May, 2016

• 8 May

  Israeli Islamic cleric starts 9-month prison term

    Beersheba / AFP Israeli Arab Muslim leader Raed Salah started a nine-month prison sentence on Sunday for fomenting riots at Jerusalem’s Al-Aqsa mosque. Salah was accompanied by about 100 well-wishers, including Israeli Arab lawmakers, as he arrived at the prison in the city of Beersheba in southern Israel’s Negev desert, an AFP journalist said. At a farewell rally earlier ...

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• 8 May

  Indonesia’s Muslim cyber warriors take on IS

  

    Jakarta / AFP A group of Indonesian “cyber warriors” sit glued to screens, as they send out messages promoting a moderate form of Islam in the world’s most populous Muslim-majority country. Armed with laptops and smartphones, some 500 members of the Nahdlatul Ulama (NU)— one of the world’s biggest Muslim organisations—are seeking to counter the Islamic State group’s extremist ...

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• 8 May

  The stubborn tax gap

  

    The Internal Revenue Service has just released its latest estimate of the “tax gap” – the difference between what Americans pay in taxes and what they actually owe. For the years 2008 to 2010 (the IRS’s latest data), the annual gap averaged a huge $458 billion. It’s surely higher now. Gulp. If everyone religiously paid every penny owed, budget ...

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• 8 May

  Seoul goes for monetary stimulus with a twist

  

    Jean-Michel Paul For those feeling sympathy for the European Central Bank, which has pretty much been on its own in trying to stimulate demand in the absence of government fiscal policy and investment, a ray of hope emerged. In Korea. South Korea is not doing badly, mind you. The country is a member of the Organization for Economic Cooperation ...

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• 8 May

  Fishery disaster tests mettle of Vietnam’s new government

  

    An apparent environmental disaster off Vietnam’s central coastal region, estimated by some as one of the country’s worst ever toxic spills, represents newly appointed Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc’s first big political test. How Phuc strikes a balance between foreign investor interests and local community rights in handling the case will set an early precedent for his government’s policy ...

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• 8 May

  Singapore banks brace up to fight money laundering

  

    Bloomberg Singapore’s biggest banks are in talks about setting up a system for sharing information on prospective clients, in an effort to combat money laundering in the city-state. DBS Group Holdings Ltd., Oversea-Chinese Bank Corp. and United Overseas Bank Ltd. are exploring the possibility of a countrywide model for anti-money laundering and enhanced client knowledge, according to Loretta Yuen, ...

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• 8 May

  Saudi Central Bank’s new guv to focus on monetary stability

    Reuters New Saudi Arabian Monetary Authority (SAMA) Governor Ahmed al-Kholifey said his main priority is to maintain monetary stability and support the government’s Vision 2030 economic reforms, Al Sharq Al Awsat newspaper reported on Sunday. Kholifey was appointed on Saturday in succession to Fahd al-Mubarak. Saudi Arabia’s King Salman on Saturday appointed Ahmed al-Kholifey Saudi Arabian Monetary Authority Governor, ...

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• 8 May

  Commerzbank sends interim report to German authorities

  

    Bloomberg Commerzbank AG said it’s handed German tax authorities an interim report on possible tax-minimising trades and is preparing a final assessment. The bank is in “close communication” with officials, spokeswoman Margarita Thiel said an in e-mailed statement. The report concerns so-called cum-ex stock trades made since 2003. Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung reported that Commerzbank had received information about illegitimate ...

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• 8 May

  National Bank of Canada falls after oil loan losses

    BLOOMBERG National Bank of Canada fell in Toronto trading after saying it will set aside C$195 million ($152 million) to cover soured oil-and-gas loans in the second quarter, joining Canadian Western Bank in providing an early warning of rising credit losses tied to energy. Shares of the country’s sixth-largest lender slid 1.8 percent to C$41.75, the worst performance in ...

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• 8 May

  Bank of America’s Russia equity head to leave firm

    BLOOMBERG Bank of America Corp.’s Will Abbott, head of equities for Russia, stepped down after three years at the lender, according to two people familiar with his departure. Abbott, who joined the bank in 2013 from Renaissance Capital, is moving to a role outside investment banking, according to one person, who asked not to identified because the information is ...

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