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After wifi at the Taj, Modi revives campaign for "digital" India

NEW DELHI/MUMBAI Prime Minister Narendra Modi urged more companies to make electronic and digital goods on Wednesday, reviving his campaign promise to bridge India’s digital divide backed by over $70 billion in investment pledges. Launching a “Digital India Week” aimed at popularising the government’s push to connect 250,000 villages by 2019, Modi spoke of the need to boost local manufacturing of electronics – the country’s largest import […]

UAE residents rest easy but sleep poorly during Ramadan, report says

DUBAI // Ramadan is a less stressful time despite the late nights, poor sleep and grumpy mornings, a survey shows. The Sleep Cycle survey of 1,000 residents looked into the sleeping patterns of residents during the holy month. Only 34.7 per cent of respondents said they felt stressed, compared with 37.9 per cent who felt under pressure the week before Ramadan. › View the results: Hours slept […]

Gold recovers as Greece deal fails

Gold edged higher on Friday, recovering from its lowest in more than two weeks as Greece failed to reach an agreement with its international creditors, although gains were capped by expectations of a U.S. interest rate hike. Asian equities fell as Greece failed again to reach an agreement with its creditors and stumbled towards a default, while major currencies like the euro and dollar drifted as the […]

Qatar building boom a challenge for foreign firms

A construction site in Doha.Qatar has planned $200 billion in infrastructure spending. Qatar building boom a challenge for foreign firms DOHA, 10 hours, 44 minutes ago Qatar’s plans to splurge $200 billion on infrastructure as part of its 2030 development plan has lured foreign contractors to what promised to be big profits, but project delays and problems with contracts and bureaucracy have left many in difficulties and […]

English court rules in favour of Iran bank

|By TAP Staff| The English High Court has ruled in favour of Iran’s Bank Mellat in a dispute with HM Treasury and the decision clears the way for bank to pursue its claim of £2.3 billion in damages against the Treasury. According to a statement by Zaiwalla & Co. Solicitors, the law firm acting on behalf Bank Mellat, the Treasury plead as a preliminary issue whether, in […]

OPEC pumps 31.11 million barrels of crude oil per day in May, reveals Platts survey

INTERNATIONAL.  Oil production from the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) totaled 31.11 million barrels per day (b/d) in May, up 180,000 b/d from April and the group’s highest monthly volume since October 2012, according to the latest Platts survey of OPEC and oil industry officials and analysts. “OPEC’s communique after the June 5 meeting mentioned that members had been urged to adhere to its production […]

Egyptian Court Confirms Death Sentence for Ousted President Morsi

Video | Morsi Death Sentence Confirmed by Judge A judge in Egypt announced the confirmation of last month’s sentence of Mohamed Morsi, Egypt’s first democratically elected president and a member of the Muslim Brotherhood. By DAVID D. KIRKPATRICK June 16, 2015 CAIRO — An Egyptian judge slammed the rule of the deposed president Mohamed Morsi as “a black night that lasted a whole year” and confirmed a death sentence against […]

New China push to spur Bahrain trade

The Chinese delegates at the EDB office New China push to spur Bahrain trade MANAMA, 16 hours, 32 minutes ago A delegation from the China Arab Council for Investment Promotion (CACIP) has arrived on a three-day visit to Bahrain as part of its mandate to promote investment co-operation between China and the Arab states. Organised by the Economic Development Board (EDB), the visit is aimed at strengthening […]

2015 Volvo V60 T5 AWD Cross Country Review

Denis Flierl | Jun 15, 2015 | 0 comments 2015 Volvo V60 T5 AWD Cross Country Have you ever sat in a driver’s seat that was so comfortable it made you forget about the craziness outside? We have experienced a front seat that is so amazing, you will want to go to a Volvo dealer and sit in the driver’s seat just to see for yourself. The […]

Heavy metal with a big heart

“I don’t discriminate with music,” says Mannan Alawar with a laugh, “as long as it’s good.” Whether he is reinventing the UAE national anthem on electric guitar for a YouTube audience or leaping into a crowd mid-solo, Alawar is hardly the average Emirati banker. The 24-year-old is a musician at heart, dividing his time between his day job, several bands and finishing a business degree. When he […]

Israel’s Foreign Ministry Issues Report Defending Gaza War

By JODI RUDOREN June 14, 2015 JERUSALEM — In a pre-emptive strike against a forthcoming United Nations report on the war last year between Israel and Palestinian militants in the Gaza Strip, Israel’s Foreign Ministry on Sunday issued a lengthy paper arguing that its troops adhered to international law and blaming the militants for most of the s civilian casualties in Gaza. Israel has refused to cooperate with the […]

Iranian President Expects Sanctions to Lift Within Months of Deal

By THOMAS ERDBRINK June 13, 2015 TEHRAN — With a little more than two weeks before the deadline for a nuclear deal, Iran’s president, Hassan Rouhani, said Saturday that he expected relief from economic sanctions within a “couple of months” after an agreement with six world powers was signed. Speaking at a news conference to recognize the second anniversary of his election, Mr. Rouhani dismissed reports that Iranians would […]

U.S. Weighing More Military Bases in Iraq to Fight ISIS, Top General Says

Gen. Martin E. Dempsey, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, at a graduation and commissioning ceremony at the United States Military Academy at West Point, N.Y., last month. By HELENE COOPER June 11, 2015 NAPLES, Italy — The United States is considering establishing a new network of American military bases in Iraq to aid in the fight against the Islamic State, senior military and administration officials said […]

Apple WWDC Brings Updates to OS X, watchOS, iOS and More

Tech giant Apple’s annual Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) kicked off Monday at the Moscone West convention center in San Francisco with the headlining keynote address. Among the topics discussed during the address were new capabilities for OS X, updates coming to iOS, native apps for the Apple Watch, a streaming music service, and a new version of the watchOS operating system. At the event, Apple also introduced […]

Road Music #1: Twistin’ Through the Twisties

/carlustblog.com/ The summer season of long car trips and top-down joyrides is upon us–and we are again confronted with the critical question of what mood music to have playing in the stereo as we drive. Today, we’ll discuss appropriate soundtrack selections for a mad dash down one of the squiggly lines on the map. While music preferences are highly subjective, I propose the following theory for your […]

Apple’s Metaio Acquisition Could Be A Game Changer

Obama signs bill reforming surveillance program

U.S. President Barack Obama speaks during a town hall meeting with Young Southeast Asian Leaders Initiative Fellows (YSEALI) at the White House in Washington June 1, 2015. Reuters/Kevin Lamarque WASHINGTON President Barack Obama signed into law on Tuesday legislation passed by Congress earlier in the day reforming a government surveillance program that swept up millions of Americans’ telephone records. Reversing security policy in place since shortly after […]

Rollback of U.S. spy powers would mark post-9/11 watershed

The word ‘password’ is pictured on a computer screen in this picture illustration taken in Berlin May 21, 2013. Reuters/Pawel Kopczynski/Files WASHINGTON At 3:59 p.m. EDT on Sunday, the National Security Agency and telecommunications companies will begin mothballing a once-secret system that collected Americans’ bulk telephone records, shutting down computers and sealing off warehouses of digital data. If the U.S. Congress fails to act, key provisions of […]

Apple Acquires Augmented Reality Firm Metaio

Tech giant Apple has acquired Metaio, a company that creates tools for authoring, rendering and managing augmented-reality applications, for an undisclosed sum, according to legal documents filed in Germany. A notarized registration form filed in a Munich court indicates that 29,121 Euros (around $32,000) in shares held by Metaio were transferred to Apple last week. Based in Munich, Metaio was founded in 2003. The company grew out […]

Yemeni-Americans, Thrust Into Limbo, Say U.S. Embassy Unfairly Revokes Passports

Mosed Shaye Omar, 64, a naturalized American citizen since 1978, sued the State Department and Secretary John Kerry, claiming he was coerced into acknowledging that he had a name different from what was on his passport. By LIZ ROBBINS May 27, 2015 For nearly five hours on Jan. 21, 2013, in a windowless room at the United States Embassy in Sana, Yemen, an American citizen and Brooklyn grocery store […]

ISIS Fighters Seize Control of Syrian City of Palmyra, and Ancient Ruins

Slide Show | The Ancient Syrian City of Palmyra Islamic State militants have destroyed historical sites and sold off artifacts in other cities, and some fear they may do the same in Palmyra. By ANNE BARNARD and HWAIDA SAAD May 20, 2015 BEIRUT, Lebanon — Islamic State militants swept into the historic desert city of Palmyra in central Syria on Wednesday, and by evening were in control of it, residents and […]

Higher oil buoys Gulf markets

Most major Gulf stock markets, led by Dubai, rose on Sunday after the Brent oil price hit a 4-1/2-month high, while the bourse of energy importer Egypt closed in the red. Brent crude climbed to $65.80 a barrel on Friday because of continued fighting in Yemen and, although U.S. crude fell on concerns about another upcoming stock build, both benchmarks posted weekly gains. The main Saudi equities […]

OPEC days may be numbered

As OPEC ‘s refusal to curb oil production contributes to a nine-month plunge in prices, a new paper suggests the group’s days may be numbered. OPEC, the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries, has vowed to defend its market share against higher-cost producers such as U.S. shale drillers and companies developing Canada’s oil sands.  Its strategy hinges on the odds that an extended period of low prices will lead other producers to […]

Samsung unveils sleek new Galaxy phones to battle Apple

By Se Young Lee and Harro Ten Wolde SEOUL/BARCELONA Mon Mar 2, 2015 9:39am IST 1 of 5. A hostess displays the Galaxy S6 edge smartphone at the Samsung Galaxy Unpacked event before the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona March 1, 2015. Credit: Reuters/Albert Gea SEOUL/BARCELONA (Reuters) – South Korea’s Samsung Electronics Co Ltd unveiled its latest Galaxy S smartphones, featuring a slim body made from aircraft-grade […]