INTERNATIONAL. In the last quarter of 2014, in the face of possible oversupply, Saudi Arabia abandoned its traditional role as the global oil market’s swing producer and therefore it role as unofficial guarantor of existing ($100+ per barrel) prices. In October, Saudi sources first prepared the market with statements that the country would be comfortable with oil prices as low as $80 per barrel for “a year […]
BENGHAZI, Libya — Libya’s internationally recognized government has asked fellow Arab states to conduct airstrikes against the Libyan branch of the Islamic State in the coastal city of Surt, a cabinet statement said on Saturday. In the past few days, the Islamic State has crushed a revolt by a rival Salafist group and armed residents who tried to break its grip on the city. Dozens of people […]
Saudi Arabia has long enjoyed the status of being the top crude oil exporter in the world. With record production of 10.564 million barrels per day in June 2015, Saudi Arabia has been one of the major driving forces behind the current oil price slump. The Saudis have kept their production levels high since last year in order to drive other players (especially U.S. shale drillers) out […]
INTERNATIONAL. The word tragic has often been used to describe the civil war in Syria, but it is a pale description of the raging madness on the ground. The bloodletting and massive destruction that has swept the nation is not a mere tragic event; the magnitude of the destruction and loss of lives is catastrophic by any measure unseen since the horror of World War II. The […]
SANA, Yemen — After five months of war in which more than 4,000 people have been killed, Yemen’s government, exiled in Saudi Arabia, faces a fateful decision: leverage recent battlefield gains to negotiate a cease-fire with a weakened Houthi rebel movement, or try to rout the rebels once and for all. Backed by air support and ground troops from Persian Gulf nations, fighters allied with the government […]
Despite what pretty much every brand spouts, very, very few products are truly “classic’ or “iconic.” But the suede Desert Boot from Clark’s is on the list. Unchanged since its introduction in 1950, Clark’s is making 1,950 handmade & numbered pairs to celebrate the 65th Anniversary of this enduring design. This entry passed through the Full-Text RSS service – if this is your content and you’re reading […]
ABU DHABI // Residents of Khalifa City are eagerly awaiting the opening of a 250-bed hospital that will create 800 jobs by the end of the year. The US$200 million (Dh734.6m) NMC Royal Hospital will specialise in 25 fields and will be a first for the area, on the outskirts of the capital. “According to the Abu Dhabi Vision 2030, the city is planning to grow outwards […]
ABU DHABI // For Ahlam Al Qasim and Fatema Al Khouri the sky isn’t the limit – they have big plans to go farther. The Emiratis have returned from a two-week internship with the Italian Space Agency (ISA) and now hope to forge a career in the industry and play a part in the UAE’s Mars mission. “I’ve been interested in space science ever since I was […]
A Middle Eastern bank has reached a settlement with hundreds of American plaintiffs, including victims of terrorist attacks in Israel, who had filed a lawsuit against the bank accusing it of supporting terrorism. A spokesman for the bank, Arab Bank, and a spokeswoman for one of the plaintiffs’ law firms confirmed Friday that an agreement had been reached, but declined to offer additional details, including the amount […]
QADIYA, Iraq — In the moments before he raped the 12-year-old girl, the Islamic State fighter took the time to explain that what he was about to do was not a sin. Because the preteen girl practiced a religion other than Islam, the Quran not only gave him the right to rape her — it condoned and encouraged it, he insisted. He bound her hands and gagged […]
A neon Google logo is seen as employees work at the new Google office in Toronto, November 13, 2012. Reuters/Mark Blinch/Files Ben Crawford was asleep 12,000 km (7,500 miles) from Google Inc’s (GOOGL.O) Mountain View, California headquarters this week when the Internet giant unveiled its new face. Crawford, chief executive of London-based CentralNIC Group Plc (CNIC.L), woke up in Sydney to learn that the domain powered by […]
UAE. After delivering strong results in 2014, Islamic banks in the Gulf region face a gradually weakening operating outlook in 2015-2016, largely due to declining oil revenues, says a report published today by Standard & Poor’s Ratings Services. But as the report, titled “Gulf-Based Islamic Banks Grapple With Weakening Regional Economies,” also points out, we believe investor demand for Sharia-compliant products and supportive government actions will enable […]
INTERNATIONAL. Lifting sanctions related to Iran’s nuclear program will have a significant impact on the world oil market, the Iranian economy and Iran’s trading partners. Iran’s full return to the global market will eventually add about a million barrels of oil a day, lowering oil prices by US$10 per barrel next year, according to the World Bank, which also expects economic growth in the country to surge […]
UAE. H1 2015 saw 11 IPOs in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region, raising capital of over US$2.4b, according to EY’s MENA IPO Eye – H1 2015. Deal volume decreased by 31% and proceeds raised decreased by 1% in H1 2015, compared with H1 2014. Egypt and Saudi Arabia witnessed the highest number of IPOs with five and three IPOs respectively. Q2 2015 saw a significant […]
CAIRO — The Egyptian affiliate of the Islamic State said on Wednesday that it had beheaded Tomislav Salopek, a 30-year-old Croatian expatriate worker who was taken from his car on the outskirts of Cairo last month. The claim, if confirmed, would represent the first time that the militant group, Sinai Province, had abducted and killed a foreigner during two years of attacks against the government. A photograph […]
The lowest crude prices since 2009 might still not be enough to end the U.S. energy renaissance. Some parts of North Dakota’s Bakken shale play are profitable at less than $30 a barrel as companies tap bigger wells and benefit from lower drilling costs, according to a Bloomberg Intelligence analysis. That’s less than half the level of some estimates when the oil rout began last year. The […]
The first journalist from an American Jewish pro-Israel publication to be given an Iranian visa since 1979 reported Wednesday that he had found little evidence to suggest that Iran wanted to destroy Israel, as widely asserted by critics of the Iranian nuclear agreement. The journalist, Larry Cohler-Esses, assistant managing editor for news at The Forward, an influential New York-based newspaper catering to American Jews, also wrote that […]
Chinese airlines and European luxury car makers are emerging as the early losers after the People’s Bank of China let the yuan fall the most in two decades. China’s surprising move to cut its daily reference rate by 1.9 percent Tuesday rippled through global markets. Policy makers called the change a one-time adjustment and said its fixing will become more aligned with supply and demand. While it […]
A logo is pictured at Google’s European Engineering Center in Zurich April16, 2015. Reuters/Arnd Wiegmann/Files Google Inc’s overhaul of its operating structure is an acknowledgement of the lack of transparency surrounding its disparate businesses and projects, analysts said, but it remains to be seen how much more the company will actually disclose. Analysts and investors have long sought more granular detail on Google’s capital spending and cash […]
Sundar Pichai, Senior Vice President for Products, delivers his keynote address during the Google I/O developers conference in San Francisco, California May 28, 2015. Reuters/Robert Galbraith/Files SAN FRANCISCO A low-key style and an unusually firm handle on diplomacy propelled new Google chief executive Sundar Pichai to the top of the search engine giant, former colleagues said, cementing his successes such as creating the Chrome browser. As part […]
UAE. July’s survey data signalled another increase in overall business activity across Dubai’s private sector economy, which marked five-and-a-half years of continuous expansion. However, growth momentum moderated to its weakest recorded since March 2012 amid softer contributions from all three key sub-sectors monitored by the survey. Private sector companies operating in Dubai are nonetheless still highly upbeat about their business activity prospects for the year ahead, according […]
TEHRAN — An Iranian court could hand down a verdict in the trial of Jason Rezaian, the Washington Post correspondent charged with espionage, within a week, his lawyer told reporters on Monday, as a fourth and possibly final hearing in the case was held in Tehran. The lawyer, Leila Ahsan, told reporters that “this was the final hearing” and said that Iranian law called for a verdict […]
A demonstration on Sunday in Baghdad to show support for Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi after he proposed government reforms. By OMAR AL-JAWOSHY and TIM ARANGO August 9, 2015 BAGHDAD — Facing widespread protests against government corruption and poor services as well as a crucial call for change from the country’s top Shiite cleric, Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi on Sunday proposed to radically reshape the dysfunctional political system of Iraq that has […]
ABU DHABI // The annual inflation rate for the emirate increased during the first quarter of the year by 1.4 percentage points. According to the economic performance report of the Emirate of Abu Dhabi, issued by the Division of Studies in the Department of Economic Development in Abu Dhabi, the annual inflation rates reached 5.0 percentage points in January and 4.6 percentage points in February compared with […]
