DIRS.INFO The most relevant business & tech news

This year, those who can are making a frantic escape from Khartoum, driven out by war. Both sides in the conflict agreed to a ceasefire but it was not immediately clear when it would begin. Ahmed Mubarak, 27, said he felt "extreme anxiety" after the violence erupted on April 15 and before he decided to leave Khartoum on Thursday, taking with him only the clothes he was wearing. Makram Waleed, a 25-year-old doctor, was hoping to leave Khartoum with his family but was worried about the dangers to his three younger sisters. And if we leave, will we be able to go back to our house and our lives in Khartoum?

☆ 6 ways to support Muslim coworkers who are fasting during Ramadan
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-23 | by ( Allana Akhtar | Marguerite Ward | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

For many Muslims, Ramadan means abstaining from food and drink while at work. So, how can non-Muslim colleagues be supportive, while also not accidentally making a micro-aggression toward someone who is observing Ramadan? At one office where Nasr worked, a boss privately asked her if she needed any special accommodations while observing Ramadan. Most Muslims use the Arabic phrase "Ramadan Mubarak," which translates to "have a blessed Ramadan" or "happy Ramadan, to greet each other. Plus, there are many other reasons why Muslims don't fast, like during illness or travel.

☆ A Ramadan etiquette guide for non-Muslims
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-22 | by ( Saeed Ahmed | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +3 min

If your Muslim co-worker takes a pass, understand. You don’t have to know when it begins …Ramadan isn’t like Christmas or Thanksgiving, as in everyone knows exactly when it’ll fall. … but please be a little flexibleHow we determine when Ramadan begins is decidedly old-school: You have to physically see the moon (even though there are apps for that). You can say ‘Ramadan Mubarak’ …There’s no “war on Christmas”-level controversy surrounding the greeting (it means “Happy Ramadan”). Your Muslim co-worker will appreciate the thoughtfulness.

Persons: It’s, you’re, Francois Nel, it’s, Iftar, Ulet Ifansasti, Ramadan, ”, We’ll, Mubarak ’ … Organizations: CNN, TED, Getty Locations: United States, Al Noor Mosque, Sharjah, UAE, Yogyakarta, Indonesia, Manila, Philippines, AFP

☆ Syria's Assad arrives in United Arab Emirates in official visit
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-19 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

[1/5] Syria's President Bashar al-Assad meets with President of the United Arab Emirates Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates March 19, 2023. Hamad Al Kaabi/UAE Presidential Court/Handout via REUTERSDUBAI, March 19 (Reuters) - Syrian President Bashar al Assad arrived in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) on Sunday for an official visit, accompanied by his wife Asma al Assad, at a time when more Arab states have signalled openness to easing the isolation of Damascus. "We held constructive talks aimed at developing relations between our two countries," Sheikh Mohammed later said in a Twitter post. The Syrian presidency said Asma al Assad, on her first known official visit abroad with Assad since 2011, would meet with Sheikha Fatima bint Mubarak who is the Emirati president's mother and regarded in the UAE as the "Mother of the Nation". Saudi Arabia, Qatar and, to a lesser extent the UAE, once backed rebels against Assad.

☆ Abu Dhabi shakes up wealth funds with top royals chairing
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-09 | by ( Yousef Saba | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

DUBAI, March 9 (Reuters) - Abu Dhabi announced a reshuffle at the top of its two biggest sovereign wealth funds on Thursday, appointing senior members of the royal family as chairmen. Sheikh Tahnoun bin Zayed Al Nahyan, one of the most powerful members of Abu Dhabi's royal family, was named chair of the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority (ADIA), among the world's largest sovereign wealth funds, the government's media office said. ADIA is estimated by Global SWF to manage $993 billion in assets, while the Sovereign Wealth Fund Institute puts the figure at $790 billion. The wealth fund's last chairman was the previous UAE president, Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan, who died last year. MORE NEWCOMERSThe UAE president is appointing his brothers as chairmen at state sovereign wealth funds rather than chairing them himself.

☆ 'Our phones are ringing off the hook': Amid a global downturn, the finance world is chasing Middle Eastern money
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-09 | by ( Natasha Turak | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +5 min

The region's 10 largest sovereign wealth funds combined manage nearly $4 trillion, according to the Sovereign Wealth Fund Institute. The regional investors, especially the sovereign funds but also the families, are now much more sophisticated than before. Follow the capitalAs oil prices made a roaring comeback in the last two years, the Gulf's public wealth funds went on a spending spree. It added that GCC sovereign wealth funds "played an important role in 2020 during the Covid-19 pandemic and now again in 2022 during times of financial distress." Our phones are ringing off the hook," one manager from a UAE investment fund said, declining to be named due to professional restrictions.

☆ U.S. defense secretary aims to reassure Mideast allies, deliver tough message
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-06 | by ( Idrees Ali | Thomson Reuters | National Security Correspondent Focusing On The Pentagon In Washington D.C. Reports On U.S. Military Activity | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

The United States has about 30,000 troops in the region and is seen as pivotal in helping counter Iranian influence. Austin is poised to send a clear message on the need for Egypt's President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi to respect human rights, underscoring Washington's concern on the issue. "I fully expect him to bring up human rights, respect for fundamental freedoms," the U.S. defense official said. The United States has withheld small amounts of military aid to Cairo, citing a failure to meet human rights conditions. The United States has committed more than $32 billion in weapons to Ukraine including sophisticated air defense systems and tanks.

☆ Deputy U.N. chief pushes women's rights during visit to Taliban heartland
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-20 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

KABUL, Jan 20 (Reuters) - U.N. Deputy Secretary-General Amina Mohammed expressed alarm to Taliban officials in Kandahar over violations of women's rights in Afghanistan, the United Nations said on Friday after she made a rare visit to the Taliban's southern heartland. Mohammed finished a four-day visit to Afghanistan on Friday, also meeting Taliban officials in the capital Kabul after the administration banned most female aid workers and stopped women and girls from attending high school and university. The U.N. General Assembly last month postponed for the second time a decision on whether the Taliban administration can send an ambassador to New York. Dozens of Taliban leaders are also subject to U.N. sanctions. No government has formally recognized the Taliban administration since it seized power in August 2021.

☆ Kuwait aims to build political cohesion with new amnesty for jailed critics
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-19 | by ( Ahmed Hagagy | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

KUWAIT, Jan 19 (Reuters) - Kuwait's emir has pardoned dozens of jailed critics under a new amnesty as the Gulf state builds on efforts to end domestic political feuding that has hampered fiscal reforms and as tensions surface between the new government and parliament. The amnesty decreed by Emir Sheikh Nawaf al-Ahmad al-Sabah, published in the Official Bulletin on Wednesday pardoned 34 Kuwaitis, most of them convicted for voicing public criticism. Kuwait bans political parties but has given its legislature more influence than similar bodies in other Gulf monarchies, and political stability in the U.S.-allied country has traditionally hinged on cooperation between the government and parliament. Opposition MP Mubarak Al-Hajraf, who has submitted a request to question the finance minister, in a Twitter post thanked the emir and the crown prince for the "generous amnesty". Reporting by Ahmed Hagagy Writing by Ghaida Ghantous Editing by Frances KerryOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ ‘Christmas Mubarak’: For many South Asian Americans, the holiday is a cultural celebration
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-19 | by ( Zoya Wazir | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +8 min

For the Hazrati family, Christmas Day typically includes a lit-up tree, gifts and a dal lunch. While 69% of Americans identify as Christian, as much as 93% of Americans reported celebrating Christmas as of 2019. In an America that celebrates both a religious and secular Christmas, South Asian Americans from other faiths are finding ways to make the holiday their own. Despite Iqbal’s festive decor, her family still abstained from celebrating on Christmas Day because it wasn’t part of their religious traditions. But for some South Asian Americans, celebrating a holiday that isn’t part of their religious identity can feel disingenuous, especially when their own faith is filled with rich celebrations.

☆ The Year in Pictures 2022
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-19 | by ( The New York Times | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +57 min

Every year, starting in early fall, photo editors at The New York Times begin sifting through the year’s work in an effort to pick out the most startling, most moving, most memorable pictures. But 2022 undoubtedly belongs to the war in Ukraine, a conflict now settling into a worryingly predictable rhythm. Erin Schaff/The New York Times “When you’re standing on the ground, you can’t visualize the scope of the destruction. Jim Huylebroek for The New York Times Kyiv, Ukraine, Feb. 25. We see the same images over and over, and it’s really hard to make anything different.” Kyiv, Ukraine, Feb 26.

☆ Egypt: How the Arab world's most populous country became addicted to debt
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-16 | by ( Cnn Staff | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +12 min

The loan, along with billions of dollars in cash inflows from Abu Dhabi and Riyadh, are Band-Aids, experts say, designed to keep the Arab world’s most populous country afloat. Without proper reforms, however, Egypt may never be able to shake off its chronic financial woes and break its growing debt addiction. Billions of dollars from Abu Dhabi and Riyadh have poured into the Egyptian economy in recent years. Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund (PIF) also launched the Saudi Egyptian Investment Company (SEIC) in August, a company dedicated to investments in several vital sectors of the Egyptian economy. Still, the Egyptian economy has struggled to shake off its economic woes.

☆ Mubadala's head of UAE investments leaving to lead new ADNOC arm
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-05 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

DUBAI, Dec 5 (Reuters) - Abu Dhabi sovereign wealth fund Mubadala Investment Company said on Monday its chief executive for UAE Investments would leave next month to head a new division at Abu Dhabi's state oil company. Musabbeh Al Kaabi, CEO of Mubadala's UAE Investments platform since January 2021, will head Abu Dhabi National Oil Company's (ADNOC) newly set up Low Carbon Solutions & International Growth business from Jan. 16, Mubadala said in a statement. Mubadala Deputy CEO Waleed Al Mokarrab Al Muhairi will become interim CEO of UAE Investments. Kaabi, who began his career at ADNOC where he worked for 16 years including leading the oil giant's Exploration Division, is also a member of Mubadala's Investment Committee. Before heading UAE investments, Kaabi oversaw Mubadala's international energy portfolio as CEO for Petroleum and Petrochemicals from 2017 to 2020.

CNN —Football pundits on Qatar’s Alkass Sports channel mocked the German football team following its World Cup exit – by mimicking the players’ protest over human rights. Soon after, El-Hadary and other pundits then cover their mouths and wave goodbye – apparently in celebration of Germany’s exit. Football pundits on Qatar's Alkass Sports channel appear to mimic the German players' protest gesture. Twitter/@alkasschannelThe gesture mimics what the German players did to protest against FIFA’s decision to ban the “OneLove” armband that many European captains had been hoping to wear in Qatar in support of LGBTQ rights. Following Germany’s 1:1 draw against Spain last Sunday, Jassem said in an al-Majlis episode that he was “shocked” at Germany’s protest.

☆ Jailed Egyptian hunger striker is hospitalized, family says
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-10 | by ( Associated Press | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +2 min

Egyptian prison authorities have intervened medically with jailed pro-democracy activist Alaa Abdel-Fattah, who this week escalated a food and hunger strike demanding his release, coinciding with Egypt’s hosting of the U.N. climate summit, his mother said. Abdel-Fattah’s mother, Leila Soueif, said she spoke to prison authorities by phone and asked them if her son was undergoing any medical procedure and they said he was. She asked “if it was by force, and they said no” and told her, “Alaa is good,” she told The Associated Press. Soueif has been waiting outside the prison every day this week, asking for proof of life for her son. World leaders and activists have repeatedly called for Egyptian authorities to release the activist.

☆ Nigeria: TikTokers caned and ordered to wash toilets as court rules they defamed Nigerian governor
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-10 | by ( Nimi Princewill | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +3 min

Abuja, Nigeria CNN —Two TikTok comedians have been publicly whipped in Nigeria for making a video that a court in the northern Kano State ruled had defamed the state Governor Abdullahi Umar Ganduje, according to a judicial spokesperson. The two friends, according to Ibrahim, were sentenced on Monday after being brought before a magistrate’s court on Friday. They didn’t even ask or beg for a lawyer to stand for them,” Ibrahim told CNN. “They were arraigned before the Kano State Magistrate Court for defaming the character of Governor Umar Ganduje on their TikTok social media account. They were also ordered to make a video on social media to publicly apologize to Governor Ganduje.

☆ 'After COP, I don't know if I'll be alive or not': Sister of the jailed Egyptian-British activist Alaa Abd el-Fattah calls for his release
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-08 | by ( Catherine Boudreau | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

Egyptian-British activist Sanaa Seif is calling for her brother's release from an Egyptian jail. The Egyptian government has denied mistreatment, and this summer a member of the presidential-pardon committee said Abd el-Fattah was among those being considered for possible release, reported Al-Ahram, an Egyptian state-owned newspaper. He added that foreign intervention in human-rights reform in Egypt "is fated to fail" and would harm the country's people. Seif said her family has exhausted every legal route in Egypt to secure her brother's release, to no avail. "After COP, I don't know if I'll be alive or not," she said.

☆ Egypt human rights record under fire as it hosts COP27 climate conference
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-07 | by ( Hyder Abbasi | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +2 min

When world leaders, diplomats, campaigners and scientists from nearly 200 countries arrive for the United Nations climate change conference in Egypt Monday, their focus will be on curbing global warming. They have called for the world leaders attending the event, known as COP27, to confront the Egyptian government over its alleged human-rights abuses, particularly its treatment of political prisoners. In 2019, he was jailed for “joining a terrorist group” and “spreading false news” to undermine national security. It said that Fattah, 40, a British national, was being prosecuted because of his activism and social media posts highlighting human rights violations allegedly committed by the Egyptian government. Amnesty’s head, Agnes Callamard, warned Sunday that Egypt had no more than 72 hours to save the jailed dissident's life.

☆ Qatar relying on playmaker Afif to pull the strings
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-02 | by ( Andrew Mills | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

DOHA, Nov 2 (Reuters) - Qatar's main playmaker Akram Afif is perhaps the World Cup host country's greatest asset and worry wrapped up in one. During the Asia Cup tournament in 2019, which Qatar won, Afif's assists supplied most of the nine record-setting goals Almoaz Ali scored. The moves that Afif sets up are so critical to Qatar's success that if something goes awry and Afif is not on the pitch everything could unravel. Afif was born in the Gulf Arab state where his Tanzanian-born father of Somali descent was playing for prominent local club Al Ittihad. The Qatar World Cup is Afif's big opportunity to play on the world stage and, perhaps, to draw the attention of scouts and clubs beyond the Gulf Arab state, Hashim said.

☆ World Cup the test of Qatar's expensive bid to develop homegrown talent
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-02 | by ( Andrew Mills | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

It's the most important... We're not asking them to (win) the World Cup," he added. Sheikh Jassim Bin Hamad Al-Thani, brother of Qatar's ruling emir, established Aspire in 2004 to develop homegrown players -- six years before Qatar's national team automatically qualified for the 2022 World Cup when it was named host country. Since June, Sanchez has taken Qatar's players to training camps in Spain and Austria. The mixed performance suggests the Gulf Arab state are no heavyweights - the team might not stand a chance against their other World Cup Group A opponents Senegal and the Netherlands. "We won't be able to tell if that's a good thing or a bad thing until after the World Cup."

☆ Gulf states use new oil riches to gain regional influence
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-31 | by ( Nadeen Ebrahim | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +13 min

“Money talks,” Michael Maduell, president of the Sovereign Wealth Fund Institute in Las Vegas, told CNN. Saudi Arabia’s de facto ruler, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, last week announced that the nation’s wealth fund, the Public Investment Fund (PIF), is establishing five regional companies worth $24 billion across the Middle East. One of the key regional investment destinations for both Abu Dhabi and Riyadh has been Egypt. Once a regional rival, Turkey is now an economic ally of Saudi Arabia and the UAE. Despite a political thaw, Gulf investments in Iran and Syria are unlikely for the time being, say analysts.

☆ Indonesia's China-funded rail project on track despite cost overrun
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-13 | by ( Yuddy Cahya Budiman | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

Indonesian President Joko Widodo stands beside an Electric Multiple Unit high-speed train for a rail link project part of China's Belt and Road Initiative at Tegalluar train depot in Bandung, West Java province, Indonesia, October 13, 2022. Antara Foto/Hafidz Mubarak/via REUTERSTEGALLUAR, Indonesia, Oct 13 (Reuters) - A high-speed railway project in Indonesia, part of China's Belt and Road Initiative, is on track for a 2023 launch despite ongoing negotiations between the two countries about the project being over-budget, officials said on Thursday. KCIC has said the project is facing a cost overrun of about $2 billion, raising the estimated total cost to 113 trillion rupiah ($7.36 billion). KCIC's President Director Dwiyana Slamet Riyadi confirmed the discrepancy in cost calculations, saying negotiations are underway to resolve it. Dwiyana said discussions were ongoing as to whether Chinese President Xi Jinping may witness a trial run of the rail project when he visits the Southeast Asian country next month for the G20 leaders' summit.

Search resuls for: "Mubarak"

22 mentions found