INTERNATIONAL. – Higher GDP per capita alone does not determine real quality of life. This is according to the Social Progress Index (SPI) 2016 published recently by US-based nonprofit, the Social Progress Imperative. The Index ranks Finland the world’s most socially progressive country, Canada in second place tops the G7 nations. Economic growth is not the sole determinant of quality of life The 2016 Index finds that whist […]
Faster, higher, stronger: those are the three qualities captured in the official Olympic Games motto “Citius, altius, fortius”– to which some will want to add “dubious”. With doping seemingly rife in sport generally and the Russian Olympic team in trouble, it’s hard to see the Rio Games as the embodiment of the famous dictum of Pierre de Coubertin, founder of the modern Olympics, that it’s not the […]
|Mary-Ann Russon|IBNTimes|The President of the United Arab Emirates (UAE) has issued a series of new federal laws relating to IT crimes, including a regulation that forbids anyone in the UAE from making use of virtual private networks (VPN) to secure their web traffic from prying eyes. The new law states that anyone who uses a VPN or proxy server can be imprisoned and fined between Dh500,000-Dh2,000,000 ($136,000-$545,000, […]
|By Arabian Post Staff| First Gulf Bank reported a lower Group net profit for the first half of this year, recording AED 2.64 billion for the six-month period ended 30 June 2016, compared to AED 2.87 billion for the first half of 2015 FGB, one of the leading banks in the UAE, reported second quarter 2016 Group revenue growth of 3%, while Q2’2016 net profits were recorded at AED […]
The good news is that most of the people who buy the Apple Watch like the product. The bad news is that not as many are buying the device as last year. Although the Apple Watch is still the leader in the new world of smart watches, holding a 47 percent market share in 2016, that figure is down from the 72 percent share it held in […]
INTERNATIONAL. Even before the failed military coup, Turkey’s President Erdogan governed like a dictator who had the last word on all state matters. The botched coup was nothing but, as he put it, “a gift from God” to purge what is left of Turkey’s democracy and cleanse the army and judiciary in order to ensure the total subordination of all institutions to his whims. For Erdogan, being […]
Elton John, Selena Gomez, Major Lazer and All Saints are among the raft of international stars to perform in the UAE before the year is out. The names have been revealed as part of the upcoming autumn season of concerts at Dubai’s new Autism Rocks Arena. John will perform at the purpose built venue, at Dubai Outlet Mall, on December 15. Appearing as part of the next […]
U.S. President Barack Obama speaks about the Bastille Day truck attack in Nice at the Diplomatic Corps Reception at the White House in Washington, U.S., July 15, 2016. Reuters/Yuri Gripas WASHINGTON The Obama administration on Friday released a legislative proposal intended to provide foreign governments with a streamlined process for asking U.S. tech companies to share email data and conduct wiretaps for criminal investigations. The framework comes […]
KEFLAVIK, Iceland Marco Streng is a miner, though he does not carry a pick around his base in south-western Iceland. Instead, he keeps tens of thousands of computers running 24 hours a day in fierce competition with others across the globe to earn bitcoins. In the world of the web-based digital currency, it is not central banks that add new money to the system, but rather computers […]
A team of astronomers have used the SPHERE instrument on ESO’s Very Large Telescope to image the first planet ever found in a wide orbit inside a triple-star system. The orbit of such a planet had been expected to be unstable, probably resulting in the planet being quickly ejected from the system. But somehow this one survives. This unexpected observation suggests that such systems may actually be […]
|By Matein Khalid| The merger of Abu Dhabi banks First Gulf Bank and NBAD creates the largest bank in the Middle East, a regional colossus with $170 billion in assets, competitive funding cost in the global interbank/capital markets and a market value greater than Credit Suisse, Standard Chartered Bank (SCB) and Deutsche Bank. This is the biggest game changer event in UAE banking and finance since the […]
UAE. Deloitte’s Technology, Media & Telecommunications (TMT) practices highlight the increasing trends for connectivity and mobile phone usage across the board in Deloitte’s latest report entitled: Global Mobile Consumer Trends. Both intensity in usage and ownership rates are increasing―in some categories more than doubling―pointing to dramatically changing consumer behaviors, and a shift towards non-voice communications such as text and instant messaging (IM). Deloitte conducted a survey designed […]
UAE. Boardrooms’ awareness of cyber risks has been recently growing in Europe, Middle East and Africa, with cyber security ranking far up on the agendas of non-executive directors in the region, according to Deloitte’s recent report entitled “EMEA 360 Boardroom Survey: Agenda priorities across the region.” The report reveals that innovation is also gaining ground with 60% of respondents ranking it as a very important issue. These […]
INTERNATIONAL. The use of wearables in the workplace is being stalled by a lack of trust as people worry that their employer may use the data against them and not for their benefit, according to new PwC research. Despite an estimated 3 million people in the UK buying a wearable device in 2015 – a 118% increase from the previous year – PwC’s research shows that employees […]
BAGHDAD — Long before Falluja was known the world over for deadly jihadists, it was known all over Iraq for its kebab — fatty lamb, ground and mixed with onion, grilled on a skewer over an open fire and served with a pinch of sumac — at a joint called Haji Hussein. Everyone, it seemed, ate at Haji Hussein: locals, soldiers, tourists and businessmen traveling the Baghdad-to-Amman […]
A new enterprise offering introduced by Oracle today is designed to enable independent software vendors (ISVs) to transition their businesses to the cloud, the company said. The new platform, called the Oracle Cloud Platform Ready for Independent Software Vendors, will allow ISVs to quickly register and publish their Oracle Cloud-compatible applications on the Oracle Cloud Marketplace, allowing them to fast-track new business opportunities in the cloud. Oracle’s […]
After relishing a cocktail of cheap crude mixed with profits from fuel sales, Asia’s oil processors are facing their reckoning over a lack of restraint. Profits from turning crude into fuel in Asia since the beginning of April have averaged almost a third lower than levels over the previous six months, and are down 40 percent from the same period a year earlier. That’s already prompted some […]
LONDON — After years of international isolation under the rule of Col. Muammar el-Qaddafi, Libya sought to emulate its Middle Eastern neighbors by creating a sovereign wealth fund in 2006 to invest the proceeds from its sale of oil. The North African nation soon turned to Goldman Sachs to help it invest some of the more than $35 billion in funds it had available in late 2007. […]
BEIRUT, Lebanon — Relief trucks delivered food aid for the first time in four years to Daraya, the rebel-held Syrian town just outside of Damascus that has come to symbolize civilian suffering in the war, the United Nations said Friday. But even as the relief convoy’s success was announced by the World Food Program, the United Nations anti-hunger agency, residents of Daraya were reporting that Syrian military […]
DUBAI // The Awqaf and Minors Affairs Foundation (Amaf) has given a cheque for Dh741,000 to the SOS Children’s Village in Jordan to finance the maintenance and restoration costs of its building. SOS Children’s Village International provides family-based care through support and empowerment schemes for orphans or children who have lost one parent. Ahmed Baghlaf provided the Dh741,000 cheque, said Tayeb Al Rais, secretary general of Amaf, […]
In the days before rapid sea or air travel, it could take months to travel to Mecca. The spiritual heart of Islam lay far from its great capitals in Istanbul, Delhi and Isfahan. The devout came from distant lands on foot, by camel and in horse-drawn carriages. Bedouin tribes routinely robbed these pilgrims, who were the primary source of revenue for this ancient desert town. Now, the […]
By RICK GLADSTONE and NICK CUMMING-BRUCE June 7, 2016 Syria’s president promised to retake “every inch” of the country from his foes in a defiant speech on Tuesday that dimmed hope for a revival of talks to end the war, now in its sixth year. The speech by the president, Bashar al-Assad, was his first major address since talks in Geneva mediated by the United Nations broke down in April, and […]
Ali was the most thrilling if not the best heavyweight ever, but he was more than the sum of his athletic gifts Ali faces the media at the US federal court in June 1967, while on trial for refusing to be inducted into the armed forces. New York: Muhammad Ali, the three-time world heavyweight boxing champion who helped define his turbulent times as the most charismatic […]
WASHINGTON — An exhausted and ill-equipped Iraqi Army faces daunting obstacles on the battlefield that will most likely delay for months a long-planned major offensive on the Islamic State stronghold of Mosul, American and allied officials say. The delay is expected despite American efforts to keep Iraq’s creaky war machine on track. Although President Obama vowed to end the United States’ role in the war in Iraq, […]
