Business

Lebanon’s prosecutor general decided Tuesday not to charge fugitive ex-auto tycoon Carlos Ghosn for visiting Israel in 2008 because the statute of limitations has expired, a judicial source said. Three lawyers filed a motion in January calling for the 66-year-old businessman to be prosecuted over his trip to the Jewish …

The World Bank (WB) supports Uzbekistan’s investment in research and commercialization of innovations. The World Bank’s Board of Executive Directors has approved $50 million for the “Modernization of the national innovation system in Uzbekistan” project. “The new project, supported by the World Bank, will help the government develop a national …

On October 24, a discussion was held in the format of a videoconference on the progress of the implementation of tasks to strengthen trade-economic, investment, financial-technical, transport-logistics and cultural-humanitarian cooperation with China and the Republic of Korea. Heads of ministries, departments and industry associations took part in the discussion, which …

ADB to finance the construction of power transmission lines from Uzbekistan to Afghanistan. As part of the visit of Uzbekistan’s government delegation to Afghanistan, the heads of ministries and departments of the two countries held an expanded meeting in Kabul. During the event, an agreement was signed between the Islamic …

Iran’s foreign ministry on Saturday described a U.S.-brokered Sudan-Israel deal to normalise ties as “phoney” and accused Khartoum of paying a ransom in return for Washington removing it from a list of state sponsors of terrorism. The deal agreed on Friday marked the third Arab government after the United Arab …

Israel said on Friday it will not oppose U.S. sales of “specific weapons systems” to the United Arab Emirates, in an apparent reference to the F-35 warplanes sought by Abu Dhabi. Under a principle of preserving Israel’s “qualitative military edge”, the United States consults with it on proposed sales of …

U.S. President Donald Trump and Sudanese Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok on Friday called for an agreement to be reached over the dam dispute with Ethiopia and Egypt. “We hope to reach an amicable solution soon,” Hamdok said, speaking by phone with Trump following Sudan and Israel’s announcement to normalize ties. …

The United States on Monday said it blacklisted two Chinese men and six Chinese entities for having dealt with Iranian shipping company Islamic Republic of Iran Shipping Lines (IRISL) and, in some cases, helping it to evade U.S. sanctions. The U.S. State Department named the entities as Reach Holding Group …

President Donald Trump announced on Monday the United States would remove Sudan from its list of state sponsors of terrorism as soon as Khartoum sets aside the $335 million it has agreed to pay to American victims of militant attacks and their families. The deal could also set in motion …

Donald Trump’s Middle East envoy said on Sunday the U.S. President’s push for an Israeli-Arab rapprochement was gaining momentum and he hoped more accords would follow even if Trump loses next month’s election. Avi Berkowitz, who accompanied an Israeli delegation which visited Bahrain on Sunday, said the so-called “Abraham Accords” …

A landlocked Central Asian country that shares its southern border with Afghanistan, the Republic of Uzbekistan shipped an estimated US$11.1 billion worth of goods around the globe in 2019. That dollar amount reflects a 10% increase since 2017 and a 1.5% gain from 2018 to 2019. From a continental perspective …

The first official delegation to Israel from the United Arab Emirates may remain at the airport and fly home the same day, rather than conduct a wider visit, due to coronavirus precautions, an Israeli minister said. Israel is under a second coronavirus lockdown, which it plans to begin easing next …

Israel’s finance minister promised on Sunday the long awaited 2021 state budget would be ready in December amid accusations the government was dragging its heels for political reasons and after a third senior economic official quit in three months. Failure to pass last year’s budget was a big factor in …

Israel’s cabinet approved a normalisation deal with the United Arab Emirates on Monday and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he and Abu Dhabi’s crown prince had spoken and agreed to meet soon. The U.S.-brokered “treaty of peace” establishing full relations with the Gulf Arab country broke new diplomatic ground in …

Israel would oppose any U.S. sale of advanced F-35 warplanes to Qatar, Israel’s intelligence minister said on Sunday, citing a need to maintain Israeli military superiority in the region. Intelligence Minister Eli Cohen made the comments in response to a Reuters report that Qatar – whose Iran links trouble Israel …

Passionate teams and employees drive businesses to form winning teams and strive into more success in the corporate world. What are the keys to success into becoming the winning team? By Emile Fakhoury I believe performance and passion walk hand in hand on the success ladder, a team can start …

Turkey’s leading business groups urged Saudi Arabia on Saturday to take action to improve trade relations as Turkish firms encounter growing problems in doing business with the Gulf Arab state. Saudi Arabia and Turkey have been at odds for some years over foreign policy and attitudes towards Islamist political groups. …

Lebanon’s caretaker Prime Minister Hassan Diab said on Friday any step to lift subsidies now on vital goods would be unacceptable and would cause a “social explosion”. In a televised address, Diab, who resigned two months ago after a huge explosion damaged much of Beirut and worsened the country’s economic …

Uzbekistan, long unknown to most Westerners, is already shaping the travel scene for 2020. This culturally rich and historically compelling country, along with the rest of central Asia, has been named the No. 1 travel region for the new year by travel website Lonely Planet due to its easy access …

Lebanon’s leading Sunni Muslim politician, former premier Saad al-Hariri, called for the restoration of a French plan to lift the nation out of its worst financial crisis since its 1975-1990 civil war. Former colonial power France, which has led foreign aid efforts, has tried to rally have Lebanese leaders to …

Saudi diplomats, Sikh separatists and Indian business executives have been among those targeted by a group of hired hackers, according to research published on Wednesday by software firm BlackBerry Corp BB.BA. The report here on the group, known publicly as Bahamut, the name assigned to the mythical sea monster of …

Tourism in Uzbekistan has always drawn people from far and wide. For anyone who knows about the country, this is easy to understand – bright colours, intricate patterns, rich flavours, and friendly people await every visitor. Traces remain of great empires that have long since been blown away by the …

Managing, leading and inspiring your team can be quite challenging in uncertain times. In this article the focus is on the latter: what are the best ways to inspire your team to boost its productivity and performance? By Emile Fakhoury First, let me start by defining the word team as …

The Covid-19 pandemic and related measures will bite into growth this year. Internally, demand will likely be downbeat amid social distancing measures and weaker remittance inflows. On the external front, feeble external demand and rising uncertainty will keep exports subdued. The possibility of further domestic restrictions clouds the outlook. FocusEconomics …

Palestinian Authority security services recently began a campaign to arrest opposition activists in the West Bank. The campaign has targeted activists in the Democratic Reform Bloc of parliament member Muhammad Dahlan, a high-profile critic of President Mahmoud Abbas. Key members of the Fatah Revolutionary Council, former security officials and university …

Syria’s foreign minister accused U.S. President Donald Trump’s administration on Saturday of attempting to suffocate Syrians with sanctions “just like George Floyd and others were cruelly suffocated in the United States.” New U.S. sanctions that took effect in June under the so-called Caesar Act have further crippled the war-torn country’s …

ACWA Power (Saudi Arabia) has installed 10 meteorological masts out of the 18 planned for studying the wind potential in Peshku and Gijduvan districts of the Bukhara region, where the company will build wind power plants (WPPs) with a total capacity of 1000 MW, the press service of the Energy …

Sudan does not want to link its removal from a U.S. terrorism list that is hindering access to foreign funding for the country’s economy with a normalisation of relations with Israel, Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok said on Saturday. Sources said this week that U.S. officials indicated in talks with a …

Lebanon’s prime minister-designate quit on Saturday after trying for almost a month to line up a non-partisan cabinet, dealing a blow to a French bid aimed at rallying sectarian leaders to tackle the worst crisis since the nation’s 1975-1990 civil war. Mustapha Adib, former ambassador to Berlin, was picked on …

“Today, the Central Asian states face an important strategic task. This is to ensure deep integration of our region into the global economic, transport and transit corridors,” Shavkat Mirziyoyev said. According to the President of Uzbekistan, the countries of the region have managed to create an atmosphere of good neighborliness, …

Despite over a year of negotiations, Sudan is facing a fresh obstacle to its removal from a U.S. terrorism list that has hindered its economy: a demand that it normalize relations with Israel, three sources familiar with the matter said. However, three Sudanese government officials told Reuters on Thursday that …

The United States said on Thursday it would provide more than $720 million in humanitarian assistance in response to the crisis in Syria, plus nearly $152 million for Africa’s Sahel region and almost $108 million for South Sudan. Deputy Secretary of State Stephen Biegun made the announcement on Syria at …

The United States on Thursday blacklisted several Iranian officials and entities over alleged gross violations of human rights, including slapping sanctions on a judge it said was involved in the case of an Iranian wrestler sentenced to death. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo in a statement said the United States …

The U.S. ambassador to Turkey said on Wednesday companies will consider abandoning its market if it fails to fully meet debt payments to American pharmaceutical firms, and he criticised a new Turkish law clamping down on big social media sites. Addressing a trade conference streamed online, David Satterfield said debts …

Shavkat Mirziyoyev has announced the creation of a new geological system and ordered to double the scale of geological exploration in 2021. On August 27, Shavkat Mirziyoyev has been presented a report on the effectiveness of works in the geology sector, the presidential press service informs.   “Uzbekistan is establishing …

France backed on Wednesday a proposal made by Lebanon’s leading Sunni Muslim politician to end a deadlock preventing the formation of a cabinet to lead the nation out of its worst crisis since the 1975-1990 civil war. Paris has been pressing Lebanese politicians to form a government quickly but the …

Turkey and Greece have agreed to resume talks over their contested maritime claims in the eastern Mediterranean after a four year hiatus following weeks of tensions that culminated in a collision between their warships. The talks, which broke off in 2016 after 60 rounds that made little progress over 14 …

The United States and the United Arab Emirates hope to have an initial agreement on the sale of F-35 stealth fighter jets to the Gulf state in place by December, as the Trump administration studies how to structure a deal without running afoul of Israel. Sources close to the negotiations …

The United States on Monday will sanction more than two dozen people and entities involved in Iran’s nuclear, missile and conventional arms programs, a senior U.S. official said, putting teeth behind U.N. sanctions on Tehran that Washington argues have resumed despite the opposition of allies and adversaries. Speaking on condition …

US President Donald Trump has expressed his approval of a deal that would allow Chinese-owned video-sharing app TikTok to continue operating in the US. Mr Trump told reporters he had given his “blessing” to a partnership between TikTok and US firms Oracle and Walmart. The president had ordered the app …

Britain, France and Germany told the U.N. Security Council on Friday that U.N. sanctions relief for Iran – agreed under a 2015 nuclear deal – would continue beyond Sept. 20, when the United States asserts that all the measures should be reimposed. In a letter to the 15-member body, seen …

Netflix has struck a five-year exclusive partnership with Saudi Arabian animation studio Myrkott to produce Saudi-focused shows and films along with a similar period first-look option on the company’s upcoming projects. The link-up will entail production of new and exclusive seasons of the “Masameer” cartoon series and related upcoming movies, …

The U.S. Commerce Department plans to issue an order Friday that will bar people in the United States from downloading Chinese-owned messaging app WeChat and video-sharing app TikTok starting on September 20, three officials told Reuters. The officials said the ban on new U.S. downloads of TikTok could be still …

The U.S. Department of Justice on Thursday announced charges against three Iranians over allegations they stole information from aerospace and satellite technology firms on behalf of the Islamic republic’s Revolutionary Guards. The indictments follow a flurry of recent actions against alleged Iranian cyber spies including the announcement, earlier on Thursday, …