Saudi Arabia is a historically entrepreneurial country. Jeddah has been a mercantile centre for centuries. Even Riyadh and the Holy Cities of Makkah and Madinah began as trading stations on the spice and silk trails. What has changed since the rise of the oil industry? Not the entrepreneurial spirit of the country but the institutional environment for entrepreneurship to flourish. As we contemplate the country’s future as […]
By Christine Murray | SAN LUIS POTOSI, Mexico SAN LUIS POTOSI, Mexico Ford Motor Co’s (F.N) abrupt move to scrap a planned $1.6 billion car plant in central Mexico has spooked a network of suppliers who bet on a growing customer base and dramatized the risk that Donald Trump’s agenda poses to the country’s broader economy. Many auto parts makers had started to expand in anticipation of […]
By Laith Agha | LOS ANGELES LOS ANGELES A witness fearing retribution in the murder trial of wealthy real estate scion Robert Durst, whose ties to several slayings were chronicled in HBO’s documentary “The Jinx,” will be allowed to testify without revealing his or her identity, a Los Angeles judge ruled on Friday. Durst, 73, who attended the hearing in a wheelchair, pleaded not guilty in November […]
Saudi Arabia’s non-oil private sector strengthened again in December after touching record lows in October, according to a new business survey. Data from the Emirates NBD Saudi Arabia Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI) showed that output rose at the sharpest rate since August, while new orders increased at a marked, albeit slightly slower, rate. Companies responded to increased requirements by raising their purchasing activity and boosting inventories amid […]
Low-cost, off-grid solar energy could provide significant economic benefit to people living in some remote areas, but a new study suggests they generally lack the access to financial resources, commercial institutions and markets needed to bring solar electricity to their communities. (via WSJ)
TOKYO U.S. President-elect Donald Trump has threatened Toyota Motor Corp (7203.T) over its Mexican-built cars, but the biggest risk from a punitive tariff would be for its compatriot Nissan Motor Co (7201.T), the largest automaker operating in the country. Trump has criticized U.S. companies like General Motors (G.N) and Ford Motor Co (F.N) which manufacture abroad, accusing them of costing U.S. jobs. On Thursday he took on […]
Dell’s 2-in-1 Latitude 7285 Tired of having to plug a cable into your laptop to charge it? Dell’s new 2-in-1 Latitude 7285 brings wireless charging to laptops. Must read: CNET – Toss the power brick: The Latitude 7285 is Dell’s first hybrid with a wireless charging base The Latitude 7285 2-in-1 is a hybrid laptop, and one of the optional extras for the device is a wireless-charging […]
Dubai, UAE, 6 January 2017 Dubai Supreme Council of Energy (DSCE) held a press conference in Oman to promote the 3rd Emirates Energy Award (EEA 2017) that will be held under the patronage of HH Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai under the theme ‘Innovative Solutions for Clean Energy’. The press conference held at Grand […]
MANILA, Philippines – The Department of Health (DOH) reported yesterday a total of 630 fireworks-related injuries recorded during the New Year’s Eve revelry, which is 292 cases lower than the incidents in the previous year. “We would like to extend our gratitude for the support of other national agencies, the local governments, non-government organizations and the media for the anti-firecracker campaigns. We do hope that eventually we […]
Oman’s sovereign net foreign assets are forecast to fall to 28 percent of GDP by 2018 from 48.5 percent at the end of 2016 due to external debt issuance and draw-downs from wealth funds to finance budget deficits, according to Fitch Ratings. The ratings agency, which also said in a statement that the earlier sharp fall in oil and gas prices had hit Oman hard, published Oman’s […]
MOSCOW: Russia announced on Friday that it is withdrawing its aircraft carrier and some other Russian warships from the waters off Syria as the first step in a drawdown of its forces in the war-torn Mideast country.According to Russian General Staff chief Gen. Valery Gerasimov, the Admiral Kuznetsov carrier and accompanying ships are to be the first to leave.Gerasimov was quoted as saying by the state news […]
Police in India’s tech-hub Bangalore said Friday they were still investigating wide-ranging media reports that a number of women were molested during street celebrations on New Year’s Eve, but that still no victims had come forward to register cases. On Thursday, city police commissioner Praveed Sood said in a news conference that after reviewing security-camera footage from the city’s business district, officers “could not find any sign […]
By Isabel Coles and Saif Hameed | NORTH OF MOSUL, Iraq/BAGHDAD NORTH OF MOSUL, Iraq/BAGHDAD Elite Iraqi troops bridged a river under the cover of darkness to seize a district of Mosul in an unprecedented night raid early on Friday, part of a new phase in the battle to capture the city from Islamic State after weeks of slowed momentum. Since last week, Iraqi forces have launched […]
The 16-member SEA-ME-WE 5 Consortium, in which Dubai-based telco du is a stakeholder, has announced the completion of a 20,000km subsea cable infrastructure on schedule. The project is in line with the UAE National Vision 2021 and the National Agenda of sustainable environment and infrastructure, news agency WAM reported. It added the investments from du were instrumental in bringing SEA-ME-WE 5 to the UAE. South East Asia–Middle […]
NEW DELHI // Noted Indian character actor Om Puri has died in the western city of Mumbai. He was 66. Indian prime pinister Narendra Modi and a host of leading movie stars tweeted condolence messages shortly after Puri’s death Friday morning. In a career spanning more than three decades, Puri won a slew of national awards and international fame for his work in several critically acclaimed films. […]
Not even schools are safe from cybercrminals and ransomware. Image: iStock Cybercriminals are pretending to be government officials as part of a ransomware scheme which is targeting schools and demanding payments of up to £8,000 to unencrypt the locked files. Action Fraud, the UK’s fraud and cybercrime centre, and the City of London police, have issued a warning over the activity, which begins with criminals contacting the […]
Om Puri, one of India’s most critically acclaimed actors, who appeared in Hollywood, Bollywood and British movies, has died. The 66-year-old actor died of a heart attack at his residence in Mumbai, friends and actors in the Indian film industry said Friday. Born in the northern state of Haryana, Mr. Puri began his acting career in 1976 with a Marathi film “Ghashiram Kotwal.” By the 1980s, he […]
ANKARA An earthquake shook Iran’s southern Fars province on Friday, killing four Afghan laborers and prompting a search operation for other casualties in the thinly-populated mountainous area, Iranian state TV said. The shallow magnitude 5.3 earthquake struck at dawn, with its epicenter 53 km southwest (33 miles) of the city of Jahrom, the USGS said. Iranian media said the quake measured 5.1. “Four Afghans living and working […]
BAGHDAD Elite Iraqi troops advanced against Islamic State militants in eastern Mosul in their first night-time raid in the city, a spokesman said on Friday, in a U.S.-backed operation which officials say is gaining momentum. Counter-terrorism service (CTS) forces pushed across a tributary of the Tigris river shortly after midnight and drove back Islamic State fighters in the Muthanna district, CTS spokesman Sabah al-Numan said. “We used […]
SEJONG, South Korea China is suspected to be taking indirect action against South Korea’s decision last year to deploy a U.S. anti-missile system, South Korea’s finance minister said. China worries that the U.S. Terminal High Altitude Area Defence (THAAD) system’s powerful radar can penetrate its territory and it has objected to the deployment. South Korea and the United States say the missile system is aimed solely at […]
BAGHDAD Islamic State militants attacked an Iraqi army outpost and a police station near the city of Tikrit on Friday, killing at least four soldiers and wounding 12 others, military and police sources said. The militants used a car bomb and two suicide attackers in their assault shortly after midnight on the army outpost in the town of al-Dour on Tikrit’s outskirts, killing two officers and two […]
Former world number one Tiger Woods said he would compete in the European Tour’s Dubai Desert Classic next month as he charts his comeback from injury. “I’ve always enjoyed playing in Dubai and it’s fantastic to see how the city has grown phenomenally from when I first started playing there,” Woods said on the event website on Thursday. Woods, sidelined by back pain for the past 15 […]
Apple Store, Xidan Joy City, Beijing, China Apple is planning its first retail store in South Korea, the home turf of rival Samsung, the company confirmed to Reuters in a statement Friday. “We’re excited about opening our first Apple Store in Korea, one of the world’s economic centers and a leader in telecommunication and technology, with a vibrant K-culture,” Apple said in a statement. Local media previously […]
For the past 24 hours, Chicago media have been cautiously running gruesome video of four people tying up, cutting, beating and taunting a mentally disabled man while broadcasting the ordeal live on Facebook. The video is hard to watch. One of the captors slapped the victim repeatedly and used a knife to cut the victim’s clothing then cut a plug of his hair and scalp. While the […]
