December, 2019

• 17 December

  UAE to mark UN Arabic Language Day

  Abu Dhabi / WAM The UAE will celebrate the annual UN Arabic Language Day on December 18, to mark the passing, in 1973, of a resolution to make the Arabic language an official language of the United Nations. In this report, the Emirates News Agency (WAM), highlights the UAE’s leading efforts and initiatives to preserve and protect the Arabic language ...

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• 17 December

  Work on AED118m Jebel Hafeet School in Al Ain 58% complete

  

  ABU DHABI / WAM The Abu Dhabi General Services Company (Musanada), revealed that work on the Jebel Hafeet School project in Al Ain city is progressing according to the agreed construction plan at a total cost of approximately AED117.3 million, with the actual completion percentage currently at around 58 percent. Musanada stated that it is building the school on a ...

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• 17 December

  India unrest to continue after Modi stokes religious tension

  

  Bloomberg Escalating protests against India’s new citizenship law have raised concerns that Prime Minister Narendra Modi has gone too far in appealing to his Hindu nationalist base, increasing the risk of communal bloodshed and threatening to undermine his plans to attract investment. Police stormed university campuses across India to quell week-long protests by students against a law that bars undocumented ...

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• 17 December

  Pakistan’s ex-military dictator Musharraf given death penalty

  Bloomberg A Pakistani special court sentenced former military dictator and president Pervez Musharraf to death in absentia, ending a six-year long high treason case against him and delivering a historic verdict against the country’s powerful army. In a two-to-one majority, the three-member special court headed by judge Waqar Ahmad Seth announced the verdict, Musharraf’s spokesman Mohammad Amjad said by phone ...

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• 17 December

  EU warns of Brexit cliff as British PM rules out longer transition period

  

  Bloomberg UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s plan to stick to a 2020 Brexit transition period revives the risk of the country’s ties to the European Union being severed disruptively, according to the bloc’s chief civil servant for trade policy. Sabine Weyand, director general for trade in the European Commission, the EU’s executive arm, cautioned that Johnson’s intention to prevent any ...

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• 17 December

  Macron in reform gridlock as union protests continue

  Bloomberg The stalemate between Emmanuel Macron’s government and labor unions deepened as France headed into a third week of transport strikes over the president’s effort to reform the country’s pension system, threatening further turmoil during the busy holiday season. Negotiations between the unions and the government have been suspended. Complicating matters, Macron’s point man for pension reform resigned on Monday ...

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• 17 December

  Dems set up senate trial strategy ahead of impeachment vote

  

  Bloomberg House Democrats are nearing one of the most important decisions in their effort to impeach Donald Trump: Who will bear the historic duty of prosecuting the president in next year’s Senate trial. With the House planning to vote Wednesday on two articles of impeachment against the president, Democratic leaders including Speaker Nancy Pelosi must quickly settle on a team ...

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• 17 December

  Pound tumbles as Johnson revives ‘no deal’ Brexit risk

  

  Bloomberg The pound slumped more than 1% after UK prime minister Boris Johnson moved to change the law to guarantee the Brexit transition phase isn’t extended beyond the end of next year, reviving the threat of a no-deal split. Sterling dropped by the most since July as traders reacted to the news. Johnson’s planned legislation will include legal text to ...

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• 17 December

  Three UK bankers face trial in Germany over tax scandal

  

  Bloomberg A German court paved the way for the trial of six people including three former London-based investment bankers for their role in the nation’s Cum-Ex tax scandal. The ruling by a court in the city of Wiesbaden sets up a second trial in the country over the trading strategy that’s triggered multiple probes by German prosecutors involving about 500 ...

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• 17 December

  Nigeria’s inflation rate accelerates to 11.9%

  

  Bloomberg Nigeria’s inflation rate rose in November as food prices continued climbing following border closures. Consumer prices rose 11.9% from a year earlier compared with 11.6% in October, the Abuja-based National Bureau of Statistics said in a report published on Tuesday. The median of three economists’ estimates in a Bloomberg survey was 11.8%. Nigeria’s central bank held its benchmark rate ...

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