LONDON/BRUSSELS Prime Minister Theresa May will trigger Britain’s divorce proceedings with the European Union on March 29, launching two years of negotiations that will reshape the future of the country and Europe. May’s government said her permanent envoy to the EU had informed European Council President Donald Tusk of the date when Britain intends to invoke Article 50 of its Lisbon Treaty – the mechanism for starting […]
IBM IBM and Wanda Internet Technology Group have agreed to form a new joint venture to bring IBM Cloud services to China. On Sunday, the two companies announced the plans in Beijing, which includes the formation of Wanda Cloud Company, a JV which will push Wanda into the public cloud business. Based on IBM’s cloud platform, Wanda’s new offerings will focus on Chinese enterprise customers seeking to […]
20 March 2017 Doha, Qatar – Al Meera Consumer Goods Company (Q.S.C) held its Annual Ordinary General Assembly on Sunday, 19 March 2017 at the La Cigale Hotel Doha, in the presence of Sheikh Thani Bin Thamer Bin Mohamed Al Thani, Chairman of the Board of Directors, as well as members of the Board of Directors, shareholders and investors. All items on the agenda were discussed, such […]
Authored by ‘Vaniam’ via The Burning Platform blog, This is an Arizona patriot’s unique view on John Sydney McCain As of late, we the people of Arizona are very shocked to see what he has become. He is a caricature of a man who, around here, is about as popular as the ping-pong president. How could the people of Arizona, the state that brought you the O.K. […]
Tim Byrnes is an unlikely symbol of China’s bid to become the world’s high-tech superpower. For a start he is Australian. Yet the 39-year-old quantum physicist’s decision to swap a research post in New York for Shanghai goes some way to explaining the lengths to which Beijing is going in its efforts to upend the world order. “Quantum physics is very strong in China,” says Mr Byrnes. […]
It has been almost five years to the day since Mahmood Hashim Al Kooheji took over as head of Bahrain’s sovereign wealth fund, Mumtalakat, restructuring several investment interests and making other changes to whip the fund into shape after years of losses. It followed a term at Gulf Air in which he managed the national carrier’s controversial restructure that saw 15 percent of its staff, around 600 […]
Scientists have developed a method to protect DNA origami structures from decomposition in biological media. This protection enables future applications in nanomedicine or cell biology. (via WSJ)
Getty Images/iStockphoto More companies are moving applications into the cloud, but the pain of the migration is holding them back from doing more. Nearly nine out of ten companies are now using cloud-hosted applications or services, a number that has been steadily rising in recent years: in 2010 less than half said they were using such services. But further examination of the data from tech industry group […]
18 March 2017 Dubai, UAE – The UAE’s wise leadership has worked tirelessly to anticipate the future, as a fundamental element of its strategies and plans. The vision of the UAE’s leadership, led by HH Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan, President of the UAE; HH Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai; and HH Sheikh […]
VATICAN CITY — Pope Francis will travel to Egypt next month, the Vatican said Saturday, giving him another opportunity to promote better relations between Catholics and Muslims. Francis has accepted an invitation to visit Cairo on April 28 and 29 from President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, Roman Catholic bishops, the leader of the Coptic Orthodox church of Alexandria and the grand imam of Al Azhar mosque, the Vatican […]
Via Stratfor, In his joint address to Congress, U.S. President Donald Trump touted a $1 trillion infrastructure investment plan as a means to stimulate the economy while constructing, if not rebuilding outright, crucial projects around the country. Trump later met with U.S. business leaders on March 8 seeking support from the private sector for the plan. It is key to implementing the administration’s infrastructure goals, primarily as a way […]
Finance ministers from the world’s biggest economies have dropped pledges to renounce protectionism in a meeting marked by tension over trade between the US and China. G20 finance ministers meeting in the German resort town of Baden-Baden noted the importance of trade to the global economy, but dropped tougher language from last year that vowed to “resist all forms of protectionism”. We have reached an impasse The […]
Prices for bonds sold by the Netherlands and France fell on Thursday, reversing early gains as Dutch voters rejected rightwing populism and opted for the status quo in an election regarded as a litmus test for Europe’s political future. Dutch and French sovereign debt initially outperformed German Bunds as investors reacted to news that the anti-EU populist Geert Wilders’ PVV party had fallen short of expectations. However, […]
But even though some of what the government did to Mr. Nashiri has become public, including through the partial declassification of a 2004 C.I.A. inspector general report and the release in 2014 of the executive summary of a Senate Intelligence Committee report about the interrogation program, many details have remained classified. Photo Abd al-Rahim al-Nashiri is accused of involvement in Al Qaeda’s bombing of the American destroyer […]
18 March 2017 Manama, Bahrain – GFH Financial Group (“GFH” or “the Group”) announced today that it has convened its first meeting in Abu Dhabi last Thursday for its new Board of Directors, whose appointment was recently confirmed for the 2017-2019. Upon its first meeting the 10 member Board have indorsed the appointment of his Excellency Shaikh Ahmed Bin Khalifa Al-Khalifa as GFH’s new Chairman and Dr. […]
Despite another turbulent few days in British politics, the pound is ending the week on a firmer footing. Sterling brushed off the latest bout of Brexit nerves and further worries about a break-up of the UK, closing near $1.24 on Friday. Its revival was aided by a dovish Federal Reserve and a hawkish Bank of England. However, there are still plenty of currency-watchers who see further trouble […]
By Lisa Baertlein | LOS ANGELES LOS ANGELES McDonald’s Corp (MCD.N) investors will vote soon on whether to give the franchisees who operate most of the fast-food chain’s restaurants the opportunity to elect a board member, the proponent of a shareholder proposal said on Friday. The proposal, which faces long odds of success, is believed to be the first of its kind and has attracted great interest […]
16 March 2017 The Arab Strategy Forum (ASF) has predicted six political and economic ‘Grey Swan’ events that have a high likelihood of occurring in 2017, said Director of the Forum, Suha Al Aleeli. The forum’s latest report, Al Aleeli added, establishes a scientific account of six unexpected events that could take place this year. The author outlines consequences of these events and their potential regional and […]
For Diana Sugg, writing a big story is a little bit like eating a slice of pizza. Don’t try to bite off more than you can chew at the beginning, said Sugg, a Pulitzer Prize-winning editor at The Baltimore Sun. Start with the small end. The slice — and the story — gets wider the farther in you go. At the beginning, find something appetizing and easy to “swallow” […]
STUTTGART, Germany Porsche (VOWG_p.DE) will invest hundreds of millions of euros in digital services to generate the revenue needed to offset an expected decline in car sales in the coming years, its finance chief said on Friday. Growing demand for ride-hailing and car-sharing will make the part-time use of vehicles, including Porsches, as convenient as ownership in seven to 10 years and that could dent new car […]
Dubai, UAE, 17 March 2017 For over five decades, Dubai Electricity and Water Authority (DEWA) has played a significant role in supporting the social, economic, and environmental development of Dubai, using a set of pioneering programmes and initiatives. This has contributed to the leading position DEWA enjoys today, and has reinforced the concept of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) to be more inclusive and effective. DEWA has launched […]
ING Direct in Australia has released its financial results for 2016, reporting AU$295 million in statutory after-tax profit off the back of attracting 163,000 new customers during the 12-month period. According to ING CEO Uday Sareen, the bank’s customer growth came as a result of ING further developing its digital offerings and launching a new online banking platform in 2016. “Bank customer inertia is declining as people […]
William “Billy” Walters’ stomach for taking risky bets and reading “tells” of opponents made him one of the most successful sports gamblers of all time. It is the same strategy he used to invest in the stock market, his lawyer told a jury as opening statements began in his $40m insider trading trial. Prosecutors have accused Mr Walters of making over $30m in profits and avoiding $10m […]
It is fitting that just a few hours until the Fed’s second rate hike in two quarters, and one day after Goldman downgraded global stocks to Neutral for the next 3 months, not to mention with the results of the anticipated Dutch election due shortly, that global stocks as well as S&P futures are higher, while crude oil has finally managed to stage a rebound as the […]
