Mosed Shaye Omar, 64, a naturalized American citizen since 1978, sued the State Department and Secretary John Kerry, claiming he was coerced into acknowledging that he had a name different from what was on his passport. By LIZ ROBBINS May 27, 2015 For nearly five hours on Jan. 21, 2013, in a windowless room at the United States Embassy in Sana, Yemen, an American citizen and Brooklyn grocery store […]
UAE. The private equity market in the Middle East has matured in the last five years in terms of deal structures, volumes and values, according to speakers at a debate organised by ICAEW’s Corporate Finance Faculty in the UAE. ICAEW members and guests gathered at Jumeirah Emirates Towers in Dubai last week (Wednesday, 20th May) to discuss private equity in the region. The event, sponsored by Merrill […]
|By K Raveendran| The battle for supremacy between American and European legacy airlines on one side and the Gulf carriers of Emirates, Etihad and Qatar Airways is apparently entering another interesting phase. An indication of how the tussle might play out in the days to come was available a couple of days ago, when one of the Gulf players threatened the other side with dire economic consequences […]
qI live in the UAE but have an outstanding loan from Kuwait from about a year ago. As I was unemployed I have only made very small payments on the loan in the past year. I now have a full-time job but a debt collector in America has been calling me threatening me with a travel ban, since there is a National Bank of Kuwait in the […]
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 […]
UAE. The findings of a new study by The Boston Consulting Group (BCG), a global management consulting firm and the world’s leading advisor on business strategy, shows that mobile technologies are creating immense value for consumers – value that greatly exceeds the costs of owning a mobile device. In fact, consumers worldwide value mobile technologies at 11 to 45 percent of their income – well above what […]
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 […]
MOSCOW/FRANKFURT Russia’s media watchdog has written to Google, Twitter and Facebook warning them against violating Russian Internet laws and a spokesman said on Thursday they risk being blocked if they do not comply with the rules. Roskomnadzor said it had sent letters this week to the three U.S.-based Internet firms asking them to comply with Internet laws which critics of President Vladimir Putin have decried as censorship. […]
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 […]
|Special by TAP Staff| RERA’s Rent Index system continues to be unrealistic as it fails to factor in variables such as views, size of units, age of the building, and this might may trigger a period of ‘off-grid’ deals, where landlords and tenants agree to rents that are not in sync with RERA’s recommendations, property consultants Cluttons has predicted. The Cluttons’ report highlights that with supply levels […]
|TAP Special| Citibank has lost a key decision in its defense of a lawsuit in Abu Dhabi accusing the bank of self-dealing, defrauding investors, and attempting to cover-up investor losses. The Abu Dhabi Commercial Court of First Instance on April 14, 2015 determined the lawsuit should proceed and ordered the appointment of a Committee of Experts to review evidence and determine Citibank’s culpability. The Court’s decision is […]
Dubai’s drive to develop its Islamic finance sector is fuelling growth of sharia-compliant banking but the benefits are unevenly distributed, with some lenders struggling to compete against burgeoning competition. In 2013, Dubai’s government announced plans to turn the emirate into a centre for an “Islamic economy” with sharia-compliant businesses ranging from banking to asset management, trade, food preparation and certification, fashion, education and tourism. This looked like […]
Deutsche Bank must pay the largest ever fine levied by the regulator of Dubai’s financial free zone for what the watchdog described as “serious contraventions” by the German lender’s wealth management business in the emirate. The $8.4 million levy from the Dubai Financial Services Authority (DFSA) is the latest regulatory blow for the Frankfurt-based lender, which faces billions of euros in potential claims or settlements over alleged […]
|By TAP Staff| Investors see growing overvaluations in both equities and bonds and have signaled concern about a valuation bubble forming, according to the BofA Merrill Lynch Fund Manager Survey for April. The proportion of global investors saying equity markets are overvalued has reached its highest level since 2000. A net 25 percent of respondents to the global survey say that global equities are currently overvalued, up […]
Deloitte appoints director forensic services in Saudi RIYADH, 3 days ago Deloitte Corporate Finance in the Middle East has appointed Abdullah Farid Shaker as principal director of forensic and financial advisory services, based in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. “I am delighted to welcome Abdullah to our team, whose joining reflects the growing need for financial advisory services in the Middle East and in KSA specifically,” said Humphry Hatton, CEO […]
GIB unit fund appoints Barclays for brokerage services MANAMA, 3 days ago GIB Emerging Markets Opportunities Fund, the flagship hedge fund of GIB (UK), has appointed Barclays Bank to provide additional prime brokerage services to the fund. GIB UK is a subsidiary of Bahrain-based Gulf International Bank (GIB), said a report in the Gulf Daily News (GDN), our sister publication. The appointment complements the relationship with the […]
The specter of an atomic arms race in the world’s most volatile region has heightened the stakes in Iran’s nuclear talks after Saudi Arabia’s repeated hints it would seek its own atomic weapons if Tehran ever did the same. Riyadh’s unprecedented action in assembling a coalition of other Sunni Muslim countries to bomb Tehran’s Houthi allies in Yemen this week has shown how seriously it takes the […]
QATAR. Notwithstanding the weak start for the global economy, Asian economies are expected to continue to grow rapidly in 2015. We expect economic growth to average 5.7% in 2015, the same rate as in 2014. However this masks significant differences across Asian countries that mainly depend on their exposure to global headwinds. India and Myanmar stand out as bright spots for 2015, while China, Indonesia, Malaysia and […]
The next big threat to oil prices isn’t from OPEC or Bakken shale. It’s Russian samovars, or teapots. Simple refineries that process crude into fuel oil are scaling back, because when oil prices slump, the government reduces the discount that these refiners — known as teapots to those in the industry — get for exporting fuel. They use less crude, freeing it up for sale abroad, which […]
Salim Al Aufi, Oman’s undersecretary for oil and gas, likens attempts to cut the reliance on oil during a price slump to acting “with a gun pointed at your head.” If you have to make decisions under pressure, “you will probably make the wrong ones,” he said March 3 in Muscat during a panel discussion on the impact of the oil shock. Oman relied too much on […]
Dubai is adjusting regulation of investment firms that handle the money of wealthy people in its financial free zone, a move that could help the zone win more wealth-management business from the Middle East and Asia. Like other financial hubs, the Dubai International Financial Centre (DIFC) distinguishes between less-sophisticated retail clients and richer, more experienced professional clients, which are assumed to need less regulatory protection. New rules […]
Fast-growing Gulf Arab banks plan to bolster their reserves by issuing capital-boosting bonds, but uncertainty over regulation and ultra-tight pricing increase the risks for issuers and investors. Basel III standards, now being phased in around the world, will require banks to hold more capital. While Gulf banks have very high capital adequacy ratios, their rapid expansion, and the fact they operate in emerging markets with lower sovereign […]
RAF Police Flight Sergeant Will Barrow & his dog Buster. Buster served 4 tours of duty in Bosnia Afghanistan and Iraq, with Will and is the subject of a new book Photo: Philip Hollis/The Telegraph Flight Sergeant Will Barrow was crouched low, his heart pounding, in the belly of a Viking armoured vehicle under intense Taliban gunfire, when a clear and sudden understanding of his own mortality came […]
