By REUTERS DAMASCUS: The reception area is quiet at the Beit Zaman boutique hotel in the Christian Quarter of Old Damascus and the staff is visibly bored. Bellhops loiter in the lavishly decorated corridors of the $200-a-night hotel and a receptionist stares idly at his computer screen. Four months ago, […]
By P.K. ABDUL GHAFOUR | ARAB NEWS JEDDAH: Saudi Arabia’s finance minister on Wednesday urged Muslim countries to adopt suitable economic reform programs and adapt to the changing global economic atmosphere to confront the challenges facing them. “We should also strengthen our joint efforts to overcome development obstacles,” Finance Minister […]
(CNN) — The near-tragedy unfolding on the streets of Athens could be a comedy, if the possible consequences were not so dire. With Europe pushing austerity measures on Greece in exchange for another round of bailouts, the Greek public in the streets responds with chants: “We won’t pay.” Faced with […]
This news item dates back to October, 2009. We show it so that our readers can see the views of the new Director General of the International Monetary Fund, regarding Islamic Finance. French Finance Minister Christine Lagarde (photo) is leading a governmental drive to attract investment from Muslim countries, in […]
by Andreas Keiser, swissinfo.ch For the first time ever it’s an applicants’ market in the exemplary Swiss apprenticeship system. This year apprenticeship places outnumber school leavers by 4,000. The surplus is mainly seen in German-speaking Switzerland. Low-scoring students continue to find it hard to find a position but it’s still […]
The Cartoon reflects upon Saudis burdened with credit card debts after returning from the summer holidays. However, of course, it could refer to whole countries, such as Greece, the USA … and practically every one else.
SEATTLE (Reuters) – Microsoft Corp is making its biggest move into the mobile, Internet-accessible world of cloud computing this week, as it takes the wraps off a revamped online version of its hugely profitable Office software suite. The world’s largest software company is heaving its two-decade old set of applications […]
The Federal Reserve will remain the biggest buyer of Treasuries, even after the second round of quantitative easing ends this week, as the central bank uses its $2.86 trillion balance sheet to keep interest rates low. While the $600 billion purchase program, known as QE2, winds down, the Fed said […]
By ARAB NEWS JEDDAH: The Labor Ministry is working on new rules and regulations aimed at phasing out unskilled foreign workers from the Kingdom so as to replace them with Saudis, Al-Eqtisadiah newspaper quoted Labor Minister Adel Fakeih as saying on Saturday. The minister made the statements in a speech […]
Twenty years ago in the vibrant entrepreneurial paradise of Silicon Valley USA, it was said that you would find a clever Indian toiling away in the backroom of nearly every successful start-up company. Well, in the past two decades, they have come out of the back office, out from under […]
ROME (AFP) – Upheaval across the Arab world is causing capital flight of up to $500 million a week, Finance Minister Mohammad Abu Hammour said on Thursday at an Arab banking conference in Rome. “There is capital flight. Five hundred million dollars a week are leaving the Arab world. Tourism […]
BAGHDAD (AFP) – Iraq’s parliament speaker, who is on a visit to Washington, will query American officials about $17 billion in missing oil money, a lawmaker in Baghdad said on Wednesday. Osama Al Nujaifi, who left for Washington on Tuesday, will bring up the question of the missing billions, which […]
WASHINGTON — And at the end of June, the Federal Reserve finished its work and rested. The nation’s central bank said Wednesday that it would complete the planned purchase of $600 billion in Treasury securities next week as scheduled, then pause its three-year-old economic rescue campaign, leaving in place existing […]
Saudi Arabia has signed a $1.7 billion direct commercial sales contract with Raytheon Company to upgrade the Kingdom’s Patriot Air and Missile Defense System to the latest Configuration-3. The award includes ground-system hardware, a full training package and support equipment upgrades. The announcement came last night at the Paris Air […]
WASHINGTON (AP) — Fewer people bought previously occupied homes in May, lowering sales to their weakest point of the year. Home sales sank 3.8 percent last month to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 4.81 million homes, the National Association of Realtors said Tuesday. That’s far below the roughly 6 […]
By MUHAMMAD AL-SULAMI | ARAB NEWS JEDDAH: The Ministry of Labor has given private companies and establishments three months to comply with the Nitaqat program, which aims to improve employment opportunities for Saudis. Ministry spokesman Hattab Al-Anazi said companies would have until Sept. 10 to ensure they are fully compliant […]
Historian and author Webster Tarpley exposes how White House science czar John P. Holdren, who infamously co-wrote a 1977 textbook in which he advocated the formation of a “planetary regime” that would use a “global police force” to enforce totalitarian measures of population control, including forced abortions, mass sterilization programs […]
AS it turned 100 last week, I.B.M. was looking remarkably spry. Consumer technologies get all the attention these days, but the company has quietly thrived by selling to corporations and governments. Profits are strong, its portfolio of products and services looks robust, and its shares are near a record high. […]
by Dr. Monzur Ahmed The honey bee exhibits a combination of individual traits and social co-operation which is unparalleled in the animal kingdom. A glimpse into the nest makes it apparent why honey bees have fascinated us from the earliest days of scientific observations. The infrastructure of the nest, the […]
Bern University has set up a professorial post in bee health with the aim of better understanding the insect and its dwindling colonies. The post, funded with a SFr5 million ($5.89 million) donation by the Biel-based Vinetum foundation, will be attached to the university’s veterinary faculty. It aims to study the largely […]