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  • Afghanistan: Erdogan calls Taliban ban on women’s education ‘un-Islamic’

    Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has denounced the Taliban’s order to ban university and primary education for Afghanistan's women as “unIslamic”, promising to follow the issue until it is resolved in a televised speech on Wednesday. “It is inhumane and un-Islamic,” Erdogan said while addressing an international conference on ombudsmanship in Ankara.

  • Middle East military rankings: Turkey highest, Lebanon lowest per global index

    The defense statistics website Global Fire Power reviewed the military strengths of 145 countries in its 2023 index across the world according to eight categories including troop numbers, national resources, financial situations, logistics and geography. The rankings for Middle East and North Africa region are as follows:

  • Middle East military rankings: Turkey highest, Lebanon lowest per global index

    The defense statistics website Global Fire Power reviewed the military strengths of 145 countries in its 2023 index across the world according to eight categories including troop numbers, national resources, financial situations, logistics and geography. The rankings for Middle East and North Africa region are as follows:

  • Saudi Arabia developer Umm Al Qura picks banks for IPO

    Umm Al Qura has picked Al Bilad Capital and GIB Capital to work on the IPO while Lazard is advising it, the people said, asking not to be identified as the information isn’t public. An IPO of the company could raise a few hundred million dollars, two of the people said.

  • Saudi Arabia and Qatar are cooperating with the Taliban. But their approaches to Afghanistan are different.

    All GCC states have come to terms with the reality of Taliban rule in Afghanistan since August 2021 and must pragmatically deal with the situation on the ground. Saudi Arabia and Qatar see Afghanistan primarily as a security and humanitarian concern, however, their approaches toward the country differ. Under Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman (MBS), they have changed to a more humanitarian-based approach, using their sway in major Islamic institutions to funnel aid to the Afghan people.

  • Lab Paves Way for Saudi Arabia Open Banking Launch

    The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia has launched an Open Banking Lab for banks and FinTechs. The new lab, announced by the Central Bank of Saudi Arabia (SAMA) earlier this month, will create a technical testing environment for the development of new open banking services ahead of the launch of open banking services in the first quarter of 2023. This move follows the launch of an open banking framework by SAMA in November, proposing a set of regulatory guidelines and technical standards aimed at supporting banks and FinTechs’ ability to provide open banking services in the country.

  • Qatar National Bank annual profit up 9% in 2022

    Qatar National Bank (QNB) (QNBK.QA), the Gulf's biggest bank by assets, reported on Wednesday a 9% rise in annual net profit after adjusting for hyperinflation related to its business in Turkey. Net profit for 2022 was 14.3 billion riyals ($3.91 billion) from 13.2 billion riyals in 2021. Full-year net profit before the impact of hyperinflation was 16.1 billion riyals, QNB said. "Since the 2nd quarter of 2022, QNB's Turkey operations has been subject to hyperinflationary accounting requirements as per International Financial Reporting Standards," the lender said.

  • Lebanon’s Husseini, architect of peace accord, dies at 86

    Lebanese Shi'ite politician Hussein al-Husseini, a former parliament speaker who was an architect of the peace agreement ending the 1975-90 civil war, died on Wednesday aged 86. Husseini, speaker from 1984 to 1992, was central in asserting a larger role for a Shi'ite community that was largely downtrodden at the time, including by helping to establish the Shi'ite Amal Movement in the 1970s alongside Imam Moussa Sadr.

  • World Bank warns global economy could tip into recession in 2023

    The World Bank slashed its 2023 growth forecasts on Tuesday to levels teetering on the brink of recession for many countries as the impact of central bank rate hikes intensifies, Russia's war in Ukraine continues, and the world's major economic engines sputter. The development lender said it expected global GDP growth of 1.7% in 2023, the slowest pace outside the 2009 and 2020 recessions since 1993. In its previous Global Economic Prospects report in June 2022, the bank had forecast 2023 global growth at 3.0%.

  • Mukesh Ambani switches gears to focus on Reliance’s $75bn green energy plans

    Mukesh Ambani, the billionaire chairman of Reliance Industries, will be focusing his attention on the Indian conglomerate’s pivot to green energy, according to sources, after putting his children in charge of other businesses.