To understand the resilience of the elites, one must go back in history once and examine our past. — atiejelmouallem.com
Most modern states were created to manage class conflicts and protect capital, but in Lebanon, it was created to manage sectarian conflict. It was designed to serve the sectarian division of power. As a result, social relations in Lebanon are institutionalised and privileges are highly contested in sectarian forms.
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Dr. Atie J. El Mouallem – Letter Requesting Donation for School — atiejelmouallem.com
Our school “Lady of the Tower School for the Sisters of the Holy Family” is located in Bekaa- Lebanon in the district of Deir El Ahmar. It is on the main road between Btedhi and Chlifa. Its ultimate goal is our children’s spiritual and educational lives.
From 1932 till now, our school still taking care of poor children, but due to the economic circumstances in Lebanon in general, and in our school in particular, we require your generous attention in the form of donations. Your donation and help can bring a smile to thousands of faces by helping them to achieve a good life and to continue their learning in our school.
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Will the “second wave” of mergers and acquisitions in GCC banking continue to gather pace? | Bahrain 2021 | Oxford Business Group — oxfordbusinessgroup.com
The first wave of M&A in GCC banking was prompted by the 2014 oil price crash. The coronavirus pandemic has given rise to the start of a second wave.
The so-called second wave follows an earlier run of M&A in the region – seen most prominently in the UAE – triggered by the 2014 oil price slump.
A particularly emblematic tie-up came in 2019 with the MENA region’s largest merger to date, between Abu Dhabi Commercial Bank, the Union National Bank and the Abu Dhabi-headquartered Islamic finance institution Al Hilal Bank. The merged entity became the UAE’s third-largest bank, with an estimated $114.4bn in assets.
Saudi Arabia has also seen two major developments in recent times. In 2018 it was announced that Saudi British Bank and Alawwal Bank were to merge.
Saudi National Bank was formed out of the merger of two leading institutions, after the National Commercial Bank last year combined with the Samba Financial Group in a $15bn deal. Masraf Al Rayan announced a potential merger with Al Khaliji Commercial Bank on June 30 last year.
Qatar also saw some significant activity in terms of M&A.
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World’s Rich Steer Superyachts to Greece After Covid Reopening – Bloomberg — www.bloomberg.com
The Aegean nation is at the top of the Bloomberg superyacht leaderboard for the first time, with at least 194 superyachts parked off its shores as of June 25.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Emmanuel Macron recently criticized Greece and other tourism-dependent nations for freely accepting visitors who have been inoculated with less effective Chinese and Russian vaccines.
It reopened to foreign tourists on May 14 with no quarantine required, provided visitors have a vaccination certificate or proof of a negative Covid test.
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EXPERIENCE LIVING IN PIXEL
Pixel is the first mixed-use residential community at Makers District. Pixel offers its residents & visitors a unique space to enrich, collaborate & engage.
Designed as human-scale, the 7 mixed-use residential towers surrounded by quiet pocket gardens have been strategically arranged around a vibrant pedestrianized plaza.
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$DIDI Crackdown: Big Data Is the Latest U.S.-China Battleground – Bloomberg — www.bloomberg.com
Didi’s listing in the U.S. last week came just as Xi is looking for ways to control the vast reams of data held by China’s tech giants, in part to ensure the Communist Party spreads the wealth beyond a small circle of billionaires. That scrutiny awoke regulators in Beijing to the threat posed by private companies, prompting them to ban Didi from signing up new users days after it conducted the second-biggest American initial public offering for a Chinese company.
More broadly, the crackdown shows how big data is quickly turning into the next major battleground in a clash of superpowers, with implications that potentially could reshape the global economy for decades to come.
China risks losing access to deep capital markets abroad that can finance its push for technological superiority, while U.S. companies could find themselves cut off from investing in one the world’s top growth engines.
We are in a moment where security concerns have taken precedence, due in part to changing geopolitical dynamics, as well as the ‘unknowns’ surrounding data-driven technologies,” said Tom Nunlist, a policy analyst at Beijing-based Trivium China.
With the free flow of data, one country could do accurate profiling of the social situation of another country as well as targeted intelligence collection and analysis, thus threatening the latter’s national security.”
Li Keshun, deputy head of a big data lab in the coastal province of Jiangsu, was quoted
Discouraging overseas listings will help Xi keep China’s biggest companies aligned with the party’s goals, as also seen through Beijing’s move last year to scuttle Ant Group Co.’s $35 billion dual listing in Shanghai and Hong Kong at the 11th hour.
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Why the Swiss medical tourism sector is looking to tap into the GCC — gulfbusiness.com
Switzerland’s robust healthcare system is among the best in the world. According to a 2018 Euro Health Consumer Index (EHCI) ranking which surveyed 35 European countries, the Alpine nation came out on top with 893 out of a total of 1,000 points.
Foreign patients represent around 2 per cent of total patients at Swiss hospitals.
Wettstein says
The main treatments solicited by foreign patients are in the oncology, cardiology, orthopaedics and rehabilitation categories.
The main source countries for these foreign patients, according to Wettstein, are the GCC region, Russia (including the former Commonwealth of Independent States) and EU countries.
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Sudan Border Region Development Could Spark Africa’s Next War – Bloomberg — www.bloomberg.com
Sudan’s development of a disputed border region has the potential to kindle an agricultural boom and an economic revival — or spark Africa’s next conflict.
After months of deadly clashes with neighbouring Ethiopia, Sudanese troops have taken control of much of al-Fashqa, a stretch of fertile land that’s drawn interest from as far afield as the United Arab Emirates.
The violence stymied a United Arab Emirates plan to invest $8 billion in al-Fashqa in a project that included the development of Port Sudan on the Red Sea and a railway from the harbour to Addis Ababa, Ethiopia’s capital, through the disputed territory, according to Sudanese Finance Minister Gibril Ibrahim.
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