|By Dr Alaa Alghamdi| Dear Mr. Friedman, While I would like nothing better than to thank you for your concern for our youth and our country, as expressed in your Nov. 25 piece in the New York Times, I find I cannot in good conscience do so. You made certain observations during your stay in Riyadh, observations which no doubt may sound fresh and even enlightened to […]
|By Lawrence Williams| The ‘Nobody Cares’ quote was the theme of Grant Williams’ polished performance at Mines & Money London last week. Grant (no relation) is a Senior adviser to Vulpes Investment Management in Singapore – but is perhaps better known as the author of the always entertaining and enlightening Things that make you go hmm… newsletter. This has been published since 2009 and has become one […]
Gold prices rebounded off five-year lows on Monday as some investors rushed to grab a bargain while others closed out bets on weaker prices to lock in gains on the recent slide. The most actively traded gold-futures contract, for February delivery, was recently up $6.10, or 0.6%, at $1,062.20 a troy ounce on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange. Prices slid to $1,056.20 an […]
Saudi Arabian banks are feeling the squeeze from falling oil prices. The rate at which banks in the biggest Arab economy lend overnight to each other jumped the most in seven years in November, the fifth straight month of increases, following a slump in deposits the previous month that forced lenders to seek more funds from each other. “The drop in deposits in October, in absolute amount, […]
Samsung [made] history of a sort by launching the first major consumer-oriented virtual-reality headset. (It comes with an asterisk; prototypes and other not-quite-mass-market versions have been available for a while.) And its Gear VR headset is pretty impressive as first-generation devices go. The biggest surprise after using the new Gear VR for a few days: There’s a lot of stuff to watch and play in the virtual […]
|By Nitten Nair| In all offices you have 2 distinct types of employees: generalists and specialists, and they are constantly at odds. They are present in all domains and it depends on which domain you are referring to determine who will have an upper hand in the long run. To make my point here let me stick to my domain: Marketing. In this domain too we have […]
|By Arabian Post Staff| The AED 1.9 billion debt restructuring deal by Dubai government-owned entity Limitless has run into trouble following resistance by some of the creditors, Reuters reported quoting three banking sources. The company needs complete creditor approval in order to push through any deal. The delay in completing the deal is causing uncertainty, particularly in view of the weakness in the UAE property market, the […]
|By Arabian Post Staff| Participants at the World Strategy Summit in Abu Dhabi emphasized the importance of establishing an international platform for strategy, leadership, and innovation. This platform would contribute to building governmental and business sector leadership and would be based on a comprehensive vision to understand the nature of future opportunities and challenges. The platform could then be used to create measurable scientifically-based strategies that are […]
|By Shara Tonn|WHEN A GREEN architect does a particularly good job, you’ll know it by the bling: the silver, gold, and platinum LEED certifications that emblazon buildings’ exteriors. But the best eco-conscious constructions don’t need a seal of approval—and their builders probably wouldn’t appreciate it anyway. Mound termites, native to Africa, South Asia, and Australia, are pros at building self-regulating structures that maintain oxygen levels, temperature, and humidity. And […]
Following the terrorist attacks in Paris, the most deadly violence to strike France since World War Two, world leaders are convening on Sunday and Monday for the G20 summit in Turkey. The meeting, whose agenda now includes the attacks and their aftermath, will also focus on the migrant crisis in the Middle East and Europe, and could thus become one of the most important G20 summits since […]
|By Arabian Post staff| The rise of intelligent machines represents the evolution of the next industrial revolution, which will bring about a paradigm shift in the way we live and work, a special report on the subject by BankofAmerica-Merrill Lynch says. Robots and AI are becoming an integral part of our daily lives as providers of labour, mobility, safety, convenience, and entertainment. The year 2014 was the […]
Airbus Group SE escaped order oblivion at the Dubai Air Show after negotiating a last-minute agreement to sell 30 narrow-body planes to VietJet Aviation — prompting the European planemaker to take a swipe at Boeing Co. over the announcement of a deal that had already been booked. VietJet agreed to buy nine current-generation A321s and 21 upgraded A321neos worth $3.6 billion at list prices after negotiations that […]
|By TAP Staff| Dubai developer Limitless has failed to repay over $500 million, which it had promised to pay banks from the proceeds of a land sale in Saudi Arabia as part of the debt restructuring deal with the banks and this has apparently caused concern among the banks. Last week Bloomberg had reported that the developer should have paid about $517 million to banks more than […]
Nitten Nair/Most of us complain about how work is sucking the fun out of life. In most cases, it is caused by our own doing and in many ways we have the power to change that. The first concept we should imbibe in ourselves is that work is a medium to help us live our lives the way we aspire. Life is not a byproduct of the […]
|By TAP Staff| Middle East carriers recorded a 9.9% increase in passenger traffic demand in September, well down on the 13.7% year-over year growth experienced in August, International Air Transport Association (IATA) announced. Capacity rose 12.9% and load factor slipped 2.1 percentage points to 75.7%. Major economies in the region, including Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, have experienced slowdowns in non-oil sectors, it pointed out. […]
|By TAP Staff| The GFMS Gold Survey for the third quarter is bearish on the short term prospects of gold and expects the metal to trade back down below $1,100/oz for the remaining months of the 2015. According to the survey, published by Thomson Reuters, gold is set to remain under pressure until there is more clarity on the timing and the scale of US rates normalisation. […]
|By Matein Khalid| Saudi Arabia has fascinated me since I first met Hani AZ Yamani as a teenage student all those years ago at Wharton. Hani’s father was Sheikh Ahmed Zaki Yamani, legendary Saudi Oil Minister (1962-86) under Kings Faisal, Khalid and Fahd. Sheikh Yamani managed the 1973 and 1979 oil shocks, survived a terrorist assault in Vienna by Carlos the Jackal, midwifed the birth of Saudi […]
|By TAP Staff| Starting salaries for professional occupations are expected to see modest rises over the next 12 months, according to the Robert Half 2016 Salary Guide. Across professional occupations including finance and accounting, financial services, information technology, legal, and human resources and administration, salaries are expected to see an average rise of 1.7%. The roles that are the most difficult to fill are predicted to see […]
|By TAP Staff| Majid Al Futtaim Holding is weighing an offer to acquire Abu Dhabi consumer finance firm Dunia Finance, Chief Executive Officer Alain Bejjani said in an interiew. “Dunia is an opportunity that was presented to us, so we are looking at it,” Bejjani said, but clarified that the company has not yet decided on a formal bid. Dunia’s shareholders, including Mubadala Development Co. and a unit […]
|By TAP Staff| Al Shafar General Contracting has put on hold its plan to sell shares in an initial public offering in Dubai amid weak market conditions, Bloomberg reported quoting two people with knowledge of the matter. The Dubai-based construction company, which is helping build an island designed to feature the world’s tallest Ferris wheel, explored a share sale before deciding the timing isn’t conducive to a […]
ABU DHABI // Clad in black cycling gear and, of course, a helmet, Sheikh Nahyan bin Zayed, chairman of Abu Dhabi Sports Council (ADSC), joined hundreds of cyclists at TrainYas on Tuesday. Sheikh Nahyan, accompanied by a group of officials and British cycling champion Mark Cavendish, attended the free weekly event to promote the capital’s inaugural cycling event, the Abu Dhabi Tour. On his lap of Yas […]
|By Matein Khalid| 2015 has been a horror story for emerging markets and Asian shares have not escaped the fallout from the 40% plunge in Shanghai/Shenzhen since June. Yet financial markets discount the future while UAE investors invariably extrapolate the recent past. So even while I resurrect the ghosts of 1998 when Suharto’s regime fell amid anti-Chinese riots in Jakarta, South Korea was forced to accept a […]
DUBAI // The Vice President and Ruler of Dubai on Sunday launched a development foundation to fight poverty, spread knowledge, build communities and encourage innovation in more than 100 countries. The Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum Global Initiatives will consolidate the work of 28 existing aid organisations, such as Dubai Cares, UAE Water Aid and the blindness-prevention charity Noor Dubai, with an annual operating budget of Dh1 […]
|By TAP Staff| Dubai Holding Commercial Operations Group (DHCOG) announced a net profit of AED 2.6 billion for the first half of this year ending 30th June 2015, an increase of 24 percent. Full year profits are expected to exceed AED 5.5 billion, the company said. Ahmad Bin Byat, Vice Chairman and Managing Director of Dubai Holding, said Dubai Holding will continue to reinforce its successful strategy […]
