Alleged VTech Hacker Arrested in the U.K. Police in the United Kingdom believe they have caught the culprit behind a massive cyberattack against leading electronic toy maker VTech that compromised the information of nearly 5 million adults and over 6 million children. The South East Regional Organized Crime Unit, or SEROCU, in Bracknell, a town about 30 miles west of London, arrested a 21-year-old man yesterday for […]
People ride a double bicycle past a logo of The Alibaba Group at the company’s headquarters on the outskirts of Hangzhou, Zhejiang province November 10, 2014. Reuters/Aly Song/Files SHANGHAI Alibaba Group Holding Ltd has agreed on a HK$2.06 billion ($265.8 million) deal to acquire the South China Morning Post and other media assets of SCMP Group Ltd, the newspaper group said in a statement on Monday. Alibaba […]
BUREAUCRATS HAVE TO CHANGE THEIR MINDSETS
By Subrata Majumder
Prime Minister Narendra Modi is committed to take India within top 50 in the World Bank‘s Ease of Doing Business in three years from the current rank of 130 out of 189 countries. Morgan Stanley Vice – Chairman Tom Nides reposed confidence in Modi’s leadership in fast-forwarding the economy. Arguing on Make in India, he said that Mr Modi was not for short term decision for instant gratification. Over the decades, Indian bureaucracy became the main tool to formulate the economic policies, no matter whether they were economists, scientists or statisticians or not.
Caught in the ambivalence of personal loyalty to ministers and Prevention of Corruption Act, passing the buck and shying away from decision making were the common practices of Indian bureaucrats. Clogged into huge paper works and multiple
Chinese electronic toymaker (pictured: VTech Tote ‘n Go Laptop) VTech, has been hacked, revealing the information of 5 million customers. The database of the company’s Learning Lodge app store, which allows customers to download apps, e-books and learning games, was breached on November 14 HKT (Hong Kong Time). The hack was discovered on November 24 and customers were notified on November 27. The customer database holds a […]
Singapore Air’s decision to restart direct flights to New York is an ominous sign for the future of aviation hubs like Dubai. Singapore, Hong Kong, Los Angeles and Dubai became hubs from the 1970s to the 2000s for a simple reason: Commercial aircraft of the era struggled to travel more than about 10,000 kilometers without stopping to refuel. That put swathes of the Americas off-limits to direct […]
|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 […]
UAE. Lifting of Iran sanctions in the future will significantly boost its economy and positively affect the neighbouring GCC economies, especially the UAE. According to speakers at a panel discussion organised by ICAEW’s Corporate Finance Faculty in the UAE, this is due to its solid trading infrastructure. ICAEW members and guests gathered at Jumeirah Emirates Towers in Dubai recently to discuss the impact of lifting Iran’s sanctions. […]
UAE. Switzerland, the United Kingdom, Sweden, the Netherlands and the United States of America are the world’s five most innovative nations, according to the Global Innovation Index 2015, while China, Malaysia, Viet Nam, India, Jordan, Kenya, and Uganda are among a group of countries outperforming their economic peers. The GII 2015 looks at “Effective Innovation Policies for Development” and shows new ways that emerging-economy policymakers can boost […]
|By Matein Khalid| The world’s emerging markets have been savaged by multiple economic, banking, currency and political shocks since 2011. Global emerging markets are far too diverse and nuanced to be analyzed as a single asset class but now trade at a 24% valuation discount to developed markets. The financial markets now price draconian scenarios for earnings, exports, sovereign credit, industrial production and economic growth. The shortage […]
INTERNATIONAL. Apple® and Hermès today introduced Apple Watch® Hermès, a new collection of Apple Watch in stainless steel with finely crafted leather bands in distinctive styles from Hermès, including the Single Tour, Double Tour and Cuff, while respecting the design and functionality of the Apple Watch. The collaboration merges Apple’s unparalleled product innovation with the heritage, iconography and craftsmanship of Hermès, creating a unique expression of Apple […]
UAE. A report published today by international real estate advisor Savills has ranked the United States of America (USA), the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Singapore respectively as the top three countries for residential investability on the basis of economic growth and market recovery. The new Savills World Residential Investability Ranking focuses on countries with cities and resort locations that have consistently attracted investor interest over recent […]
|By Matein Khalid| The Federal Reserve could well raise its overnight borrowing rate at the next FOMC monetary policy conclave on September 17. Though contagion from China’s 40% stock market meltdown has triggered bear markets from Hong Kong to Frankfurt and plunged Asian/emerging markets equities into ta ghastly replay of 1998’s epic meltdown (General Suharto’s overthrow, the Russian rouble default, Malaysia’s capital controls, the run on the […]
|By Matein Khalid| Hong Kong now trades at 9.6 times earnings and 0.86 book value. Hang Seng valuations were gutted by the protest movements in Central and the Shanghai financial meltdown. The Hang Seng index is down 25% since late May and now trades at six times forward earnings, its post Lehman, post 2014 bottom. Hong Kong trades at its lowest price/book value since the Asian flu […]
UAE. Today, Phidar Advisory released its Q3 mid-quarter Dubai residential research note. The report shows that residential prices in the third quarter of 2015 continue to decline, compared to the previous quarter. However, the most significant finding was in a statistical analysis of the relationship between currencies and Dubai real estate prices. “Analysis reveals a significant relationship between three key foreign currencies and Dubai real estate prices,” said […]
TORONTO The chief executive of infidelity website Ashley Madison’s parent company Avid Life Media has left, just over a week after hackers leaked data about millions of its clients in a massive cyber assault. Avid Life said on Friday the departure of Noel Biderman was by “mutual agreement” and its existing senior management team would take over until a new CEO is appointed. On Aug. 18, hackers […]
|By Matein Khalid| A month ago, I published a column predicting history’s first Made in China global recession. Wall Street finally agreed with me last week after we witnessed the most brutal crash in global equities since October 2008. I have predicated a 20% fall in US equities several times in the last three months and the 1000 point drop in the Dow last week only reinforces […]
Angry Birds products are displayed during a news conference in Hong Kong July 3, 2012. Reuters/Bobby Yip/Files HELSINKI Finland’s Rovio, maker of mobile phone game Angry Birds, forecast its earnings would fall for a third consecutive year and said it planned to slash up to 39 percent of its workforce to try to improve its prospects. Rovio has failed to create new hit games since the 2009 […]
Chinese airlines and European luxury car makers are emerging as the early losers after the People’s Bank of China let the yuan fall the most in two decades. China’s surprising move to cut its daily reference rate by 1.9 percent Tuesday rippled through global markets. Policy makers called the change a one-time adjustment and said its fixing will become more aligned with supply and demand. While it […]
|By Matein Khalid| Every global recession since the OPEC oil shocks of 1973-74 was triggered by a contraction in the $17 trillion US economic colossus. The failure of Lehman Brothers, the meltdown in US subprime mortgages, the impotence of the implicit “Fed/Uncle Sam” put, the ice age in the commercial paper and interbank money markets all tipped the US economy into recession in late 2008 and triggered […]
|By Matein Khalid|So Pearson PLC has sold the FT Group (with its flagship Financial Times newspaper) to Japan’s Nikkei Inc for $1.32 billion. Pearson will use the cash proceeds to increase its investment in education publishing businesses in the US and Canada, now 75% of revenues. This deal is a milestone in the history of newspaper publishing and my own life as an investor/financial journalist. I discovered […]
Gold stocks dropped, erasing most of yesterday’s gains, on concern Chinese buyers are losing their appetite for the metal. Gold Fields Ltd., which owns mines in South Africa and Australia, sank 6.7 percent as of 2:34 p.m. in Johannesburg. Sibanye Gold Ltd. and AngloGold Ashanti Ltd. tumbled more than 6 percent. The FTSE/JSE Africa Gold Mining Index fell 5.5 percent and is trading near the lowest since […]
Ashley Madison founder Noel Biderman demonstrates his website on a tablet computer during an interview in Hong Kong August 28, 2013. Reuters/Bobby Yip/Files TORONTO Hackers threatened to leak details including the credit card information, nude photos and sexual fantasies of as many as 37 million customers of a dating website that caters to cheating spouses, the KrebsOnSecurity blog reported. The dating website AshleyMadison.com’s Canadian parent, Avid Life […]
SINGAPORE, 3 days ago Chinese ultra wealthy individuals claimed nine of the 10 spots on a list of Asia’s richest millennials (definite as those born from 1981 to 1997), revealed Wealth-X, an authority on wealth intelligence, providing sales, marketing, strategy and compliance solutions to clients in the financial services, luxury, not-for-profit and education sectors. Three of the 10 spots on the list were occupied by female Asian […]
|By TAP Staff| The UAE is taking the world’s most popular landmarks and attractions in Vegas, Orlando, London, Paris, New York and Ibiza to the next level for 2020. “Dubai is now considered as an international city on the same stage as New York, London, Paris and Tokyo, and is leading the development of the UAE leisure market together with Abu Dhabi,” said Phil Taylor, Director of Team Leisure LLC, previously Chief Executive of […]
