South Korean prosecutors are seeking to extradite from Denmark the daughter of Park Geun-hye’s “shaman adviser” for questioning over the corruption scandal that led last month to the president’s impeachment by parliament. Chung Yoo-ra, the 20-year-old daughter of Choi Soon-sil, was arrested on Sunday in the northern Danish city of Aalborg for staying there illegally. South Korea had asked Interpol to search for her. Ms Choi is […]
|By Matein Khalid|“Few individuals alter the course of history. Fewer still change the map of the world. Hardly anyone creates a nation state. Mohammed Ali Jinnah did all three”. Dr. Stanley Wolpert’s words still give me goose pimples two decades after I first read his book. Mr. Jinnah founded Pakistan and was also my ancestral kinsman. I too was born in Karachi, the city by the sea, […]
Saudi Arabia stressed on Monday the importance of co-operation among oil producers to abide by a decision in November to cut production. OPEC agreed in November its first oil output cuts since 2008 after Saudi Arabia accepted “a big hit” on its production and dropped its demand that arch-rival Iran slash output. “The council (of ministers)…asserted the importance of stability and coordination and increased cooperation between member […]
Despite the weakness in ‘hard’ industrial production data, US Manufacturing ‘soft’ survey data from ISM and Markit surged in November and December. PMI rose to 54.3 final for December – a 21-month high – with employment rising and inventory-building. However, stagflation concerns continue to build as new orders declined and input price inflation accelerated. ISM rose to its highest since Dec 2014 with prices paid soaring to […]
Turkey’s lira fell to a record low on Tuesday amid concerns about rising inflation and the fallout from the new year’s day terrorist attack in Istanbul. The currency dropped 1.5 per cent to TL3.5993 against the dollar. The fall underlines investor disdain for a currency that fell 17 per cent in 2016, marking the second-worst performance among emerging market currencies after the Argentine peso. Political risk and […]
It would only take 3,000 Uber cars to usurp regular cab services as the main form of transformation in New York City. That’s suggested by a new study conducted by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, or MIT. New York City’s 14,000 licensed fleet of cabs could be beaten out by a significantly smaller number, that is, if users are willing to share rides through carpooling services Uber and Lyft, […]
Donald Trump is expected to tap a longtime advocate of greater protectionism as his US trade representative in yet another signal that his administration is poised to enact the aggressive trade policies he advocated during the campaign into government. Robert Lighthizer, whose impending nomination was reported by US media on Monday, has been seen as the favourite for the trade role for weeks and has been leading […]
He was released on his recognizance, but arrested 10 days later. He was accused of acting as an undercover liaison between Fatah, the dominant faction within the Palestine Liberation Organization, and guerrilla cells in the West Bank. Continue reading the main story The authorities also said he had smuggled gold, whiskey and television sets across the border. In addition, investigators said the archbishop had been involved in […]
While 2016 was the year the unlikely became real, currency investors enter 2017 no better equipped to tell the difference between reality and illusion. Brexit and Trump made a mockery of assumptions, shredded investors’ best-laid plans and turned political risk analysts into the most in-demand advisers of the year. The two big themes of 2016 will feel palpable during the first quarter of 2017. Donald Trump takes […]
Australia’s National Broadband Network (NBN) company has revealed that as of October 28, it had four months to shift the 18,847 customers that are still connected to the interim satellite service (ISS) onto its Sky Muster or fixed-wireless services prior to the ISS shutdown at the end of February. NBN revealed when answering Senate Estimates questions on notice that it received 50,134 installation requests for Sky Muster […]
BEIJING The Chinese capital was on the second-highest orange smog alert in the depth of winter on Tuesday as city officials said the air quality was improving overall, citing data for the whole of last year. Over the new year holiday, hundreds of flights were canceled and highways closed across northern China as average concentrations of small breathable particles known as PM2.5 soared above 500 micrograms per […]
Airbusand Boeingare bracing themselves for a challenging 2017 after struggling to reach sales targets in the past year. Later this month the two companies will reveal the final tally for last year’s orders and deliveries, but both look set to fall short of their goal of achieving a book to bill of about one — essentially replacing almost every aircraft delivery with a new order. This would […]
Some analysts believe the rise in Bitcoin is due to some investors treating it as a safe-haven, like gold, at a time of global uncertainty The value of Bitcoin surged above $1,000 on Monday as the digital unit continues a dizzying rise that made it the best-performing currency of 2016. Its value has more than doubled in the last year and it was trading at around $1,024 […]
Stock photo New York City could operate with no more than a few thousand taxis or rides if we took carpooling more seriously, researchers have suggested. When commuters share their rides through carpooling, the cost of individual transport lowers and there are potentially fewer cars on the road which can cause increased congestion and pollution. Modern ride-hailing services including Uber and Lyft, in which passengers can hail […]
The awards celebrates the top global banks on their performance through the year. Saudi Arabia, 2 January 2017 Alawwal Bank won The Banker’s ‘Bank of the Year’ (Saudi Arabia) at a ceremony hosted in London, England. The award win caps off a momentous year for the bank and follows a series of award wins in 2016 including ‘Best Mobile Application for Banking’ and ‘Best Call Center’. The […]
COLOMBO India and Sri Lanka agreed to release fishermen in each others’ custody, a joint statement said on Monday, a move that is likely to ease tensions between the countries which have held fishermen captive for crossing territorial waters. After ministerial level talks in Colombo, Sri Lanka reiterated its demand to end the practice of bottom trawling, a technique that involves sweeping the sea bed for fish, […]
LONDON Digital currency bitcoin kicked off the new year by jumping above $1,000 for the first time in three years late on Sunday, having outperformed all central-bank-issued currencies with a 125 percent climb in 2016. Bitcoin – a web-based “cryptocurrency” that has no central authority, relying instead on thousands of computers across the world that validate transactions and add new bitcoins to the system – jumped 2.5 […]
Welcome to a new year and the pressing market issues facing investors as they look to put money to work and navigate 2017. Geopolitical surprises upended expectations last year and few predicted that 2016 would end with a global bull market in equities, while bond yields remain relatively low. Will strategists be any better at forecasting this time around? Here are the big questions that will preoccupy […]
These are the main events that took place in February 2016. 3 February The government proposed to completely repeal two articles in the Criminal Code which make it illegal to vilify religion “by words, gestures, written matter, whether printed or not, or pictures or by some other visible means. Another of the amendments proposed was to criminalise revenge porn. 3 February The government in […]
Chinese residents hoping to cash out of the renminbi will face a great wall of paperwork on Tuesday in a key test of confidence for the currency as the annual quota for individuals’ foreign exchange purchases resets. With individuals in China allowed to purchase up to $50,000 worth of foreign exchange each calendar year, observers will be watching closely for any signs of a rush to use […]
BEIJING Heavy smog that blanketed northern China at the weekend cleared somewhat on Monday, with flights in Beijing back to normal, but it was likely only to be a brief respite with more choking smog expected to return to the wintry north within 24 hours. Weather forecasts on Monday showed the smog would return to Beijing and nearby Tianjin city from Tuesday. It was expected to persist […]
Authored by Mark St.Cyr, With 2016 now in the rearview mirror. The one thing that was supposed to be included in that vision was the successful resurgence of IPO’s across “The Valley”. 2016 was supposed to be “the year” of the comeback for unicorn cash-out dreams after what can only be described as a “not as advertised” 2015. For if one needs remembering: 2015 was the worst year […]
By Hyunjoo Jin and Se Young Lee | SEOUL SEOUL Hyundai Motor Co (005380.KS) and affiliate Kia Motors (000270.KS) said on Monday they aim to increase their combined sales to 8.25 million vehicles globally in 2017, despite rising competition. The 2017 target is slightly higher than their 2016 goal of 8.13 million vehicles. The South Korean automakers’ final sales figures for 2016 are due out later on […]
Can you still call something a “food craze” if it has been around since the Stone Age? Bone broth, which is all the rage in Hollywood and is catching on in the UAE, is essentially the same homemade soup your grandma – and generations before her – might have made from marrow bones, with assorted vegetables and herbs, although this latest variation simmers on the hob for […]
