In Thursday's Middle East papers

03 April 2008 04:30  [Source: ICIS news]

OMAN TRIBUNE

Front Page

HM’s message delivered to Akihito
Emperor Akihito of Japan has received a written message from His Majesty Sultan Qaboos Bin Said. The message was delivered by HH Sayyid Haitham Bin Tariq Al Said, Minister of Heritage and Culture, when the Emperor of Japan received him in Tokyo on Wednesday.

Bombings continue in Iraq, 15 killed
Insurgents killed at least 15 people and wounded several others in spate of bombings and shootings across Iraq on Wednesday, officials said.

Business

US could face mild recession: Bernanke
Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke said on Wednesday the US economy could face a mild recession but that growth should pick up as the impact of aggressive interest rates cuts are felt.

Salalah Mills approves 20% cash dividend
Salalah Mills Co. annual general meeting (AGM) approved a proposal to give 20% cash dividend.

KHALEEJ TIMES

Front Page

NATO allies turn down Bush request
President Bush suffered a painful diplomatic setback Wednesday when NATO allies rebuffed his passionate pleas to put former Soviet republics Ukraine and Georgia on the path toward membership in the Western military alliance.

Dubai’s landmark goes up in smoke
More than 180 shops in the three-decade-old Naif Souq in Deira, popularly known as ‘cabin market’, were reduced to ashes, following a massive blaze in the early hours of yesterday. No casualty or injury was reported, officials said.

Business

Emaar and Shanghai China-News Enterprise Development sign MoU
In one of the first high-level Sino-UAE public-private partnerships, Emaar Properties yesterday signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Shanghai China-News Enterprise Development Limited.

Prince Andrew promotes UK-MENA trade links
His Royal Highness Prince Andrew, the Duke of York and UK Special Representative for International Trade and Investment, visited Dubai yesterday in an effort to forge further trade and investment links between the UK and the Middle East and North African (MENA) region.

ARAB TIMES

Front Page

High court upholds Filipina’s death sentence
The Court of Cassation Tuesday dismissed a petition submitted by the lawyer of a Filipina housemaid, identified as Mai Membriri, and upheld the death sentence imposed on her for the premeditated murder of her Kuwaiti sponsor’s son and attempted murder of the victim’s brother and sister.

Indian doctors urge MoH to evaluate their degrees
A group of Indian doctors employed with the Ministry of Health (MoH) have appealed to the health minister to look into their grievances saying failure to have their degrees evaluated was costing them promotions.

Business

Markaz Mumtaz, Islamic funds bag 2 top awards
Kuwait Financial Centre “Markaz”, one of the Middle East’s leading investment banking and asset management companies, announced that Markaz Fund for Excellent Yields “Mumtaz” and for Markaz Islamic Fund have received two awards for best performance. The two awards are, respectively, Best Equity Fund in Kuwait- 5 years and Best Islamic Equity Fund in Kuwait- 1 year.

Dar mulls selling minority stake
Kuwait’s Investment Dar said on Tuesday it might consider selling a minority stake to an investor after being approached by international banks last year. “We have been approached by investment banks...(but) we are currently not in (any) talks. Dar might look at any offer,” Executive Vice President Amr Abou El-Seoud told Reuters, adding that it was up to the shareholders to decide.

ARAB NEWS

Front Page

Timely intervention may have saved stone    
The death of an American basketball player, who suffered a heart attack during a match on Tuesday.

Officer admits pursuing suspects in Madinah
A police officer who accompanied two members of the Commission for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice who were arrested on suspected involvement in a car accident in Madinah on Monday that killed two men and two women told investigators that the commission agents pursued the car, a reliable source told Arab News.

Business

Mobily registers 11m subscribers
Mobily registered 11 million mobile subscribers by the end of 2007 while clients subscribing to Mobily Internet reached 100,000. The company gave this information to its shareholders at the General Assembly Meeting held in Riyadh recently.

Al-Jabr gets KIA Motors
KIA Motors Saudi Arabia has changed hands. It has gone to Al-Jabr Group, one of the largest business entities in the Kingdom.

TEHRAN TIMES

Front Page

Timely intervention may have saved stone
The death of an American basketball player, who suffered a heart attack during a match on Tuesday, could have been avoided if medics had attended the match, said an official from the General Presidency of Youth Welfare (GPYW) in Jeddah.

Officer admits pursuing suspects in Madinah
A police officer who accompanied two members of the Commission for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice who were arrested on suspected involvement in a car accident in Madinah on Monday that killed two men and two women told investigators that the commission agents pursued the car, a reliable source told Arab News.

ALJAZEERA

Front Page

Mugabe loses Zimbabwe majority
The Zimbabwe African National Union - Patriotic Front (Zanu-PF), led by Robert Mugabe, the president, has lost control of parliament in weekend elections, official results show.

Al-Qaeda deputy: UN enemy of Islam
Al-Qaeda's deputy leader has launched a scathing attack on the United Nations, calling it the enemy of Islam in an online audio recording.

Business

‘Cash Waqf’ for Welfare Projects Mooted
Professor M.A. Mannan, founder chairman of Social Investment Bank (SIB) in Bangladesh, yesterday urged Muslim countries and organizations to promote “cash waqf” (endowment in cash) as a new product to collect funds required for their educational, social and charitable projects.

Tata announces $2.3bn auto deal
India's Tata Motors says it has agreed to buy luxury brands Jaguar and Land Rover from Ford for about $2.3bn

THE DAILY STAR

Front Page

Lebanon's Maronite bishops urge rival parties to adopt Arab initiative
Lebanon's Maronite bishops on Wednesday called on rival parties in the country to commit to the three-point Arab initiative to end Lebanon's protracted political crisis.

Forex? What is it, anyway?
The currency trading (FOREX) market is the biggest and the fastest growing market on earth. Its daily turnover is more than $2500, which is 100 times greater than the NASDAQ daily turnover.

Business

The state of energy-sector reforms in the MENA region
What is energy sector reform and what is its purpose? Reform of the energy sector is to bring about change of the form of the sector through structural, institutional, legal and regulatory transformations to enable and promote efficient development and operations of the sector.

UBS comes clean on $19bn of new writedowns
Swiss bank UBS revealed a second round of subprime-related writedowns of about $19bn on Tuesday, becoming the world's worst-hit bank in the US mortgage crisis.

GULF DAILY NEWS

Front Page

F1 fans pours in
Bahrain is in top gear to handle tens of thousands of fans and their families pouring into the country for the F1 festival. Police patrols have been beefed up, emergency services are at the ready and extra staff have been drafted in at the airport and causeway, to speed through fans arriving for the Bahrain Gulf Air Grand Prix.

Career expo offers jobs for 4,000
Bahrain aims to almost halve its unemployment figure in a single stroke, with more than 4,000 jobs on offer at a fair which opened yesterday. Forty-five companies, including some of the biggest in the country, have opened their doors to young Bahrainis, at the third Careers Exhibition.

Business

Bahrain beats region for stake in McLaren
Bahrain beat off competition from several other Middle Eastern governments to secure its 30% stake in the McLaren Group, the firm's chairman and chief executive Ron Dennis revealed yesterday.

Price control issues discussed
Industry and Commerce Minister Dr Hassan Fakhro chaired the 11th price control committee meeting and gave directions to strengthen control of the local market by the Department of Consumer Protection to ensure reasonable prices for consumer goods.

By: Staff Reporter
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