An eerie calm in capital markets is fuelling fears on Wall Street that a first-quarter rebound in trading revenues could prove a one-off. Big investment banks reported generally solid profits over the first three months of the year, as investors reset their portfolios to take account of higher base interest rates, and as companies front-loaded efforts to raise money. For all bar four of the top 14 […]
Amid talks of more space travel, California has drafted a plan that would tax the state’s thriving rocket industry. The tax plan is still just a proposal, and the public can still have their say on the matter until June. Taxing By Mileage In an attempt to solidify California’s rocket industry, the state’s Franchise Tax Board has released a draft of their proposed tax plan for private […]
Social-media comedy star Lilly Singh is hoping that when she faces an audience in Dubai on Wednesday, there are plenty of grown-ups in the crowd alongside her younger fans. “I want parents to come,” says the 28-year-old Canadian. “I love when parents come to my show and go back to their kids with my stories of how this journey has taught me to always pick myself up, […]
SEOUL North Korea said on Sunday it has detained another American citizen for suspicion of acts against the state, which if confirmed would make him the fourth U.S. citizen to be held by the isolated country amid diplomatic tensions. Kim Hak Song, who was detained on May 6, worked for the Pyongyang University of Science and Technology, the North’s KCNA news agency said. “A relevant institution of […]
Monday UN focus on migrants The UN will meet in Geneva to address the “human rights of all migrants, social inclusion, cohesion and all forms of discrimination, including racism, xenophobia and intolerance”. Organisers say they are working towards an ambitious global policy on migration, an issue high on the political agenda after the Mediterranean migrants’ crisis and US President Donald Trump’s clampdown on migration into the US […]
By Ingrid Melander | PARIS PARIS After a tumultuous election campaign filled with scandal and surprises, the French public began to vote on Sunday on whether a pro-European Union centrist or an anti-EU, anti-immigration far-rightist will lead them for the next five years. Opinion polls indicate they will pick Emmanuel Macron, a 39-year-old ex-economy minister who wants to bridge the left-right divide, resisting an anti-establishment tide that […]
Good morning. Here’s our morning roundup of all the media news you need to know. Want to get this briefing in your inbox every morning? Subscribe here. The image of power was simple: Jared Kushner and Ivanka Trump walking off Marine One Thursday, hand-in-hand, and boarding Air Force One for a short trek to New York City with Kushner’s father-in-law. Yes, Jared Kushner, trusted power broker, to […]
Invesco’s move to snap up Source, the London-based exchange traded fund provider, has thrust the US asset manager into the centre of an increasingly ferocious battle across Europe’s passive investment industry. European fund managers now face another formidable US competitor in addition to the existing heavyweights BlackRock and Vanguard, which are pursuing a cut-throat ETF price war as they expand their presence in Europe. Atlanta-based Invesco already […]
By Jonathan Cable | LONDON LONDON The fate of the European Union and the euro could hang on the outcome of Sunday’s French presidential election. The expected victory of centrist, pro-EU candidate Emmanuel Macron would be taken by markets as a sign that political risk in Europe is receding; a surprise win for far-right candidate Marine Le Pen would raise the risk that the euro zone’s number […]
An Australian man is suing American airlines after spending 14 hours on a flight seated next to two obese passengers, which allegedly caused him permanent neck and back injuries. Michael Anthony Taylor, 67 years old, spent most of the 14-hour flight from Sydney to Los Angeles, “crouching, kneeling, bracing or standing” because he was seated next to large passengers and the airline didn’t allow him to move […]
By Andreina Aponte and Andrew Cawthorne | CARACAS CARACAS Dressed in white and chanting “Liberty!”, tens of thousands of women opposed to Venezuela’s socialist President Nicolas Maduro marched on Saturday, proffering roses to security forces who blocked their way. The women’s marches, which took place in most major cities around the South American oil producer, were the latest in five weeks of sustained protests against Maduro whom […]
ABU DHABI // Bangladeshis are calling for an end to the visa ban on their citizens, as it leaves them with few job opportunities and makes them vulnerable to abuse from employers. There has been a ban on any new visas being issued to Bangladeshis since 2012 because of the high crime rate among their compatriots. Professionals claim they are being forced to pay for visa renewals […]
It seems Justin Bieber has invested in a watch since his last visit to Dubai. Not long before his scheduled 8pm stage time a few fans were debating the two-hour delay to his 2013 emirate engagements. But at 8.06pm a tsunami of screams and hormones surged fourth from all corners of the Autism Rocks Arena. Before the metaphorical curtain up there was palpable expectation in the air, […]
By Joseph Sipalan and Praveen Menon | KUALA LUMPUR KUALA LUMPUR Malaysia’s 1.6 million public servants have long been one of the most reliable vote banks for Prime Minister Najib Razak’s ruling coalition, but as he prepares to seek re-election he faces warnings that soaring living costs risk eroding that support. Prices have risen sharply since Malaysia cut state subsidies and launched a national goods and services […]
Wall Street people underestimated how nasty and political the struggle over the post-Brexit fate of European clearing houses would become. This week the European Commission offered threats to London-based clearing houses and inducements for their customers to move their trade to the EU. €650bn Value of euro-denominated trades that clear through London each business day UK negotiators in turn demand that euro derivatives clearing should stay in […]
DUBAI // Social media has changed the face of diplomacy and governments must adapt to their loss of control over information, a US state department official says. Richard Buangan, managing director for international media engagement, said times had changed with the public’s growing access to information and news worldwide. “In diplomacy and media, a conversation can be the most powerful tool we have,” Mr Buangan said. “Conversations […]
Director Shubhashish Bhutiani’s critically-acclaimed film Hotel Salvation is a bittersweet comedy-drama about of a dying father’s cross-country trip with his son to a kind of sacred hospice in India where the elderly can have their sins absolved in their final days. It had its regional premiere at the Dubai International Film Festival in December, but if you missed it there is another chance to catch it, courtesy […]
Hamas announced on Saturday that it had chosen Ismail Haniyeh, a longtime leader of the militant Islamist group in Gaza, as its new political chief, after signalling a more pragmatic line in a new policy document. Mr Haniyeh served as a deputy to Khaled Mashal, the outgoing political leader of Hamas, and is expected to continue his policies. As head of the group’s political bureau, Mr Mashal […]
06 May 2017 Abu Dhabi, UAE – Emirates Metrology Institute (EMI), part of Abu Dhabi Quality and Conformity Council (QCC), participated in the half-yearly meeting of members of the Gulf Association for Metrology (GULFMET) hosted by Emirates Authority for Standardization & Metrology (ESMA) in Abu Dhabi. Held for the first time in Abu Dhabi since GULFMET’s establishment, the meeting drew the participation of representatives from leading National […]
Korea expert Robert Kelly says the ‘real concern’ for the Philippines is being on the flight path of North Korea’s missile tests MANILA, Philippines – Remember the dad whose children barged in during his live video interview with the BBC? The man now known as the “BBC dad” is Robert Kelly, a political science professor at Pusan National University in South Korea. Kelly, an expert on Korea, […]
When she joined The Outline from Gizmodo Media Group a few weeks ago, Executive Editor Katie Drummond expressed a desire to start breaking more news at the five-month old digital media startup. Today, she’s hiring a scoopy cybersecurity reporter from her former employer to make good on that pledge. William Turton, the 19-year-old who’s been covering tech and gaming since he was 14, is joining The Outline […]
The U.S. job market saw a strong rebound in April, driving the unemployment rate to the lowest level in a decade. The economy saw 211,000 jobs added in April, according to new government data released on Friday, May 5. The job market boost dropped the unemployment rate to 4.4 percent, the lowest level since May 2007. The latest stats should calm some fears about the state of the […]
Tens of thousands of Poles took part in an opposition protest in Warsaw on Saturday, accusing the ruling nationalist Law and Justice party of curtailing freedoms in the biggest show of popular discontent so far this year. As many as 90,000 marched chanting “We will defend democracy” and “Here is European Poland!” in the three-hour protest, organised by the opposition Civic Platform party, in conjunction with other […]
This post is a fictionalised thought experiment. YOU and YOU ALONE are in charge of what happens in this story. There are trade-offs, choices, and consequences. YOU must use all of your B.S.D. talents and much of your intelligence. Good luck. So… You’re the head of a trading desk, and you’ve felt a bit frustrated of late. Your desk trades government securities issued by the world’s largest […]
