Author: Maaiz el-Kamel

Atlanta (18/12 – 12) The Rabbit is about to be devoured by a snorting, writhing, fire-breathing Dragon, come 10 February 2024 (Lunar Calendar, for lunatics). While the dreadful 2023, known by the philosophical Chinese as the “Year of the Rabbit”, is characterized as “thoughtful, tender, considerate, kind-hearted, and talented in language” for folks born in 1939 / 1951 / 1963 / 1975, Dragons born in 1940 / 1952 / 1964 / 1976 are reputedly “…confident, intelligent and enthusiastic – not afraid of challenges, willing to take risks”. That sounds more like this year of living dangerously, don’t you think? “…aggressive,…

Time to Make Hard Choices If devastation is the goal, Israel’s military campaign in the Gaza Strip has been a resounding success. More than two months after Hamas killed over 1,100 people on October 7, Israeli air and ground operations have killed some 20,000 Palestinians, many of them children, according to Gaza’s Hamas-run Health Ministry. Much of Gaza lies in ruins, with the United Nations estimating that almost 20 percent of the territory’s prewar structures have been destroyed. More than half of Gazans are experiencing severe hunger, unemployment has risen to 85 percent, and disease is spreading. But the statements…

The government will give £5 million to ensure Barrow sees the ‘lasting benefits’ from investments into the town. In the Autumn Statement Chancellor Jeremy Hunt pledged the cash to set up the Barrow Delivery Board which the government say will ‘ensure local people see lasting benefits from investment in the Defence Nuclear Enterprise.’ Earlier this year it was announced that the AUKUS submarines would be built by BAE Systems as part of a £3.95 billion contract. MP for Barrow and Furness Simon Fell welcomed the government’s funding in the area. He said: “I am delighted to see confirmation of the £5 million fund…

Dubai: Don’t have a data connection on your phone but need urgent access to the internet? In the UAE, there are several public places where you can access free Wi-Fi, provided by telecommunications service providers in the UAE. Today, December 15, the Abu Dhabi Department of Municipalities and Transport (DMT) announced that it had expanded its free Wi-Fi network in the emirate to include 44 public parks, with free Wi-Fi to soon be available at Abu Dhabi Corniche beach and Al Bateen beach, too. When you do access a public Wi-Fi network, it is important to keep in mind some…

The US Department of Defence (DoD) announced an additional $425m of military aid from the US to Ukraine on 3 November 2023, with $300m in military supplies being contributed through the Presidential Drawdown Authority (PDA), and a further $300m from Ukraine Security Assistance funds. The PDA will supply Ukraine with additional munitions for air defence in the form of NASAMS, as well as munitions for deep strike capabilities through HIMARS. There is also an undisclosed number of artillery rounds of the 155mm and 105mm calibres, to supplement the very high demand being put on regular artillery production lines.  A range of other…

Highly attuned to international scrutiny, the UAE, where unauthorised protests are illegal, has said it would permit demonstrations in designated areas of the COP28 site, a far-flung development in the Dubai suburbs surrounded mostly by desert. But those assurances, and a pledge to host the “most inclusive” edition yet of the United Nations climate talks, have done little to assuage campaigners, who say they plan to raise human rights issues during COP28. “We are deeply concerned about people being detained and arrested,” said Asad Rehman, lead spokesperson for the Climate Justice Coalition, which is planning actions on the ground. “Then there is the wider concern about the…

Legislation is rarely enacted in isolation. Typically, it builds on or over previous law. Since 2019, those businesses with specified international operations began filing for Economic Substance Reporting – ESR to most of you. The objective is to prove that UAE entities are not being used to reduce liabilities that would, otherwise, be paid in other taxable jurisdictions. Now that we, in the UAE, since June 1, 2023, have corporate tax, the question arises as to whether we still need such a reporting framework with all the onerous work it entails for those who need to report for it. Yes, unfortunately, we…

A “door is open” for New Zealand to “engage” in the AUKUS alliance, a trilateral security pact between Australia, the UK and US, said the US secretary of state on Thursday. Antony Blinken, who arrived in Wellington after a stopover in Tonga where he opened a new US embassy, met with New Zealand Prime Minister Chris Hipkins and Foreign Minister Nanaia Mahuta. “As we further develop AUKUS, the door is open to engagement,” ABC News quoted Blinken as saying. “As we continue to work on the second pillar, the door is very much open for NZ and other partners to…

London (04/11 – 50) US government last week intervened in a lawsuit triggered by Hamilton Reserve Bank in St Kitts & Nevis. Somehow, a small bank based in a county with 50,000 inhabitants and GDP of under $1billion has amassed a $250million face-value stake in a Sri Lankan bond. The mysterious ‘global financier’ aka cunning vulture investor, Benjamin Wey is suing Sri Lanka. This specific bond was issued in happier times in 2012 and lacks some now-common clauses that make bonds easier to restructure. HRB’s $250million is enough in theory to veto any restructuring proposal Sri Lanka makes to that…

The UAE’s economy continues to grow, benefitting from strong domestic activity as its fiscal and external surpluses remain high on the back of high oil prices, the IMF said. “Overall real GDP is expected to grow around 3.5% this year. Average inflation will remain contained at around 3% in 2023, down from 4.8% in 2022,” Ali Al Eyd said in a statement on Monday following the conclusion of the recent staff visit. The near-term outlook is positive but subject to elevated global risks and uncertainty, the fund cautioned. “A decline in oil demand and reduced global trade and tourism from…