|By TAP Staff|UAE’s leading home-grown building materials company Danube Buildmart has rebranded itself as Danube Home and announced former Miss India and Bollywood actress Juhi Chawla as the new brand ambassador. The company also unveiled a new logo and announced the addition of soft furnishing to its portfolio of products. Speaking on the occasion, Mr. Rizwan Sajan said that in much the same manner that Juhi has […]
Saudi Arabia and India have formed a new joint venture to build a rice distribution hub in Dubai to link Indian production to consumers in Middle East, Arab News reported. Prince Mishaal bin Abdullah bin Turki and global private investor V Raman Kumar have formed the joint venture with India’s rice producer, LEAF India (Lakshmi Energy and Foods), to create West Asia and North Africa region’s largest […]
The London gold fix, the benchmark used by miners, jewelers and central banks to value the metal, may have been manipulated for a decade by the banks setting it, researchers say. Unusual trading patterns around 3 p.m. in London, when the so-called afternoon fix is set on a private conference call between five of the biggest gold dealers, are a sign of collusive behavior and should be […]
A last official link between the Gulf’s colonial era and its commercially dynamic present, Bill Duff devoted his life to Dubai and played a bigger part than any other westerner in the early transformation of the emirate from obscure outpost into global hub. Duff, who has died aged 91, arrived as an economic adviser in 1959 in what were called the Trucial states. His mission came at […]
The path toward U.S. energy independence, made possible by a boom in shale oil, will be much harder than it seems. Just a few of the roadblocks: Independent producers will spend $1.50 drilling this year for every dollar they get back. Shale output drops faster than production from conventional methods. It will take 2,500 new wells a year just to sustain output of 1 million barrels a […]
The Dubai Mall has refurbished the surface of its car parking facility, which is the most expansive in the Middle East & North Africa region with over 14,000 spaces across three separate high-rise buildings, with the award-winning Deckshield polyurethane deck coating system, from global resin flooring specialists Flowcrete Group. This system was chosen for its ability to maintain a smooth and colourful finish when faced with operational […]
Dubai World Trade Centre (DWTC) is set to welcome 11 international congresses in 2014, spanning a variety of industry sectors. When combined, these congresses will contribute an estimated US$32millon (AED117 million) to the city’s economy. The congresses will attract more than 12,000 international delegates, including global thought leaders in their respective fields, which include healthcare, transportation, legal and technology sectors. “Dubai’s position as a premier international business […]
In an age of aerial drones and driver-less cars, Rolls-Royce Holdings Plc is designing unmanned cargo ships. Rolls-Royce’s Blue Ocean development team has set up a virtual-reality prototype at its office in Alesund, Norway, that simulates 360-degree views from a vessel’s bridge. Eventually, the London-based manufacturer of engines and turbines says, captains on dry land will use similar control centers to command hundreds of crewless ships. Drone […]
|By Pranay Gupta| When I look out of the windows of my 25th-floor apartment in Dubai, I see the Persian Gulf shimmering a few blocks away. Cruise ships are parked at the dockyard, and in the blue waters beyond a steady stream of oil-laden tankers head out to quench the world’s thirst for black gold. Closer to me are other skyscrapers, vast shopping centers, and crowded convention […]
|By Kalyani Shankar| With the arrival of the AAP party chief Arvind Kejriwal in the national scene, after he quit his post as Delhi chief minister, the ensuing Lok Sabha elections seem to be interesting with one more player added to the confusing poll scene. The AAP is planning to contest more than 350 of the 542 seats. Don’t think Kejrwal is acting impulsively. He has taken […]
Only a thin blue hoarding separates the busy shopping district of Downtown Dubai from the new waterside office and residential area of Business Bay – yet the two locations feel worlds apart. Turn right along a narrow road from The Dubai Mall and you are suddenly faced with piles of sand and heaps of junk. Shiny green glass buildings stand next to half-finished structures of grey skeletal […]
Rating agency Fitch sees the spillover from the strengthening Dubai economy, among other factors, to keep Abu Dhabi growth at 4-5 percent over the next two years. The other factors include high government spending and fruition of several major projects. Fitch Ratings has affirmed Abu Dhabi’s Long-term foreign and local currency IDRs at ‘AA’ with Stable Outlooks. The issue ratings on Abu Dhabi’s senior unsecured foreign and […]
DUBAI is poised to roll over a vital $10 billion debt facility with the central bank of the United Arab Emirates at a lower rate of interest, UK’s Telegraph newspaper revealed. Rolling over the debt, which is due at the end of this week, will soothe lingering concerns over the emirate’s ability to service its immediate debts as it prepares to embark on another burst of infrastructure […]
There is renewed demand from domestic and overseas buyers seeking Dubai property assets and this is a sign of increasing interest in Dubai’s improving real estate market, according to leading international real estate consultancy Cluttons. Strong interest in Emaar’s newly launched Lila and Yasmin properties at Arabian Ranches, Bahrain-based Ravi Pillai Group’s plans to invest USD$1.5 billion into two real estate projects in Business Bay and Downtown, […]
A Saudi English-language daily has become the country’s first newspaper with a female editor-in-chief after the Saudi Gazette this week appointed Somayya Jabarti to succeed veteran journalist Khaled Almaeena for the top post. “I was pleasantly surprised,” she told the Wall Street Journal over the phone, “because I did not think we as a country were ready for a female editor. But I believe this is a […]
|By Steen Jakobsen|The negative start to this year came as a surprise to most investors as we came into the new year with the usual euphoria and expectations of a stock market ending 2014 up 10-15% and a Europe and US in continued recovery but January soon became all about a potential EM crisis which ended up hurting even developed markets return in this year first month. […]
Industrial & Commercial Bank of China Ltd., the world’s most profitable lender, said it will consider acquisitions in the Middle East as part of plans to boost earnings from the region by 50 percent this year. “We’re looking to see if there are acquisition opportunities,” Zhou Xiaodong, chief executive officer for the Middle East, said in an interview from the lender’s Dubai offices. “It’s a good strategy. […]
Former Delhi leader Arvind Kejriwal attacked India’s richest man Mukesh Ambani over gas pricing as he turned his attention full time to a nationwide election due by May after his 49-day rule of the capital came to an end. Kejriwal, who resigned as Delhi chief minister on Feb. 14 after lawmakers rejected an anti-corruption bill, targeted the ruling Congress party, main opposition Bharatiya Janata Party and Ambani, […]
Arvind-Kejriwal who pledged to root out corruption after steering to power in Delhi, was a man in a hurry and set a scorching pace to try to fulfil his anti-graft legislative agenda but his tumultous journey as Chief Minister ended in seven weeks. As the controversy over the Jan-Lokpal-Bill deepened with Lt Governor Najeeb advising the Delhi-Assembly Speaker against allowing its tabling and Congress and BJP opposing […]
A U.S. border checkpoint located a day’s flight from New York in the Arabian desert promises to become an oasis for weary travelers heading for the States. U.S. Customs and Border Protection opened an Abu Dhabi base on Jan. 24, the first in the Middle East and the second outside the Americas after Ireland. Another post is planned in Dubai within a year as part of a […]
Indian mobile phone market leaders Bharti Airtel and Vodafone bought airwaves worth about $3 billion each in a hotly contested auction that raised nearly $10 billion, far exceeding the government’s target. No.1 Bharti and second-ranked Vodafone said they had won airwaves in the premium 900 megahertz band that was available in three key cities — Delhi, Mumbai and Kolkata. Conglomerate Reliance Industries, a new entrant in telecoms that is seen […]
|By Upendra Prasad| When Congress leaders had forced unwilling Kejriwal to form his government in Delhi, he said the Congress will have to repent its decision to allow him to become CM. It is clear now what he meant by saying it. In an unprecedented move, he has ordered institution of a case against present and former Petroleum Ministers as also Mukesh Ambani to manipulate and hike […]
Comcast Corp is buying Time Warner Cable Inc for $45.2 billion in an all-stock deal, combining the nation’s two largest cable operators, according to people familiar with the matter. The friendly takeover comes as a surprise after months of public pursuit of Time Warner Cable by smaller rival Charter Communications Inc, and immediately raised questions as to whether it would pass regulatory scrutiny. Comcast will pay $158.82 […]
Fox News – The Mercedes-Benz S-Class sedan has already put the world on notice, from its standard stance on opulence in the S550 to the impeccably impressive S63 AMG super sedan. Now, the sedan gets a sleeker, sportier companion: the 2015 S-Class Coupe. A striking profile marks the S-Class Coupe apart from the teeming hordes of four-doored coupe wannabes. This is a true coupe, and it wears its proportions like a larger-than-life sports […]
