Central banks across the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries have
cut their key interest rates by a quarter point, following the US Federal Reserve’s move.
Construction starts on ($545 million) Trump
International Hotel and Tower 80 Stories- High Trump Tower Dubai
By Pramod Kumar
Dar Global
The expected completion date of Trump International Hotel and Tower in Dubai is December 2031
Construction has started on what will be the 350-metre-high Trump Tower Dubai, developer Dar Global said.
The global development arm of Saudi-listed Dar Al Arkan has awarded
the enabling works contract for the AED2 billion ($545 million) Trump
International Hotel and Tower to Edrafor Emirates, a local contractor.
Edrafor Emirates will undertake the enabling and foundational works
required to prepare the site for full construction, Dar Global said in a
statement. The scope includes ground engineering, deep enabling systems
and logistical mobilisation.
Gulf Central Banks follow U.S. Fed in Key Rate Cuts
By Pramod Kumar
Reuters/Brendan McDermid
A trader works as a screen broadcasts a news conference by Federal
Reserve chair Jerome Powell following the Fed rate announcement, on the
floor of the New York Stock Exchange
Asset manager Investcorp is stepping up investments in Gulf
infrastructure, calling the region a “once-in-a-generation” opportunity
as GCC governments invite private capital into major transport,
A Manhattan federal judge has granted the Justice Department's request to unseal secret grand jury transcripts from Jeffrey Epstein's 2019 sex trafficking investigation.
US
District Judge Richard M Berman on Wednesday reversed his earlier
decision to keep the materials under wraps, marking what appears to be
the final unlocking of one of the most scrutinized criminal cases in
recent history.
Within days, the last
vaults have cracked open. Berman became the third federal judge in a
week to order documents unsealed, joining rulings on Maxwell's 2021 New
York case and the 2006 Florida proceedings against Epstein.
Final Epstein files are unsealed by judge in dramatic last act
It is unclear when the materials from the
New York and Florida grand juries will be made public. DOJ attorneys
said they 'will work with the relevant US Attorney's Offices to make
appropriate redactions of victim-related and other personal identifying
information.'
The breakthrough follows passage of the Epstein Files Transparency Act, signed into law by Donald Trump last month, which compels the Justice Department to release all investigative records by December 19.
Congress's mandate effectively overrode the conventional wall of grand jury secrecy that had kept the documents sealed.
Trump's
second term has been dominated by questions about the Epstein files,
with pressure intensifying on the President after he reneged on a
campaign promise to release the files.
Trump, who was a longtime associate of
Epstein from the 1990s through the early 2000s, earlier this year
ordered the release of some material, most of it already
public, disappointing critics and prominent allies including Marjorie
Taylor Greene.
Donald
Trump and his then-girlfriend Melania Knauss, Jeffrey Epstein, and
Ghislaine Maxwell at Mar-a-Lago, Palm Beach, Florida, February 12, 2000
When will the Epstein files be released?
Latest developments
"Federal
judges in Manhattan and Florida have in the last week approved DOJ
requests to unseal records from Ghislaine Maxwell's 2021 trial and
Epstein's 2019 New York prosecution and his 2006 Florida conviction.
Release Timeline
Around
70 pages of grand jury materials from Berman's order, plus the Maxwell
and Florida records, are now authorized for release.
All classified Epstein-related records must be made public by December 19, according to the Epstein Files Transparency Act.
Remaining uncertainties
The total volume of materials set for release has not been disclosed.
Any redactions by DOJ beyond victims' identities are also unclear.
Berman previously cautioned the materials have limited revelatory value.
Jurisdictions
Manhattan: Epstein 2019 grand jury; Maxwell grand jury and trial discovery in 2021.
Florida: Epstein's 2006 grand jury probe.
The Epstein bill was passed by Congress on November 19 before being signed by Trump that same day.
The
judges' orders cover not only grand jury transcripts but also discovery
materials, witness testimony, and investigative records from both New
York and Florida - the two jurisdictions where Epstein was prosecuted.
Defense lawyers had fought to keep much of this material sealed for years. . .""
Shortly
after leaving a rally in Pennsylvania, where he delivered a 90-minute
speech focused on affordability, the 79-year-old published a 488-word
rant rejecting concerns about his health.
Qatar’s new state-owned artificial intelligence company Qai and
Canada-based Brookfield are partnering to establish a $20 billion joint
venture focused on AI infrastructure in Qatar and international markets.
Brookfield and Qatar’s Qai set up $20bn AI joint venture
By Pramod Kumar
Alamy via Reuters
A visitor takes in the view in Doha, Qatar. The new state-owned
company Qai will collaborate with Canada-based Brookfield as part of a
global AI infrastructure programme
Secured commitments reached over AED12 billion ($3.3 billion) from
UAE, regional and international investors for its AED6.1 billion rights
issue, the lender said in a statement to the ADX.
The
rapid growth of AI is projected to push global data center power demand
to 2,200 terawatt-hours (TWh) by 2030, an "always-on" load that
threatens to overwhelm the world's aging electrical grids.
The
transition is forcing a move away from simple Power Purchase Agreements
(PPAs) toward complex, flexible contracts and driving Big Tech to
invest in on-site generation and Battery Energy Storage Systems (BESS)
to ensure reliability.
Geopolitically,
the shift is marked by China's pivot from dominating solar panel
manufacturing to cornering the green hydrogen market, and a return to
"interventionist industrial strategy" in the West where governments are
becoming energy shareholders.
There is the economy you see on the screen. And then there is the economy that runs the screen.
For the last few years, the screen has been winning.
We have been living in a "Zero Marginal Cost" fantasy…
We
convinced ourselves that adding another million users to ChatGPT was
free.
That scaling a startup was just a matter of writing better code.
That "The Cloud" was an infinite, weightless place where business
happened by magic.
But today, S&P Global Energy dropped a bucket of ice water on that fever dream
Dar Global
Reuters/Brendan McDermid
