UAE. The Middle East & North Africa ranks well above North America, Europe and Latin America in terms of market growth opportunities according to the Grant Thornton Global Dynamism Index (GDI) 2015. However, the region is lagging behind on a number of other indicators including labour market and financing environment. The GDI – which combines 22 indicators across five growth areas to identify the best business growth […]
QATAR. On Sept. 18, 2015, Standard & Poor’s Ratings Services affirmed its ‘AA’ long-term and ‘A-1+’ short-term foreign and local currency sovereign credit ratings on the State of Qatar. The outlook is stable. We also affirmed the ‘AA’ long-term issue ratings on the bonds issued by Qatari Diar Finance Q.S.C. and SoQ Sukuk A Q.S.C. RATIONALE Qatar is a wealthy economy; we estimate its GDP per capita […]
Middle East World Briefing By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS September 16, 2015 Lebanese police officers beat back protesters with clubs and sticks and arrested dozens on Wednesday in Beirut in the latest confrontations over the country’s summer trash crisis. A small group of activists had gathered near the Parliament building, some carrying eggs to pelt politicians’ convoys while others tried to block the street. Riot officers beat two demonstrators, and the […]
ABU DHABI // Government organisations have continued their fightback against claims that the UAE has the most polluted air in the world. Earlier this year, the World Bank released The Little Green Data Book, which said the country had particle pollution levels (PPM) much higher than the World Health Organisation’s recommended guidelines. It said the UAE was the “country with the most polluted air”, which was immediately […]
UAE. JLL, the world’s leading real estate investment and advisory firm, has today published a special report on the middle-income housing segment in the Middle East and North Africa region. The report highlights the social and economic impact of a marked shortfall in the required supply of middle-income housing, suggesting that significant efforts are needed to address the current imbalance. The report clearly outlines that this shortage […]
DUBAI // It’s hot and sticky outside, and it’s going to stay that way for the rest of the weekend. The weather bureau forecast 90 per cent humidity at night, expected to soar to 100 per cent in the event of fog, and the temperature reached 50.2°C in Sweihan in Abu Dhabi yesterday. The spike in humidity was by a change in the wind direction, with the […]
News Analysis By DAVID E. SANGER August 21, 2015 To the most strident opponents of President Obama’s nuclear deal with Iran, the suspicious behavior at a military base about 12 miles southeast of Tehran has become a rallying call to defeat the accord, especially as it now appears that Iranian officials may be allowed to take their own environmental samples at the site and turn them over to inspectors. It […]
People gathered near the site of a bomb blast on the outskirts of Cairo on Friday. A study found that public turmoil, war and other crises can be associated with declining air pollution in the Middle East. By JOHN SCHWARTZ August 21, 2015 Civil unrest and humanitarian crises can now be detected from space — because of, somewhat surprisingly, cleaner air. A paper published on Friday in the journal […]
TORONTO Emails sent by the founder of infidelity website AshleyMadison.com appear to have been exposed in a second, larger release of data stolen from its parent company, cyber security experts confirmed on Thursday. The data dump by hackers who have attacked the site appears to include email messages linked to Noel Biderman, founder and chief executive officer of its Toronto-based parent company Avid Life Media. In a […]
Record trading of Dubai crude by two Chinese state companies this month on a decades-old oil pricing system has pushed the benchmark higher, even as other grades are being pressed lower by a global glut. The strong Dubai trade has forced Middle East producers to raise official selling prices (OSPs), driving Asian buyers to seek cheaper oil elsewhere or cut refinery runs due to low margins. Chinaoil […]
RIYADH // President Abdrabu Mansur Hadi has commended the UAE’s contributions in Yemen and praised the level of relations between the countries. The Yemeni leader said his meeting with Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed, Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi and Deputy Supreme Commander of the Armed Forces, during his recent visit to the UAE had “widened the horizons of the distinguished relations between the two countries”. Mr Hadi […]
ABU DHABI // Parents need to know more about childhood development to determine the difference between normal behaviour and problems such as attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, say medical experts. ADHD is believed to affect about 9 per cent of children around the world. In 60 per cent of the cases, the disorder continues into adulthood, affecting people’s personal and professional lives. The problem is often characterised by […]
UAE. The upcoming 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar and Expo 2020 in Dubai, UAE, will see an unparalleled number of visitors to the GCC region. A number of sizeable infrastructure projects and associated developments have been earmarked to showcase the region and provide for this influx. Large-scale projects, coupled with short timeframes for completion, understandably carry with them the risk of construction disputes. Against this backdrop, […]
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 […]
BAGHDAD — A devastating truck bomb struck a food market early Thursday morning in the teeming Shiite neighborhood of Sadr City, killing about 60 people and wounding more than 100 others, according to security officials. The blast, which was almost immediately claimed by the Islamic State, came just after dawn, when the market was already crowded with shoppers stocking up on fruit and vegetables for the weekend. […]
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 […]
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 […]
UAE. July data suggested that the UAE’s non-oil private sector regained some of the growth momentum that was lost at the end of the second quarter. Output and new orders both rose at sharper rates, contributing to a robust overall improvement in business conditions. Job creation was also sustained at a solid pace. On the price front, data highlighted divergent trends in July. The rate of cost […]
CAIRO — Egyptian militants affiliated with the Islamic State extremist group have threatened to kill a Croatian hostage within 48 hours unless the Egyptian government releases female prisoners, according to a video released Wednesday. It was the first time in a two-year-old campaign of violence against the government that the militants had kidnapped or threatened to execute a foreigner, raising new fears of more attacks. Many analysts […]
INTERNATIONAL. New research from PwC projects that traditional assets under management (AuM) in 12 markets across Africa will rise to around $1,098 billion by 2020, from a 2008 total of $293 billion. This represents a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of nearly 9.6%. Traditional asset management, in particular the mutual fund industry, is expanding aggressively across Africa. This will largely be driven by a number of factors: […]
JERUSALEM — An ultra-Orthodox Jewish man who had recently been released from prison after serving 10 years for stabbing participants in the annual Gay Pride Parade here in 2005 struck again on Thursday, stabbing and wounding six marchers in this year’s parade, according to the police. Two of the victims were in serious condition, according to the emergency services. The assailant, Yishai Schlissel, was pinned to the […]
TEHRAN — For Jason Rezaian, the Washington Post reporter now on trial for espionage in Iran, the incident was extraordinary but still looked like another example of the difficulties in covering the country’s politics. On a spring day in March 2014, his wife and a female photographer were stopped in broad daylight in their car on a busy Tehran highway and taken into a van, where, friends […]
Mena lagging in adopting cyber security policies BEIRUT, 1 days ago Despite the current global focus on cyber security issues including hacking, data losses, breaches and other information leaks, organizations in the Mena region still do not have formal cyber security initiatives in place, a report said. In keeping with international trends, managing Compliance Risk remains a high priority for organizations across Mena region, explained the Middle […]
|By K Raveendran| The deregulation of fuel prices in the UAE is no doubt a highly opportunistic move in the sense that the current oil price levels support market-driven pricing. But a major factor that prompted the decision is believed to be the recommendations of IMF. The UAE Ministry of Energy recently announced that domestic gasoline and diesel prices would be deregulated starting from 1 August 2015. […]
