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DELHI’S CLEANLINESS AND THE MUCK IN OUR MINDS

WHERE’S YOUR COOPERATIVE FEDERALISM, MR MODI?

By Garga Chatterjee

Those of us who are not of Delhi and live far away from the inner chambers of power, some aspects of the new Union government’s initial pronouncements were indeed exciting. Firstly, in consonance with the tone set by its leader in the 2014 Lok Sabha election campaign, the Central government wanted to be an enabler and not a micro-manager in people’s lives and aspirations. Secondly, it talked about co-operative federalism, by which, real federalism would be ushered in, in a spirit of co-operation between the constituent states of the Indian Union. Right now, these feel like promises from a different planet.

It is true that the government of India increased the percentage of tax money that would be given by the Centre to the states. But that came with a serious catch. The Union governm

King dollar trend is down, but not out

|By Matein Khalid| The plunge in crude oil after OPEC’s Vienna conclave, Dr. Draghi’s failure to resist Bundesbank pressure not to fire another ECB easy money bazooka, Wall Street’s junk bond debacle and an imminent rise in the Fed Funds rate for the first time since 2006 will all shape the next big trades in Planet Forex. The Euro has risen to 1.10 on Draghi’s failure to […]

Tabreed ties up AED190m finance for Dubai Parks project

|By Arabian Post Staff| National Central Cooling Company (Tabreed) announced the signing of a AED 192.5 million long term limited recourse project finance facility with Emirates NBD for the district cooling plant it is developing for Dubai Parks and Resorts. Tabreed’s district cooling plant for Dubai Parks and Resorts is now nearing completion and will be commissioned in time for the park’s opening. Jasim Husain Thabet, Tabreed’s […]

Saudi billions entice Asian customers

At the heart of Korea’s Onsan Refinery lies a street called “A.I. Naimi Road,” an homage to Saudi Arabia’s oil minister. The reason: state-owned Saudi Arabian Oil Co. holds a 65 percent stake in the complex. Taking a controlling interest last year in South Korea’s third-largest refinery highlights the shifting dynamics of the oil business. With crude prices down by more than half in the past two […]

IFC finds Arab indebtedness serious challenge to microfinance

|By Arabian Post Staff| A new study from IFC, a member of the World Bank Group, has found that external risks, security concerns, and over-indebtedness are perceived as the most serious challenges facing the microfinance sector in the Arab World. The survey, conducted in conjunction with Sanabel, the Microfinance Network of Arab Countries, said tackling those problems will be key to spurring the development of the industry. […]

Islamic Crowdfunding: Way to go

|By Umar Munshi| Islamic Crowdfunding has the potential to help us change our world for the better. When an online community unites and pools resources, this community has the financial and social clout and capability to create and re-create multiple aspects of the world and directly impact society. Crowdfunding itself started and blossomed in the West initially amongst groups of like-minded individuals wanting to create something. In […]

Twitter Warns Some Users of Possible Government Hacking

Coldhak, a Canadian non-profit, is among the Twitter users recently warned by the microblogging service that their accounts might be targeted for hacking by “state-sponsored actors.” Coldhak on Friday posted a tweet with the text of the warning from Twitter. The e-mail warning said hackers “possibly associated with a government” might be trying to gain information about Twitter users’ e-mail addresses, IP addresses and/or phone numbers. This […]

New Android Smartphone Boasts 15-Day Battery Life

What’s the most frustrating part of owning a smartphone? A lot of users will point first to the meager battery life and the need to recharge more than once a day in some cases. A phone now available for pre-order, however, claims that one charge of its battery can last more than two weeks. China-based smartphone maker Oukitel has just announced a new Android-based smartphone called the […]

JAPANESE PM ABE AS A TOKEN HINDU

MODI DESTROYING MULTICULTURAL INDIA

By Amulya Ganguli

Narendra Modi may have his own reasons for flaunting his Hindu background, but to rope in visiting dignitaries subscribing to other religions to his own displays of faith is odd, to say the least. The sight, therefore, of the Japanese prime minister, Shinzo Abe, participating in the Hindu ritual of offering aarti or obeisance to Mother Ganga in Modi’s company was without precedent in the world of diplomacy.

It is not known what was said in the tour schedule about this form of worship which must have been cleared by the Japanese before the visit. It is possible that Shinzo Abe presumed that he will merely be a witness to a puja like any other tourist. But to stand on the bank of the river as mantras are chanted and various invocations made was something which rarely constitutes a part of an official itinerar

Twitter warns some users of possible state-sponsored cyber attack

/Reuters/Eric Thayer/Files/ SAN FRANCISCO Twitter Inc issued an alert to some users warning them that state-sponsored hackers may have tried to obtain sensitive data from their accounts, the company said, the first such warning by the micro blogging site.   The notice said there was no indication the hackers obtained sensitive information from what it said were a “small group of accounts” targeted.   It did not […]

Dubai enters a new phase of development

|By K Raveendran| With the new Public-Private Partnership law having come into being last month, Dubai is set to witness a new phase in its development, as private investments begin to flow into further development of the emirate’s infrastructure. This would mean the private sector directly getting involved in projects like airport expansion, extension of the Dubai Metro and similar infrastructure projects and sharing the risks in […]

Trump outbursts make US firms nervous

No topic has so dominated public discussion over the past week like Donald Trump’s call to indefinitely ban Muslims from entering the U.S. Editorial pages have raged, talk shows have engaged, even leaders of his Republican Party have forcefully rejected the proposal. One group of national leaders, however, has said little: corporate chiefs. A few, it is true, have spoken in broad terms, usually without mentioning Trump. […]

Google Testing Split Screen Feature for Android

It’s been only two months since Google rolled out Android 6.0 Marshmallow, but some Googlers are already hinting at some new features that might arrive with Android N, the next update to the operating system. One of those features might be support for a split-screen to enable easier multi-tasking on tablets. That’s according to a couple of comments made during an Ask Me Anything (AMA) session on […]

Facebook at Work for Enterprises To Launch Next Year

Currently being tested by several hundred companies, including the Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) and Club Med, Facebook at Work is expected to see a wider rollout next year. Available for desktop and mobile devices, the app will function much like the regular Facebook, except that posts, messages and other content will be visible only to users with company work accounts. “More than 300 companies are part […]

Twitter looks to make money from ads aimed at logged-out users

The Twitter logo is shown at its corporate headquarters in San Francisco, California April 28, 2015. Reuters/Robert Galbraith/Files Twitter Inc (TWTR.N) said it was testing a feature to show advertisements to people who read tweets without logging in, as it tries to make good on its long-time ambition to monetize non-active users. The company said the feature will help it cash in on an additional half a […]

BJP, CONGRESS STANDOFF UNDEMOCRATIC

POLITICS HOLDS PARLIAMENT TO RANSOM

By Kalyani Shankar

After a cordial meeting between the Congress President Sonia Gandhi and Prime Minister Narendra Modi last week, it was expected that the Winter Session of Parliament might run smoothly and the reform bills might go through. Modi began with a conciliatory note not only in his speeches in Parliament but also made a rare gesture of inviting the Congress President Sonia Gandhi and former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh for tea to break the ice. The Congress too climbed down and showed signs of supporting the Goods and Services Tax (GST) Bill, which the Modi government desperately wants to push through this session. A week later, the Congress leaders are now talking of a “touch and go” scenario even though the government has responded positively to the Congress demands.

So what has happened to change this scena

BJP MAY BE SURELY AFTER POLITICAL RIVALS

BUT, CONGRESS CHIEF MUST EXPLAIN LAND GRAB CHARGES

By Nantoo Banerjee

One would expect a late Indira Gandhi’s daughter in law to show greater respect to her mother in law by respecting the democratic system and to judicial summons instead of loudly protesting against them in Parliament to stop its normal function. The massive land grab charges against the president and the vice-president of the party pending before the court need to be fought there legally and not in Parliament. Indira Gandhi fought her election perjury case in the Allahabad high court, which she lost in the end, instead of trying to stall Parliament proceedings using her party representatives. The Delhi high court has found substance in the massive land grab allegation against the Congress president, her son and associates. They were directed to appear before the trial court. Like good citizens, they should have

DIFC court orders Bank Sarasin to pay $70m plus

|By Arabian Post Staff| The Courts of the Dubai International Financial Centre (DIFC) have, once again, ruled in favour of the Al Khorafi family to the tune of $70 million plus costs and interest. This comes after the Court of First Instance published its judgment in November 2015, where the first and second defendants, Bank Sarasin-Alpen (ME) and Bank J.Safra Sarasin Ltd respectively, were ordered to pay […]

NITISH IS YET TO GALVANISE ADMINISTRATION

LAW AND ORDER, HEALTH ARE FOCUS AREAS

By Arun Srivastava

Performance of government, its outreach and initiatives matters but what is most important is the peoples’ perception of the government. It was perception of the Nitish led mahagathbandhan, of being peoples’ friendly and concerned of their aspirations that people voted it to power. But ironically after assuming power the grand alliance government has not made a serious move to consolidate it and make it the USP of the government.

Importance of the perception could be understood from the rout of the BJP in the assembly election. People perceived that the Prime Minister was following the RSS brief. Though it is too early to say that the Nitish government has not succeeded in coming up to the peoples’ perception within a period of fortnight, notwithstanding the chief minister Nitish Kumar personally has

Peg debate back with a bang

|Arabian Post Special| The relentless plunge in oil price, which analysts are likening to the crash of 1990s, and its serious implications on spending plans are putting the focus back on the Gulf currencies’ dollar peg, including that of the UAE dirham. Despite consistent backing for the dollar peg from all possible channels, including the monetary authorities, the debate is back with a bang. And the market […]

FAST SHRINKING EXPORTS, LESS IMPACT ON IMPORTS

INDIA IS NOT MAKING ENOUGH FOR ITSELF

By Nantoo Banerjee

Notwithstanding the GDP growth projection of 7.5 per cent for the current fiscal, India’s $350-billion export manufacturing is fast shrinking. The export downtrend continued for 11 months in a row toll October. There is no immediate sign of improvement. Making in India does not seem to make much sense at least for Indian exporters at this moment. With export orders shrunk and prices falling in the global market, India’s export manufacturers are in a quandary. The loss of exports during this financial year could be close to $80-90billion. The export earnings could at best reach $270 billion. This could mean a massive loss of production and jobs in the export sector. The country would be lucky if it ends 2015-16 with a 20 per cent loss of export earnings compared to the last year.

Unfortunately, around 4

RUSSIA-FRANCE ALLIANCE AGAINST ISIS IS A POSITIVE MOVE

TURKEY’S LINKS WITH TERROR FUNDS EXPOSED

By Arun Srivastava

French President François Hollande entering into an alliance with the Russian President Vladimir Putin with the objective to build a global military coalition to defeat Islamic State following the Paris attacks has unnerved the USA.  This is yet another major setback for the USA. The two leaders agreeing to share intelligence information and cooperate on selecting targets in the fight against ISIS has turned the Obama administration scared of losing its authority and policy of hegemony.

The French president has won public approval and international backing for his handling of the crisis so far. His poll ratings are up by eight points to 33%. Foreign leaders have lined up to express solidarity. For the USA coming together of the leaders does not augur well. So far France has been close to the USA. Fr

Oil in danger of repeating 90s rout

OPEC has seemingly dropped any attempt at trying to fulfill its founding mission and manage the global oil market. For Saudi Arabia’s Ali al-Naimi, the most powerful and longest-serving of the group’s oil ministers, it may have seemed like history was repeating itself. There are several striking parallels between the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries’ current situation and the period from 1997 to 1999, when the group lost […]

FTC Gets New Tech Chief in 2016

Growing concern over privacy has prompted the Federal Trade Commission to turn to academia for its new chief technologist. The commission announced this week that it has appointed Carnegie Mellon University professor Lorrie Cranor to assume that post effective in January. She will replace Ashkan Soltani, who has served as chief technologist since November 2014. Soltani was a privacy practitioner who worked with The Washington Post to […]