AMMAN, Jordan — Mohammad Smarat sat gazing at the few plants sprouting outside the entrance of the white stone hospital here, recalling how he had collapsed in a sea of green fields after getting shot. He had been helping farmers pick tomatoes near his home in Dara’a, Syria, when a stray bullet shattered his left hip joint. Though he had obeyed his father’s orders not to join […]
WASHINGTON President Barack Obama announced on Friday that he had reached a “common understanding” with Chinese President Xi Jinping on curbing economic cyber espionage, but threatened to impose U.S. sanctions on Chinese hackers who persist with cyber crimes. The two leaders also unveiled a deal to build on a landmark emissions agreement struck last year, outlining new steps they will take to deliver on pledges they made […]
ABU DHABI // Government organisations have continued their fightback against claims that the UAE has the most polluted air in the world. Earlier this year, the World Bank released The Little Green Data Book, which said the country had particle pollution levels (PPM) much higher than the World Health Organisation’s recommended guidelines. It said the UAE was the “country with the most polluted air”, which was immediately […]
Middle East By BEN HUBBARD September 11, 2015 IZMIR, Turkey — A large construction crane toppled over and crashed into the Grand Mosque in the holy city of Mecca on Friday, killing at least 107 people and raising fears about the safety of the site before the yearly hajj pilgrimage that is expected to bring in millions of visitors to Saudi Arabia this month. Saudi Arabia’s civil defense authority […]
DUBAI // Fears over what effect overhead power lines could have on the health of families dominate the concerns of Emiratis in Al Barsha as campaigning for votes in the October 3 election to the Federal National Council gains pace. Residents would like detailed studies on the impact of overhead pylons on nearby homes. “Our whole family stays in villas facing the power lines, we have neighbours […]
|By Matein Khalid| The Federal Reserve could well raise its overnight borrowing rate at the next FOMC monetary policy conclave on September 17. Though contagion from China’s 40% stock market meltdown has triggered bear markets from Hong Kong to Frankfurt and plunged Asian/emerging markets equities into ta ghastly replay of 1998’s epic meltdown (General Suharto’s overthrow, the Russian rouble default, Malaysia’s capital controls, the run on the […]
|By TAP Staff| Undeterred by the decline in Dubai property market, Emaar Properties has launched the luxury ‘Creekside 18’ residences in The Island District of Dubai Creek Harbour, a one-of-its-kind modern master-planned community located along the historic Dubai Creek in the heart of the city. In close proximity to the Dubai International Airport and the Ras Al Khor Wildlife Sanctuary, Dubai Creek Harbour is located on a […]
UAE. With a 54% decline in the price of oil prices during the past 12 months the United Arab Emirates (UAE) real estate market is now beginning to feel the effect with property transaction levels falling across Abu Dhabi, Dubai and Sharjah, according to the latest research from international real estate consultancy, Cluttons. Cluttons’ annual 2015 UAE Property Report reveals that the direct correlation between hydrocarbon revenues […]
Middle East By TIM ARANGO August 27, 2015 BAGHDAD — In a further setback to the faltering American and Iraqi campaign to retake Anbar Province from the Islamic State, two Iraqi generals were killed in a suicide attack by the group Thursday morning outside Ramadi, the provincial capital. Two explosives-rigged American-made Humvees, presumably seized on the battlefield from the Iraqi Army some time in the past year, exploded near […]
|By Matein Khalid| Geopolitics is now another source of risk for the Turkish lira, government debt and Istanbul equities. The Turkish air force is bombing Daish in Syria and the secessionist Kurdish PKK party in northern Iraq. Suicide bombings have killed Turkish citizens in eastern Anatolian cities on the Syrian border. Ankara has given the US a green light to launch military airstrikes from the Incerlik air […]
DUBAI // Drivers are sharing cars, using public transport and even moving house in response to this month’s increase in petrol prices, a survey suggests. Nearly one in five would consider car pooling or using school buses, and nearly a quarter would use public transport more often. One in five intend to reduce their commute by moving to a home closer to work or to public transport […]
The UAE’s gross domestic electricity consumption has more than doubled over the past 10 years, and is expected to grow even more rapidly over the next five years as the country undergoes substantial population and economic growth, according to a recent study. The study by management consultancy Strategy&, formerly Booz & Company, revealed that energy usage in the UAE has grown at an annual average of four […]
UAE. The UAE’s gross domestic electricity consumption has more than doubled over the past 10 years, and is expected to grow even more rapidly over the next five years as the country undergoes substantial population and economic growth, according to a study by management consultancy Strategy&, formerly Booz & Company. The study reveals that energy usage in the UAE has grown at an annual average of 4% […]
Headsets hang in front of a screen displaying a Spotify logo on it, in Zenica February 20, 2014. Reuters/Dado Ruvic/Files EDGARTOWN, Mass. If hearing Barack Obama break into song hasn’t satisfied your presidential music needs, you can now listen to his playlists on Spotify. The White House on Friday released two music sets “hand-created” by the president of the United States for daytime and evening listening as […]
BAGHDAD — A devastating truck bomb struck a food market early Thursday morning in the teeming Shiite neighborhood of Sadr City, killing about 60 people and wounding more than 100 others, according to security officials. The blast, which was almost immediately claimed by the Islamic State, came just after dawn, when the market was already crowded with shoppers stocking up on fruit and vegetables for the weekend. […]
Seagate, a world leader in storage solutions, has unveiled a new custom 2TB game drive for Xbox, in a strategic relationship with Microsoft. This new external drive is designed to complement the Xbox colour scheme and is set up for an easy plug-and-play connection with an Xbox One or Xbox 360 gaming console. “With all of the new and amazing titles expected for this holiday season […]
RAS LAFFAN, Qatar — The temperature hovered around 100 degrees on the jetty here, where a set of pipes were connected to a giant red-hulled ship. But the moisture in the air froze on the pipes and flaked off, creating snowlike flurries on the early summer evening. The incongruous sight is common on the Qatari ship, the Al Rekayyat, which carries a frigid fuel known as liquefied […]
|By Matein Khalid| Every global recession since the OPEC oil shocks of 1973-74 was triggered by a contraction in the $17 trillion US economic colossus. The failure of Lehman Brothers, the meltdown in US subprime mortgages, the impotence of the implicit “Fed/Uncle Sam” put, the ice age in the commercial paper and interbank money markets all tipped the US economy into recession in late 2008 and triggered […]
GAZA — The new road known as Jakar Street is a rough dirt expanse that Hamas bulldozers cleared parallel to the fence separating this restive Palestinian strip from Israel. Jakar comes from a slang Arabic term that suggests provocation, stubbornness, an effort to vex or annoy or irritate. Leaders of Hamas, the militant movement that dominates Gaza, have been variously quoted as saying that they built the […]
Protesters in Baghdad on Friday. High temperatures have made the lack of reliable electricity a bigger political issue than usual. By ANNE BARNARD August 1, 2015 BAGHDAD — In the Iraqi summer, when the temperature rises above 120 degrees Fahrenheit, electricity becomes even more of a political issue than usual. This past week, at the top of Iraqis’ agenda, it has even eclipsed war with the Islamic State. The […]
Gold fell, heading for its largest monthly decline in two years, as the Federal Reserve moved closer to boosting US interest rates for the first time since 2006. While Fed policy makers refrained from signaling the timing of a rate rise after a two-day meeting, they described job gains as solid amid an improving economy, according to a statement Wednesday. The market expects a move as early […]
BRUSSELS — Turkey turned to its allies in NATO on Tuesday for political backing, after it agreed to step up efforts against the Islamic State but also renewed its conflict with Kurdish militants. “All allies expressed their strong support for Turkey, and we stand all together, united in solidarity with Turkey,” Jens Stoltenberg, the NATO secretary general, told reporters at the alliance’s headquarters in Brussels after a […]
Mena lagging in adopting cyber security policies BEIRUT, 1 days ago Despite the current global focus on cyber security issues including hacking, data losses, breaches and other information leaks, organizations in the Mena region still do not have formal cyber security initiatives in place, a report said. In keeping with international trends, managing Compliance Risk remains a high priority for organizations across Mena region, explained the Middle […]
A redesign of YouTube’s mobile platform was one of a number of key announcements made by Susan Wojcicki (pictured), the company’s CEO, yesterday. Wojcicki gave the keynote address at VidCon in Anaheim, Calif., for the second straight year. She was greeted as a hero at the annual online video conference, receiving numerous rounds of applause during her talk. She said mobile video is the top priority for […]
