Mosul, Jun 30: The Islamic State’s “state of falsehood” has come to an end, Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi said on Thursday, after his troops captured the wrecked historic mosque of Mosul from where Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi declared himself “Caliph” three years ago.
“The return of the al-Nuri Mosque and the al-Hadba minaret to the fold of the nation marks the end of the Daesh state of falsehood,” Mr. Abadi said in a statement, referring to the ultra-hardline Sunni group by an Arabic acronym.
He said Iraqi forces would continue to hunt the Islamic State’s fighters “to kill them and detain them, down to the last one.”
The insurgents blew up the medieval mosque and its famed leaning minaret a week ago as the U.S.-backed Iraqi forces advanced towards it. Their black flag had been flying from al-Hadba (The Hunchback) minaret since June 2014.
Authorities expect the long battle for Mosul to end in the coming days as the remaining IS fighters are bottled up in just a handful of neighbourhoods of the Old City.
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Iraqi PM declares the ‘end of IS’
Agencies
June 30, 2017
Saudi Aramco to boost oil output capacity by 1 million barrels per day
News Network
March 11,2020
Mar 11: Energy giant Saudi Aramco on Wednesday said it plans to raise its crude production capacity by one million barrels per day to 13 million bpd as a price war with Russia intensifies.
"Saudi Aramco announces that it received a directive from the ministry of energy to increase its maximum sustainable capacity from 12 million bpd to 13 million bpd," the company said in a statement to the Saudi Stock Exchange.
The decision comes a day after the world's top exporter, Saudi Arabia, decided to hike production by at least 2.5 million bpd to a record 12.3 million from April.
The Saudi moves come after the collapse of an oil production reduction agreement between OPEC and non-OPEC producers, including Russia.
The deal proposed by Saudi Arabia called for additional output cuts of 1.5 million bpd to cope with the severe economic impact of the coronavirus which has sharply reduced world demand for crude.
Boosting production capacity normally takes a long time and requires billions of dollars of investment.
Several years ago, the kingdom had shelved plans to boost its crude production capacity beyond 12 million bpd after demand for OPEC oil declined in the face of stiff competition from North American shale oil and other sources.
Russia on Tuesday said it was open to renewing cooperation with the OPEC cartel even as its kingpin Saudi Arabia escalated a price war with Moscow by announcing it would flood markets with new supplies.
The oil price war broke out after OPEC and a group of non-member countries dominated by Russia -- the world's second largest producer -- on Friday failed to agree on production cuts.
Saudi Arabia responded by announcing unilateral price cuts. This prompted the oil price to plummet and fuelled huge falls on stock markets around the world on Monday.
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Deadly Beirut blast could have been missile attack or bomb, says president
Agencies
August 8,2020
Beirut, Aug 7: A devastating explosion that destroyed much of Beirut might have been the result of a missile attack or bomb, Lebanese President Michel Aoun said, as the death toll from the blast rose to 154.
More than 2,700 tons of ammonium nitrate had been sitting in a port warehouse for six years, but there have been conflicting accounts about why Lebanese authorities decided to empty the shipment of explosive material. The vessel carrying the flammable cargo was heading from Georgia to Mozambique when it stopped in the Lebanese port to load up on iron, according to the ship’s captain.
By Friday, 19 suspects had been arrested and Lebanon’s former director general of customs Chafic Merhy had been questioned by military police.
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Abu Dhabi's ADC Bank likely to lay off hundreds of employees
Agencies
July 28,2020
Dubai, Jul 28: Abu Dhabi Commercial Bank (ADCB) (ADCB.AD) is letting go hundreds of employees, sources said, the latest in a round of lay-offs by regional banks as pressure mounts to cut costs amid lower oil prices and the coronavirus crisis.
The UAE’s third-biggest lender is laying off 400 employees, two sources familiar with the matter said, after it had committed to not cutting staff because of the crisis.
In a statement, a spokesman said ADCB had pursued efficiency over the last decade by managing out its lowest underachievers after regular reviews, while ensuring talent was deployed in high-growth areas, such as digital banking.
“A certain number of redundancies are therefore expected every year in the normal course of business,” the bank spokesman added.
The sources said the cuts would involve ADCB’s consumer business and several in top management were among those being let go. One source said the bank was looking to close 20 branches.
In March, ADCB had declared, “No employee will be made redundant during 2020 as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.”
UAE banks have been hit by government measures to rein in the spread of the virus, forcing many businesses to shut temporarily.
Last week, Dubai’s largest bank, Emirates NBD, reported a slump of 58% in profits. In June, sources told Reuters the bank started a new round of hundreds of lay-offs.
In May, ADCB reported a fall of 84% in first-quarter net profit as it took impairments of $292 million on debt exposure to troubled hospital operator NMC Health and payments group Finablr.
It was a major lender, with an exposure of about $981 million, to NMC Health, which went into administration this year after months of turmoil following questions over financial reporting.
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