President Bashar al-Assad’s forces seized a wide swath of rebel territory in the embattled Syrian city of Aleppo, spurring the flight of tens of thousands of civilians amid intense fighting that threatens the collapse of the opposition’s last major urban stronghold. Activists and rebel leaders said pro-Assad forces on Monday recaptured the northern districts of the city, which has been divided between opposition forces on the east […]
54% of Amman residents rate the quality of education institutions as good or excellent, according to the 2016 Bayt.com and YouGov survey ‘Top Cities in the Middle East and North Africa’ Amman, Jordan, 28 November 2016 A new survey by Bayt.com, the number one career site in the Middle East, and YouGov, a pioneer in online market research, titled ‘Top Cities in the Middle East and North […]
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates, November 28, 2016/ — The Ashish J Thakkar Global Entrepreneurship Index of 85 countries ranks Singapore as the best environment for entrepreneurs Of the African nations, Namibia scores highest and comes 42nd overall – ahead of other prominent African markets, such as Nigeria, Kenya and South Africa The research, conducted by Mara Foundation and Opinium Research, examines the state of entrepreneurship around the […]
By Michael Georgy, Isabel Coles and John Davison | MOSUL, Iraq MOSUL, Iraq Iraq’s sectarian political leaders have plunged back into a dispute over the status of Shi’ite armed groups, undermining efforts to reunite the country as its troops press on with the assault of Mosul, Islamic State’s biggest stronghold. Forty days into the biggest ground offensive in Iraq since the U.S.-led invasion of 2003, about a […]
DUBAI, June 10 (Reuters) – Qatar’s central bank plans to issue 4 billion riyals ($1.1 billion) worth of local currency government bonds next week, it said on Tuesday, including a new seven-year tranche to build a longer yield curve. The debt, to be auctioned on Sunday, will include 2.1 billion riyals worth of three-year conventional bonds and 950 million riyals each of five- and seven-year tranches, the […]
Israeli aircraft killed four Islamic State-linked gunmen on Sunday after they fired mortars and shot at troops patrolling along the occupied Golan Heights, the military said. Israel has often responded to errant fire from the Syrian civil war, but exchanges of fire with gunmen on the Golan have been rare since the fighting began more than five years ago. The militants fired at the Israeli soldiers, who […]
Pitbull’s performance at Du Arena – an opening night slot traditionally saved for an Arabic all-star bill – was announced, out-of-the-blue, just two weeks earlier. Mona Al Marzooqi / The National Onstage, as in his lyrics, Pitbull surrounds himself in bringing video images of sharp suits, glamorous females, fast cars and gleaming cityscapes – in short, every negative stereotype detractors might hold about the global F1 circus. […]
DUBAI, June 10 (Reuters) – Qatar’s central bank plans to issue 4 billion riyals ($1.1 billion) worth of local currency government bonds next week, it said on Tuesday, including a new seven-year tranche to build a longer yield curve. The debt, to be auctioned on Sunday, will include 2.1 billion riyals worth of three-year conventional bonds and 950 million riyals each of five- and seven-year tranches, the […]
Canadian director Denis Villeneuve’s thoughtful sci-fi drama Arrival, which was released on Thursday, is being hailed by some as one of the best movies about alien contact. But as with much of the best science fiction, the story is as much a look at the real world of today as a fictional adventure about a fantastical world of tomorrow. With its themes of communication, lack of understanding […]
John Hanke arrives at Mijita on San Francisco Bay looking more like a middle-aged indie rocker than the chief executive of a company that this summer was estimated to be making tens of millions a week. His striped flannel shirt is unbuttoned over a T-shirt bearing a compass and the words, taken from a poem in The Lord of the Rings, “Not all who wander are lost”. […]
Authored by Bonner & Partners’ Bill Bonner, annotated by Acting-Man’s Pater Tenebrarum, Permanently Skewed TRUMP HOTEL, New York – Trump’s rambling army – professionals, amateurs, camp followers, and profiteers – is marching south, down the I-95 corridor. There, on the banks of the Potomac, it will fight its next big battle. Lieutenants in Trump’s army: Bannon, Flynn & Sessions Here at the Diary, we do not […]
We have smartphones, wristbands, and of course, smartwatches that are able to read your heart rate. But how about a mouse? Mionix Naos QG, a gaming mouse developed in collaboration with Kickstarter and the Twitch community, is fitted with a Pixart PAH8001E1-2G heart rate sensor, as well as a Galvanic Skin Response (GSR) sensor to measure a player’s emotional state while playing video games. But how does […]
November 24, 2016 by: Neil Hume, Commodities and Mining Editor The new chief executive of Rio Tinto said on Wednesday that he would focus on sweating the company’s assets and improving productivity rather than transformational mergers and acquisitions. Ahead of his first in-depth strategy presentation, Jean-Sébastien Jacques said that the Anglo-Australian miner could boost cash generation by as much as $5bn by the end of 2021 by […]
By Bernie Woodall | DETROIT DETROIT Automakers in the United States are ramping up holiday sales promotions ahead of Black Friday, aiming to clear out bulging inventories of unsold cars and dispel investor doubts about consumer demand. Detroit automakers need a strong year-end sales push. They are sitting on hefty inventories of unsold sedans, compact cars and sports cars as consumers shift to pickup trucks and SUVs. […]
What does Europe’s top judge think of a full-blooded British tabloid headline casting justices as “Enemies of the People”? With a nod to propriety, Koen Lenaerts insists that he “cannot speak about ” that Daily Mail front page or the specifics of a landmark British ruling on parliamentary approval for Brexit. But the European Court of Justice president is unable to resist making a broader point. “I can say […]
Regional experts meet to discuss holistic approach to atrial fibrillation from diagnosis to treatment United Arab Emirates, Dubai – 20th November 2016 Boehringer Ingelheim and Medtronic have collaborated recently to develop a holistic approach to Atrial Fibrillation (AF) treatment solutions. Both Boehringer Ingelheim and Medtronic organized a two-day program which integrated both current evidence and clinical practice. The program, which has been certified and accredited by the […]
The market interpretation of the US election result can be expressed in just three letters, repeated several times: “USA! USA! USA!” Amid the noise that followed last week’s election victory for Donald Trump, one signal was clear — whatever the outcome will be the US, it will be far worse for the rest of the world in general, and emerging markets in particular. Outside of financial crises, […]
At the end of last week, the Reserve Bank of New Zealand cut interest rates. It could yet prove the last central bank to do so in the current cycle. For an inkling of why, look no further than the US government bond market. Treasuries are enduring their worst sell-off since the taper tantrum of 2013, when then Federal Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke first signalled the end […]
By Elias Glenn and Kevin Yao | BEIJING BEIJING China’s economy largely showed further signs of steadying in October as expected, but disappointing retail sales growth and fears of U.S. trade frictions under incoming President Donald Trump are increasingly clouding the outlook. Fixed-asset investment quickened slightly and beat expectations in January-October as the government stepped up infrastructure spending to support growth, official data showed on Monday. But […]
Photo Speaker of the House Paul Ryan showing the president-elect, Donald Trump, and his wife, Melania, the speaker’s balcony at the United States Capitol on Nov. 10. Credit Zach Gibson/Getty Images The president-elect walked onto the stage before a crowd of euphoric supporters. It was his first public sighting since the networks called the election for him. Gone were his hoarse pleadings for support. His face bore […]
Iraqi forces say they have recaptured Nimrud, the site of an ancient Assyrian city seized by jihadi militants when they swept through northern Iraq in 2014. “Troops from the Ninth Armoured Division liberated Nimrud town completely and raised the Iraqi flag above its buildings,” the Iraqi army said in a statement on Sunday. Modern day Nimrud is about 1km west of the remnants of the 3,000-year-old city, […]
MOSUL/BAGHDAD: Elite Iraqi forces were engaged in “intense” fighting with rebels in eastern Mosul on Saturday, an officer said, as civilians gathered on the city’s outskirts to flee. The special forces backed by US and Iraqi air power took control of two districts of eastern Mosul after heavy fighting in which they destroyed nine cars deployed by ISIS as suicide bombs, the military said.The military statement said […]
By Catherine Cadell | SHENZHEN, China SHENZHEN, China Alibaba Group Holding Ltd (BABA.N) Singles’ Day festival posted a record 120.7 billion yuan ($17.73 billion) worth of sales on Friday, though the gala shopping day saw growth slow as Chinese shoppers searched for deeper discounts and lower pricetags. Amid fanfare and celebrity razzmatazz, sales on Alibaba’s platforms had raced to a billion dollars in less than five minutes […]
By Tim Baysinger Twitter Inc (TWTR.N) said it was able to deliver more viewers than promised to advertisers on a U.S. election night livestream, good news for the microblogging site as it tries to ward off growing competition for ad dollars from Snapchat and Instagram. Twitter partnered with BuzzFeed to host an election night broadcast on Tuesday and attracted major advertisers, including Paramount Pictures, Amazon.com Inc’s (AMZN.O) […]
