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UAE. Standard & Poor’s Ratings Services said today that although it expects that some corporates and infrastructure issuers in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) will likely feel the weight of lower oil prices, most of its rated entities show resilient financials for now, in an industry report card published today titled, “Some Gulf Corporates Could Feel The Heat On Low Oil Prices.” Corporate and infrastructure companies in the […]

DUBAI // Sheikh Hamdan bin Mohammed, Crown Prince of Dubai, penned an emotional poem mourning the loss of his older brother, Sheikh Rashid bin Mohammed, who died on Saturday of a sudden heart attack at age 33. The poem was shared by thousands of people on social media, where it was first posted. Sheikh Hamdan, well-known for his lyrical art and oratorical skills, recorded the poem and […]

ABU DHABI // Khalifa cries every morning as he watches his eight siblings go to school. Khalifa, 6, gets up early and grabs his backpack, which contains pencils and a notepad, and runs to the door. Even his mother, who had no earlier education, leaves to go to school. “I want to go,” screams Khalifa as his father reluctantly pulls him back. “It breaks all our hearts […]

Kuwait’s government spending in August stood at KD4.2 billion ($13.91 billion) fiscal-year-to-date (fytd), marking 22 per cent of the FY15/16 budget, slightly above the historic average of 14 per cent, a report said. The figure, while being 6 per cent lower than during the same period last year, indicates that spending cuts have not yet been fully reflected in the interim figures, added the latest Economic Update […]

ADEN // With the help of the UAE, 33 schools in Aden were reopened on Sunday, after the Emirates Red Crescent rebuilt more than 154 schools in the Yemeni southern port that were damaged or destroyed in fighting with the Houthi rebels. Dr Mohammed Atiq Al Falahi, secretary general of the ERC, said that all of Aden’s students would be able to return to school after the […]

DUBAI // The late Sheikh Rashid bin Mohammed has been remembered as a “noble knight” who raised the flag of the UAE, as tributes continued to flow after his death on Saturday. Condolences were offered on Sunday at Zabeel Palace to Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid, Vice President and Ruler of Dubai, for the death of his eldest son after a heart attack at the age of 33. […]

The United Arab Emirates has no plans to abandon the currency’s peg to the dollar, central bank Governor Mubarak Rashed Al Mansoori said. “The dirham peg to the US dollar has served the UAE well over time,” Al Mansoori said in an e-mailed answer to Bloomberg News questions. The central bank “maintains a firm commitment to the peg.” Investors have increased bets that the six Gulf Cooperation […]

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SANA, Yemen — A Saudi-led military coalition bombarded government buildings and residential neighborhoods in Sana, the Yemeni capital, overnight on Saturday, killing more than two dozen people, officials and witnesses said, and destroying homes in Sana’s Old City, a Unesco World Heritage site. The Saudi coalition, which includes nine other Arab nations and is supported by the United States, began fighting Yemen’s Houthi rebels in March, two […]

UAE. Forbes Middle East has unveiled the names of its Most Powerful Arab Women for 2015 at a glittering awards ceremony that shone a light on some of the region’s most influential and accomplished leaders. The impressive event recognized the achievements of women in reaching the top of their fields in business and government and, in doing so, working towards a fairer and more equal working environment […]

Saudi Arabia’s Emaar The Economic City (EEC) said on Thursday the grace period before starting to repay a SR5-billion ($1.33 billion) loan it signed with the kingdom’s Ministry of Finance in 2011 has been extended by five years. The first payment will commence in 2020 and the rest of the payments will be due over the period until 2026, EEC said in a bourse statement. The company, […]

|By Matein Khalid| The world’s emerging markets have been savaged by multiple economic, banking, currency and political shocks since 2011. Global emerging markets are far too diverse and nuanced to be analyzed as a single asset class but now trade at a 24% valuation discount to developed markets. The financial markets now price draconian scenarios for earnings, exports, sovereign credit, industrial production and economic growth. The shortage […]

Two years on from its launch in the city, ride-hailing service Uber is using its Middle East & Africa headquarters in Dubai to lay the groundwork for expanding in the region–through more than just operating in new cities. Since August 2013, the US-based company, which connects drivers and passengers through smartphone apps, has commenced operations within the GCC in Doha, Abu Dhabi, Riyadh, Jeddah and Saudi Arabia’s […]

GENEVA — The United Nations human rights chief called on Monday for an independent inquiry into violations in Yemen by the Saudi-led coalition and by the Houthi rebels the coalition is fighting. More than 2,000 civilians have been killed and 4,000 wounded in the Yemen conflict, and the United Nations official, Zeid Ra’ad al-Hussein, told the Human Rights Council in Geneva that the fighting had left 21 […]

HAJJA, Yemen — The airstrike slammed into Al-Sham water-bottling plant at the end of the night shift, killing 13 workers who were minutes away from heading home. Standing among the strewn bottles, smoldering boxes and pulverized machines a few days after the airstrike here, the owner, Ibrahim al-Razoom, searched in vain for any possible reason that warplanes from a Saudi-led military coalition would have attacked the place. […]

ABU DHABI // The last of the Emirati soldiers who sacrificed their lives defending the people of Yemen arrived home on Saturday, bringing the total number killed to 52. The servicemen died alongside Saudi Arabian and Bahraini troops when a missile fired by Iran-backed Houthi rebels hit an arms depot in Marib province nine days ago. Their bodies were received in a ceremony at Al Bateen Airport, […]

Middle East News Analysis By PETER BAKER and JULIE HIRSCHFELD DAVIS September 11, 2015 WASHINGTON — Having beaten back a congressional campaign to derail his nuclear agreement with Iran, President Obama now faces a panoply of challenges that may be just as daunting: making the deal actually work while repairing relations with disaffected allies and constraining Tehran’s regional ambitions. He got started Friday even as the House was still voting by announcing […]

Middle East By BEN HUBBARD September 11, 2015 IZMIR, Turkey — A large construction crane toppled over and crashed into the Grand Mosque in the holy city of Mecca on Friday, killing at least 107 people and raising fears about the safety of the site before the yearly hajj pilgrimage that is expected to bring in millions of visitors to Saudi Arabia this month. Saudi Arabia’s civil defense authority […]

Huawei, a leading information and communications technology (ICT) solutions provider, has launched a new Joint Innovation Center (JIC) in Saudi Arabia together with Saudi Aramco and King Fahad University of Petroleum and Minerals (KFUPM). Located in Dhahran Techno Valley Innovation Center, the centre will be dedicated to the oil and gas industry, jointly working with the leading oil and gas company and the university, said a statement. […]

UAE.  Latest business survey data pointed to a robust and accelerated expansion in Dubai’s private sector output during August. Furthermore, the rate of business activity growth was the fastest seen since May, with all three monitored sub-sectors reporting stronger output growth in the latest survey period. The rebound in activity growth was underpinned by a stronger expansion in new business, which increased at the strongest rate in […]

UAE.  JLL, the world’s leading real estate investment and advisory firm, has today published a special report on the middle-income housing segment in the Middle East and North Africa region. The report highlights the social and economic impact of a marked shortfall in the required supply of middle-income housing, suggesting that significant efforts are needed to address the current imbalance. The report clearly outlines that this shortage […]

ABU DHABI // Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed, Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi and Deputy Supreme Commander of the Armed Forces, led condolences for 45 soldiers killed on Friday in Yemen, with a visit to some of the servicemen injured in the attack. Sheikh Mohammed visited the men at Zayed Military Hospital. He praised the soldiers’ steadfastness, heroism and dedication while defending their rights and supporting their brothers […]

Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid, Vice President and Ruler of Dubai, on Monday praised the loyalty and dignity shown by the families of the 45 Emirati heroes, who were killed in Yemen last Friday. Sheikh Mohammed’s comments came as the body of one of the 45 arrived at Al Bateen Airport in Abu Dhabi after identification in Saudi Arabia. The fallen soldier was given full ceremony and attended […]

HAIFA, Israel — THE day after six world powers reached a nuclear agreement with Iran in July, the Israeli Knesset’s foreign affairs and defense committee called on Israel’s government to “continue to closely follow the precise and strict implementation” of the agreement “to ensure that Iran is not continuing to fool the international community as it did in the past, while strengthening the historic alliance between the […]

WASHINGTON — Representative Debbie Wasserman Schultz, the chairwoman of the Democratic National Committee, announced on Sunday that she will support the nuclear agreement with Iran that has roiled many in her Florida district. “I’ll be casting my vote to support the deal and if necessary sustain the president’s veto,” she told Jake Tapper on “State of the Union” on CNN. While she called it a “gut wrenching” […]

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