BAHRAIN. On June 12, 2015, Standard & Poor’s Ratings Services affirmed its long- and short-term foreign and local currency sovereign credit ratings on the Kingdom of Bahrain at ‘BBB-/A-3’. We also affirmed our long- and short-term foreign and local currency credit ratings on the Central Bank of Bahrain at ‘BBB-/A-3’. The outlooks on both Bahrain and its central bank remain negative. RATIONALE We expect that Bahrain’s fiscal […]
“I don’t discriminate with music,” says Mannan Alawar with a laugh, “as long as it’s good.” Whether he is reinventing the UAE national anthem on electric guitar for a YouTube audience or leaping into a crowd mid-solo, Alawar is hardly the average Emirati banker. The 24-year-old is a musician at heart, dividing his time between his day job, several bands and finishing a business degree. When he […]
By JODI RUDOREN June 14, 2015 JERUSALEM — In a pre-emptive strike against a forthcoming United Nations report on the war last year between Israel and Palestinian militants in the Gaza Strip, Israel’s Foreign Ministry on Sunday issued a lengthy paper arguing that its troops adhered to international law and blaming the militants for most of the s civilian casualties in Gaza. Israel has refused to cooperate with the […]
Actors preparing for “1945,” a play produced by Al-Midan Theater after one inspired by the case of a convicted murderer generated protests. By DIAA HADID June 13, 2015 HAIFA, Israel — The play had been staged many times for Arabic-speaking audiences in Israel without controversy. But a performance with Hebrew subtitles for a wider audience was all it took to touch off a major furor. The play, “Parallel Time,” […]
Chinese inventor of the e-cigarette Hon Lik poses for a photograph in central London, Britain June 9, 2015. Reuters/Stefan Wermuth LONDON Before Hon Lik invented the e-cigarette, a device now shaking up the Big Tobacco industry, he was a pharmacist in China struggling to quit a two-to-three pack a day smoking habit. Once in 2002, Hon forgot to remove a nicotine patch from his stomach before bed […]
Renovations have started at a 9.5-acre compound in the West Bank that started as a church-run hospital in the 1950s and later became a hostel for travelers. By JODI RUDOREN June 9, 2015 NEAR EL AROUB REFUGEE CAMP, West Bank — The old stone compound set amid Palestinian farmland between the cities of Bethlehem and Hebron has a relatively new fence. The compound, with eight buildings spread over 9.5 […]
|TAP Special| Sections of public opinion in the Arab Gulf see anti-Arab bias and the grudge in losing the bid for hosting World Cup as the main motivation for the campaign against Qatar in the award of 2022 tournament. As it becomes increasingly clear that the corruption scandal can have very negative implications for the hosting of the tournament, the Arab public opinion is also becoming more […]
ABU DHABI // Want to save the environment? Start by cleaning your plate. That’s the message dozens of youngsters heard yesterday as part of United Nations World Environment Day activities hosted by Tadweer at Yas Mall. The theme set by the UN for this year’s edition of the annual international campaign, which was commemorated around the world on Friday and aimed at raising awareness and action towards […]
A sign in Bethlehem, in the West Bank, calls for a boycott of products from Israeli settlements in the occupied territories. By RICK GLADSTONE June 5, 2015 South Carolina has become the first state to enact legislation aimed at thwarting an international pro-Palestinian economic and disinvestment campaign intended to penalize Israel. Illinois will soon become the second, and advocates say plans are underway for similar laws in 18 more […]
ABU DHABI // Hamda Al Mansoori will always remember Monday – it was the day she met Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed. Hamda, 33, a student at the Abu Dhabi Centre for Special Needs, and seven friends were received by Sheikh Mohammed, Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi and Deputy Supreme Commander of the Armed Forces. He asked them what they wish-ed for and when it came to her […]
UAE. On managing the work/life complexity Richard Jolly, Adjunct Professor of Organisational Behaviour, London Business School comments: “The demands from work and personal life have never been greater in the GCC. I see two reasons senior managers should take a closer look at the way the complexities of work and personal life are handled in their companies. “It’s what we call the ‘Double Crunch’ a stage where […]
ABU DHABI // For Farzad Bayat, the cameraman on A Place Called Home, travelling to undeveloped parts of the world has given him a new outlook on life. Mr Bayat, 33, who is originally from Norway, was among the crew who went to India, Bangladesh and the Philippines to meet the families who were the film’s subjects. Mr Bayat, who also helped to edit the film, said: […]
Men stood on a building damaged during Hamas’s last war with Israel. Gaza’s unemployment rate has risen to 44 percent, the highest in the world. By DIAA HADID and MAJD AL WAHEIDI June 1, 2015 GAZA CITY — On a street here crammed with glittery clothing and electronic shops, Mahmoud Matar flipped through the receipt book for his appliance store, much of it blank: His lone sale that day was a $7 […]
NORWICH, UK // A former UAE teacher has published a book on Islamic art for children that she hopes will help to improve perceptions of the Muslim world. Mary Beardwood spent six years researching and writing Discovering Islamic Art, the second book she has written about the culture and traditions of the region. A retired teacher who worked at Jebel Ali Primary School, Rashid School for Boys […]
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 […]
JORDAN. Technology will be a “game changer” in tackling youth unemployment in the Middle East and North Africa’s emerging Digital Economy, but only if the government, private, and people sectors collaborate effectively, according to a new report released on the eve of the World Economic Forum on the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) 2015. The report “Re-Dynamizing the Job Machine: Technology-Driven Transformation of Labor Markets in […]
DUBAI // Outstanding achievements by UAE women in fields as diverse as civil aviation, business strategy, technology and social enterprise were recognised on Monday night. Laila Al Muhairi, assistant director general for strategy and international affairs at the General Civil Aviation Authority, won the first award in the professional category at the Emirates Women Awards. “My objective is to inspire generations of girls in the UAE and […]
SHARJAH // More than Dh11 million worth of humanitarian aid was offered to poor or low-income families in the first quarter of this year, Sharjah Charity Society has announced. Abdullah Sultan bin Khadam, of the SCS board, said that monthly financial assistance totalled Dh3.4 million, adding rent instalments worth Dh1.7 million were paid to more than 200 families. Almost Dh2 million was spent on surgeries for 150 […]
Photo Leah Pfeiffer, left, a student at the Culinary Institute of America, and Chuck Yu, a West Point cadet, cooking in a C.I.A. kitchen in October 2013.Credit Mike Groll for The New York Times We are hard pressed to think of many world-class liberal arts colleges with entire student bodies ambitiously studying and training toward a single profession – and in uniforms that are far from Vassar’s […]
|By Alaa Alghamdi| There can be few more crucial yet intractable conundrums in the world today than the question of the root causes of terrorism. Terrorism seems to strike out of the blue, and sometimes with devastating force; dealing with its effects after the event is very far from being a tenable strategy. If there is a way to deal with terrorism it is to prevent it, […]
In my previous column, I outlined the innovative German system of cooperative study and universities of applied sciences. These institutes in particular support a practical, hands-on approach to learning about engineering. But where do managers of mid-sized business learn the tools of their trade? As we have seen, traditionally, the answer would be through common sense and trial and error. The majority of world-leading mid-sized enterprises were […]
After an extensive and sometimes contentious public and politcal debate, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) voted February 26, with a 3 to 2 split along party lines, in favor of new regulations intended to preserve Net neutrality. The vote is seen as a win both for the Obama administration and a large Net roots activist campaign that has been pushing for this outcome for several years. Under […]
Ooredoo to showcase next-gen smart solutions DOHA, 5 hours, 28 minutes ago Ooredoo is set to showcase a range of ‘smart’ technologies at this year’s GSMA Mobile World Congress, as the company continues to develop new life-enhancing services to serve customers across its footprint. The theme of this year’s congress, which will run from March 2 to 5 in Barcelona, Spain, is ‘The Edge of Innovation,’ and […]
Video | Israel Remembers Jewish Paris Victims The Israeli president, the prime minister and the wife of one of the four Jewish victims in a Paris kosher market attack spoke at the burial ceremony for the slain men in Jerusalem. By JODI RUDOREN January 13, 2015 JERUSALEM — They were buried Tuesday not in the land where they had made their homes but in what was described as their […]
