Despite economic uncertainty, almost two thirds of family businesses in the Middle East have grown over the past year, according to a new survey conducted by PwC. The poll showed that while the region’s family businesses continue to be active and successful, the changing political and economic environment is affecting both their current performance and their growth expectations. Respondents to the PwC survey said that the three […]
ABU DHABI // The UAE has appointed its first Ambassador to a Baltic nation. Hanan Al Alili will become Ambassador to Latvia when the UAE Embassy opens in the capital, Riga, next month. Inara Murniece, Latvia’s speaker of parliament, was in Abu Dhabi for the Global Summit of Women Speakers of Parliament when the announcement was made. “It is important to have women in key positions in […]
By Karolina Tagaris and Renee Maltezou | ATHENS ATHENS Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras seems determined to go down in history as a leader who tried to save Greece’s most vulnerable from austerity. But the crowd of pensioners in Athens on Thursday night was cynical about his promise to placate them with a one-off Christmas bonus. “We are living in misery and we won’t tolerate being fooled […]
15 December 2016 Jeddah, Saudi Arabia — As a strategic step towards the development of the small-to-medium-sized enterprises (or “SMEs”) in Saudi Arabia, the International Islamic Trade Finance Corporation (ITFC), a member of the Islamic Development Bank Group, and Catalyst Group inked an Engagement Agreement to commence ITFC’s KSA SME Program to boost the SME Trade development. Through this partnership, ITFC will be piloting a SME Trade […]
Makkah is facing an acute shortage of affordable housing, especially as the area around the Holy Mosque is being redeveloped to service religious tourists, according to a new report. Real estate consultants JLL said as with other major cities in Saudi, Makkah needs to address the growing issue against the need for seasonal accommodation and extreme land values. It said the Markazia – the area around the […]
China has ceded its status as America’s largest creditor nation to Japan after spending a large portion of its foreign exchange reserves to defend the renminbi. Beijing’s ownership of US Treasuries fell by $41.3bn to $1.12tn in October, according to data from the US Treasury released on Thursday — the sixth straight month of decline. Japan’s holdings fell by $4.5bn to $1.13tn for the same period. Thomas […]
By Henning Gloystein | SINGAPORE SINGAPORE Oil prices were stable on Friday as evidence increased that producers in the Middle East were informing customers of upcoming supply cuts as part of a coordinated effort to drain a global glut. But since any production cuts will only hit markets early next year and Iraq is still raising sales to Asia, analysts at Goldman Sachs said that the price […]
Friday 08:00 GMT Overview Equity markets are steady, holding near recent highs, as the dollar’s bounce to a 14-year peak on expectations of a more hawkish Federal Reserve pauses for breath. Bond markets are calmer too after the recent battering that pushed yields to their richest in many months, while gold edges up. Hot topic The dollar and surging bond yields has been one of the biggest […]
Allergic reactions to peanuts cause around 500 hospitalizations and even some deaths in the United States each year. Food that contains trace amounts, because it was produced with factory equipment or kitchen tools that came into contact with peanuts, can prove fatal for allergic individuals who consume it unsuspectingly. Accidentally ingesting as little as a third of a single peanut — about 70 milligrams — can send […]
A schematic shows a smartphone and the diagnostic attachment for antimicrobial susceptibility testing. Credit: Aydogan Ozcan/UCLA A team of UCLA researchers has developed an automated diagnostic test reader for antimicrobial resistance using a smartphone. The technology could lead to routine testing for antimicrobial susceptibility in areas with limited resources. Antimicrobial-resistant bacteria are posing a severe threat to global public health. In particular, they are becoming more common […]
YOKOHAMA, Japan Nissan Motor Co (7201.T) Chief Executive Carlos Ghosn said on Friday he expected the Japanese automaker to post record sales in 2017, which would be a strong year for the auto industry despite volatility in currency and commodity markets. Ghosn also said he was confident that U.S. trade policy under President-elect Donald Trump would continue to promote strong ties with Mexico, where Nissan operates production […]
Investors have piled into Russian equity and bond funds over the past week as oil prices have rallied and President-elect Donald Trump named an oil executive with close ties to Vladimir Putin as US secretary of state. Russian stock funds recorded inflows of $451m in the week to December 14, the biggest weekly haul since the first quarter of 2011, according to EPFR. Mutual funds and exchange […]
Latest asset of Abu Dhabi’s cruise tourism sector set to change face of ‘winter sun’ tourism in Abu Dhabi Abu Dhabi-UAE: December 15, 2016 Under the patronage of His Highness Sheikh Hamdan Bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Ruler’s Representative in the Western Region, Abu Dhabi Ports today has officially opened Sir Bani Yas Cruise Beach, offering cruise ship passengers a new beach destination with unmatched tourism experiences. […]
Friday 02:10 GMT Overview The US dollar has climbed to a 14-year high in the wake of the Federal Reserve’s decision this week to lift interest rates, putting pressure on Asian currencies and prompting caution among traders of regional stocks. Hot topic The dollar has been one of the biggest stories of the December quarter thanks to a more robust outlook for US inflation and growth. That […]
It has been touted as one of the most exciting Dubai mega-projects of recent years and has now come to fruition. The $735m Dubai Water Canal — carved out of land between Business Bay and Jumeirah — opened to the public last month, creating a water-bound ‘mini-Manhattan’ that flows from Downtown Dubai to the ocean. The 3.2km-long canal is the final segment of the Dubai Creek extension, […]
Doha, Qatar December 15, 2016 Muntajat (Qatar Chemical and Petrochemical Marketing and Distribution Company Q.J.S.C.) signed its first international agency marketing agreement with Total. The signing ceremony took place at the K Trade Fair 2016 in Dusseldorf, Germany and was attended by senior representatives from Muntajat and Total. Total produces a range of polymers including polyethylene, polypropylene, and polystyrene. With Polymers business unit offices based in Brussels, […]
What’s the story behind your business? Our story is a typical start-up story. We began 15 years ago with six people, and at the time we operated out of our chairman’s extra bedroom in Jumeirah. We started the agency with the philosophy of changing the rules of advertising across the region. At the time, people thought we were a bit crazy – they said everything had already […]
Adobe delivered strong fourth quarter financial results Thursday as the company continues to push an aggressive cloud strategy toward record-setting revenue growth. The creative software giant reported Q4 net income of $399.6 million, or 80 cents a share. Non-GAAP earnings in the quarter were 90 cents a share on revenue of $1.61 billion, up 23 percent year over year. Wall Street was looking for earnings of 86 […]
WASHINGTON/BEIJING China’s plan to punish a U.S. automaker accused of price-fixing is a sign of how Beijing could retaliate if President-elect Donald Trump upends decades of relations between the two nations. Trump’s assertion that the United States need not be bound by the policy that Taiwan is part of “one China” would erode a bedrock of U.S.-China ties that has underpinned the vast increase in trade and […]
The US dollar marched higher on Thursday, reaching its strongest level against the euro for more than a decade, after the US Federal Reserve signalled a more aggressive outlook for interest rate policy. Europe’s single currency was among the hardest hit, falling through the $1.04 level to trade at its lowest level since early 2003. Driving the dollar’s strength is a growing divergence between benchmark interest rates […]
“If they’ve managed to sleep through the night, bonds traders in the US will have quite a shock when they check their screens in the morning,” Mohamed El-Erian, chief economic adviser at Allianz, tweeted early on Thursday. Wall Street bond traders and investors will have turned in on Wednesday night already jolted by the Federal Reserve, which under Janet Yellen’s leadership has become synonymous with caution on […]
By: PTI | Lahore | Published:December 15, 2016 3:38 pm Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif. In a relief to Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, the Lahore High Court has dismissed a petition seeking his disqualification on the charges of corruption amid a row over the Panama Papers leak that names his family as having misappropriated properties in the UK. LHC Justice Shams Mahmood Mirza yesterday dismissed the […]
By Natalie Schachar | MEXICO CITY MEXICO CITY Some Mexican banks are lowering credit card spending limits and raising consumer lending standards in the face of an economic slowdown, rising interest rates and the U.S. election victory of Donald Trump. After a period of robust overall credit growth, Mexican banks are cutting credit card exposure to counter a potential rise in consumer defaults and the risks of […]
Thursday 11:00 GMT Overview Stock markets are trading cautiously as Treasury yields hit fresh highs after the Federal Reserve’s decision to raise interest rates for only the second time since the financial crisis. The prospect of the US central bank perhaps having to tighten policy faster than expected to reflect any additional boost to growth from president-elect Trump’s fiscal plans is lifting the dollar to a 14-year […]
