Saudi Arabia to Liberalise $531bn Stock Market For Foreign Investment

Saudi Arabia's King AbdullahReuters

Saudi Arabia is opening up its stock market for foreign investment, as the oil-rich nation looks to align its economy with global market forces.

Bloomberg, citing the official Saudi Press Agency, reported that the nation's cabinet authorised overseas financial institutions to trade equities in the Tadawul All Share Index. It also empowered the country's stock market regulator to determine the timing to implement the changes.

Saudi's Capital Market Authority had drafted rules for international investors more than a year ago. The rules require at least $5bn (£2.92bn, €3.7bn) of assets under management and a five-year operating history for foreign investors to become eligible.

The rules are designed to limit speculative inflows and would cap investment in local companies, a person with knowledge of the matter told the news agency in May.

At present, the $531bn stock market is open only to foreigners from the six-nation Gulf Cooperation Council apart from domestic investors.

The move is part of the country's $130bn spending plan to develop non-oil industries. It would also help include Saudi shares in MSCI's emerging markets index. The economy has expanded an average 6.4% in the past four years.

Saudi Arabia is the biggest stock market outside China where domestic shares are excluded from MSCI's global gauges because of limits on foreign investors, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.

The Tadawul index has risen 14% so far in 2014, compared to a 6% increase in the MSCI Emerging Markets Index and a 15% increase in the MSCI GCC Countries Index.

Major companies listed on the stock exchange include the world's biggest petrochemicals producer Saudi Basic Industries Corp, Prince Alwaleed bin Talal Al Saud's investment vehicle Kingdom Holding Co and the largest Islamic lender Al Rajhi Bank.

The Tadawul All Share index closed at 9,750.02, up 0.14% on 21 July.

Taliban Suicide Attack at Kabul International Airport Leaves 3 Foreign Advisers Dead

Kabul International aiport under attack as three foreign advisers killedReuters file photo

At least four people, including three foreign advisers, have been killed as a Taliban suicide bomber detonated himself at the Kabul International Airport.

The incident took place at about 07:00 local time in Qasaba area. The fourth victim was an Afghan interpreter.

Taliban has claimed responsibility for the bombing.

Eyewitness reports said the assailant rode his bike in front of a building before setting off explosives. Several others have been injured in the attack.

"In this successful attack up to 15 invader soldiers were killed or wounded and many vehicles were damaged," said Taliban spokesperson Zabihullah Mujahid, according to Reuters.

An eyewitness said: "It was early morning and I was asleep. Suddenly an explosion woke me up. We were told that there was a suicide attack inside a foreign base. There was human flesh (lying) outside the base. We tried to go inside the base to find out what had happened but there were Americans who didn't let us in."

A local report in Khaama Press cited an Afghan police official as saying that at least 10 people were killed in the attack.

The nationalities of the foreign victims are yet to be ascertained. The airport is a major base for Nato forces, which have been battling Taliban insurgency since 2002.

The airport had come under another intense attack recently.

Malaysia Airlines MH17: Rebels Hand over Bodies and Black Boxes

The train transporting the remains of victims from the crashed Malaysia Airlines MH17 flight departs from the railway station in the eastern Ukrainian town of Torez, Donetsk regionReuters

Pro-Russian rebels in eastern Ukraine have handed over the two flight recorders of Malaysia Airlines flight MH17, which crashed in Donetsk region five days ago, and also allowed the train carrying the victims' bodies to leave the area.

Malaysian officials have taken possession of the black boxes, which may contain vital information regarding the last minutes of the doomed airliner.

Rebel leader Alexander Borodai gave the flight recorders to a Malaysian delegation led by National Security Council member Colonel Mohamed Shukri at a signing ceremony in Donetsk.

"I would like to convey our sincere appreciation to Borodai for giving us the opportunity and entertaining our special request to hand over the two black boxes to Malaysia," Shukri told reporters.

The anti-Ukrainian rebels' action came hours after the UN Security Council passed a unanimous resolution calling for giving international monitors immediate access to the crash site.

The flight recorders will reveal the exact time the plane went down and its location. Malaysian authorities said the recorders appear to be in good condition.

"There is not much damage to the outer casing and we are confident that the data has not been tampered with or damaged," a source was quoted by New Strait Times.

Meanwhile, the refrigerated train containing the corpses of the crash victims left the rebel-held territory in Donetsk for Kharkiv, which is controlled by the Ukrainian government. Some of the remains are to be taken to the Netherlands from there.

Dutch officials inspected the bodies and said the storage was of "good quality".

The Malaysia Airlines jetliner was carrying 298 people on board when it was shot down over the eastern Ukrainian airspace on 17 July.

Billionaire Sought in Connection with Korea Ferry Sinking 'Found Dead'

Thousands of South Korean police forced their way into the compound of the splinter religious group in their search for Yoo Byung-eunED JONES/AFP/Getty Images

Police in South Korea believe they have found the body of missing 73-year-old billionaire Yoo Byung-eun, who was being sought in connection with April's ferry disaster near Jindo island in which almost 300 people died, many of them schoolchildren.

Local police are reported to have told the media that DNA from a body found in a plum field in Suncheon on 12 June matches that of the tycoon and religious leader's brother and further tests are now underway. A police officer said: "We carried out a DNA test after finding a dead body in Suncheon, and the results fairly matched that of Yoo's brother. We need to look more closely into this, but the body is believed to be Yoo's."

Lee Joon Seok the captain of South Korean ferry Sewol is seen leaping to his safetyReuters

Yoo Byung-eun was the head of the family which owns the Chonghaejin Marine Co, the ferry company which owned the Sewol ferry. He is also head of the Evangelical Baptist Church, believed to operate as a cult, which has thousands of members. Police raided the church church compound in Anseong, which covers an area the size of about 30 soccer fields and includes ranches, fields, a fish farm and an auditorium that can house up to 5,000 people.

Most of the students who died attended Danwon high school near Seoul. The school's 52-year-old deputy headmaster, Kang Min-gyu, who witnessed the tragedy, was so stricken with remorse that he later hanged himself.

There was widespread anger over the response of rescuers following the tragedy, and the captain and three crew members have been charged with homicide. South Korea's President Park Geun-hye said she took responsibility for the tragedy. "As the president responsible for the lives and safety of South Koreans, I offer my sincere apology for all the suffering inflicted upon the people. The ultimate responsibility for the poor response to this accident lies with me."

Israel's Tourism Industry Decimated as Gaza Offensive Escalates

Boys carry their surf boards as their lesson is cancelled following a mid-air explosion as a rocket is intercepted by the Iron Dome defence system over Tel AvivReuters

With each day of fighting in Gaza the Israeli economy is paying an increasingly steep price.

In no sector is the impact of the increasingly deadly fighting more stark than in the tourism industry. Confident predictions of a record breaking year have suddenly evaporated, to be replaced by the current reality of vacant hotel rooms and thinning beach crowds during the peak summer season.

Some 3.5 million visitors headed for Israel in 2013, spending around $12bn (£7bn, €8.9bn) along the way. With 1.9million visitors recorded in the first six months of the year, industry watchers were confident of a record year.

With casualties on both sides increasing and no sign of a long-term ceasefire in sight, Israel's tourism industry is bracing for a period of pain.

"Most hotels and airlines say the year is lost. The worst possible time for a war in Israel from the vantage point of tourism is the summer," Mark Feldman, chief executive of a Jerusalem travel agency, told Reuters.

"Every day the war continues, we lose a week of future bookings," he added.

The Israel Hotel Association (IHA) has estimated $500 million in lost tourism revenue - including $100 million for hotels - in the third quarter because of the fighting. That translates into a 35% drop, or 280,000 fewer visitors than expected.

"Hotels in Tel Aviv and Jerusalem are supposed to be 80% full right now, but today, the occupancy rate is about 40%," said Eli Gonen, IHA president, as quoted by Haaretz newspaper.

Yet the Tourism Ministry said the industry had recovered from the previous Gaza offensive in 2012, and would do so again.

"Based on previous experience [we are] optimistic about the ability of the industry to bounce back to routine," it said in an emailed statement, as quoted by Reuters.

Gaza Crisis Debate Degenerates into Live Brawl on Jordanian TV

Gaza debate turns into live bawl on Jordanian TVIBTimes UK

A quarrelsome Jordanian journalist turned a televised news debate on conflict in the Middle East into a brawl, as he decided to leave his analyst's seat to throw a chair at another guest.

Shaker al-Johari was discussing the Syrian civil war and Gaza crisis with Samih Khrais, a lawyer and activist, on the Josat satellite television channel when the conversion got too heated.

Video footage of the incident uploaded online shows Johari hurling a bottle at Khrais when the latter was trying to make a point.

Johari then gets up from his chair and crosses the studio to reach his rival. As the host unsuccessfully attempts to diffuse the hostility and get between the pair, Johari picks up a chair and throws it at Khrais.

A production staff member intervenes and eventually succeeds in placating the angered journalist, who nevertheless manages to throw a pen at his opponent, before being escorted back.

Johari is not new to live on-air fights. In May, he and another journalist smashed up a different Jordanian TV studio, after letting their opinions get the better of them. The subject of discussion that day was also Syria.

Thailand to Reclaim Top Rice Exporter Status After Weak Indian Monsoon Rains

Soldiers check sacks of rice at a warehouse in Ayutthaya province, north of Bangkok in JulyReuters

Thailand is poised to reclaim its status as the world's top rice exporter as weak monsoon rainfall in India is expected to hit the latter's rice output.

Thai rice exports could hit 10 million tonnes in 2014, hovering close to the record 10.6 million tonnes sold in 2011, Duangporn Rodphaya, director general of Thai Commerce Ministry's Department of Foreign Trade told Reuters.

Monsoon rains, which feed India's summer-sown rice crop, were 40% below average in the first six-weeks of the June-September monsoon season.

India's rice exports could drop to eight million tonnes in financial year 2014-15, B V Krishna Rao, managing director at Pattabhi Agro Foods told the news agency.

But India exported a record 10.86 million tonnes of rice in the fiscal year ended 31 March.

Bloating stockpiles

Lower Indian exports will also help Bangkok secure better prices for the grain that it has been selling at a huge discount, curbing losses on the stocks it built under a state rice-buying scheme introduced by the ousted Yingluck Shinawatra government.

Thailand is now offering a variety of old-crop rice at around $395 (£231) per tonne, higher than the $360 (£211) per tonne it demanded for a similar variety of crop, called 5% broken rice, earlier in the year.

But current prices are way short of the estimated cost of 22,000 baht ($680, £398) per tonne that the Yingluck government incurred on the purchase, milling and storage of rice.

Bangkok's military regime plans to export 500,000-600,000 tonnes of rice a month beginning from August. At that rate, it will take nearly three years to sell the 18 million tonnes built under the controversial rice-buying scheme, Reuters reported.

India picture

India is offering 5% broken rice at some $425 (£249) per tonne FOB, up from around $410 (£240) in June.

Farmers had planted paddy on 8.64 million hectares as on 11 July, as against 11 million hectares a year ago.

In the April-June quarter, India exported one-million tonnes of non-basmati rice, dealers estimated, down some 30% from a year ago.

India overtook Thailand two years ago to become the world's leading rice exporter after the Thai scheme rendered Thai rice uncompetitive in the international market, and after New Delhi revoked a four-year ban on non-basmati rice sales in 2011 to trim stocks.

Agriculture employs about two-fifths of the Thai population, with most of them engaged in rice cultivation. The rice-buying scheme propelled Yingluck to election victory in 2011.

Four Die as Israel Shells Al-Aqsa Hospital in Gaza

Israeli artillery fires a 155mm shell towards targets in the Gaza StripAFP

Israeli tanks have allegedly shelled the third floor of the hospital which housed an intensive care unit and operating theatres also injuring "dozens", health ministry spokesman Ashraf al-Qudra said.

He added that 30 of the wounded were staff at the hospital. Medical Aid for Palestinians confirmed the attack:

Al Aqsa hospital hit-surgical, medical and ICU unit targeted with many injuries. Hospital serves 200,000 people #GazaUnderAttack

— MedicAidPalestinians (@MedicalAidPal) July 21, 2014

Palestinian officials have called on the Red Cross to help evacuate patients.

Live footage on al-Aqsa TV station showed wounded being moved on gurneys into the emergency department. A doctor at the hospital told the Hamas TV station the hospital was still being shelled.

The bombing came after the Israeli Defence Forces (IDF) claimed photographic proof of rockets being fired from another hospital, Wa'afa, which was hit by airstrike last week.

The development came after Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu signalled that the offensive against Gaza "will be expanded until the goal is achieved - restoring quiet to the citizens of Israel for a long period of time".

US Accuses China of Sending Spy Ship Near Pacific Naval Exercise

Guards on board the Chinese People Liberation Army Naval ship Haikou react to the media as they tour the ship at Joint Base Pearl Harbor Hickam in HonoluluReuters

The US has accused China of sending an uninvited surveillance vessel to international waters off Hawaii where a US-led naval exercise is being held.

China is among 22 countries taking part in the world's largest international naval drill, codenamed Rim of the Pacific (Rimpac), for the first time.

Despite this, the auxiliary general intelligence vessel, located at about 200 miles off the Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ), lurked around, said the US Pacific Fleet.

Playing down any intelligence risk, US spokesperson Captain Darryn James said in a statement: "The US Pacific Fleet has been monitoring a Chinese Navy surveillance ship operating in the vicinity of Hawaii outside US territorial seas."

"US naval forces continually monitor all maritime activity in the Pacific, and we expect this ship will remain outside of US territorial seas and not operate in a manner that disrupts the ongoing Rim of the Pacific maritime exercise."

The spokesperson added that Beijing had dispatched a similar vessel in 2012 as well.

China, which has sent four ships to take part in the exercise, has defended its activities and insisted its vessels are free to operate in "waters outside of other countries' territorial waters".

The Chinese defence ministry, without referring specifically to the surveillance ship, said: "China respects the rights granted under international law to relevant littoral states, and hopes that relevant countries can respect the legal rights Chinese ships have."

China's participation in the exercise has been both welcomed and criticised in the US, with some arguing that it will help both countries to improve relations while critics say it will strengthen China's naval capability.

"This is not the first time we've been under surveillance while we're operating or exercising. However, one might say it's a bit novel when you participate in an exercise with participating units," said Per Rostad, commanding officer of the Royal Norwegian Navy's Fridtjof Nansen.

Israel-Gaza Conflict: IDF Releases Dramatic Footage of Forces Engaging in Fierce Gunfight with Hamas

Israeli soldiers are seen after entering the Gaza Strip in this still image taken from video provided by the Israeli Defence Force (IDF)Reuters

The Israeli Defence Forces (IDF) has released dramatic video footage of its troops engaging in a gunfight with Hamas militants while the extremists attempt to penetrate Israeli defences.

As the Israeli forces pressed ahead against the Gaza-based fighters, five Hamas gunmen were spotted by the IDF emerging out of a tunnel near a Jewish village.

They tried to launch an assault against Israeli soldiers by hiding in the grass, but the information about their planned attack was passed on to the IDF by the intelligence agency Shin Bet.

There was another group of Hamas fighters who came out of another tunnel presumably as part of a coordinated attack. While ten of the initial fighters were killed in Israeli air strikes, the second team was confronted by ground forces.

Watch the video released by the IDF.

Gunfight between IDF and Hamas fightersIDF

Deputy PM Nick Clegg Blasted for Baking 'While the World Burns'

Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg faced criticism for his appearance on Sunday BrunchReuters

Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg is facing criticism after appearing on a TV cookery programme during a weekend of major international crisis in Ukraine and Gaza.

Liberal Democrat activist Charlotte Henry wrote a blog entitled: "As the world burned, Nick Clegg cooked", lambasting the party leader's appearance on Channel 4's Sunday Brunch as "ridiculous".

A number of news outlets have commented that during the time Clegg spent on the cookery show, a Government Cobra emergency committee met to discuss the crash of Malaysia Airlines flight MH17.

Conservative and Labour MPs have expressed surprise that Clegg, who is a member of the National Security Council, was able to devote so much time to the show, which lasted three hours.

Labour MP Graham Morris said: "Nick Clegg displays an alarmingly cavalier indifference given the seriousness of the situation. He is supposed to be Deputy Prime Minister, not a contestant on Master Chef."

Clegg has defended his appearance on the show stating: "It's a show which is watched by lots and lots of people, lots of young people.

"We talked about Ukraine, we talked about politics, we talked about Government policies.

"I think it's important for politicians to get through to people who care about what is going on in the world as much as anyone else."

Turkey Proposes Free Trade Zone With Russia

The leaders of Russia, Belarus and Kazakhstan signed the EEU into existence in Astana.Reuters

Ankara has proposed a free trade zone with Russia's customs union after talks between the two parties in Sydney, Russian news agency RIA Novosti reported.

During a meeting of trade ministers from the G-20 group of nations, Russia's Economic Development Minister Alexei Ulyukayev said Turkey's Economy Minister, Nihat Zeybecki, had floated the idea of reducing trade barriers between Moscow and Ankara.

"We have discussed the possibility of cooperating, including the formation of a free trade zone between the Customs Union [Russia, Belarus, Kazakhstan] and Turkey. We have agreed to create a working group and to begin a more detailed discussion of these possibilities and prospects in September," Ulyukayev said, as cited by RIA Novosti.

While Turkey is part of a Customs Union partnership with the European Union, Ankara remains frustrated in its efforts to become a full member of the bloc.

Turkey also harbours concerns over the potential impact of the proposed Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) on its own economy.

The economic union between Russia, Belarus and Kazakhstan, known as the Eurasian Economic Union, is due to come into effect on 1 January 2015.

Total trade between Russia and Turkey stood at $32.7bn in 2013, down 4.5% from 2012.

The volume of trade between the partners has increased 0.6% in the first six months of the year.

Russia is Turkey's second largest trading partner, while Turkey is Russia's eighth largest foreign trade partner.

The Turkish minister also proposed switching to national currencies instead of dollars in mutual payments, according to RIA.

Malaysia Airlines Flight MH17: Children's Books and Toys Among Passengers' Belongings in Wreckage

These heartbreaking photos show children's toys and books lying among the wreckage of the downed Malaysia Airlines MH17 plane in a field in Ukraine.

The doomed flight was carrying 80 children, mostly Dutch, going away on holiday with their families. The Netherlands had 193 citizens on the flight, and there were 43 Malaysians and 27 Australians.

Teddy bears and a 'Diary of a Wimpy Kid' book lie among the wreckage of Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 in a field in eastern UkraineReuters

A life jacket and a child's diary, containing entries about previous holiday trips, written in DutchAFP

A child's suitcase containing a sticker book and coloured pencilsGetty

Old vinyl recordsAFP

Children's books, playing cards and Euro banknotesAFP

Children's books and a Minnie Mouse pencil caseReuters

Guide books to Bali, a map of Europe, an H&M T-shirt and chargersAFP

A broken watchstrap, a clipboard and lip balm near a suitcaseReuters

Passengers' belongings found at the crash site of Malaysia Airlines Flight MH17 are pictured near the village of Hrabove, Donetsk region, UkraineReuters

Passengers' belongings, including a guide book, a novel and some toiletries, strewn at the site of the crash of the Malaysia Airlines jet near the town of Shaktarsk, in rebel-held east UkraineAFP

A masked pro-Russia separatist fighter sits near personal belongings of passengers at the scene of the crashGetty

There have been reports of pro-Russian separatists allegedly tampering with the dead and their luggage, robbing the bodies.

A UN resolution demands that armed groups who control the crash site do not disturb debris, belongings or victims' remains.

YOU MIGHT LIKE THISSponsored Content by Taboola

India: Bandits Hold 28 Villages Hostage over Water

Two boys fill a container with drinking water from a leaking pipe in Noida in the northern Indian state of Uttar PradeshReuters

Armed bandits in northern India are threatening villagers with death unless they deliver 35 buckets of water a day.

So far, 28 villages have been taking turns to deliver what the bandits call a "water tax", but Suresh Kumar Singh in the city of Banda told Associated Press reporters that recent droughts and poor supply lines are making the deliveries increasingly difficult.

The region, which is on the southern border of Uttar Pradesh state, has faced severe droughts since 2007, with the annual monsoon bringing just 26 rainy days each year – half of what is expected.

A local charity worker Bagwat Prasad said the petrified villagers have begun hauling water into the forests and mountain areas.