Ending weeks of diplomatic deadlock, the United States and Russia agreed on Thursday on a U.N. Security Council draft resolution that would demand Syria give up its chemical arms, but does not threaten military force if it fails to comply. Samantha Power, the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, said a deal was struck with Russia “legally obligating” Syria to give up its chemical stockpile and the […]
Somalia’s al Shabaab Islamist group said on Tuesday there were “countless dead bodies” in a Kenyan shopping mall as security forces searched for militants still holed up in the complex after a weekend attack that authorities say killed 62 people. The al Qaeda-linked attackers are believed by Western sources to include Americans and possibly a British woman who may be the widow of a suicide bomber who […]
Several people were shot in a park on Chicago’s South Side Thursday night, police said. Police could not immediately confirm a report on a Chicago Tribune blog that as many as 12 people had been shot, including a 3-year-old child. Chicago has been torn by gun violence in recent years, racking up more than 500 murders in 2012, according to a report this week by the FBI. […]
Bahrain-based Islamic investment firm Arcapita has become the first Gulf company to emerge from U.S. bankruptcy under Chapter 11 rules, in a move that could help clarify how Islamic finance is treated in Western courts. Arcapita’s plan, which came into effect on Tuesday, will see it transfer its assets into a new holding company which will dispose of them over time to pay off creditors, effectively a […]
GOLD Coast property developer Sunland has failed to persuade the Victorian Court of Appeal that it was duped into paying a $14 million walk-away fee for a block of land in Dubai to two Melbourne men later convicted of receiving a bribe over the deal. Matthew Joyce, the former general manager of the state-owned Dubai Waterfront, received a 10-year jail sentence and a $25m fine over charges […]
A Dubai court has dismissed a Kuwaiti sheikh’s $21.4 million claim against UBS in which he alleged the Swiss bank failed to pay him for helping it become lead arranger on a $9 billion asset sale by Kuwaiti telecom operator Zain. The case highlighted the complexity of doing business in the Gulf, where personal connections to high-ranking officials or executives are often valued in deal making. But […]
A climate of fear that kept Egyptians compliant during the 30-year rule of Hosni Mubarak is creeping back into daily life, less than three years after the revolt that toppled him. Ordinary people like Mohamed, who runs a tiny Cairo shop selling mobile phone accessories, now lower their voices if they oppose the army’s overthrow last month of their first freely-elected president, Mohamed Mursi. “It is about […]
New cable network Al Jazeera America introduced itself to viewers on Tuesday with reports on political strife in Egypt and the impact of climate change on U.S. cities, shortly after a major pay TV distributor declined to carry the channelThe decision by AT&T’s U-verse pay-TV service stemmed from a contract dispute over terms to carry the new network, AT&T spokesman Mark Siegel said. Al Jazeera responded by […]
LONDON–Iran’s Bank Mellat is claiming GBP500 million ($782 million) from the U.K. Treasury after a London court ruled against a British decision to sanction the bank, a defense lawyer said. The claim underscores the financial risks faced by Western governments as they seek to enforce sanctions over Iran’s controversial nuclear program. The U.K.’s “Supreme Court has referred [the claim] to the High Court so it can assess […]
A Pakistani court indicted Pervez Musharraf in the 2007 assassination of former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto, escalating legal challenges to the ex-military dictator since he ended his self-exile in March. A judge read out charges that Musharraf was complicit in Bhutto’s killing as he failed to provide adequate security at a political rally she was attending, state-run Pakistan Television reported, citing court proceedings. Six other people were […]
(Reuters) – The Dubai arm of Australian contractor Leighton Holdings is seeking more than 1 billion dirhams ($272 million) from a prominent member of Qatar’s royal family in compensation for late payments on a hotel project in the Qatari capital. Dubai-based Al Habtoor Leighton Group (HLG) said it had launched a series of suits against Sheikh Faisal Bin Qassim al-Thani’s Al Faisal Holding in relation to the […]
By Asa Fitch As Dubai’s economy rebounds, the number of commercial disputes in one of its main courts appears to be waning, too. Perhaps taking a cue from rising real estate prices and an influx of tourists, lawyers say many people are trying to settle their differences and move on. The courts of the Dubai International Financial Centre, Dubai’s main financial free zone, have seen just nine […]
The U.K. markets regulator fined a compliance officer and a broker a total of about 116,000 pounds ($180,000) for enabling Rameshkumar Goenka, a Dubai-based investor, to commit market abuse in 2010. The Financial Conduct Authority fined David Davis, a compliance officer at Paul E. Schweder Miller & Co., 70,258 pounds, and Vandana Parikh, a broker at the same firm, 45,673 pounds, for not acting with enough care […]
By ruling that ObamaCare is constitutional, the Supreme Court has set in motion a slew of tax hikes. Well, someone has to pay for it. For rich folks, looming big is the 3.8% Medicare surtax on investment income, and the 0.9% Medicare payroll tax hike (from 1.45% to 2.35%). And then there are the tax hikes for everybody else. Obama’s pledge against any form of tax increase […]
(Reuters) – India’s economy will grow at its slowest pace in a decade this fiscal year, with tight monetary policy, political gridlock and a weakening global economy prompting analysts to slash their forecasts, a Reuters poll showed. Even as growth falters, the rupee has been hitting all-time lows against the dollar, the government is struggling with bloated fiscal and current account deficits and inflation has remained stubbornly […]
Visa Inc. (V), MasterCard Inc. and some of the biggest U.S. banks agreed to a settlement of at least $6.05 billion in a price-fixing case brought by retailers over credit-card swipe fees. The total value of the settlement is $7.25 billion to a class of about 7 million merchants in the U.S. that accept Visa and MasterCard credit cards and debit cards, a law firm for the […]
CHICAGO (Reuters) – Russell Wasendorf Sr was arrested on Friday after allegedly stealing more than $100 million from clients of his now-bankrupt brokerage PFGBest, using little more than a rented P.O. Box, Photoshop and inkjet printers to dupe regulators for decades. In the dramatic conclusion to a week-long drama that has shaken trader confidence in the trillion-dollar U.S. futures markets, FBI agents arrested Wasendorf, 64, at the […]
NEW YORK (Reuters) – A state judge on Friday temporarily blocked plans by Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia to sell certain branded products at J.C. Penney stores. The preliminary injunction was a win for Macy’s , which has sued Martha Stewart Living claiming it has exclusive rights to sell certain Martha Stewart products including soft furnishings, dinnerware and cookware. In issuing the preliminary injunction, New York State Supreme […]
