Middle East News – Sovereign funds pressured to invest locally
Sovereign funds pressured to invest locally
Some Middle East SWFs are concerned they could be required to do more “national service” to support local ailing institutions and companies
S&P downgrades Dubai banks
Standard & Poor’s, the rating agency, has downgraded a clutch of major Dubai-based banks due to their exposure to a troubled state-owned conglomerate
Dubai ruler’s racehorse buying spree falters
Sheikh Mohammed’s passion for horses may become a casualty of his emirate’s debt crisis
Turkey rules out extra troops for Afghanistan
Turkey is “already doing what it can” in its dispatch of troops to Afghanistan, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, prime minister, said yesterday, signalling he would resist US…
Netanyahu faces rightwing protests
The Israeli prime minister is under mounting pressure from rightwing activists and settlers, who are furious at his decision to impose a partial construction freeze on Jewish settlements in the occupied West Bank
Turkey to fight calls for greater Afghan role
Turkey is “already doing what it can” in its dispatch of troops to Afghanistan, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, prime minister, said yesterday, signalling he would resist US…
Builders weigh cost of Dubai’s debt woes
International construction groups warn they will have to revisit contracts they had thought to be state-supported
Timetable of US troop pullout uncertain
Robert Gates, defence secretary, said US troops could be in Afghanistan for years to come as administration officials sought to refute criticism that setting a 2011 withdrawal date was a strategic error
Israel warns on resuming settlement activity
Benjamin Netanyahu, Israel’s prime minister, said construction will resume in Jewish settlements in the West Bank when a 10-month building limit is over even if stalled peace talks with the Palestinians are renewed
Analysts see need for UAE banking aid
The United Arab Emirates may have to do more to support its banks and prevent the woes of a leading Dubai-owned conglomerate from causing losses and derailing a tentative economic recovery, say bankers and analysts
A question of trust
Salah Ezzedine was a reputable businessman whose Hizbollah links led many to invest their life savings in his projects. Months after he was charged with fraud, the country is still reeling from what the media has dubbed Lebanon’s very own Ponzi scheme
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