largest B2B travel and […]
Friday 08:30 BST What you need to know ● European and Asian stock markets firm after Wall Street rally● Euro holds above $1.07 in cautious trading ahead of French election● Bund yields up 1bp to 0.25 per cent despite political tensions● Global steelmakers shrug off Trump tariff threat● Oil prices gain but gold pulls back——————- Hot topic Investor attention is turning to eurozone assets ahead of Sunday’s […]
PANAMA CITY — The co-founder of the law firm at the center of the Panama Papers scandal says the fallout has set off a “thriving” boom in the creation of tax shelters in the United States. Juergen Mossack, who partnered with Ramon Fonseca to create the Panamanian firm Mossack Fonseca, said in a document obtained Thursday by AFP that after the Panama Papers leak a year ago, […]
