Two moves by the government will significantly impact India’s banking segment— a decision to amend the Securitisation and Reconstruction of Financial Assets and Enforcement of Security Interest (SARFAESI) Act, 2002, during the Winter Session of Parliament to allow banks to take charge of companies that wilfully default on loan repayment and second, a plan to put in place a holding company structure for public sector banks. The […]
Op-Ed Contributor By MICHAEL SINGH August 19, 2014 WASHINGTON — President Obama surprised many recently when he diagnosed the crisis gripping Iraq as partly an economic one, noting that Iraqi Sunnis were “detached from the global economy” and thus frustrated in achieving their aspirations. While Iraq’s chaos has many sources, the president is nevertheless on to something; and it’s not just Iraqi Sunnis, but the entire Middle East that […]
Militant Group Says It Killed American Journalist in Syria James Foley, in a photo from the website FreeJamesFoley.org, in Aleppo, Syria, in November 2012, the month he disappeared. By RUKMINI CALLIMACHI August 19, 2014 The Islamic State in Iraq and Syria posted a video on Tuesday that it said showed the beheading of James Foley, an American journalist who was kidnapped in Syria nearly two years ago, according to […]
|By TAP Staff| Aldar Properties has reported a strong wave of demand for long-term, bulk lease deals from corporate clients. The lease agreements signed with corporate clients range from two to 30 years, providing Aldar with long-term security of income. Both local and international companies have signed bulk leases at Al Rayyana, The Gates Towers, The Arc, Sun and Sky Towers and Al Murjan Tower over the […]
German Rolf Buchholz, who holds the world record for having the most piercings, was refused entry into Dubai because of security concerns. He was due to perform at a Dubai nightclub. Associated Press The world’s most pierced man proved too much for Dubai authorities on Friday as they refused him entry amid allegations of “black magic”. Rolf Buchholz had just arrived in Dubai and passed through immigration […]
The Islamic State militant group has executed 700 members of a tribe it has been battling in eastern Syria during the past two weeks, the majority of them civilians, a human rights monitoring group and activists said on Saturday. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, which has tracked violence on all sides of the three-year-old conflict, said reliable sources reported beheadings were used to execute many of […]
Egyptian security forces intentionally killed hundreds of protesters following the military’s ouster of former President Mohamed Morsi, Human Rights Watch, or HRW, said on Tuesday, urging a United Nations’ probe into what it described as “crimes against humanity”. In a 188-page report based on a year-long investigation, the New York-based advocacy group said systematic and widespread killing of at least 1,150 Morsi supporters by security forces at […]
AL AIN // Thirteen companies have been referred to prosecutors in Al Ain for allegedly breaking labour and residency rules. During two, three-day, inspection campaigns with Al Ain police, the Ministry of Labour arrested 24 people who were found, in most cases, to be working with an expired visa. Thirteen women from eight firms and 11 male workers from five companies were arrested over the Eid break. […]
Secretary of State John Kerry in Sydney, Australia, on Monday. By MICHAEL R. GORDON August 11, 2014 SYDNEY, Australia — Secretary of State John Kerry warned Prime Minister Nuri Kamal al-Maliki of Iraq on Monday not to interfere with the process of picking a new Iraqi leader, cautioning pointedly that a power grab would lead to a cutoff of international support. “There should be no use of force,” Mr. Kerry […]
By KAREEM FAHIM August 11, 2014 CAIRO — Security officials have refused to allow two senior staff members from the New York-based advocacy group Human Rights Watch to enter Egypt, where the two were due to release the findings of the group’s yearlong investigation into mass killings of protesters carried out by Egyptian government forces last summer. The group’s executive director, Kenneth Roth, and the director of the Middle […]
U.S. Actions in Iraq Fueled Rise of a Rebel An image of Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, taken from a video of a sermon he gave in July in Mosul. By TIM ARANGO and ERIC SCHMITT August 10, 2014 BAGHDAD — When American forces raided a home near Falluja during the turbulent 2004 offensive against the Iraqi Sunni insurgency, they got the hard-core militants they had been looking for. They also picked up […]
President Barack Obama said on Saturday U.S. air strikes had destroyed arms that Islamic State militants could have used against Iraqi Kurds, but he warned there was no quick fix to a crisis that threatens to tear Iraq apart. Speaking before U.S. warplanes struck militant targets for the second straight day, Obama said it would take more than bombs to restore stability, and criticized Prime Minister Nuri […]
|TAP Special|Fighting in Iraq has had little impact on the overall market confidence in the Gulf as investors do not see any direct impact on the GCC, as a result of which currency forwards and credit default swaps have not risen. But several Gulf stocks with exposure to Iraqi Kurdistan could face fresh pressure in coming days. Abu Dhabi National Energy Co (TAQA) has announced suspension of […]
By Steve Guenette: On August 6 Bloomberg reported that the Chinese government has excluded certain Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL) products from being bought with public money because of security concerns, this according to government officials who asked to not be identified because the information is not supposed to be public. This move by the Chinese government should come as no surprise, as Apple is just one in a […]
Mumbai: After witnessing decline in profit for six consecutive quarters, State Bank of India (SBI), the country’s largest lender, reported 3.3 per cent net profit growth to Rs 3,349 crore for the quarter ended June, compared to Rs 3,241 crore in the corresponding period of last year. Arundhati Bhattacharya, Chairman, SBI, said: “Pressure (on asset quality) appears to be subsiding. But we need to see a pick-up in the economy to see appreciable changes in asset quality.” Net interest income grew 15 per cent to Rs 13,252 crore and fee income growth was 11 per cent to Rs 2,837 crore, though there was a fall in treasury income. The profitability got a boost of Rs 6,000 crore from sale of stressed assets to asset reconstruction companies (ARCs) during the q
New Delhi: With co-development and co-production of defence products in mind, India and the US on Friday agreed to take the Defence Technology and Trade Initiative forward.
The decision was taken at the delegation-level talks between defence minister Arun Jaitley and US secretary of defence Chuck Hagel, who is on a three-day visit to the country.
In the meeting, both sides took note of the progress made over the years in deepening defence ties. Both the sides reaffirmed their desire to further enhance bilateral defence cooperation, especially in technology and discussed ways for strengthening this partnership.
Stressing on indigenisation of the defence industries, Jaitley said, “The develop
PARIS– France is “ready to play a full part” in actions to protect and help civilians in Iraq from attacks from the militant group that calls itself Islamic state, French President Francois Hollande‘s office said Friday in a statement. France will discuss possible actions in Iraq with the U.S. and its partners to end civilians’ sufferings, the statement said. Mr. Hollande welcomed U.S. President Barack Obama‘s decision to […]
NEW DELHI: Contrary to popular perception, India has little to worry about its product-specific support to agriculture exceeding the limits prescribed by the World Trade Organisation (WTO), a recent study has revealed.
This implies that New Delhi’s aggressive stance at the world body, seeking leeway from the cap on public stockholding for food security or even a total waiver from the restriction citing the resource-poor status of its farmers, lacked rationale.
The country’s product-specific subsidy for rice stood at minus 2.87% and that for wheat at minus 10.22% of the respective production values in 2010-11 when calculated on a fully inflation-adjusted basis, according to a joint paper by Icrier exper
MUMBAI: The Reserve Bank has relaxed norms for refinancing of infrastructure loans which banks want to be tagged as standard assets. From April 2015, the moment a loan is restructured, banks will have to classify them as bad loan. RBI had made an exception to the rule by allowing banks to classify infrastructure loans as standard assets if half of the outstanding loans are refinanced by a new set of lenders in the form of take-out financing. On Thursday, the central bank relaxed this norm by allowing standard tag if 25 per cent of the outstanding is met through take-out financing. Also, an infrastructure loan that is refinanced can be tagged as standard asset provided promoters are willing to invest more equity in the project. But the standard tag will be a
New Delhi: Global defence equipment majors such as BAE Systems and Lockheed Martin could set up manufacturing units in India and bring in foreign direct investment (FDI) exceeding 49 per cent, provided the company’s chief executive officer (CEO) is Indian.
As the objective was to let only serious players enter the market, the defence FDI policy approved by the Cabinet on Wednesday categorically stated investee companies should be self-sufficient in product designing and have maintenance and life cycle support facilities for the products they manufactured here, said a senior department of industrial policy and promotion (DIPP) official.
The Union Cabinet had approved an increase in the composite foreign investme
The U.S. is considering airdrops of aid for thousands of refugees driven from their homes by Islamist militants in Iraq, and possible airstrikes against the insurgents, according to a defense official. Aircraft dropping food and other humanitarian supplies to the refugees would be accompanied by military planes, the official said, asking not to be identified because discussions are private. If the insurgents target the planes, the U.S. […]
NEW DELHI: Through a quick series of notifications, the Union environment ministry has eased rules for mining, roads, power and irrigation projects and other industrial sectors. It has diluted a host of regulations related to environment, forest and tribal rights. Besides, sources in the ministry say, more changes in regulations are in the pipeline.
Environment Minister Prakash Javadekar had earlier done away with the requirement of public hearing for coal mines below 16 million tonnes per annum (mtpa) wishing to expand output by up to 50 per cent. This has now been extended to mines above 16 mtpa, permitting them to mine up to five mtpa more without consulting affected people. Public hearings, the only occasion when affected people are
NEW DELHI: The government will bring a Bill, amending the Central Electricity Act, in winter session of Parliament to improve the tariff policy and regulations in the power sector. The power ministry is working out different tariff structure for different times of the day for easy availability of power for maximum hours in electricity deficit areas. It will soon consult states over the issue as the tariff matter comes under the states’ domain.
Besides, the government has decided to promote domestic power companies to help increase solar power generation in the country. Announcing these decisions in Rajya Sabha, power minister Piyush Goyal said the government will allow only 100% indigenous domestic companies to participate in the
NEW DELHI: The Obama administration will push for the stalled mega deals for M-777 ultra-light howitzers and Javelin anti-tank guided missiles (ATGMs) when US defence secretary Chuck Hagel comes visiting from Thursday.
There will be talks on ways to further bolster the already expansive strategic partnership, ranging from sharing of intelligence and cooperation on counter-terrorism to joint combat exercises, but the cornerstone will remain the US offer to provide India with “ground-breaking” weapon technology on par with its closest allies.
Having bagged defence deals worth over $10 billion over the last decade, the US is obviously hungry for more. Of the different co-development and co-prod
