ABU DHABI // Residents will have more relief from the recent sweltering heat this weekend, with Thursday’s cooler conditions forecast to continue. The weather bureau says the drop of up to 7°C in many parts of the country is set to continue on Friday and Saturday as the north-westerly Shamal wind makes a welcome return, with cloudy, windy and hazy conditions. “It will be slightly hazy on […]
ABU DHABI // The influence of Arabic architecture on European buildings should not be underestimated, experts from Spain said at a talk in the capital. As part of the first event in a series of collaborations with Universidad Europea de Madrid, Alhosn University gathered some of Spain’s foremost architects from both universities to discuss how Middle Eastern and Spanish architecture have learnt from each other. Dr Miguel […]
|By TAP Staff|Aldar Properties announced it has repaid a US$1.25 billion bond that matured at the end of May 2014 as the company pushes ahead with a strategy to deleverage, reduce its cost of borrowing and build a strong platform for growth. The bond that matured in May 2014 carried an annual interest cost of 10.75% and it was repaid using cash and by drawing down on […]
ABU DHABI // A little boy who has overcome deafness to become an academic star at school has received a personal letter of praise from Barack Obama. “I am proud of you for pushing yourself academically,” the US president told Yusuf Batha, “and I am counting on you to continue to set a good example to help others whenever you have the opportunity.” Mr Obama also told […]
ABU DHABI // If Daniel Bekai has his way, robots will be common features in homes of the future. Daniel, 16, wants to live in a world where humans command robots to perform the mundane tasks that an artificially intelligent machine would be better at anyway. “Suppose you’re in your house and you want some yogurt, you can build a robot that gets yogurt from your fridge […]
Abu Dhabi’s economy expanded an inflation-adjusted 5.2 percent in 2013, its official statistics centre said on Tuesday, a much slower rate than the government had previously estimated but still higher than 4.8 percent in 2012. The figure from the Statistics Centre Abu Dhabi (SCAD) was much lower than an estimate in February by the emirate’s Department of Economic Development (DED), which said real GDP grew 7.4 percent […]
Global airline executives might have gathered in Qatar for their annual general meeting this week to bemoan their lack of profitability, but the event itself was certainly not short of a dime or two. The title sponsor and host of the IATA AGM was Qatar Airways – and the Gulf state’s flag carrier wasted no time in using the annual mix of conference, talking shop and lavish […]
ABU DHABI // Companies who deny labourers their midday break from work may face closure and fines of up to Dh15,000. Hourly inspections will be carried out, and anyone flouting the law will be dealt with harshly, the Ministry of Labour said on Tuesday. The midday work ban comes into force on June 15 from 12.30pm to 3pm and ends on September 15. The ministry also plans […]
ABU DHABI // Yas Marina Circuit is looking to stage major international charity events after staff visited New York to gain ideas from a major run there. Officials from the track visited the Big Apple last month to attend the city’s UAE Healthy Kidney 10K road run and learn about staging the best in community fitness programmes. The annual Healthy Kidney event, a tribute to the founding […]
Etisalat has added four banks to the list of bookrunners for its potential debut bond, which could include dollar and euro-denominated paper of up to 12 years duration, banking sources said on Monday. The mainly state-owned company added Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi UFJ, Morgan Stanley, National Bank Of Abu Dhabi and Natixis as passive bookrunners, three sources said, speaking on condition of anonymity as the information is not […]
|By TAP Staff|Australasia was the fastest-expanding market for Dubai International in the first quarter, up 21.9 percent on the previous year, as a direct result of the partnership between Qantas and Emirates, the Wall Street Journal reported quoting Dubai Airports sources. Both North America and Asia, two markets where Emirates has expanded routes recently were pipped by Australasia. Dubai has become a popular stopover for Australians en […]
The pact between Emirates Airline and Qantas has been marred by negative news flow from Down Under of job cuts, losses and a brutal price war between the Aussie carrier and Virgin Australia. But one party is benefiting from an influx of Aussies: the city of Dubai. The Gulf state has become a popular stopover en route to Europe and the U.S., boosting Dubai’s malls and hotels. About […]
ABU DHABI // The weather is expected to become hazy and dusty over the next few days, National Centre for Meteorology and Seismology forecasters said. Monday and Tuesday will see hot temperatures throughout the day, and the nights are expected to be hazy. Temperatures are expected to decrease slightly on Wednesday as the weather is forecast to be dusty with rising sand during the day. The Arabian […]
Qatar Airways has delayed taking delivery of its first Airbus A380 by “several weeks” while the planemaker tackles last-minute problems with the cabin, the airline’s chief executive told Reuters. The airline has asked Airbus to address requests it made after the usual pre-delivery customer inspection, Qatar Airways CEO Akbar Al Baker said on Friday. Al Baker was responding to a Reuters query after delegates gathering for the […]
A substantial number of Middle East funds intend to cut their exposure to stocks in the United Arab Emirates and Qatar, shifting money to less richly valued markets such as Saudi Arabia, a monthly Reuters survey showed. Shares in Dubai, Abu Dhabi and Qatar have surged over the past 12 months in anticipation of those markets’ upgrade to MSCI’s emerging market index, which will take place at […]
ABU DHABI // The UAE’s support for women in science, technology, engineering and maths (Stem) was discussed at a meeting of the United Nations commission on the status of women. At the session held in New York this year, Dr Lamya Fawwaz, the executive director of public affairs at Masdar Institute of Science and Technology, talked about the participation of women and girls in those areas, including […]
DUBAI // Lebanese and Emiratis in the UAE said they would continue travelling to Lebanon, whether a travel ban was in place or not. Mohammed Al Awadhi, an Emirati from Dubai, said the recently lifted travel advisory put out by the Government was more of a warning for citizens to be careful. “We don’t really feel like it’s a ban,” he said. “My brother-in-law was there two […]
The main shareholders of U.A.E. construction giant Arabtec Holding are consolidating their control over the company as the country’s stock markets prepare for the implementation of an upgrade to emerging-market status by stock-index provider MSCI. Arabtec chief executive Hasan Ismaik raised his stake from 8.03% to 21.46% by buying shares on the market, the company said in an emailed statement Wednesday. This follows a move three years […]
ABU DHABI // Education, wise leadership and a fair constitution are the key reasons for women’s empowerment in the country. Female pioneers in politics say they are equal partners in UAE life and that is the reason for their success. Dr Nidhal Al Tenaiji, general manager at the Zayed Cultural Foundation and a former Federal National Council member, said the huge development of the UAE in a […]
ABU DHABI // More than 1,000 cases of employers accused of breaking labour laws by ill-treating their workers were referred to prosecutors in the past year, a new report reveals. The prosecutions came amid a massive enforcement campaign by the Ministry of Labour, whose staff conducted 138,801 general inspections, 11,807 visits to workers’ accommodation and 80,571 visits to construction sites to ensure labourers were not working during […]
The chief executive of Arabtec Holding has raised his stake in the Dubai-based contractor to 21.46 percent, the company said, in an investment worth about $1 billion which it described as a vote of confidence in the group’s prospects. Hasan Ismaik, who has been leading a growth strategy at the company since taking charge early last year, bought the shares because of “his strong belief in the […]
Emaar Properties has secured a $1.5 billion sharia-compliant loan from five local lenders, two banking sources aware of the matter said on Wednesday, the latest Dubai-based borrower to take advantage of buoyant markets to reprice debt. A number of state-linked entities in the emirate have sought to refinance existing debts, even if the loans have years until maturity, as market sentiment towards Dubai improves after its debt […]
ABU DHABI // Hundreds of tenants have been defrauded by bogus landlords and property agents who rent one home to several families and then disappear before the scam is uncovered. Police in Abu Dhabi have investigated 211 cases of property fraud in the past 15 months, 66 of them in the first three months of this year. One victim, Salwa, an Arab resident, paid a year’s rent […]
ABU DHABI // An impoverished farmer in India whose son was one of 13 workers killed in the Dubai bus crash spoke on Tuesday of his family’s grief, their shattered dreams and his struggle with debt. Ramchand Gupta, 50, borrowed money from relatives to send his son Sanjay to the UAE four months ago in the hope of a better life. The plan was that he would […]
