In Tuesday's Middle East papers

05 August 2008 05:30  [Source: ICIS news]

OMAN TRIBUNE

Front Page

Gazans sent to W Bank
Israel drove 88 Palestinians allied to President Mahmoud Abbas to the Occupied West Bank on Monday two days after they fled clashes with Hamas in Gaza.

People told not to collect dead fish
The Ministry of Environment and Climate Affairs has warned residents against collecting and eating dead fish getting accumulated along the Sultanate’s coasts.

Business

HSBC H1 net crashes 28%, takes $14bn hit on bad debts
Europe’s biggest bank HSBC Holdings said its first-half profit fell 28%, in line with analysts’ forecasts.

Oil falls below $120
rude prices fell below $120/bbl on Monday for the first time in three months.

KHALEEJ TIMES

Front Page

Lebanese cabinet OKs goals, parliament now to vote
Lebanon unity Cabinet unanimously adopted a statement laying out its goal Monday, clearing the way for parliament to vote on seating a new government that includes the country's bitterly divided pro-Western and pro-Syrians factions.

New academic year to begin on times
There will be no delay in the commencement of the academic year and schools will resume as scheduled on August 31, Education Ministry officials confirmed on Monday, ending days of speculation.

Business

Iran  to launch major oil and gas projects
Iran  to launch major oil and gas projects is preparing more than 15 major oil and gas projects involving a "new method" to attract local and foreign investment, the head of Iran’s state-owned energy firm told state radio on Monday.

Prices of building materials may up 5% in third quarter
A 5% rise in the prices of building materials such as steel is seen for the third-quarter of the year on the back of strong demand, record oil prices and rising freight charges, said a company engaged in the construction, interior decoration and shop-fitting industry.

ARAB TIMES

Front Page

Kuwait to limit some nationalities
Kuwait wants to limit work permits for some nationalities, a government minister said on Sunday, following violent protests over pay that led the Gulf Arab state to deport hundreds of Bangladeshi workers. Bangladeshi airport officials said on Friday more than 1,000 Bangladeshis had been deported from Kuwait, with hundreds more facing a similar fate.

Asians hired, stranded on visit visas
Visa trading has taken a new form with some cleaning and construction companies increasingly hiring Asians on visit visas and failing to provide them jobs, says Hashem Majed, the Managing Director of Al-Huqooq International Company.

Business

Kuwaiti official sees oil prices staying above $100
Oil was unlikely to fall below $100/bbl as strong demand from emerging economies such as China and India put a floor under prices, a member of Kuwait’s top oil council said in remarks published on Sunday. 

KTC signs telecom deals with 450 international operators
Kuwait Telecommunications Company (KTC) announced Sunday that it signed SMS and GMS deals with about 450 international telecom operators in 185 states.

ARAB NEWS

Front Page

ICC indictment of Omar Bashir 'unwarranted'
The Jeddah-based 57-member Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC) has called the International Criminal Court (ICC) indictment of Sudanese President Omar Bashir on genocide charges "unwarranted and unacceptable."

Attack in Kashgar rattles Beijing
Two men rammed a dump truck yesterday into a group of jogging policemen and tossed explosives, killing 16 officers, state media said, in an attack in restive western China that added to already high tensions days before the Beijing Olympics.

Business

Saudi bourse salvo falls short of overhaul
Saudi Arabia’s plan to name investors with strategic stakes in listed firms will help curb speculation but falls short of the corporate governance overhaul badly needed by the Kingdom to attract institutional investors.

Credit outlook for Saudi bank is positive: Moody's
The credit outlook for the Saudi banking system is positive, reflecting the banks’ good positioning and ability to benefit from the country’s robust economic performance, says Moody’s Investors Service in its latest "Banking System Outlook" report for Saudi Arabia.

TEHRAN TIMES

Front Page

Iran says no deadline in nuclear talks
Foreign Ministry spokesman Hassan Qashqavi on Monday rejected reports that after Geneva talks the world powers gave Iran a two-week deadline to answer their offer of incentives or face further "punitive measures".

Experts studying black and gray pottery in northern Iran
A team of Iranian archaeologists have recently returned to the Kelar Tepe conducting an in-depth study of prehistoric black and gray pottery from the region, located in Iran’s northern province of Mazandaran.

Business

Vietnam may remove rice export taxes
The Vietnam Food Association has proposed the Vietnamese government remove or adjust rice export taxes, mainly because the commodity’s prices in the domestic market are decreasing, according to local newspaper Labor on Monday.

Tehran-Tabriz railroad underground section gets kick-start
The construction operations of the underground section of the Tehran-Tabriz railroad to the length of 4,165 meters in district 17 and 18 of Tehran started on Monday in a ceremony attended by President Mahmud Ahmadinejad.

ALJAZEERA

Front Page

China vows safe Olympics
Three days from the start of the Olympics and organisers have been forced to reassure athletes and spectators that the games will be safe after an attack in China's Xinjiang province left 16 policemen dead.

Bush to tackle beef issue in Seoul
The US president is on his way to South Korea where an argument over beef imports is on the menu. George Bush is expected to discuss the resumption of US beef imports on Tuesday with his South Korean counterpart Lee Myung-Bak whose decision to lift a five-year ban on US beef sparked a massive political backlash.

Business

(no news updates)

THE DAILY STAR

Front Page

Cabinet unanimously approves draft policy statement
Lebanon's Cabinet on Monday "unanimously" approved its draft policy statement after nearly three weeks of extensive debates. "The Cabinet on Monday approved unanimously the draft policy statement and referred it to Parliament," Information Minister Tarek Mitri told reporters at the Presidential Palace in Baabda on Monday.

Civil Defense battles blazes in Jbeil, Kesrouan
Forest Fires raged in the Jbeil and Kesrouan regions of Kartaba and Yahshoush on Monday, with firefighters still struggling to contain the blazes late into the evening. Brigadier Darwish Hobeika, head of the Civil Defense, said on Monday that Cyprus dispatched a helicopter that could carry up to five tons of water to help Lebanese teams in combating the fires which started on Friday.

Business

Egypt to provide Lebanon with badly needed electricity
Egypt is to supply power-starved Lebanon with 200 megawatts (MW) of electricity to help it meet a drastic shortfall, Lebanon's Energy Minister Alan Taburian said on Monday.

One in five Iranians live below poverty line - report
At least 14m Iranians live below the poverty line, according to a central bank report quoted by the press on Monday, adding to concern about the welfare of those worst off in Iran as prices soar. The central bank figures, published in the reformist daily newspaper Sarmayeh, represent one in five of Iran's 70m population.

GULF DAILY NEWS

Front Page

$450m Kabul aid vow
India yesterday pledged an extra $450m to Afghanistan for reconstruction, bringing the total amount it has promised the war-ravaged country since 2001 to well over a billion dollars.

King holds talks in Turkey
His Majesty King Hamad last night held talks with Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan - focussing on bilateral ties, political developments in the Middle East and regional and international issues.

Business

ABC Islamic Bank profit surges 73% to $16m
ABC Islamic Bank posted a net profit of $15.7m for the first half of the year, an increase of 72.8% over the same period last year.

Soaring fuel costs hit global air cargo demand
The high cost of oil fuel and the slowing global economy has resulted in a drop in air cargo demand in June and a slowing of passenger growth.

By: Staff Reporter
+44 20 8652 3214

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