|By James M. Dorsey| A series of Gulf and Middle East-related developments suggest that resolving some of the Middle East’s most debilitating and devastating crises while ensuring that efforts to pressure Iran do not perpetuate the mayhem may be easier said than done. They also suggest that the same is true for keeping US and Saudi interests aligned. Optimists garner hope from the fact that the US Senate may […]
|By Arabian Post Staff| Media reports have quoted Houthi forces as claiming a rocket battalion attack on the Dubai International Airport. The UAE General Civil Aviation Authority (GCAA), however, denied the Houthi media claims and affirmed that the UAE air traffic was operating business as usual. The denial was carried by official news agency WAM in a one-sentence statement. According to the Houthi forces’ official media wing, […]
By James M. Dorsey A look at a decade of failed social, economic and political reform in Jordan goes a far way to explain recent mass anti-government protests demanding the resignation of the government. The protests, prompting concerns about the survival of the Hashemite dynasty, also bear witness to the fallout of the region’s epic power struggles and the pitfalls of government failures to respond to long-standing […]
|By Matein Khalid| I had written an article titled “six reasons to be bullish Saudi equities in 2018, published in the KT on January 28. Yet I was surprised to see Saudi Arabian equities become the world’s second best performing stock market in 2018 after Egypt. The Saudi equity index fund (KSA) I recommended in my column is up 18% at a time when the MSCI emerging markets […]
By James M. Dorsey A Saudi Moroccan soccer spat speaks volumes about the depth of change in the Arab world. The spat over Saudi Arabia’s refusal to support a Moroccan bid for the hosting rights of the 2026 World Cup tells the tale of the rise of individual country nationalism at the expense of Arab solidarity, Saudi determination to safeguard its alliance with the United States at whatever cost, […]
By James M. Dorsey The Gulf crisis that pits a United Arab Emirates-Saudi-led alliance against Qatar is escalating in discreet but no less worrisome ways that effect major third-party commercial interests and could increase international pressure for a resolution of the dispute. In a major shift away from Saudi and UAE restraint in attempting to force the international community and multi-nationals from taking sides in the 11-month […]
|By Arabian Post Staff| Sixty-nine percent of adults in the UAE work full-time for an employer – the highest rate in the world. However, a much lower percentage, 12%, have full-time jobs that engage them. These are some of the findings from global analytics and advice firm Gallup’s new global job figures,. The new report examines the distribution of quality jobs across the world. While the percentage of adults with […]
By James M. Dorsey Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman’s investment of $1 billion and option to pump a further $480 million into Richard Branson’s ventures in space, confirmed during the prince’s recent visit to the United States, was more than just another headline-grabbing move. By focusing on space sciences, long a field rejected by ultra-conservative Islamic scholars, some of whom insist that the earth is flat, Prince […]
A new partnership between the UAE and India will enable the UAE to communicate with India the requirements of skills and their certification for Indian workers coming to the UAE. Accordingly India can align its ambitious skill development programmes and certification procedures with the requirements of the UAE’s job market. The UAE and India announced on Monday the launch of a new strategic partnership focused on skill […]
By James M. Dorsey There’s a cutting-off-the-nose-to-spite-the face aspect to a Saudi plan to turn Qatar into an island by digging a 60-kilometre ocean channel through the two countries’ land border that would accommodate a nuclear waste heap as well as a military base. If implemented, the channel would signal the kingdom’s belief that relations between the world’s only two Wahhabi states will not any time soon return to […]
By James M. Dorsey In his effort to improve Saudi Arabia’s badly tarnished image and project the kingdom as embracing an unidentified form of moderate Islam, Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman has hinted that he envisions a conservative rather than an ultra-conservative society, but not one in which citizens are fully free to make personal, let alone political choices of their own. Prince Mohammed’s vision, although […]
|By Matein Khalid| I had projected a bloodbath in the US Treasury bond market since late 2016, when it was obvious that Trump’s tax reform would double the US budget deficit at the same time as the Federal Reserve prepared to “normalize” or shrink its balance sheet by $470 billion. Fiscal stimulus is often a policy ballast amid a depression, as in the early 1980’s or 2009, not […]
Carillion, the British company building a number of high profile construction projects across the Gulf region, including building part of the infrastructure for Qatar 2022 World Cup, has collapsed. The implications of the development on the Qatar World Cup are yet unknown. British media reported that Carillion collapse is one of the UK’s biggest corporate failures, leaving the future of some of its Middle Eastern projects unclear. The […]
By Saifur Rahman Dubai Government expects its Dh376.8 billion (US$102.67 billion) economy to grow at 3.5 per cent in 2018, slightly lower than the UAE economic growth, pegged at 3.9 per cent, according to a news release issued by the Department of Economic Development (DED), the government’s trade licensing body. The country has just implemented a 5 per cent Value-Added Tax (VAT) from January 1, 2018, expects […]
By Manish Rai Last year in June Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Bahrain and Egypt imposed a land, sea, and air blockade on Qatar for its alleged support to terror outfits and being too close to Iran. The Arab neighbours thought that by imposing this blockade they can pressurise Qatar to set aside its own ambitious foreign policy and toe the line of its bigger neighbours. But during […]
|By Matein Khalid| US and global equities surged on news of the US House of Representatives pass the tax reform bill, Cisco and Walmart posted blowout earnings and a potential bidding war emerged for Fox’s media assets. The rally on Thursday followed a week of carnage in the US high yield debt markets, flattening of the US Treasury yield curve and losses in the major stock market indices worldwide. […]
|By Matein Khalid|Emaar Properties will sell 20% of its UAE development portfolio in an initial public offering in November. This is the first IPO in the UAE capital markets in the last three years and follows bellwether offerings such as Emaar Malls and Emaar Misr. Emaar’s Dubai development’s adjusted net value is 24.1 UAE dirhams and I would not be surprised if the post IPO revalues the […]
The IMF recently upgraded the global growth outlook for 2018, and the oil price is trading at its highest levels since 2015. These are both positive developments for the UAE economy, which is expected to see an uptick in growth in 2018. But will this be the beginning of a sustained period of growth, or will it just be a rebound from the recent slump in growth? […]
DUBAI // In an age when so many of the tales told about the Arab world are tinged with despair, there was at least one night set aside to celebrate some good. That’s what the audience wanted, and they came by the thousands to see it first hand. There to hear the inspirational stories were Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid, Vice President and Ruler of Dubai, and Sheikh […]
Lubna Qassim is no career diplomat, but in her varied legal and political career, she has had the privilege of walking the corridors of power in London and Dubai. These days, as well as being executive vice president and group general counsel for Emirates NBD, Qassim is a member of several corporate boards. Qassim, the eldest of four daughters, credits her business acumen to the fact that […]
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates: Donald Trump Jr. traveled to Dubai and met a billionaire business partner in the city-state, discussing “new ideas” as the Emirati’s real estate firm still lists possible plans for future joint projects while Trump’s father is in the White House.The Trump Organization has said it won’t make new foreign deals while Donald Trump serves as America’s 45th president. That didn’t affect the Trump […]
A festival, unlike, say, a concert or exhibition, is a contained, utopian world, with a focus on a set of circumscribed pursuits. Like a highbrow summer camp for adults, festivals offer a jot of escapism, a chance to turn our attention away from some of the weightier issues of the past year. What makes them stand apart from other events is the joy of sharing the same […]
Your daily guide to community and cultural activities across the Emirates for May 18, 2017, including performances, festivals, art exhibitions, film screenings, health and fitness events, talks, classes, workshops and family fun. Ellen Fortini rounds up 10 things to do today in the UAE. Want to see your event listed here? Email us with the details and contact information at [email protected] newslide Abu Dhabi Art workshop Take […]
This Jan. 14, 2015 satellite image provided by NASA shows the shattered remains of a colossal iceberg known as B-15 on the Ross Ice Shelf in Antarctica. A Dubai firm’s dream of towing icebergs from the Antarctic to the Arabian Peninsula could face some titanic obstacles. Where many see the crumbling polar ice caps as a distressing illustration of global warming, the company sees it as a […]
