Latest news with #MiddleEast
South China Morning Post
31 minutes ago
- Business
- South China Morning Post
Hong Kong deepens ties with Middle East in Saudi Sukuk ETF's bullish debut
Hong Kong is taking another big step to strengthen financial-market linkages with the Middle East with the launch of Asia's first exchange-traded fund (ETF) tracking Saudi Arabia's Islamic government bonds, or sukuk. The ETF, called Premia BOCHK Saudi Arabia Government Sukuk ETF, started trading on the Hong Kong stock exchange on Thursday, giving local investors access to the world's second-largest market for Shariah-compliant debt securities. The ETF trades in Hong Kong dollars under code 3478 and in US dollars under code 9478. The fund tracks the performance of the iBoxx Tadawul Government and Agencies Sukuk Index, and includes only investment-grade sukuk issued by the Saudi government or its agencies and denominated in Saudi riyals or US dollars, according to a statement. The ETF jumped 1.4 per cent to HK$82.20 and 1 per cent to US$10.44 as of 10.37am local time. The ETF was launched by Premier Partners, a home-grown ETF provider, and BOCHK Asset Management, a unit of China's third-biggest lender Bank of China. HSBC will provide cross-border fund services in both financial markets, the statement showed. 'The idea is to have a range of hot offerings' that comply with their Islamic faith, Financial Secretary Paul Chan Mo-po says. Photo: Jonathan Wong 'There is a huge market in Islamic finance, and there are a lot of discussions that can be held between the market participants and our Islamic community,' Financial Secretary Paul Chan Mo-po said at the Capital Market Forum on Thursday. 'The idea is to have a range of hot offerings that comply with their beliefs and their regulatory requirements, and the sky is the limit.'
Al Arabiya
33 minutes ago
- General
- Al Arabiya
Israel and UN clash over aid to Gaza
Israel accused the United Nations on Wednesday of seeking to 'block' Gaza aid distribution, as the global body said it was doing its utmost to gather the limited assistance greenlighted by Israel's authorities. The humanitarian situation in Gaza, where Israel has imposed a two-month aid blockade, is dire, with food security experts saying starvation is looming for one in five people. 'While the UN spreads panic and makes declarations detached from reality, the state of Israel is steadily facilitating the entry of aid into Gaza,' Israel's United Nations Ambassador Danny Danon told the Security Council. He said the assistance was entering by trucks — under limited authorization by Israel at the Kerem Shalom crossing since last week following the blockade — and via a 'new distribution mechanism developed in coordination with the US and key international partners.' Danon was referring to the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF), a private, US-backed aid group that has established its own distribution system, one the United Nations considers contrary to its humanitarian principles. A chaotic distribution of aid at a GHF center Tuesday left 47 people wounded. Israel's ambassador blamed Hamas for the tumult, saying the Palestinian group set up roadblocks and checkpoints to block access to the distribution center. He accused the UN of 'trying to block' the aid. The United Nations 'is using threats, intimidation and retaliation against NGOs that choose to participate in the new humanitarian mechanism,' Danon added. Danon specifically accused the United Nations of having removed these nongovernmental organizations from a database listing groups working in Gaza, an accusation rejected by the UN. 'There are no differences between the current list and the one from before the launch of the GHF,' Stephane Dujarric, spokesman for UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, told AFP. But the UN reiterated its opposition to coordinating with GHF. 'We will not participate in operations that do not meet our humanitarian principles,' insisted Dujarric. He also said the UN was doing all it could to gather the aid arriving through Kerem Shalom. Since last week 800 truckloads were approved by Israel but fewer than 500 made it into Gaza, according to Dujarric. 'We and our partners could collect just over 200 of them, limited by insecurity and restricted access,' he said. 'If we're not able to pick up those goods, I can tell you one thing, it is not for lack of trying.' Danon had said 'more than 400 trucks' full of aid were already on the Gaza side of the crossing and that Israel had provided 'safe routes' for the distribution. 'But the UN did not show up,' the Israeli envoy said. 'Put your ego aside, pick up the aid and do your job.' Israeli military operations in Gaza have killed at least 54,804 people, mostly civilians, according to the health ministry there. The UN considers the figures reliable. The punishing offensive has reduced much of the Palestinian territory to rubble — including hospitals, schools and other basic infrastructure — and resulted in the displacement of almost all of its roughly two million people. Israel launched its operations in response to the October 7, 2023, attack by Hamas, which killed 1,218 people, according to an AFP tally based on official figures.
Wall Street Journal
40 minutes ago
- General
- Wall Street Journal
With Israeli Intel, Lebanon Is Dismantling Hezbollah in the South
BEIRUT—Lebanon's army has largely disarmed Hezbollah in its southern strongholds—in part with the help of Israeli intelligence—as the country's new government moves to enforce a cease-fire that halted an intense wave of fighting with Israel last year. U.S. and Israeli officials say they have been pleasantly surprised by the progress, which has been critical in maintaining the fragile truce struck in November. The question now is whether the Lebanese state can complete the task in the south and extend its efforts to the rest of the country.
The National
an hour ago
- General
- The National
Middle East media must set the tone for how the region is covered
Few regions consume media as enthusiastically as the Arab world. With growing internet penetration rates, a market for video-on-demand subscription services worth more than $1 billion and millions of young people getting their daily news and information on their smartphones, the Middle East is at the forefront of evolving media trends. It is little wonder then that this week's Arab Media Summit in Dubai has brought together more than 300 speakers and 6,000 participants, among them Lebanese Prime Minister Nawaf Salam, Grand Imam of Al Azhar Dr Ahmed El Tayeb and British media personality Piers Morgan. They joined many other notable voices – from influencers to editors – across journalism, digital content creation and communications, all seeking to chart a future for the region's media. It is a future that is exciting and bright but also challenging. For many years, the Middle East been portrayed in a one-dimensional fashion. Outdated tropes about unending conflict and militancy have arisen time and again in news reports, TV series and feature films, often side-lining the voices of the region's people. Therefore, it has been welcome to see the many discussions and insights arising from the summit reflect the vibrancy of media producers in the Arab world, from traditional outlets such as newspaper titles and TV channels to social media platforms and film production. However, in challenging times this vibrancy must also be matched by responsibility, especially when it comes to news reporting. Speaking at the summit on Tuesday, Dr El Tayeb, who is also chairman of the Muslim Council of Elders, said Arab media 'has the biggest role in disclosing and showing the injustices in Gaza and keeping the Palestinian cause at the front of nations' minds'. He is right to suggest that it is journalists from the Middle East who should be the ones setting the tone for how the region's stories – good and bad – are told. It is critical that media owners, journalists and content creators meet at events such as Dubai's Arab Media Summit to shape the conversation To drive moves towards more holistic coverage of the Middle East, it is important for media outlets to dig deeper and focus on life in the region as it is lived, not as it is reported on from outside. Beshara, a weekly online newsletter published by The National, works to fulfil this mission by focusing on solutions-oriented stories, and positive developments, highlighting the work being done in the UAE and other parts of the Middle East to tackle some of society's most pressing problems. In a wider sense, the media has a social role to play. Speaking before the first day of the summit, Sheikh Ahmed bin Mohammed, Second Deputy Ruler of Dubai and chairman of the Dubai Media Council, called the media "a vital partner in development and a key driver of social awareness'. Well-informed societies tend to make better choices, and in an age of misinformation and widespread social media use – in essence, humanity having a real-time conversation with itself – it is important that media owners, journalists and content creators meet at events such as the Arab Media Summit to shape the conversation.
The National
an hour ago
- Business
- The National
Abu Dhabi's Taqa keeping tabs on tariffs as it considers international expansion
Abu Dhabi National Energy Company, better known as Taqa, is closely monitoring the global tariff situation as it keeps the option of buying international assets on the table, its chief executive said on Wednesday. Nearly half of the company's capacity is deployed in Abu Dhabi, and it is 'not seeing any direct impact from the tariffs so far', Jasim Thabet told The National in an interview on the sidelines of the World Utilities Congress in Abu Dhabi. 'But we are keeping a close eye on the flow of trades … if there are any tariffs happening [and] if there are opportunities for us to look at new markets to acquire new companies or to invest in other projects,' he said. Mr Thabet said Taqa is focusing on boosting its renewables portfolio and is expected to increase investment to keep pace with the power needs of the booming data centre industry. The company, which in April announced an artificial intelligence-focused initiative expected to drive Dh36 billion ($9.8 billion) of investments, will 'continue to monitor the market for trends', he said. That programme – 'a very big component' of which focuses on renewables – is being implemented in co-operation with Emirates Water and Electricity Company and clean energy firm Masdar, in which Taqa is the biggest shareholder. 'There's a combination of a lot of things – populations are growing, there's a need for additional and efficient power,' Mr Thabet said. 'We're very well placed when it comes to investments.' Taqa aims to deploy more renewable forms of energy, and is addressing one of its biggest challenges – ensuring an efficient transmission network for their distribution. The company owns and operates transmission lines from its power and water plants to roads and homes, and requires operational efficiency to guarantee uninterrupted supply to users. 'There's a big deployment of renewables, so there are lots of opportunities for investment in renewables and also in networks,' he said. 'One of the biggest bottlenecks is rolling out all the transmission networks that will require [those investments].' Data centres consume a significant amount of energy to handle massive amounts of data. Some are using sustainable sources such as solar and water to cut consumption and costs. Power demand from data centres worldwide is predicted to more than double to about 945TWh by 2030. This is slightly more than Japan's entire electricity consumption, data from the International Energy Agency shows. In general, the bigger the data centres, the bigger their energy need. On a monthly basis, small, medium and large-size data centres are estimated to consume as much as 36,000kWh, 2,000MW and 10MW, respectively, according to industry tracker Data Centre World. The global data centre market is expected to surpass $1 trillion by 2034, surging more than 160 per cent from a projected $386.7 billion in 2025, according to Precedence Research. 'Renewables play a very important component of having a balanced supply of energy in the grid,' Mr Thabet said.
