Wanted: Ched Evans is set to join League One side Oldham Photo: PA By Rowan Pelling 6:01AM GMT 05 Jan 2015 It’s been 13 years since John Leslie waved goodbye to his TV career. Some readers may be scratching their heads, as they try to remember his original claim to fame and what led to his downfall. Then they might gradually recall how the former Blue Peter and […]
The United Arab Emirates and Egypt appear the most attractive among major Middle Eastern stock markets in an era of low oil prices, the latest Reuters survey of regional asset managers suggests. The plunge of oil and equity prices over the last several months has stunned managers, and they may therefore invest their 2015 equity allocations to the region only gradually. “I think the next three months […]
Falling world oil prices will hurt countries across the Middle East unless Saudi Arabia, the world’s biggest crude exporter, takes action to reverse the slump, Iran’s deputy foreign minister told Reuters. Hossein Amir Abdollahian described Saudi Arabia’s inaction in the face of a six-month slide in oil prices as a strategic mistake and said he still hoped the kingdom, Tehran’s main rival in the Gulf, would respond. […]
It was a bit less spectacular and a lot less glamorous than most Hollywood disaster movies. But the recent mega-breach at Sony Pictures Entertainment had more than its share of drama and improvisation. Numerous media outlets this week published behind-the-scenes looks at how the crisis, one of the worst cyberattacks on an American company, was handled internally. Among other unusual steps, studio CEO Michael Lynton communicated with […]
Gulf stock markets rose on Sunday despite oil’s weakness as Saudi Arabia’s plan to maintain government spending at a high level boosted investor confidence. The Saudi government released a 2015 state budget last Thursday that provides for a 0.6 percent increase in spending from this year’s plan. That cheered the retail investors who dominate Gulf stock markets; they had feared falling oil revenues would trigger spending cuts […]
Gulf stock markets rose on Thursday as Saudi Arabia released a 2015 state budget that will keep spending high, reassuring the region that economic growth is unlikely to be hurt much by the plunge of oil prices. The Saudi budget envisions state spending at a record 860 billion riyals ($230 billion) next year, up 0.6 percent from the 2014 budget plan. That would be the smallest rise […]
In Saudi Arabia, where the currency has been fixed at about the same rate for 28 years, even the tiniest swings in the futures market reflect concern the peg will be broken. So the 0.2 percent drop that traders see by next year shows this is the most worried they’ve been about it since 2009. For Standard Chartered Plc and Abu Dhabi Commercial Bank PJSC, that speculation […]
Women in the Mena region mostly seek employmentin order to be more financially independent. Majority of Mena women see gender equality in jobs DUBAI, 2 days ago While 51 per cent of women in the Mena region consider recruitment and selection opportunities are regardless of gender, 31 per cent believe that women are treated less favourably in terms of salary, a report said. Women in the Mena […]
Gulf governments seek to improve the livesof citizens and create jobs. Oil slump won’t derail $500bn Gulf infrastructure plan DUBAI, 2 days ago Slumping oil prices will not halt a massive ramp-up in Gulf infrastructure spending, as rich nations deploy huge reserves to maintain a breakneck development pace and the rest turn to buoyant funding markets. However, states are being urged to consider the most effective funding […]
Cancer and heart disease death rates have fallen. Global population living 6 years longer than in 1990 LONDON, 2 days ago Global life expectancy has risen by more than six years since 1990 thanks to falling death rates from cancer and heart disease in rich countries and better survival in poor countries from diarrhoea, tuberculosis and malaria. In an analysis from the 2013 Global Burden of Disease […]
The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is pointing the finger of blame for the Sony Pictures Entertainment (SPE) cyberattack directly at North Korea. In collaboration with other U.S. government departments and agencies, the FBI said it has enough evidence to conclude that the Communist nation is responsible for the attack. Now, President Barack Obama is responding. The hackers compromised Sony Pictures’ computer systems, stole data and intellectual […]
OPEC will stand by its decision not to cut crude output even if oil prices fall as low as $40 a barrel and will wait at least three months before considering an emergency meeting, the United Arab Emirates’ energy minister said. OPEC won’t immediately change its Nov. 27 decision to keep the group’s collective output target unchanged at 30 million barrels a day, Suhail Al-Mazrouei said. Venezuela […]
A fresh drop in the price of oil looks likely to put more pressure on Sunday on stock markets in the Gulf, where investors appear to be waiting for the commodity to stabilise before opening new positions. Brent crude dropped nearly 3 percent and settled at below $62 a barrel on Friday after the International Energy Agency cut its outlook for demand growth in 2015. A plunge […]
Dubai family-owned conglomerate Al Habtoor Group has cast doubt over plans for an imminent initial share sale but expects revenues to more than double over the next five years helped by strong local economic growth, its chairman said on Tuesday. Speculation around a flotation of the group, which has interests in hospitality, retail and construction, has revived in recent months as the market for offerings in Dubai […]
Most Gulf firms can prosper with $70 oil DUBAI, 6 days ago Plunging stock markets in the Gulf show investors are panicking about the prospect of $70 oil next year. But heavy state spending means most firms in the region, with the big exception of petrochemical producers, are likely to do just fine. The main Saudi stock index sank 4.8 per cent on Sunday, bringing its losses […]
|By K Raveendran| India has raised tax rates on petrol and diesel, taking advantage of falling oil prices to bolster government revenues, which will help Narendra Modi’s government to tough fiscal deficit targets. The move has disappointed even the most ardent Modi fans, who would have expected the government to take advantage of the falling oil prices to reduce retail prices of petrol and diesel. But a […]
Oil market analysts are debating if oil will fall to $50. In North Dakota, prices are already there. Crude sold at the wellhead in the Bakken shale region in North Dakota fell to $49.69 a barrel on Nov. 28, according to the marketing arm of Plains All America (PAA) Pipeline LP. That’s down 47 percent from this year’s peak in June, and 29 percent less than the […]
Saudi Arabia will probably deepen discounts for crude supplies to Asia after leading OPEC to maintain the group’s output target amid a global battle for market share, according to a Bloomberg survey of traders. The world’s biggest oil exporter will announce January official selling prices to buyers in Asia this week, after lifting its Arab Light grade from the lowest level in almost six years a month […]
Shares in Dubai declined to the lowest level in five months as the emirate’s largest stock traded without the right to its next dividend and Gulf markets retreated amid plunging oil prices. The DFM General Index (DFMGI) fell 2.2 percent to 4,186.11 at the close. The gauge lost 19 percent since the most recent peak on Sept. 3, leaving it less than 50 points away from a […]
When it comes to smartphone sales, the growth is still there — but it’s slowing. Smartphone sales growth will continue at nearly 10 percent each year through 2018, well off the pace of recent years, according to a new mobile phone forecast from International Data Corp. (IDC). Worldwide smartphone shipments will reach a total of nearly 1.3 billion units in 2014, an increase of 26.3 percent over […]
North Korea is an astonishing survival into the 21st century of 19th century traditions of oriental despotism. Just as the old kings of Korea were demigods, beyond mortal criticism and revered as infallible by their awed subjects, so the present-day rulers of North Korea are presented as geniuses who can make no mistakes. Moreover, in this tradition, the monarch personifies the nation – to mock Kim Jong-un […]
Plunging stock markets in the Gulf show investors are panicking about the prospect of $70 oil next year. But heavy state spending means most firms in the region, with the big exception of petrochemical producers, are likely to do just fine. The main Saudi stock index sank 4.8 percent on Sunday, bringing its losses from its September peak to 23 percent. Dubai’s index is down 21 percent […]
Middle East fund managers expect to put money back into Gulf stock markets in coming months once the shock of the plunge in oil prices fades, the latest Reuters survey of regional asset managers shows. The slide of Brent crude to $70 a barrel last week,from around $115 in June, has shifted the outlook for the oil-exporting Gulf economies. This has caused Gulf equities to underperform after […]
OPEC’s decision to cede no ground to rival producers underscored the price war in the crude market and the challenge to U.S. shale drillers. The 12-nation Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries kept its output target unchanged even after the steepest slump in oil prices since the global recession, prompting speculation it has abandoned its role as a swing producer. Yesterday’s decision in Vienna propelled futures to the […]
