News related to
fall

GCC National Oil Companies uniquely positioned to face challenges of continued depressed oil price

UAE.  The depressed oil prices predominant since late last year could herald a lasting trend if, as evidence suggests, we are now facing the low-price segment of an oil ‘super cycle’, according to the latest paper from global strategy and management consulting firm A.T. Kearney. This new situation would pose both challenges and opportunities to Middle East companies and countries. There is still much volatility in the […]

Ramadan to start on June 18, astronomical calculations predict

ABU DHABI // Ramadan is likely to begin on June 18, the Sharjah Planetarium has predicted. The start of the holy month for the Hijri year 1436 is likely to fall on Thursday, June 18, according to astronomical calculations of the planetarium. Ibrahim Al Jarwan, general supervisor at the SP, predicted that Eid Al Fitr would be on Friday, July 17 (the first of Shawwal). “The daylight […]

Op-Ed Contributor: Art and Hypocrisy in the Gulf

Op-Ed Contributor By NICHOLAS MCGEEHAN May 28, 2015 LONDON — On May 11, the Lebanese artist Walid Raad was turned away at the airport when he tried to enter the United Arab Emirates, where the government is making a big investment in art with the Saadiyat Island project. The project, in the capital, Abu Dhabi, will include branches of the Louvre and the Guggenheim as well as a campus […]

Iraqi Army and Shiite Militias Begin Push to Take Ramadi From ISIS

Shiite fighters during an operation to retake the remaining areas of the Baiji oil refinery from the Islamic State on Monday in Salahuddin Province in Iraq. By TIM ARANGO May 26, 2015 BAGHDAD — Iraqi officials said Tuesday that a combined force of Iraqi soldiers and allied Shiite militias had started moving to retake the city of Ramadi, the capital of Anbar Province, from Islamic State fighters. The officials billed […]

Oil rally running out of steam

Crude oil prices were broadly unchanged in early trading on Tuesday, as firm demand supported and ample supply dragged, but analysts said there were signs that a recent rally was running out of steam. Robust demand in Asia as well as due to the driving season in the United States is being met by near record output, especially from the Organization Of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), although […]

ISIL says it has full control of Syria's Palmyra

SYRIA. Islamic State fighters tightened their grip on the historic Syrian city of Palmyra on Thursday and overran Iraqi government defenses east of Ramadi, the provincial capital that they seized five days earlier. The twin successes not only pile pressure on Damascus and Baghdad but throw doubt on a U.S. strategy of relying almost exclusively on air strikes to support the fight against Islamic State. U.S. and […]

Pakistani Journalists Resign to Cut Ties to Axact, a Fake Diploma Company

By SABA IMTIAZ May 23, 2015 KARACHI, Pakistan — Several senior journalists resigned from a developing Pakistani television network, Bol, on Saturday, in the latest fallout from a crisis engulfing the channel’s parent company, Axact, a software firm that profited immensely from international sales of fake diplomas. The defections were led by Bol’s editor in chief, Kamran Khan, and came just hours after Pakistan’s interior minister announced that the […]

Gaza Strip Economy on ‘Verge of Collapse,’ World Bank Says

Buildings that were destroyed during the 50-day war last year between Israel and Hamas militants in the Gaza Strip. By DIAA HADID May 22, 2015 RAMALLAH, West Bank — Gaza’s war-battered economy is on the “verge of collapse,” dragged down by soaring unemployment rates that followed last summer’s war with Israel, border restrictions and government dysfunction, the World Bank says in a new report. Infighting between Gaza’s Islamist Hamas […]

Washington world’s most dangerous city for babies

About 6.6 babies die per 1,000 live births in Washington. Washington world’s most dangerous city for babies KAMPALA, 16 days ago Washington has the highest infant mortality rate of all the world’s richest capitals, according to a survey highlighting the failure of the world’s wealthiest country to prevent high rates of child deaths among its poorest citizens. Save the Children said in a study on Tuesday that […]

Dubai residential market successfully contained since landmark regulations were implemented in 2014, says Cluttons

UAE. Landmark real estate regulatory changes including the UAE-wide Federal Mortgage Cap and Dubai’s doubling of Property Registration Fees last year, which was aimed at curbing speculative activity, have together gradually and successfully contained a market that was in danger of overheating with the level of transactional activity now dramatically reduced, according to latest research released by international real estate consultancy Cluttons.   Cluttons Spring 2015 Dubai Residential […]

Obama Defends Approach to ISIS Fight but Says More Is Needed

By PETER BAKER May 21, 2015 WASHINGTON — President Obama denied that the United States and its allies were losing the fight against Islamic State forces in the Middle East, but he acknowledged in an interview posted online on Thursday that more should be done to help Iraqis recapture lost territory. While repeating his refusal to commit large-scale American forces to the region, the president said Sunni fighters in […]

ISIS Fighters Seize Control of Syrian City of Palmyra, and Ancient Ruins

Slide Show | The Ancient Syrian City of Palmyra Islamic State militants have destroyed historical sites and sold off artifacts in other cities, and some fear they may do the same in Palmyra. By ANNE BARNARD and HWAIDA SAAD May 20, 2015 BEIRUT, Lebanon — Islamic State militants swept into the historic desert city of Palmyra in central Syria on Wednesday, and by evening were in control of it, residents and […]

Google Study: Most Security Questions Easy To Hack

There’s a big problem with the security questions often used to help people log into Web sites, or remember or access lost passwords — questions with answers that are easy to remember are also easy for hackers to guess. That’s the key finding of a study that Google recently presented at the International World Wide Web Conference in Florence, Italy. Google said it analyzed hundreds of millions […]

Crude Oil: Don’t Get Suckered Into Buying This Dip, Oil Has Further To Fall

At War Blog: West Point and the Culinary Institute of America: An Exchange of Experiences

Photo Leah Pfeiffer, left, a student at the Culinary Institute of America, and Chuck Yu, a West Point cadet, cooking in a C.I.A. kitchen in October 2013.Credit Mike Groll for The New York Times We are hard pressed to think of many world-class liberal arts colleges with entire student bodies ambitiously studying and training toward a single profession – and in uniforms that are far from Vassar’s […]

UAE banks have many liquidity options

Top UAE banks paying off the emergency loans they previously took from the Ministry of Finance is a sign they now have ample liquidity and funding alternatives, according to banking industry experts. The UAE banks landed in a serious liquidity squeeze, after foreign banks withdrew Dh100 billion worth of funds from the local banks placed with them to make quick gains from the much-anticipated de-pegging of the […]

Oversupply forces Dubai hotels to start undercutting

|TAP Special| Faced with a continued upswing in capacity creation, Dubai hospitality sector is under pressure and is forced to continuously make price adjustments to remain competitive. This has already meant lower revenues, posing a question mark over the hotel sector’s performance. According to the latest Hotel Intelligence report of JLL, performance of the hospitality sector in Dubai is expected to remain under pressure this year. This […]

5% drop in Dubai residential sales forecast

|By TAP Staff| The sale of residential properties in Dubai may continue to slide by one to five percent in the first half of this year, according to a report for Deloitte Financial Advisory. But the report forecasts a pickup in the second part of the year. It added that super prime malls will experience further growth in tourist numbers whilst residents will drive demand for convenience […]

Saudis fast burning up reserves

|By Nafeesa Syeed & Rinat Gaynullin|Saudi Arabia is burning through foreign reserves at a record pace as the largesse of the new king and regional turmoil ratchet up pressure on public finances already hurt by the oil price slump. The kingdom spent $36 billion of the central bank’s net foreign assets — about 5 percent of the total — in February and March, the biggest two-month drop […]

Excess China output threatens steel market

Plunging iron ore prices are providing a lifeline for some of China’s biggest steel mills, but raising the prospect of a rising tide of exports and increased friction with the European Union and countries such as India. Even as China’s domestic steel demand shrinks and the industry battles chronic overcapacity, lower iron ore prices have helped many large mills post better earnings in 2014 than a year […]

Kingdom Holding Q1 profit rises 10.3pc

Kingdom Holding Q1 profit rises 10.3pc RIYADH, 20 hours, 23 minutes ago Saudi Arabia’s Kingdom Holding , the investment firm owned by billionaire Prince Alwaleed bin Talal, posted a 10.3 per cent rise in first-quarter net profit on Tuesday, on the back of higher income from dividends and associates. Kingdom make a net profit of SR139.4 million ($37.2 million) in the three months to March 31, compared […]

The End of Google’s Reign Near: Analysts

/Marshall Hargrave/investorsalley.com/The end of Google’s reign as the king of search is near. Competitors are eating away market share and growth is sputtering. Trying to cherry-pick the next winner in search, however, is akin to rolling dice at a casino. All luck. Where investors are going to make their millions is in this red hot sector that is on the vanguard of life-saving technology that will revolutionize […]

India starts oil reserve buildup

India has bought the first oil for its strategic petroleum reserve (SPR), trade sources said on Monday, marking the start of a round of purchases by the world’s fourth-biggest oil consumer to build up emergency stockpiles. Oil prices have almost halved in the past year due to excess global production, leaving traders looking for any signs of new demand to help absorb the surplus. The sources said […]

Oil tumbles 6% in one day

The price of crude is falling sharply this afternoon, and is down more than 6 percent on the day. Energy analysts are sharply divided lately over where exactly the price of oil is going to go. Earlier today, the Baker Hughes Rig Count showed the smallest decline in active rigs in months, one small sign that the steep tapering off in drilling may be coming to an […]