An impending bond issue by Abu Dhabi-based telecommunications firm Etisalat may not only be the region’s largest deal so far this year, but also set a record for tight pricing as the Gulf becomes more of a mainstream investment destination. Etisalat’s debut bond will replace some of the debt used to fund its 4.2 billion euro ($5.7 billion) purchase of a majority stake in Morocco’s Maroc Telecom […]
The authorities in Saudi Arabia, alarmed over the rising human death toll from the Middle East Respiratory Syndrome coronavirus, said they would start testing the kingdom’s entire population of camels and other livestock next week, Saudi newspapers reported Thursday. The Arab News quoted Fahd Balghuneim, the agriculture minister, as saying the tests to determine the extent of infection would be conducted via blood or mucus samples. Saudi […]
WHO team makes five-day visit to UAE International experts and local authorities agree to continued exchange of information in attempt to reduce risk of further infections ABU DHABI // International infection experts yesterday praised the work of UAE health authorities in attempting to better understand the deadly Mers coronavirus after completing a mission to assess the risk the virus poses to the country. A team from the […]
An aerial view of Khalifa Port in Abu Dhabi Reuters Capacity at seaports and airports in the Middle East is growing faster than regional trade, potentially jeopardizing the viability of billions of dollars worth of new investment in transportation infrastructure. Government-led investment in regional logistics and transport has taken off in the past decade, driven by energy-rich Gulf Arab countries trying to carve out a niche as […]
Initial public offers of equity in Gulf Arab countries are set to boom, helped by lighter regulation and legal reforms as governments seek to diversify their oil-dependent economies, according to one of the region’s top IPO lawyers. An exemption from Dubai IPO rules granted by regulators to real estate giant Emaar Properties, which will permit an offer worth up to $2.45 billion, is a sign of the […]
Three Saudi lawyers were sentenced this week to fines of more than 1 million Saudi riyals ($266,666) in total and a complete media ban after they criticized the kingdom’s Ministry of Justice on Twitter. The lawyers were also ordered to issue a formal apology to Justice Minister Mohammed Al Isa. In complaints filed last November with a Ministry of Culture and Information’s legal committee responsible for looking […]
Saudi Arabia revised sharply upward the number of cases of the new MERS virus within its borders and said it had been fatal in more than 40 percent of the cases. After a review of medical records, the country’s total number of cases of Middle East Respiratory Syndrome since the virus was isolated in 2012 is now 688, up from 575; the death toll is 282, not […]
Abdel Fattah el-Sisi has won Egypt’s presidential elections by a huge majority, the country’s election commission has said. The former military chief, who last July overthrew Egypt’s first democratically elected president, Mohammed Morsi, won 96.91 of legal votes cast in last week’s election. SISI 23,780,104 (96.91%) SABAHI 757,511 (3.09%) Accepting the result, Sisi urged Egyptians to work to restore stability and achieve “freedom” and “social justice”. “I look forward to your […]
PineBridge Investments, a New York-based asset manager, said on Tuesday its Middle East unit had raised $140 million for a sharia-compliant fund that would invest in income-producing real estate assets in Gulf Cooperation Council countries. PineBridge Investments Middle East’s fund will acquire existing real estate assets that generate stable returns, with a focus on the logistics, social infrastructure and community retail sectors, chief executive Talal Al Zain […]
With the election in Egypt last week of former army chief Abdel Fattah Al Sisi as the new president, a nation and a region awaits a potential period of stability in the troubled Arab state. And one company that is desperate for calm is the flag carrier EgyptAir. EgyptAir website “We expect some indication of recovery, especially after the presidential election,” said Sameh El Hefny, the chairman […]
CAIRO — Mohamed Morsi did not enjoy being ridiculed on television as president. With the election of Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, the laughter has stopped. Bassem Youssef, a comedian whose satire of the politically powerful became emblematic of freedom in post-revolutionary Egypt, said Monday that he was ending his popular weekly television show, citing unspecified political pressure and threats. “We consider the shutting down of the show a […]
Bassem Youssef, a heart surgeon who became a wildly popular political satirist following the 2011 revolt that felled the durable autocratic regime of Hosni Mubarak, announced on Monday that his show would not be returning to the airwaves following months of uncertainty. While the announcement stunned his fans, it did not come as a surprise: the program, called El Bernameg (The Program in Arabic), had been the […]
DUBAI // The emirate’s oldest prehistoric resident finally has a name. The long necked, whip-tailed, 155 million-year-old dinosaur was called DubaiDino on Monday. The name was chosen by Johara Al Bayedh, a bank manager and Saudi national. The 24 metre long, 7.6 metre high Diplodocus longus dinosaur from the late Jurassic period has been on display at Dubai Mall for the past three months. Ms Al Bayedh […]
A substantial number of Middle East funds intend to cut their exposure to stocks in the United Arab Emirates and Qatar, shifting money to less richly valued markets such as Saudi Arabia, a monthly Reuters survey showed. Shares in Dubai, Abu Dhabi and Qatar have surged over the past 12 months in anticipation of those markets’ upgrade to MSCI’s emerging market index, which will take place at […]
A senior Saudi Arabian cleric has issued an edict against online chatting between the sexes, equating such activity to the prohibitions on the physical mingling of unrelated men and women, the news agency Al Arabiya reported Thursday. It said the cleric, Sheikh Abdullah al-Mutlaq, a member of the Saudi Committee of Senior Scholars, had warned that such conversations were religiously forbidden and might lead to sin. Al […]
DUBAI // Lebanese and Emiratis in the UAE said they would continue travelling to Lebanon, whether a travel ban was in place or not. Mohammed Al Awadhi, an Emirati from Dubai, said the recently lifted travel advisory put out by the Government was more of a warning for citizens to be careful. “We don’t really feel like it’s a ban,” he said. “My brother-in-law was there two […]
The firm aims to redefine the art of ‘Corporate Storytelling’ in the Middle East Dubai, May 28th, 2014: White Water PR, a Dubai based Public Relations agency, has launched its new website in the region to redefine the art of ‘corporate storytelling’. The website, ‘whitewaterpr.com’ is more pictorial in nature and the initial thoughts were inspired by the globally renowned ‘Snowfall’ format which was made popular by […]
A deadly respiratory virus that originated in Saudi Arabia two years ago has reached Iran, infecting two sisters in the southeast province of Kerman, the health ministry reported. In a statement posted on the ministry’s website, it said two other members of the same family had the symptoms of the disease, known as Middle East Respiratory Syndome or MERS, but their cases had not been confirmed. According […]
|Wael Mahdi| The official who designed Saudi Arabia’s strategy to lure $109 billion in investment for solar energy left his post, raising questions over how quickly the effort will progress. Khalid al-Sulaiman, a vice president of the King Abdullah City for Renewable and Atomic Energy, has departed because the government didn’t renew his contract, three people with knowledge of the decision said. Another person close to the […]
FlyNas route map from Jeddah. FlyNas website Saudi Arabia’s FlyNas ended the domestic monopoly of the kingdom’s flag carrier Saudia in 2007, and it’s now aiming to break the stranglehold of the long-haul Gulf airlines too. The low-cost operator intends to launch flights from Riyadh to London Gatwick, continuing its plans to build a long-haul operation from the kingdom. The Saudi-based carrier has this year launched flights […]
Saudi Arabian Mining Co, or Ma’aden, has appointed HSBC Saudi Arabia as financial advisor for its planned 5.6 billion riyals ($1.49 billion)rights issue, the company said in a statement on Monday. Ma’aden had earlier this month said it was seeking shareholder approval for a capital increase to fund the expansion of its phosphate and gold operations, as well as increase funding for its aluminium business. The company […]
DAMASCUS, Syria — For Younes al-Nasr, a lifelong train lover, the Hejaz railway station here in the heart of the Syrian capital is a repository of shelved ambitions. Every day, Mr. Nasr, 68, a Transportation Ministry employee, pads around his offices in the Ottoman-era building, where light filters through red, yellow and blue stained glass. He imagines the past — the few short years a century ago […]
The surge in oil prices driven by Chinese demand has added $1 trillion to output in the Gulf Cooperation Council countries over 10 years, according to HSBC Holdings Plc. The six-member bloc’s gross domestic product increased to $1.7 trillion between 2003 and 2013, bringing per capital GDP to an average of $35,000, HSBC said in a report on the effect of a “globalizing China” on the Middle […]
Qatar’s Ooredoo has signed a $1 billion five-year revolving credit facility, the telecommunications operator said in a statement on Thursday. Ooredoo will use the new facility to repay a $750 million loan due in May 2015, with the rest to be allocated for general business purposes, a filing to Qatar’s stock exchange said. Seventeen banks helped to fund the loan, including Barclays , HSBC and Qatar National […]
