News related to
Your

Islamic State militants are using mines and IEDs to thwart Kurdish Peshmerga forces trying to dislodge them from positions in northern Iraq. The Wall Street Journal’s Tamer El-Ghobashy reports from the scene. This article first appeared on wsj.com. This entry passed through the Full-Text RSS service — if this is your content and you’re reading it on someone else’s site, please read the FAQ at fivefilters.org/content-only/faq.php#publishers. (via […]

UAE. With its oil wealth, population growth and strong demand for all manner of industrial and consumer goods, the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region is an attractive market for many manufacturers. There are, however, potential pitfalls in doing business in the region, particularly when it comes to appointing local agents to distribute products in the region. Many states in the MENA region have enacted commercial […]

The Floating Cinema drops anchor on the Grand Union Canal at King’s Cross, London Photo: HYDAR DEWACHI ‘It’s really captured people’s imagination,” enthuse producer Anna Ramsay and curator Laura Harford as they sit on the deck of the Floating Cinema, their 60ft wide-beam canal boat fitted out as a mini-Odeon. “I think it’s because it’s something so unusual, not at all what they expect to see on a […]

Iraq’s prime minister for the past eight years, Nouri al-Maliki. Associated Press Iraq’s departing prime minister, Nouri al-Maliki, appears to have dropped his quixotic struggle to remain in power and is resigned instead to remaining a member of parliament insulated from prosecution. Fears that Mr. Maliki might play the spoiler in the new government have largely receded since his initial reaction to the appointment of Haider al-Abadi […]

Small- and medium-sized enterprises, in particular in a growth market like the United Arab Emirates, have traditionally had a tougher time securing loans from banks who perceive them as less transparent and therefore as more risky and costly to do business with. Nevertheless, as this category of companies constitutes a large chunk of the U.A.E. economy, interest from both local and international lenders has been on the […]

A man walks on Jumeirah beach as the Burj Al Arab hotel is seen during sunset in Dubai. Reuters Dubai’s hotels experienced a bumper first half even as refurbishment at the emirate’s main airport grounded Emirates Airline jets and limited the number of passengers flying. Hotels in the desert-city, which has become known for its extravagant infrastructure, architecture and opulent places to stay, catered to 5.8 million […]

It’s slim, sleek, black and silver, and comes with Bluetooth. But unlike the latest mobile phone, you won’t be showing off the Black Pro 6500 to anyone outside your bathroom. This hi-tech gizmo from Oral-B – which has its own app – is the latest in toothbrush technology, and has a £250 price tag to match. It claims to be able to strip 100 per cent more […]

Advertisements

QATAR. International food prices have been declining in recent months, reflecting record harvests and weak global demand. Declining food prices have in turn contributed to lower inflation in the Eurozone, the United Kingdom (UK) and the United States (US). This trend, coupled with a weak Eurozone recovery and mixed economic data in the US, suggests that the risk of global deflation remains high. As such, we expect […]

SAUDI ARABIA. Saudi Arabia set out draft proposals on foreign-shareholder limits as one of the world’s most restricted stock markets prepares to open its doors for the first time to investors outside the region. The Capital Market Authority may cap foreign ownership of a single stock to 49 percent, it said in plans posted on the Riyadh-based regulator’s website today. It may also set a 5 percent […]

INTERNATIONAL. U.S. special operations forces made a failed attempt to rescue journalist James Foley and other Americans held hostage by Islamic extremists in Syria earlier this summer, the White House said in a statement. The secret mission was authorized by President Barack Obama after the administration’s national security team concluded that the hostages “were in danger with each passing day,” said Lisa Monaco, Obama’s assistant for homeland […]

A broker monitors stock prices on a screen at the Saudi Investment Bank in Riyadh. Saudi Arabia plans to open its stock market, the Arab world’s biggest, to direct investment by foreign financial institutions in the first half of next year. Reuters The Wall Street Journal lists the top 10 companies by market value that might interest foreign investors once the market is opened up for direct […]

DUBAI—Saudi Arabia’s regulator on Thursday issued a set of draft rules for foreigners ahead of the long-awaited opening of its $580 billion stock market to international investors next year. The Capital Markets Authority said a qualified foreign investor must be a bank, brokerage, fund manager or insurance company with at least $5 billion in assets under management, a requirement aimed at attracting more stable and experienced institutional […]

Tim Vine: king of the one-liners Photo: Geoof Pugh/The Telegraph ‘What makes a one-liner work?” Tim Vine was asked on BBC News last week. “Er .  . .” blinked the 47-year-old comedian. “It can only be one line and it has to be funny.” Thus are trade secrets preserved, and we are left to figure out for ourselves why Mr Vine’s latest effort won the prize for the funniest joke […]

Most of the rest of the world is horrified that so much British ice cream is made up of vegetable fat and air Photo: REX FEATURES The Ice Cream War was one of Scotland’s most notorious criminal cases. It involved two rival Glasgow families using ice cream vans to sell drugs and stolen goods in the Eighties. The vicious turf war culminated in arson and murder. Now, a […]

Letter From Europe Britons, including Anglican clergy members worried about the plight of beleaguered Iraqi Christians, accuse Prime Minister David Cameron of incoherence. By ALAN COWELL August 21, 2014 LONDON — For a century and more, Iraq has been the graveyard of Western dreams, often literally, from the defeat of British colonial forces in the First Battle of Kut in 1916 to the bloodshed that flowed from the American-led […]

Here’s one of the usual everyday life frustrations if you live in Saudi Arabia: You want to eat cereal. You open the fridge and realize you’re out of milk. You get dressed, get in your car and drive to the supermarket. Then the moment your reach the supermarket, they close for prayer. The kingdom is the only Muslim country in the world where all businesses must be […]

People watched as rescue workers searched for victims under the rubble of a house in Rafah that witnesses said was destroyed on Thursday in an Israeli airstrike that killed three senior Hamas military commanders. By JODI RUDOREN and FARES AKRAM August 21, 2014 JERUSALEM — Israeli airstrikes killed three senior commanders of the armed wing of Hamas early Thursday in the southern Gaza Strip city of Rafah, Israeli and Palestinian officials […]

By RAVI SOMAIYA and CHRISTINE HAUGHNEY August 20, 2014 Islamic extremist fighters forced a freelance reporter, James Foley, to read propaganda celebrating their cause, and then beheaded him in a Middle Eastern desert. Another American journalist is next, they warned. In Iran, Jason Rezaian, a reporter for The Washington Post, was snatched by men waving an arrest warrant in late July. He has not been heard from since. In Afghanistan, Matthew […]

James Foley described himself as ‘a war protester’ who retrained as a journalist (EPA)  • Latest developments following beheading of James Foley ‘I had made the gruelling journey by car, but Jim Foley, ever resourceful, arrived by Chinook helicopter. The destination was Sirte, the Libyan city where, in October 2011, Colonel Muammar Gaddafi and his troops were making a last stand. Foley had caught a lift with […]

People walk near The Gate building at the financial and business district Dubai International Financial Center (DIFC) in Dubai. Reuters Dubai’s financial hub is growing up. Since it was established a decade ago, the Dubai International Financial Centre has become the number one choice in the Middle East for many of the world’s leading banks, law firms, asset managers and insurers from where to conduct their regional […]

Topaz website For proof that a rising tide doesn’t lift all boats look no further than Dubai’s Topaz Energy and Marine. In the dark days following the global recession it scrapped a planned $500 million London IPO in 2011 that valued the company between $1.6 billion and $1.9 billion. Since then regional economies and capital markets have recovered strongly. Fast forward to Wednesday and Standard Chartered Private […]

DUBAI // A woman who threatened to blow up the Public Prosecution building with a bomb belt will hear if the appeal against her sentence is successful next month. In March, Zulfiya Hamraeva, 33, from Uzbekistan, was sentenced to seven years in jail by Dubai Criminal Court. The Court of Appeal will deliver its final verdict on this sentence on September 3. The woman’s accomplice, Emirati M […]

DUBAI// A Polish manager was arrested in possession of heroin after an acquaintance informed police she was a drug user, a court has heard. M A, 28, was arrested on May 13 this year as she left the Dubai Mall. She was charged with possessing 0.2 grams of heroin and also with consuming cocaine. The Dubai Criminal Court heard police had been tipped off about her activities by […]

Op-Ed Contributor By MICHAEL SINGH August 19, 2014 WASHINGTON — President Obama surprised many recently when he diagnosed the crisis gripping Iraq as partly an economic one, noting that Iraqi Sunnis were “detached from the global economy” and thus frustrated in achieving their aspirations. While Iraq’s chaos has many sources, the president is nevertheless on to something; and it’s not just Iraqi Sunnis, but the entire Middle East that […]

VISHNU RAJA
RYO YAMADA
HITORI GOTOH
IKUYO KITA