UNITED NATIONS — The Security Council is scheduled to vote Thursday on a resolution that would ask the International Criminal Court to investigate war crimes in Syria. Russia is certain to veto the resolution. Its Western rivals are equally certain to seize on that veto in an attempt to isolate the Kremlin diplomatically. Supporters of the resolution, which was drafted by France, have spent days drumming up […]
FIFA, the governing body of world soccer, is no stranger to controversy. Allegations of bribery, corruption and vote-rigging have swirled around the organization for years, many of them recently centered on Qatar and its winning bid for the 2022 World Cup. Jerome Champagne, a French former diplomat and FIFA executive, wants the chance to right the ship. Jerome Champagne is running for FIFA president next year. Reuters […]
The BBC’s John Inverdale got himself into trouble when he posited that Marion Bartoli ‘never going to be much of a looker’ Photo: Reuters In 1994, a 20-year-old trainee physiotherapist received a letter from Alex Ferguson, the manager of Manchester United Football Club, declining her request for a work placement. Ferguson explained his reasoning thus: “Most of the players felt that football was very much a male sport, […]
How much? Labour leader Ed Miliband estimated the price of his weekly shop at something like £70 or £80 – roughly £30 below the UK average Photo: PA David Cameron must have been beside himself with glee. On the penultimate day of campaigning for the local and European elections, his two main rivals – Nigel Farage and Ed Miliband – bounced from blunder to blunder. Mr Miliband kicked […]
|TAP Special| Sharjah might soon have its own Metro, which could be linked to Etihad Rai, as part of a massive plan to develop the emirate’s transport infrastructure, according to sources familiar with the plan. The newly-created Sharjah Roads and Transport Authority has been tasked with the responsibility of undertaking the feasibility studies in this regard. The plan also includes the development of new road networks and […]
GAZA — For 14-year-old Aseel Radi, the promised reconciliation between warring Palestinian political factions is viewed through a forlorn fountain in a crowded market on the eastern side of Gaza City. Aseel used to visit the fountain in what is known as Palestine Square with her father, Maher, a member of the Fatah faction’s armed wing who was killed by militants from its rival, Hamas, during the […]
Sheikh Hamad bin Jassim bin Jabr Al Thani, who played a key role in Glencore International Plc’s takeover of Xstrata Plc, is returning to dealmaking a year after his ouster as prime minister and head of Qatar’s sovereign wealth fund. Sheikh Hamad is injecting 1.75 billion euros ($2.4 billion) into Deutsche Bank AG through his Paramount Holdings Services Ltd. investment vehicle, the Frankfurt-based bank said May 18. […]
Donald Trump, the New York real-estate mogul, is back in Dubai with plans for a golf course and 104 mansions three years after a plan to build a hotel tower bearing his name was scrapped. Trump was involved in conceiving the 18-hole course, designed by Gil Hanse, while his daughter Ivanka oversaw the design of the houses, the star of TV’s “The Apprentice” said today at a […]
BEIRUT, Lebanon — The death toll in the three-year Syrian conflict has risen to about 162,000, an increase of more than 10,000 in less than two months, according to an antigovernment monitoring group that is one of the few organizations still attempting to keep an exact count. The group, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, which is based in Britain and operates through a network of about […]
ABU DHABI, United Arab Emirates — The strike had entered its second day when construction workers at Labor Camp 42 got word that their bosses from the BK Gulf corporation had come to negotiate. Mohammed Amir Waheed Sirkar, an electrician from Bangladesh, scrambled down the stairs to meet them. But when he got to the courtyard, he saw the truth: It wasn’t the bosses who had come. […]
Mark Carney speaks during the bank’s quarterly inflation report news conference at the Bank of England in London Photo: Lefteris Pitarakis/REUTERS Britain’s economic revival has been helped by rising house prices in some parts of the country, but now the Bank of England is signalling that a bubble may have to be deflated. Yesterday, Mark Carney, the Bank’s Governor, felt moved to warn that the housing market has […]
Egypt’s weak currency, unstable security situation, energy crisis and a government that’s almost bankrupt after three years of political uncertainty hardly make ideal conditions for a market rally. But even as periodic blackouts hit Cairo and Islamist militants carry out attacks on security forces, Egypt this week is welcoming its first initial public offering since a revolution toppled former president Hosni Mubarak in 2011. Arabian Cement, a […]
TRIPOLI, Libya — Armed units loyal to a former general in eastern Libya told civilians to leave parts of Benghazi on Saturday as the troops prepared for a new assault on Islamist militias a day after heavy fighting there. The death toll from the clashes on Friday rose to about three dozen, news agencies reported, with more than 100 wounded. There was no fighting on Saturday, but […]
|By TAP Staff| Sunil John, founder and CEO of ASDA’A Burson-Marsteller, the region’s leading public relations consultancy, has been awarded the “SABRE Award for Outstanding Individual Achievement”, the first person from the Middle East to be honoured with this prestigious global award. The SABRE Awards, which are presented by The Holmes Group, a leading global public relations publishing organisation, acknowledged John’s position at the “forefront of change” […]
Iran’s oil exports declined in April for the second consecutive month, the International Energy Agency reported Thursday, moving much closer to levels permitted under a temporary accord on the Iranian nuclear dispute that is set to expire in July. Monthly data compiled by the energy agency, a 29-member group of oil importers, showed that Iran’s exports were 1.11 million barrels a day in April, down from 1.29 […]
Damac Real Estate Development Ltd. (DMC) is bolstering Dubai’s drive to lead the global Islamic economy with serviced apartments that are Shariah-compliant from their financing to their restaurants and saunas. Abu Dhabi Islamic Bank PJSC (ADIB) is managing the project’s funding as Damac, which issued its debut sukuk last month, sells the certified Islamic residences, Niall Mc Loughlin, the Dubai-based developer’s senior vice president of communication, said […]
Dubai is set to become a smart city in the next three years, which would see a thousand government services going smart along with other changes that will make daily life of the residents smoother. There will be service booths in public places like malls equipped with video conferencing, document scanning and printing services so that people can complete almost all paperwork without visiting any of the […]
If you are looking for an explanation as to why crude oil prices in Asia aren’t lower, then the blame rests squarely with Chinese stockpiling. China’s record imports of 6.78 million barrels per day (bpd) in April give the impression that oil demand is roaring ahead, but the reality is that almost half a million bpd is being put into storage tanks. The authorities don’t officially disclose […]
Kingdom Tower, the Saudi skyscraper set to be the world’s tallest building, will probably have construction funding in place by the end of the first half, the developer’s chief executive officer said today. The company is in talks to bring in Riyadh-based Alinma Bank as an adviser and lender, Mounib Hammoud, CEO of Jeddah Economic Co., told reporters today on the sidelines of a conference in Dubai. […]
Gold fell to its weakest in a week early on Monday as the euro hovered near a one-month low on fears of policy action from the European Central Bank, but the metal recovered some losses on safe-haven demand over escalating violence in Ukraine. Spot gold eased 0.2 percent to $1,286.40 an ounce by 0313 GMT, after dropping to a one-week low of $1,279.60 earlier in the session. […]
The BSE Sensex and Nifty surged to its second consecutive record high on Monday as blue-chips including ICICI Bank rallied on hopes that exit pulls due after the close of markets would show opposition Bharatiya Janata Party winning a majority in ongoing elections. India’s five-week long elections are set to conclude on Monday, with exit polls from media organisations to be released starting after 6:30 p.m. The […]
With Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. filing to go public, the biggest winner won’t be founder Jack Ma or his fellow executives or even venture capital backers like Silver Lake Management LLC. It’ll be Japan’s Masayoshi Son. Fourteen years ago, Son’s SoftBank Corp. started with a $20 million bet on a then-unknown Web portal connecting Chinese manufacturers with overseas buyers. That site evolved into China’s biggest Internet shopping […]
|By TAP Staff|Traditionally renowned for its love of fragrances, the Middle East region continues to be one of the key focus areas for international fragrance brands. With research from leading analysts Euromonitor International indicating that per capita consumption of premium fragrances in key markets such as Saudi Arabia and the UAE overshadows that of markets such as the US and the UK, it’s not surprising that the […]
An aerial view shows Dubai international airport, home to the national carrier Emirates Airways. Agence France-Presse/Getty Images Dubai International Airport last week became the world’s busiest for international traffic. But the stellar performance in the first quarter is not likely to be repeated in the second as the airport is currently undertaking a major upgrade of its runways. Here, Chris Garton, senior vice president of airport operations […]
