A year ago the coffers at Argentina’s central bank were empty as the country teetered on the brink of a currency crisis. Now banks are scrambling to fly dollars back to the US as their vaults fill to bursting with piles of cash. That would sound like good news for Alfonso Prat-Gay, who as finance minister this week boasted that his tax amnesty had already repatriated $90bn hidden […]
Photo Ruined buildings in Douma, Syria, a rebel-held area near Damascus, on Friday. Credit Bassam Khabieh/Reuters BEIRUT, Lebanon — A cease-fire between the Syrian government and rebel groups tentatively took hold across the country on Friday, with only scattered reports of clashes, shelling and airstrikes. The truce, brokered primarily by Russia and Turkey, who pledged to guarantee the compliance of the government and the opposition, was announced […]
Dubai, UAE, 30 December 2016 Dubai Electricity and Water Authority (DEWA) won the Best Business Award 2016, which is one of the most prestigious business awards in the UK in the field of health and safety. This reflects DEWA’s international position in leadership and excellence, and its efforts, commitment and achievements in the field of health and safety over the last 15 years. HE Saeed Mohammed Al […]
By Jakub Iglewski | WARSAW WARSAW Polish President Andrzej Duda and hundreds of mourners on Friday attended the funeral of Lukasz Urban, the Polish truck driver who was killed and his vehicle used to crash into a Berlin Christmas market last week. The 37-year-old father of a teenaged boy was among 12 people killed in the attack claimed by Islamic State. Germany’s Federal Prosecutor’s Office said on […]
By Yashaswini Swamynathan Wall Street aimed to end 2016 on a positive note, setting up the Dow for its best annual performance since 2013 amid increasing optimism about the outlook for the economy. The markets have shown surprising resilience to major political events, such as Britain’s vote in June to leave the European Union and the election of Donald Trump as U.S. president in November. U.S. stocks, […]
By Polina Nikolskaya and Svetlana Reiter | MOSCOW MOSCOW President Vladimir Putin ruled out on Friday expelling anyone in retaliation for Washington’s decision to throw out 35 Russian diplomats and impose sanctions on two of the country’s intelligence agencies. RIA news agency quoted Putin as saying he would consider the actions of President-elect Donald Trump, who takes office next month, when deciding on further steps in Russia-U.S. […]
As we live through it, every year seems packed with significant events and key players who, for better or worse, seize our attention on the world stage. But as 2016 draws to a close and the white noise of 24-hour news cycles and transient Twitter storms fades into the background, it is already clear that history will remember only a handful of those people, each of whom […]
Vladimir Putin said Russia will not expel any US diplomats in response to sanctions imposed by Washington, in an extraordinary move aimed at limiting the fallout from the Kremlin’s clash with the Obama administration over the hacking of this year’s US presidential election. The Russian president made his announcement on Friday despite foreign ministry proposals for the expulsion of 35 US diplomats. Sergei Lavrov, foreign minister, said […]
This has already changed the course of the Syrian war. Turkey grudgingly accepted the fall of Aleppo in return for a de facto recognition of its zone of influence along the Syrian-Turkish border. Instead of supporting rebel groups fighting in Aleppo or pressuring the Assad forces besieging the city, Turkey raced to capture territory from the Islamic State before the Kurds did. The Kremlin is now not […]
Dubai, United Arab Emirates – December 30, 2016 Dubai Parks and Resorts, the region’s largest multi-themed leisure and entertainment destination, today announced that Lapita Hotel, Dubai’s first theme park hotel, will welcome its first guests on 2nd January 2017. Located in the heart of Dubai Parks and Resorts in close proximity to all three connected theme parks, the Polynesian themed clustered resort is the latest addition to […]
BERLIN Martin Schulz, the European Parliament president who is returning to German politics, does not expect to run as the Social Democrats’ (SPD) candidate for chancellor next year, Der Spiegel magazine reported on Friday. Schulz’s decision not to run, if confirmed, would likely clear the way for SPD chairman Sigmar Gabriel to be the party’s candidate to challenge conservative Chancellor Angela Merkel’s bid for a fourth term […]
The government of the United States has formally accused Russia of interfering with the 2016 presidential election through a series of hacking attacks. The outgoing Obama administration has issued sanctions for the alleged interference, moves that has prompted the Russian government to promise a retaliation. FBI, DHS Publish Joint Report On Russian Hacking The Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Department of Homeland Security published a joint […]
DUBAI// The deadline for applications for health insurance has been extended into the new year, Dubai Health Authority has announced. The authority said it had made the decision due to a flood of customers applying to insurance companies in the last few days, and in response to those who had not been able to get insured in time due to unforeseen circumstances. It was not clear how […]
TAIPEI Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen will transit through Houston and San Francisco during her January visit to allies in Latin American countries, her office said Friday, a move certain to anger China which a day earlier urged the U.S. to block a stopover. Tsai is transiting in the United States on her way to and from visiting Honduras, Nicaragua, Guatemala and El Salvador in that order. She […]
Photo John Kerry speaking at the State Department on Wednesday. Credit Zach Gibson/Getty Images In a speech this week laying out the Obama administration’s parameters for a final peace agreement between Israel and Palestine, Secretary of State John Kerry stated what has been obvious to most observers for many years: that Israel’s construction of Jewish settlements on occupied Palestinian land has all but destroyed the two-state solution. […]
Swimming upstream Even before Trump, reform advocates like the Chamber were up against a rising tide of skepticism regarding reform. Congress grew cold after the 9/11 terrorist attacks, and conservative talk radio and TV programs began a drumbeat of attacks against legalizing immigrants; TV personalities such as Lou Dobbs spread outlandish claims about Mexican plots to “take over” the American Southwest. Ironically, Mexican President Vicente Fox — […]
WASHINGTON: Almost six months since their summer meeting to achieve closer ties, Russian President Vladimir Putin and his Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan took another step toward that goal by brokering a new cease-fire deal in Syria, to be followed by political talks to try to resolve the six-year-long conflict.The deal — announced simultaneously by the governments of Turkey, Syria and Russia — is a seven-point package […]
Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates; December 30, 2017 As the 10th anniversary year of Masdar, Abu Dhabi’s renewable energy company, draws to a close, industry watchers can reflect on 12 months that have marked a historic milestone for the company and a pivotal moment for the renewable energy sector as a whole. During the decade since Masdar was established, the UAE has cemented a global reputation for […]
Chinese netizens are mourning the demise of a popular online talk show that dared to tackle social and political topics in a media landscape dominated by vapid soap operas, staid costume dramas and webcam girls. The final episode of “Xiaosong-pedia“, hosted by songwriter, music producer and film director Gao Xiaosong, was aired on Friday on iQiyi, the online video platform owned by internet search group Baidu. The show received […]
In August, US group ValueAct announced a $1.1bn stake in Morgan Stanley. Yet the notorious boardroom activist had no plans to shake up management, no beef with strategy at the investment bank. The stock, it said, was simply cheap. Mere months later an investment that had seemed brave at the time is worth $1.8bn. ValueAct’s gain is just one of the more striking examples of an extreme […]
BEIJING China will prosecute one its former spy chiefs for corruption after accusing him of bribery and abusing his power to interfere in law enforcement activities, the ruling Communist Party said on Friday. Ma Jian, once a vice minister at China’s Ministry of State Security, is the most senior security official to be investigated since former domestic security tsar Zhou Yongkang was ensnared in a graft scandal […]
Authored by Oliver Stone (via Facebook), THE RUSSIANS ARE COMING As 2016 draws to a close, we find ourselves a deeply unsettled nation. We’re unable to draw the lines of our national interest. Is it jobs and economy, is it national security, or is it now in our interest to ensure global security — in other words, act as the world’s policemen? As the “failing” (to quote […]
Jeddah, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, 29 December, 2016 The Islamic Development Bank (IsDB), based in Jeddah, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, is providing a US $5 million financing support for construction of a solar power plant which is expected to contribute to the sustainability and financial resource optimization of the “King Hussein Cancer Center (KHCC) Expansion Project” in Jordan. The approval came during the 316th meeting of […]
ABU DHABI // Camels owned by Sheikh Sultan bin Zayed, the President’s Representative, have won top prizes in the camel ‘mazayna’ beauty contest at this year’s Al Dhafra Festival. Sheikh Sultan’s camels won the Aayel category for the golden-red camel breed, originally from Oman. Camels belonging to Khamis Al Mazrouie scooped the Majahim category, the black camels of Saudi Arabia. Held in Madinat Zayed in Al Gharbia […]
