UAE. Across the GCC, public pension funds amount to US$397 billion, representing nearly a quarter of GDP and US$15,000 per national. This is according to EY’s GCC Wealth and Asset Management 2015 report – “Fast growth, divergent paths”, launched at the FundForum Middle East 2015. GCC Governments are relooking at existing models of both public and international pension funds to ensure they are sustainable. George Triplow, MENA […]
SAUDI ARABIA. JLL, the world’s leading real estate investment and advisory firm, today released its third quarter (Q3 2015) Riyadh and Jeddah Real Estate Market Overview reports that asses the latest trends in the office, residential, retail and hotel sectors. Mr Jamil Ghaznawi, National Director and Country Head of JLL KSA, commented: “The Riyadh real estate market has maintained a steady performance this quarter. The office sector […]
JERUSALEM — The Israeli authorities announced Monday night that they had apprehended a group of Palestinian militants affiliated with Hamas who admitted responsibility for the fatal shooting last week of an Israeli couple in front of their four children in the occupied West Bank. “We will act with a very harsh hand against terror and also against incitement,” Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel said in a […]
|By TAP Staff| There are 1,275 ultra wealthy individuals in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), representing 20% of the total ultra wealthy population in the Middle East, Wealth-X research shows. The combined wealth of the UAE’s ultra high net worth (UHNW) population stands at US$255 billion. Wealth-X defines UHNW individuals as those with US$30 million and above in net assets. The study also reveals that 57% of […]
BEIRUT, Lebanon — Another landmark structure in Syria’s ancient city of Palmyra has been deliberately destroyed by Islamic State militants, according to local antigovernment activists and Syrian officials. The building involved this time was a set of triumphal arches, erected in the second century. Since seizing Palmyra from government forces in May, Islamic State fighters have destroyed some of the most beautiful and historically significant monuments in […]
TEHRAN — As the music ended and the crowd rose in a standing ovation, several women in the audience could be seen with heads bared, the obligatory head scarves draped around their necks. This was no underground concert by an indie band in North Tehran, though. Rather, it was a recital by a classical lute player in Vahdat Hall. As the opera house emptied, the women casually […]
DUBAI // The Vice President and Ruler of Dubai on Sunday launched a development foundation to fight poverty, spread knowledge, build communities and encourage innovation in more than 100 countries. The Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum Global Initiatives will consolidate the work of 28 existing aid organisations, such as Dubai Cares, UAE Water Aid and the blindness-prevention charity Noor Dubai, with an annual operating budget of Dh1 […]
SAUDI ARABIA. Saudi Arabia is leveraging low oil prices to accelerate development of its downstream petrochemical derivatives sector, and will add over 30 million tonnes of production capacity by 2020, raising production to 126 million tonnes from 2014 levels of 94.6 million tonnes, the latest edition of The Oil & Gas Year (TOGY) revealed. Capital expenditure in the petrochemical sector as well is set to further […]
JERUSALEM — A Palestinian teenager fatally stabbed two Orthodox Jewish men inside Jerusalem’s Old City on Saturday night, the Israeli police said. It was the second fatal attack on an Israeli family in three days. A woman was also wounded in the stabbing, and the police said that the Palestinian wrested a gun from one of his victims and fired at tourists and security forces, wounding a […]
Two large bombings in Shiite-majority neighborhoods in Baghdad killed at least 18 people on Saturday. The larger attack took place in the Kadhimiya neighborhood, where the police said a suicide bomber set off his explosives at a checkpoint. At least 11 people were killed, including at least four civilians, and more than 36 people were wounded. In the second attack, a suicide bomber set off explosives on […]
RAMALLAH, West Bank — In a letter to the Israeli president just three months ago, Naama Henkin said she had contributed money to a fund for orphaned children, and asked him to do more to protect Jewish families like hers who live in West Bank settlements. The president, Reuven Rivlin, read the letter at the funeral for Ms. Henkin and her husband, Eitam, on Friday morning. The […]
ABU DHABI // The artist who designed the intricate flowers and vines that adorn Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque said the project had transformed his life. Before his work on the mosque, Englishman Kevin Dean was an acclaimed creator of botanic designs and illustrations, but had not worked on such a vast scale. After sending in his portfolio, he was appointed by Sheikh Sultan bin Zayed, the former […]
UAE. Lifting of Iran sanctions in the future will significantly boost its economy and positively affect the neighbouring GCC economies, especially the UAE. According to speakers at a panel discussion organised by ICAEW’s Corporate Finance Faculty in the UAE, this is due to its solid trading infrastructure. ICAEW members and guests gathered at Jumeirah Emirates Towers in Dubai recently to discuss the impact of lifting Iran’s sanctions. […]
UAE. A recent report surveying 150 financial advisors in the UAE – part of a larger Natixis global study of 2,400 advisers in 14 countries across the globe – has revealed that investors making emotional investment decisions in turbulent markets is the top mistake advisors see among individual investors. Advisers are concerned that individual investors tend to be too focused on short-term market events, leading them to […]
Middle East Members of the Iraqi security forces outside the Turkish embassy in Baghdad. “Our 16 workers have just been received by our Baghdad ambassador,” Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu of Turkey said on Twitter. By CEYLAN YEGINSU September 30, 2015 ISTANBUL — Sixteen Turkish construction workers abducted four weeks ago by a Shiite militia in Iraq were released on Wednesday, Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu of Turkey said in a statement […]
Middle East Video Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel, at the United Nations on Thursday, called the nuclear deal with Iran a marriage of militant Islam and nuclear weapons. By RICK GLADSTONE and JODI RUDOREN September 30, 2015 Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel doubled down Thursday in his harsh condemnations of the Iranian nuclear deal, describing the widespread international praise for it as a grave misjudgment. “I wish I could […]
Middle East A vehicle at a base controlled by rebel fighters from the Ahrar al-Sham insurgent group that activists said was targeted by Russian airstrikes near Idlib, Syria, on Thursday. By ANNE BARNARD and ANDREW E. KRAMER October 1, 2015 BEIRUT, Lebanon — In a second day of raids in Syria, Russian warplanes carried out a new round of airstrikes on Thursday that once again — contrary to Moscow’s assertions — appeared […]
The scales do not lie, or so we are told. But in the case of what constitutes being too fat, they just might be telling a few fibs, according to UAE health experts. A new report by the World Health Organisation, says almost half of all women in the UAE are obese, as are one in three men. Insurance provider Zurich International Life, based on a sample […]
When President Mahmoud Abbas of the Palestinian Authority told the United Nations on Wednesday that the Palestinian people “cannot continue to be bound by” agreements with Israel, what was he repudiating? Mainly, he was talking about the Oslo peace accords, which Mr. Abbas’s predecessor, Yasir Arafat, signed in 1993 and 1995 with Yitzhak Rabin, the Israeli leader who was later assassinated by an extremist Jew. Those accords […]
The Syrian civil war, now in its fifth year, involves multiple countries with overlapping and at times conflicting agendas. Competing visions of how to manage the conflict, which has led to a major global refugee crisis as well as the rise of the Islamic State, dominated discussions at the United Nations General Assembly this week. But despite days of meetings and diplomatic maneuvering, the crisis has only […]
Computer screens display the Facebook sign-in screen in this photo illustration taken in Golden, Colorado July 28, 2015. Reuters/Rick Wilking SAN FRANCISCO Facebook Inc (FB.O) rolled out updates to mobile profile pages to enable users to better personalize their profiles and more easily control their privacy settings. Facebook has sought to improve and ease its mobile profile experience as it makes more of its $10 billion-plus in […]
UNITED NATIONS — Over the last four years, as four million Syrian refugees poured into neighboring countries and slipped inexorably into poverty, António Guterres, the United Nations high commissioner for refugees, said he had pleaded in vain with world leaders to take their plight more seriously. But suddenly, at the United Nations General Assembly this week, leaders of the world’s most powerful countries want to meet with […]
UAE The next six months may prove a pivotal turning point in the recovery of global commodities markets according to Ole Sloth Hansen, Head of Commodity Strategy at Saxo Bank, the online trading and multi-asset investment specialist. Following nine months of geo-political incidents in Europe and the Middle East, and widespread uncertainty catalysed by major economic crises in Greece, Russia and China, Hansen is optimistic the next […]
QATAR. Broadband Internet is failing to reach those who could benefit most, with Internet access reaching near-saturation in the world’s rich nations but not advancing fast enough to benefit the billions of people living in the developing world, according to the 2015 edition of the “State of Broadband” report. The report reveals that 57% of the world’s people remain offline and unable to take advantage of the […]
