LEBANON. Byblos Bank issued today the results of the Byblos Bank Real Estate Demand Index for the first quarter of 2016. The results show that the Byblos Bank Real Estate Demand Index posted a monthly average of 42.5 points in the first quarter of 2016, representing a decrease of 12.5% from 48.5 points in the fourth quarter of 2015. The results constitute the ninth steepest quarter-on-quarter decline […]
SAUDI ARABIA. According to a new report by The Boston Consulting Group (BCG), the digital age has ushered in a number of trends that have transformed the media consumption habits of each Saudi generation profoundly – and vastly differently. In parallel, with information and connectivity available at everyone’s fingertips – anywhere, anytime – the Kingdom’s traditional media landscape has, in recent years, been disrupted. The findings presented […]
ABU DHABI // The Cabinet approved a national programme for tolerance on Wednesday as the country marks the holy month. Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid, Vice President and Ruler of Dubai, made the announcement while pledging that the country would continue to promote the principles of tolerance set by Sheikh Zayed, the Founding Father. “Tolerance is a key value of our ancestors and our Founding Fathers,” said Sheikh […]
In the days before rapid sea or air travel, it could take months to travel to Mecca. The spiritual heart of Islam lay far from its great capitals in Istanbul, Delhi and Isfahan. The devout came from distant lands on foot, by camel and in horse-drawn carriages. Bedouin tribes routinely robbed these pilgrims, who were the primary source of revenue for this ancient desert town. Now, the […]
By RICK GLADSTONE and NICK CUMMING-BRUCE June 7, 2016 Syria’s president promised to retake “every inch” of the country from his foes in a defiant speech on Tuesday that dimmed hope for a revival of talks to end the war, now in its sixth year. The speech by the president, Bashar al-Assad, was his first major address since talks in Geneva mediated by the United Nations broke down in April, and […]
Our Earth consists of silicate rocks and an iron core with a thin veneer of water and life. But the first potentially habitable worlds to form might have been very different. New research suggests that planet formation in the early universe might have created carbon planets consisting of graphite, carbides, and diamond. Astronomers might find these diamond worlds by searching a rare class of stars. (via WSJ […]
By ISABEL KERSHNER June 7, 2016 JERUSALEM — The Israeli police briefly detained a leader of a Jewish women’s rights group on Tuesday for bringing a Torah scroll to the Western Wall, signaling a resumption of the battle over rituals at the holy site here. Lesley Sachs, the executive director of Women of the Wall, was detained as she exited the Western Wall plaza Tuesday after prayers to mark […]
KABUL, Afghanistan — An American journalist for NPR was killed on Sunday afternoon along with his Afghan translator in a Taliban ambush in southern Afghanistan, the Afghan military confirmed. NPR also confirmed their deaths on Sunday. The victims were identified as David Gilkey, a photographer and videographer who was part of a four-person NPR team embedded with Afghan Special Forces in Helmand Province, and his translator, Zabihullah […]
AMIRIYAT FALLUJA, Iraq — One of the Iraqi civilians who risked an escape from the sprawling battle for Falluja made it as far as the Euphrates River. He was there for all to see on Sunday morning: His body, tied to the side of a boat, bobbed in the muddy waters next to a rickety bridge that separates Baghdad from the violence of Anbar Province. “Sheikh, sheikh, […]
By RANA F. SWEIS June 6, 2016 AMMAN, Jordan — Three officers of the Jordanian intelligence service and two other employees of the service were killed on Monday in a Palestinian refugee camp near the capital, Amman, in what the government said was a terrorist attack. The government has opened an investigation into the assault, which took place around 7 a.m. at an intelligence office in the Baqaa refugee camp, […]
AMMAN, Jordan — Three Jordanian intelligence officers and two other employees of the service were killed on Monday in a Palestinian refugee camp near the capital, Amman, in what the government said was a terrorist attack. The government has opened an investigation into the assault, which took place around 7 a.m. at an intelligence office in the Baqaa refugee camp, which was set up after the Arab-Israeli […]
DUBAI // A Ramadan education campaign to distribute five million books to children in refugee camps and schools around the world was launched on Sunday by Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid, Vice President and Ruler of Dubai. The Reading Nation campaign, announced by Sheikh Mohammed on Twitter, is part of Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum Global Initiatives. He said that he asks God to accept his and the […]
INTERNATIONAL. As companies move to catch up with the digital future, they are taking a close look at what kind of executive they need to lead the way. In a new report, “The Right CDO for Your Company’s Future”, Strategy&, PwC’s strategy consulting business, defines five Chief Digital Officer (CDO) “archetypes” – descriptions of typical roles CDOs might play within an organisation. The Five Archetypes of a […]
Ali was the most thrilling if not the best heavyweight ever, but he was more than the sum of his athletic gifts Ali faces the media at the US federal court in June 1967, while on trial for refusing to be inducted into the armed forces. New York: Muhammad Ali, the three-time world heavyweight boxing champion who helped define his turbulent times as the most charismatic […]
From the Rumble in the Jungle to chat-show stardom, an avalanche of footage online will ensure this legend will never die Abu Dhabi: The world may have lost one of its most iconic figures late on Friday, June 3, 2016, when Muhammad Ali died at the age of 74, but his legend will live on through a plethora of video clips online. […]
WASHINGTON — An exhausted and ill-equipped Iraqi Army faces daunting obstacles on the battlefield that will most likely delay for months a long-planned major offensive on the Islamic State stronghold of Mosul, American and allied officials say. The delay is expected despite American efforts to keep Iraq’s creaky war machine on track. Although President Obama vowed to end the United States’ role in the war in Iraq, […]
PARIS — With the Obama administration having effectively given up on negotiating a deal between the Israelis and the Palestinians, France tried its hand on Friday at making Middle East peace but ended the day with little to show for its efforts. Even before President François Hollande convened diplomats from 29 countries for the session — including Secretary of State John Kerry but no representatives of either […]
Iran’s top leader said Friday that trusting or cooperating with the United States would be a big mistake, an assertion that seemed to rule out any greater collaboration despite the nuclear deal reached nearly a year ago. The statement by the leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, made in a nationally televised speech, was the latest in a series of signals that Iran’s senior leadership was not likely to […]
Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund made its highest-profile deal, investing $3.5 billion in U.S. ride-share company Uber Technologies Inc. as the country seeks to diversify its assets with more overseas acquisitions. Yasir Alrumayyan, managing director of the Public Investment Fund, will take a board seat at the San Francisco-based company after the deal, which values Uber at $62.5 billion, the company said in a statement. It’s the biggest […]
INTERNATIONAL. –(BUSINESS WIRE)–Shifting power relationships in the Middle East are reordering regional geopolitics, entrenching a stalemate of conflict that threatens to further destabilize the region. Wars in Syria and Yemen and against the Islamic State, combined with the balancing of supply and demand in oil markets later this year, will likely return a risk premium to oil prices in 2017, says a new special report by IHS […]
UAE. According to a new report, PwC Middle East’s ‘Care Anywhere: Moving health and wellness out of the hospital into the hands of the consumer’, technology is providing the opportunity for new ways of accessing and delivering healthcare. In a society that is living longer, with Governments facing the growing burden of long-term chronic disease and increasing costs of treatment, innovation and technology could be the catalyst […]
More than 18 months after Apple Pay took the United States by storm, the smartphone giant has made only a small dent in the global payments market, snagged by technical challenges, low consumer take-up and resistance from banks. The service is available in six countries and among a limited range of banks, though in recent weeks Apple has added four banks to its sole Singapore partner American Express; […]
In all my long days as an automotive writer, not one single car manufacturer has asked me to attend their display at an international motor show, and drape myself alluringly across the hood of one of their vehicles. Sex Sells When people (in truth, men) discovered sex sells, car makers jumped on the band wagon. They found that a seductive model adjacent to the product seemed to […]
Dubai resident M. N. Vivekanandan with his ‘Share ‘n’ Care Library in his home. Dubai: If you’re a student based in the UAE and looking for books to rent, Dubai resident M. N. Vivekanandan has initiated an easy way to do so. The 16-year-old student has a collection of over 1,000 books in his home’s ‘Share ‘n’ Care Library’. He told […]
