Egypt’s King Farouk Patek Watch Sets Middle East Auction Record

By Claudia Carpenter

A Patek Philippe watch made for King Farouk of Egypt in 1944 sold to an unidentified buyer for $912,500 at Christie’s in Dubai on Friday, a record sum for a timepiece auctioned in the Middle East. The 18-carat gold Patek Philippe Ref. 1518 was estimated to be worth as much as $800,000 by the auction house, which concluded its 23rd auction season in the region. A Rolex GMT-Master made for Dubai ruler Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum fetched $162,500, surpassing the estimate of $120,000-$160,000. The sales total for the auction was $7.1 million, compared with an estimate of $5 million to $8 million. “It’s very clear there’s an appetite for watches across the region,” Michael Jeha, managing director of Christie’s Middle East, said in an interview.

Five artists from Lebanon, Iraq, Iran, and Egypt set world auction records at Christie’s postwar and contemporary art sale on Thursday, even though the sales total of $2.97 million fell short of the low estimate of $3.1 million. The most expensive work offered, Une vie singuliere by the late Shafic Abboud of Lebanon, didn’t sell after bids came in below the low estimate of $220,000. Iranian artist Sohrab Sepehri’s Untitled, painted circa the 1970s, was the top lot of the night, selling for $287,500 against an estimate of $150,000-$200,000. The piece is from the artist’s Abstract series, which has been kept at the Tehran Museum of Contemporary Art, among other places, since Sepehri’s death in 1980. The 2009 Good Luck by Huguette Caland, born in Lebanon, fetched $162,500 (estimate: $80,000-$120,000). Another Lebanese painter, Hussein Madi, set a record with his 1998 Baghdad Landscape, which went for $75,000, well above the high estimate of $18,000. Untitled, by Iraqi painter Naziha Selim, sold for $11,250, a record for the artist, who died in 2008. The painting was sold as part of a collection of Fadhil Chalabi, who served as acting secretary general of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries in the 1980s. Egyptian Zeinab Abd El Hamid’s Quartier Populaire, an oil on canvas painted in 1956, sold for $58,750, far exceeding the $12,000-$18,000 estimate. Oneness Wholeness, Tree of Life, by Iranian artist Sassan Behnam-Bakhtiar in 2017, sold for $15,000 (estimate: $12,000-$18,000). Bakhtiar, who was born in 1984, will exhibit his new series, “Oneness Wholeness,” at London’s Saatchi Gallery in May.

6 ways life is easier for millennials than it was for their parents

by  Shana Lebowitz - Business Insider 

Millennials can stay in touch with family and friends on social media

There's a lot of griping out there about how social media is ruining our attention spans, our ability to sit still, our self-esteem, and our lives in general. But one of its most basic functions is to keep us connected to people we might otherwise lose touch with — and that's pretty handy. Your mom might be lucky if she bumps into her old college roommate on the street one day, but you can message yours anytime, or even just "like" the person's photos. A 2015 study, published in the Journal of Experimental Psychology: General, found that "passive" Facebook use— think browsing your newsfeed — can indeed undermine well-being. But "active" Facebook use — think posting status updates and commenting on other people's photos — can make us feel better.

Millennials are meeting their partners online — and the resulting relationships might be stronger

Online dating just wasn't an option when Baby Boomers and Gen X-ers were younger. But a growing body of research suggests that people who meet online have more satisfying relationships, are less likely to get divorced, and in fact get married more quickly than couples who meet IRL. That's likely because people who sign up for dating services may be more interested in a relationship than say, people at a bar who aren't specifically there to meet a serious partner. It's now easier than ever to find those relationship-oriented people. To be sure, having so many options to choose from can be overwhelming. But having no options— like you might if you lived in a small town 30 years ago — can be even more distressing.

Millennials have more options around remote and flexible work

Digital technology is a double-edged sword when it comes to the workplace. On the one hand, it's possible to be "always on," signing back into Slack or your work email after you get home. On the other hand, today's young professionals can use this technology to their advantage. Companies like Remote Year are creating "digital nomads," or people who work wherever and whenever, rarely setting foot in a traditional office. As Business Insider's Áine Cain reported, even major companies like Amazon, Dell, and Hilton allow telecommuting for some positions. That can help employees create better work-life balance, especially if they're caring for kids or other family members. This isn't an opportunity most Baby Boomers and Gen X-ers ever had.

Millennials are able to access health information more easily

In the last decade or so, nutritional information has become easier to find. For one, as of 2010, restaurant chains were required to post calorie counts on all menu items. And in 2016, the FDA revealed an overhaul of nutrition labels that made calorie counts and serving sizes clearer, in addition to other changes. To be sure, some experts say it's gotten harder for people to lose weight, for reasons including less sleep and greater stress. But transparency about what exactly you're putting into your body has increased — it's up to consumers how they use it.

Millennials are able to learn outside of a traditional classroom

Major educational institutions around the world now offer MOOCs (massive open online courses) and other kinds of virtual-learning opportunities. You can also sign up for online classes on topics from programming to personal branding. This shift has made a big impact on millennials: Business Insider previously reported on a poll that found 69% of people ages 18 to 34 said they think they learn more from technology than from people. By comparison, only half of Baby Boomers said the same.

Millennials face less stigma around mental-health issues

In July 2017, a web developer's Twitter post went viral. In the post, she shared an email from her boss, praising her for taking a day off to focus on her mental health. It's a prime example of how the stigma around mental health is gradually decreasing. In fact, in 2017, NPR reported that "self-care" is trendy among millennials, in a way that it wasn't among previous generations. It's worth noting, too, that mental help is easier than ever to access. Business Insider's Erin Brodwin reported on her experience using the chatbot Woebot, one of a number of therapy-related apps.

Iran harassed and humiliated the US Navy under Obama — here's why it stopped under Trump

by Alex Lockie - Business Insider - Article represents opinion of the author

Iran's navy made a point of harassing and humiliating the US Navy in 2016 after then-President Barack Obama had sealed the Iran deal, but since August 2017, the US Navy says things have changed. "It seems like they've absolutely made a conscious decision to give us more space," Navy Cmdr. William Urban recently said. "That is definitely a change in their behavior." Iran would charge US Navy ships with fast attack craft, buzz fighter jets with drones, and even shine lasers at helicopters operating at sea during Obama's presidency. But the worst, most embarrassing incident occurred in January 2016, when Iran's navy seized two US Navy rivernine boats and the 10 sailors on board after the ship wandered into Iranian waters due to mechanical issues. They broadcast footage of the sailors, crying, in detention, on television across the country. Iran later announced plans to build a monument commemorating the event. Later that year Iranian ships conducted "unsafe and unprofessional," and often taunting maneuvers around US Navy ships in the Persian Gulf five times in about a month. In September of that same year, Trump addressed Iran while on the campaign trail. "When they circle our beautiful destroyers with their little boats and they make gestures at our people that they shouldn't be allowed to make, they will be shot out of the water," Trump said. Shortly after Trump's election, the incidents noticeably stopped, despite Trump's open hostility towards Iran, compared to Obama's attempts to appease them.

What Happened?

The US Navy "openly acknowledged there was a shift that happened roughly around the time we had our political transition," Jonathan Schanzer, vice president of the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, told Business Insider. "There was a status quo and the status quo changed." According to Schanzer, the Trump administration gave no official warning to Iran over the naval incidents, but instead, "the unpredictability of Trump has made Iran more reticent to test American red lines." Compared to the US Navy, the best on earth, Iran's navy just treads water. Iranians, even the hardliners, must know their small attack craft can't pose a meaningful threat to US ships, and even if they could, US retaliation would devastate the forces. Instead, rushing US ships and putting them on the defensive, as well as capturing sailors, works mainly for propaganda purposes for Iran, whose authoritarian regime controls the media and pushes a heavily anti-US agenda. With Trump similarly focused on optics and pledging to revitalize the US military, Iran may have pivoted towards quietly pursuing its foreign policy goals, rather than making a scene that Trump could react to violently. "There's another side of this," said Schanzer. "They understood that there was a change in the rules of the risk/reward calculus, but they also seem to understand that there was less of a policy with regard to their regional activity from Yemen to Iraq to Syria." So while Iran has dropped the very visible, US-centric naval run-ins, it's picked up on recruiting militias, deploying its armed forces to Syria, and supplying anti-US and anti-Israel militant groups. "They realize if they want to actually achieve their objectives across the Middle East, they needed to dial back on the harassment that would needlessly provoke the US," Schanzer said.

Lebanon Plans Bond Issue to Unlock Infrastructure Funding: Official

Nadim Munla, Lebanese Prime Minister Saad al-Hariri's senior adviser, gestures as he speaks during an interview with Reuters in Beirut

By Lisa Barrington and Tom Perry BEIRUT (Reuters) - The Lebanese government will raise $700 million soon by issuing special bonds that will help it unlock a further $4 billion of international funding for infrastructure projects to boost the economy in the second half of the year, a top official said on Thursday. Nadim Munla, senior adviser to Prime Minister Saad al-Hariri, said the local funding needs to be raised to release financing for 40 projects supported by the European Investment Bank, the World Bank and other institutions. Heavily indebted Lebanon, which in 2017 passed its first budget in 12 years, has suffered from years of political deadlock that has hit growth and held up big decisions such as the long-pending move to raise the $700 million. Unlocking the $4 billion in funding will help Lebanon's economy while it negotiates with institutions over a separate capital investment programme to be presented to donors at an April 6 conference in Paris, Munla said.

Asked how soon the Lebanese economy would feel the benefit of the Paris "Cedre" conference - the centerpiece of government plans to revive the sluggish economy - Munla said "we are expecting a lead time of about 18 months". "But the impact on the economy will be felt before that simply because there is in the pipeline 40 projects - and the amount is about $4 billion - that will start and this pipeline is going to jump-start the economy starting 2018, second half." "We need $700 million local funding and there has been an agreement between the central bank, the Ministry of Finance, and the prime minister to issue special bonds for that," he said. "I would assume most probably before (May 6) elections most probably - after the approval of the budget - I think this will be the main agenda item." The government approved its draft 2018 budget earlier this month. Parliament has yet to approve it but officials have said they hope to pass it before the Paris conference to show donors that Lebanon is serious about reform and fiscal discipline.

PARIS

Lebanon has one of the highest debt-to-GDP ratios in the world at about 150 percent. Growth has been low for years, undermined by war in neighboring Syria and political tensions. The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has long urged reform. Lebanon this week finalised the $16 billion capital investment plan it will present in Paris. Phase one requires around $10 billion, Munla said. "We believe that 30-35 percent of the (phase one) money needed will come from the private sector, so this leaves us with about a $6.5 billion-$7 billion funding gap," Munla said. In Paris, Beirut hopes to raise $1 billion in grants, more than a third of which will come from Arab countries. The four main Arab donors will "be Saudi Arabia, the Emirates, Qatar and Kuwait", Munla said. The $1 billion in grants will, through the World Bank's Global Concessional Financing Facility, allow Lebanon to borrow up to $4 billion on favorable terms, he said. The remaining few billion dollars could come from the European Union's Neighborhood Investment Facility over the next eight years. "On a bilateral basis, Arab countries, Germany and Japan have promised they will do something to fund some of the projects included in the programme," he added.

By raising this money Lebanon wants to kick-start the economy as a catalyst for sustainable private sector growth. "For 10 years from today, every year the government is going to spend about $1.5 billion. That alone is going to create its own economic cycle, but that's not enough. We all know that investment in infrastructure does not create sustainable growth. Obviously the private sector has to kick in," he said. "Provided the overall political situation around us improves, obviously." The Paris conference is expected to agree a long-term mechanism to ensure international commitments are met, but also to make sure that Lebanon follows through on reforms. "I believe ... you are going to see a different way of doing business in Lebanon," he said. (Reporting by Lisa Barrington and Tom Perry; Editing by Hugh Lawson)

John Bolton New National Security Adviser 9 quotes that show his stands

 John Bolton new National Security Adviser 9 quotes that show his stands 

"The Secretariat building in New York has 38 stories; if you lost 10 stories today, it wouldn't make a bit of difference," Bolton said in a 1994 speech, referring to the UN's headquarters. He added later: "There's no such thing as the United Nations."

"I expect that the American role actually will be fairly minimal," Bolton said in 2002, before the US invasion of Iraq. "I think we'll have an important security role."

"The main thing people feared at that time was Saddam Hussein's chemical weapons stocks," Bolton said in 2009, defending the 2003 invasion of Iraq. In reality, what most feared was the Bush administration's false claims that Hussein had nuclear ambitions and that the Iraqi government had ties to terrorist groups such as Al Qaeda.

"I still think the decision to overthrow Saddam was correct," Bolton told the Washington Examiner in 2015. "I think decisions made after that decision were wrong, although I think the worst decision made after that was the 2011 decision to withdraw US and coalition forces."

"I think obviously this needs to be done in a careful and prudent fashion," Bolton said in 2008 of a strike on Iran. "But I think that the strategic situation now is that if we don't respond, the Iranians will take it as a sign of weakness."

"A strike accompanied by effective public diplomacy could well turn Iran's diverse population against an oppressive regime," Bolton wrote in 2009, advocating a strike on Iran by Israel. "Most of the Arab world's leaders would welcome Israel solving the Iran nuclear problem, although they certainly won't say so publicly and will rhetorically embrace Iran if Israel strikes."

"The inescapable conclusion is that Iran will not negotiate away its nuclear program," Bolton wrote in 2015. "Nor will sanctions block its building a broad and deep weapons infrastructure. The inconvenient truth is that only military action like Israel's 1981 attack on Saddam Hussein's Osirak reactor in Iraq or its 2007 destruction of a Syrian reactor, designed and built by North Korea, can accomplish what is required. Time is terribly short, but a strike can still succeed."

"King Abdullah of Jordan, who is not simply the Muslim king of a Muslim country, unlike our president," Bolton said in an August 2016 speech to the conservative American Freedom Alliance.

"It is perfectly legitimate for the United States to respond to the current 'necessity' posed by North Korea's nuclear weapons by striking first," Bolton wrote in February.

Elon Musk deletes SpaceX and Tesla pages from Facebook as he feuds with Mark Zuckerberg

by Kif Leswing - business insider -- The Tesla and SpaceX Facebook pages have vanished, minutes after Elon Musk — the CEO of both companies — said that he had never seen the SpaceX Facebook profile and planned to delete it. It started when Musk replied to a tweet earlier in the week from WhatsApp cofounder Brian Acton, when he tweeted "It is time. #deletefacebook." Facebook bought WhatsApp for $19 billion in 2014, making Acton a billionaire. On Friday morning, Musk answered Acton's tweet by saying "What's Facebook?" "Delete SpaceX page on Facebook if you're the man?" a fan chimed in. "I didn't realize there was one. Will do," Musk replied. In subsequent tweets, Musk reiterated that the SpaceX page "will be gone soon" and that he "literally never seen it even once." He also said that Facebook's influence had started to affect Instagram, the social network's photo-sharing app. Less than 30 minutes after that tweet, the official Facebook page for SpaceX, along with that of Tesla, vanished.

Musk's negative feelings toward Facebook may be related to a 2016 dispute where Zuckerberg blamed SpaceX for a failed launch that destroyed a Facebook satellite. Musk actually addressed that in a later tweet on Friday, taking the blame for the accident. "Yeah, my fault for being an idiot. We did give them a free launch to make up for it and I think they had some insurance," Musk said in a tweet to Mashable's Kerry Flynn.

Musk is the latest notable tech entrepreneur to wade into the recent Cambridge Analytica scandal, which centers on the British data company Cambridge Analytica, which has ties to Donald Trump's 2016 presidential campaign. It improperly obtained information from as many as 50 million Facebook profiles. The outrage forced Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg to make a formal apology and announce plans for new tools that help users protect their data. SpaceX's Facebook page had 2.6 million likes before it was deleted. SpaceX still has a profile on Facebook-owned Instagram.