Cars pass garbage containers thrown onto the road to prevent riot police from entering the street in the centre of Manama yesterday.
Cars pass garbage containers thrown onto the road to prevent riot police from entering the street in the centre of Manama yesterday.
Cars pass garbage containers thrown onto the road to prevent riot police from entering the street in the centre of Manama yesterday.
Cars pass garbage containers thrown onto the road to prevent riot police from entering the street in the centre of Manama yesterday.

Bahrain's financial centre brought to a standstill


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Bahrain Financial Harbour, the heart of the country's banking and finance industry, was virtually deserted for the third consecutive day yesterday.

As protesters blocked access to its twin towers, the kingdom declared a three-month state of emergency.

All bankers and investment executives had stayed away from the buildings, security staff said.

Much of King Faisal Highway, running through the heart of Manama's commercial area, was impassable. Protesters' barricades prevented access to the arterial road and the central business district next to it.

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Inside the Abu Dhabi Media Summit - Digital revolution will need paying for

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Five-star hotels in the protester-occupied area, such as the Sheraton and the Regency, were empty except for security staff. In the diplomatic area, many guests were checking out of hotels hurriedly as a planned protest march to the nearby Saudi embassy got under way.

"We have a couple of hundred rooms and four guests", said the manager of one international chain, who wished to remain anonymous.

The security company Control Risks was organising the evacuation of several international businesses.

King Hamad bin Issa Al Khalifa proclaimed a state of emergency for three months after Saudi Arabian and UAE troops entered the country to help keep the peace.

The cost of insuring Bahrain's sovereign debt has soared this year, breaching 333 basis points at one point, almost double the 185 basis points at the start of the year.

The kingdom's industrial activity is also under severe pressure as a nationwide strike of Bahraini workers is ongoing.

The workers include those at Bahrain's two largest companies, Aluminium Bahrain (Alba) and Bahrain Petroleum company (Bapco), although both companies denied any disruption was taking place.

"From an operating point of view, we are supplying to all our customers and we are still exporting," said Khalid Ebrahim Sabbagh, the general manager of the marketing division at Bapco, but he conceded "things could change minute by minute" as the situation on the ground evolved.

Alba reiterated it was operating at full capacity and that contingency measures were in place "for any eventuality if and when the need arises".

"The only contingency measure taken by Alba up until now was the adjustment of the organisation's workforce shifts," it said.

As many as 300 non-essential staff joined in strike action, the head of the Alba workers' trade union said on Monday.

Abdul Kadir Shihabi, the head of operations at a Bapco refinery who is on the board of the trade union, said he had rallied enough staff to shut down up to half of the petrol stations controlled by Bapco and some of the company's exporting activities.

Mr Shihabi said the strike was not intended to halt industrial activity entirely but to force Bapco to reduce its production.

"It is not a 100 per cent shutdown, because our local residents need cars, hospitals, gas and electricity to be available, but we need it to affect shipping," he said.

Bapco, which is state-owned, produces 250,000 barrels of oil per day, with more than 90 per cent shipped abroad, while Alba operates one of the world's largest single-site smelters with an annual production capacity of 870,000 tonnes.

The Bahrain Stock Exchange, the smallest and most illiquid in the Arab world, continued trading from emergency premises for a third day as protesters blocked access to its Financial Harbour premises.

Ali al Mansoor, a spokesman at the exchange, said the average daily turnover was still within the normal range, despite a 20 per cent slump in the volume of traded shares compared with normal levels.

The measure ended up 1.3 per cent yesterday but some commentators warned the market was not a real reflection of investor sentiment because it was so illiquid.

UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
Sole survivors
  • Cecelia Crocker was on board Northwest Airlines Flight 255 in 1987 when it crashed in Detroit, killing 154 people, including her parents and brother. The plane had hit a light pole on take off
  • George Lamson Jr, from Minnesota, was on a Galaxy Airlines flight that crashed in Reno in 1985, killing 68 people. His entire seat was launched out of the plane
  • Bahia Bakari, then 12, survived when a Yemenia Airways flight crashed near the Comoros in 2009, killing 152. She was found clinging to wreckage after floating in the ocean for 13 hours.
  • Jim Polehinke was the co-pilot and sole survivor of a 2006 Comair flight that crashed in Lexington, Kentucky, killing 49.
Conflict, drought, famine

Estimates of the number of deaths caused by the famine range from 400,000 to 1 million, according to a document prepared for the UK House of Lords in 2024.
It has been claimed that the policies of the Ethiopian government, which took control after deposing Emperor Haile Selassie in a military-led revolution in 1974, contributed to the scale of the famine.
Dr Miriam Bradley, senior lecturer in humanitarian studies at the University of Manchester, has argued that, by the early 1980s, “several government policies combined to cause, rather than prevent, a famine which lasted from 1983 to 1985. Mengistu’s government imposed Stalinist-model agricultural policies involving forced collectivisation and villagisation [relocation of communities into planned villages].
The West became aware of the catastrophe through a series of BBC News reports by journalist Michael Buerk in October 1984 describing a “biblical famine” and containing graphic images of thousands of people, including children, facing starvation.

Band Aid

Bob Geldof, singer with the Irish rock group The Boomtown Rats, formed Band Aid in response to the horrific images shown in the news broadcasts.
With Midge Ure of the band Ultravox, he wrote the hit charity single Do They Know it’s Christmas in December 1984, featuring a string of high-profile musicians.
Following the single’s success, the idea to stage a rock concert evolved.
Live Aid was a series of simultaneous concerts that took place at Wembley Stadium in London, John F Kennedy Stadium in Philadelphia, the US, and at various other venues across the world.
The combined event was broadcast to an estimated worldwide audience of 1.5 billion.

UK-EU trade at a glance

EU fishing vessels guaranteed access to UK waters for 12 years

Co-operation on security initiatives and procurement of defence products

Youth experience scheme to work, study or volunteer in UK and EU countries

Smoother border management with use of e-gates

Cutting red tape on import and export of food

CONFIRMED%20LINE-UP
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UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets

Company Profile

Company name: NutriCal

Started: 2019

Founder: Soniya Ashar

Based: Dubai

Industry: Food Technology

Initial investment: Self-funded undisclosed amount

Future plan: Looking to raise fresh capital and expand in Saudi Arabia

Total Clients: Over 50

How to register as a donor

1) Organ donors can register on the Hayat app, run by the Ministry of Health and Prevention

2) There are about 11,000 patients in the country in need of organ transplants

3) People must be over 21. Emiratis and residents can register. 

4) The campaign uses the hashtag  #donate_hope

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Key 2013/14 UAE Motorsport dates

October 4: Round One of Rotax Max Challenge, Al Ain (karting)

October 1: 1 Round One of the inaugural UAE Desert Championship (rally)

November 1-3: Abu Dhabi Grand Prix (Formula One)

November 28-30: Dubai International Rally

January 9-11: 24Hrs of Dubai (Touring Cars / Endurance)

March 21: Round 11 of Rotax Max Challenge, Muscat, Oman (karting)

April 4-10: Abu Dhabi Desert Challenge (Endurance)

Key facilities
  • Olympic-size swimming pool with a split bulkhead for multi-use configurations, including water polo and 50m/25m training lanes
  • Premier League-standard football pitch
  • 400m Olympic running track
  • NBA-spec basketball court with auditorium
  • 600-seat auditorium
  • Spaces for historical and cultural exploration
  • An elevated football field that doubles as a helipad
  • Specialist robotics and science laboratories
  • AR and VR-enabled learning centres
  • Disruption Lab and Research Centre for developing entrepreneurial skills
While you're here
Our legal consultants

Name: Hassan Mohsen Elhais

Position: legal consultant with Al Rowaad Advocates and Legal Consultants.

The specs: Fenyr SuperSport

Price, base: Dh5.1 million

Engine: 3.8-litre twin-turbo flat-six

Transmission: Seven-speed automatic

Power: 800hp @ 7,100pm

Torque: 980Nm @ 4,000rpm

Fuel economy, combined: 13.5L / 100km

UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
The specs

Engine: Dual 180kW and 300kW front and rear motors

Power: 480kW

Torque: 850Nm

Transmission: Single-speed automatic

Price: From Dh359,900 ($98,000)

On sale: Now

What should do investors do now?

What does the S&P 500's new all-time high mean for the average investor? 

Should I be euphoric?

No. It's fine to be pleased about hearty returns on your investments. But it's not a good idea to tie your emotions closely to the ups and downs of the stock market. You'll get tired fast. This market moment comes on the heels of last year's nosedive. And it's not the first or last time the stock market will make a dramatic move.

So what happened?

It's more about what happened last year. Many of the concerns that triggered that plunge towards the end of last have largely been quelled. The US and China are slowly moving toward a trade agreement. The Federal Reserve has indicated it likely will not raise rates at all in 2019 after seven recent increases. And those changes, along with some strong earnings reports and broader healthy economic indicators, have fueled some optimism in stock markets.

"The panic in the fourth quarter was based mostly on fears," says Brent Schutte, chief investment strategist for Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Company. "The fundamentals have mostly held up, while the fears have gone away and the fears were based mostly on emotion."

Should I buy? Should I sell?

Maybe. It depends on what your long-term investment plan is. The best advice is usually the same no matter the day — determine your financial goals, make a plan to reach them and stick to it.

"I would encourage (investors) not to overreact to highs, just as I would encourage them not to overreact to the lows of December," Mr Schutte says.

All the same, there are some situations in which you should consider taking action. If you think you can't live through another low like last year, the time to get out is now. If the balance of assets in your portfolio is out of whack thanks to the rise of the stock market, make adjustments. And if you need your money in the next five to 10 years, it shouldn't be in stocks anyhow. But for most people, it's also a good time to just leave things be.

Resist the urge to abandon the diversification of your portfolio, Mr Schutte cautions. It may be tempting to shed other investments that aren't performing as well, such as some international stocks, but diversification is designed to help steady your performance over time.

Will the rally last?

No one knows for sure. But David Bailin, chief investment officer at Citi Private Bank, expects the US market could move up 5 per cent to 7 per cent more over the next nine to 12 months, provided the Fed doesn't raise rates and earnings growth exceeds current expectations. We are in a late cycle market, a period when US equities have historically done very well, but volatility also rises, he says.

"This phase can last six months to several years, but it's important clients remain invested and not try to prematurely position for a contraction of the market," Mr Bailin says. "Doing so would risk missing out on important portfolio returns."

JUDAS AND THE BLACK MESSIAH

Directed by: Shaka King

Starring: Daniel Kaluuya, Lakeith Stanfield, Jesse Plemons

Four stars