Arabian Post Staff -Dubai President Donald Trump has said a peace agreement with Iran is close to completion, raising expectations of a diplomatic breakthrough that could reopen the Strait of Hormuz after months of conflict disrupted one of the world’s most important energy corridors. Trump wrote on Saturday that an agreement had been “largely negotiated” but remained subject to finalisation between the United States, Iran and other […]
British Columbia fusion developer General Fusion is weighing a Toronto Stock Exchange listing alongside its planned Nasdaq debut, a move that would give Canadian investors a direct public-market route into one of the most closely watched private energy technologies. Vancouver-headquartered General Fusion, backed over the years by investors linked to Jeff Bezos and Shopify founder Tobias Lütke, is preparing to go public through a business combination with […]
Bitcoin’s long-term security debate has sharpened after Glassnode mapped more than 6 million coins whose public keys have already been exposed on-chain, placing assets worth about $469 billion under theoretical risk from future quantum computers. Glassnode’s analysis estimates that 6.04 million Bitcoin, or 30.2 per cent of issued supply, sit in formats or usage patterns that could become vulnerable if quantum machines become powerful enough to derive […]
Petrol in New Delhi rose by 87 paise to ₹99.51 a litre, while diesel increased by 91 paise to ₹92.49 a litre. The latest increase takes the cumulative rise in both fuels to about ₹5 a litre this month, following the first retail fuel price increase since April 2022.
The pricing move reflects mounting pressure on oil marketing companies as international crude benchmarks remain elevated amid conflict in West Asia and supply concerns around key shipping routes. The controlled increases also point to a calibrated approach by the government, which is seeking to protect refiners’ balance sheets without delivering a sharp one-time shock to household budgets, freight operators and small businesses.
Indian Oil Corporation, Bharat Petroleum Corporation and Hindustan Petroleum Corporation dominate the retail fuel market, operating more than 90 per cent of the country’s roughly 103,000 fuel stations. Their pricing decisions carry wide implications for transport costs, food supply chains, inflation expectations and fiscal calculations.
The latest revision follows a ₹3-a-litre increase on May 15 and another smaller increase during the week, marking a clear shift from the long freeze that had shielded consumers from global volatility while pushing losses onto state-run refiners. That freeze had become harder to sustain as crude prices climbed and the rupee’s movement added to import costs.
The country imports more than four-fifths of its crude oil requirements, leaving domestic retail prices exposed to global oil markets and exchange-rate swings. Refiners have been selling petrol and diesel at discounted rates relative to landed costs, with diesel under-recoveries remaining larger because of its central role in freight, agriculture, public transport and industry.
Losses on diesel sales have been estimated at ₹25-30 a litre even after the first hike, while petrol losses have been placed at about ₹10-14 a litre. The fresh increase narrows that gap only modestly, suggesting further upward revisions could follow if crude prices stay high or the currency weakens.
Diesel is the more sensitive fuel for the broader economy. It powers trucks, buses, farm equipment, construction machinery and a large part of the country’s goods movement. Even modest increases can feed into freight rates, especially for smaller fleet operators with limited capacity to absorb higher running costs.
Petrol demand has also stayed firm, supported by urban commuting, two-wheeler use and private vehicle ownership. April consumption data showed petrol sales at about 3.7 million tonnes, up more than 6 per cent from a year earlier, while gasoil sales stood near 8.3 million tonnes, marginally higher than last year. The numbers indicate that demand has not weakened sharply despite higher living costs.
Bulk fuel demand has added another layer of pressure. Large users such as transport operators, mining companies and industrial consumers often respond quickly to price differences between retail outlets and direct industrial supply. A spike in retail buying can worsen supply imbalances and deepen losses for refiners if pump prices remain below market-linked levels.
The government has so far signalled little appetite for direct subsidies to compensate refiners for continuing under-recoveries. That stance increases the likelihood of gradual price adjustments, particularly if global crude remains above levels assumed in company projections. A sudden subsidy programme would also complicate fiscal planning at a time when public spending priorities remain stretched across infrastructure, welfare and defence.
State-level taxes mean consumers across major cities will see different pump prices even when the base increase is broadly similar. Mumbai, Kolkata, Chennai, Bengaluru and Hyderabad typically record higher retail rates than New Delhi because of local levies, dealer commissions and freight costs. That variation also affects inflation differently across regions.
Compressed natural gas prices have moved higher as well, with Delhi seeing another ₹1-per-kg increase, the third rise in ten days. The parallel increase in CNG adds pressure on taxis, autorickshaws and urban commuters who had shifted to gas-based transport as a cheaper alternative to petrol and diesel.
For oil marketing companies, the price increases may support margins but are unlikely to restore full profitability immediately. Investor attention is now focused on how quickly the companies can recover past losses, whether demand holds up, and whether policymakers allow market-linked pricing to continue if inflationary pressure grows.
The 2026 Sunday Roast Guest Chef Series runs across selected Sundays from February to October, with further dates expected for November and December. Priced at HK$898 per guest, plus a 10 per cent service charge, the programme gives each participating restaurant one Sunday to reinterpret the classic British roast through its own cuisine, while retaining the familiar three-course structure of starter, roast or seafood main, and dessert.
The format reflects a wider shift in Hong Kong’s premium dining scene, where luxury hotels are moving beyond standard brunch buffets and using chef-led collaborations to attract diners who want novelty, scarcity and recognised culinary talent. For Lobster Bar & Grill, long associated with seafood, grills, cocktails and live jazz, the series also positions brunch as a curated dining event rather than a routine weekend offering.
The 2026 line-up began with NOI on 8 February, bringing contemporary Italian cooking shaped by Chef Paulo Airaudo’s wider culinary approach and Hong Kong-based Chef Luigi Troiano’s execution. It continued on 15 March with 22 Ships, known for modern Spanish flavours under Chef Antonio Oviedo, and on 12 April with Yong Fu Hong Kong, whose Ningbo seafood cooking added a refined Chinese coastal identity to the Sunday roast template.
The next phase brings Neighborhood on 31 May, Leela on 28 June and Cristal Room by Anne-Sophie Pic on 19 July. Neighborhood, led by Chef David Lai, enters the series with strong recognition from both Michelin and Asia’s 50 Best Restaurants, where it ranked No. 24 in the 2026 list. Its reputation rests on market-led European bistro cooking, generous sharing dishes and a style that combines technical control with an understated dining room culture.
Leela, led by Chef Manav Tuli, adds a modern interpretation of regional cooking from India, using refined technique, spice layering and tandoor-led elements. Its participation broadens the series beyond European and Chinese traditions, giving the roast format a more expansive culinary identity at a time when Hong Kong diners are showing stronger interest in regional specificity and chef-driven storytelling.
Cristal Room by Anne-Sophie Pic brings the strongest fine-dining profile in the May-to-July phase. The Landmark restaurant, guided in Hong Kong by Chef Marc Mantovani, earned two Michelin stars in the 2026 Hong Kong and Macau guide. Its contribution is expected to bring a more composed French approach to the format, with emphasis on precision, balance and luxury ingredients.
Lobster Bar & Grill’s regular Sunday roast brunch already leans towards abundance, with appetisers such as lobster bisque, smoked salmon and steak tartare, followed by individually plated roast or seafood choices. Signature sides include duck-fat roasted potatoes and honey-glazed carrots, while desserts include banoffee pie, triple chocolate mud pie and seasonal creations. The guest-chef model keeps those anchors intact while allowing each collaborator to alter the flavour profile.
Executive Sous Chef Cary Docherty remains central to the concept. His role is not merely to host outside chefs, but to co-create menus that fit the kitchen’s seafood-and-grill identity while allowing each restaurant’s style to remain visible. That balance is crucial: too much hotel polish could dilute the individuality of the guest chefs, while too much experimentation could alienate diners expecting the comfort of Sunday roast.
The commercial logic is clear. Hong Kong’s dining market remains crowded, and premium hotel restaurants face intense competition from independent restaurants, private clubs and destination bars. A one-day-only brunch creates urgency, encourages repeat visits and lets diners access high-profile kitchens in a less formal setting than full tasting menus. For visiting chefs and independent restaurants, the collaboration offers exposure to a hotel audience with strong spending power.
Located on Level 6 of Pacific Place on Supreme Court Road in Central, Lobster Bar & Grill benefits from a business-district address and the broader Island Shangri-La dining ecosystem. Its Sunday and public holiday brunch service runs from 11.45am to 3.30pm, with last orders at 2.30pm, giving the collaboration format a defined weekend window rather than an open-ended promotional run.
Grayscale Investments has moved a step closer to launching a spot exchange-traded fund tied to Hyperliquid’s HYPE token after submitting a third amended S-1 registration statement to the US Securities and Exchange Commission, sharpening market expectations that regulated access to one of the fastest-growing decentralised trading ecosystems may be nearing approval. The proposed Grayscale HYPE ETF would trade on Nasdaq under the ticker GHYP if cleared by […]
Hyundai Motor Group has committed to placing more than 25,000 Atlas humanoid robots across Hyundai Motor and Kia factories, setting up a major test of industrial automation as its South Korea labour union warns that no deployment can proceed without a formal labour-management agreement. The plan, outlined to investors this week, marks one of the most ambitious humanoid robot rollouts yet proposed by a global carmaker. The […]
Seychelles and Bangladesh have moved to accelerate bilateral cooperation, with pending agreements and memoranda of understanding now expected to take clearer shape this year after talks in Victoria between Bangladesh High Commissioner Dr Zokey Ahad and Seychelles Foreign Affairs and Diaspora Minister Barry Faure. The meeting, held on 21 May at Maison Quéau de Quinssy, centred on formalising cooperation frameworks that have been under discussion since Dr […]
Dubai motorists will pay 5 per cent value-added tax on public parking and Salik toll services from June 1, 2026, in a shift that will raise daily transport costs while accelerating the emirate’s move towards digital payments. Parkin Company PJSC, Dubai’s main paid parking operator, will apply VAT across its services, including on-street parking, off-street parking, seasonal cards, permits and reservation services. Salik Company PJSC will apply […]
Binance has launched a SpaceX-linked pre-IPO perpetual futures contract, giving crypto traders synthetic exposure to one of the world’s most closely watched private companies before any public share sale is completed. The product began trading on May 21 under the SPCXUSDT ticker, marking Binance’s first move into a new class of pre-listing derivatives tied to private-market valuations. The contract is settled in USDT and tracks Space Exploration […]
Variational has raised about $50 million in a Series A round led by Dragonfly, giving the peer-to-peer derivatives startup fresh capital to expand perpetual futures tied to real-world assets including oil, gold, silver and copper. The funding marks a sharper push by decentralised finance firms into traditional market instruments at a time when traders are seeking broader access to commodities, indices, foreign exchange and equities through blockchain-based […]
Emirates NBD has extended a AED367.3 million loan facility to Luxembourg-based CPI Property Group, giving the European real estate investor funding cover for deferred payments on a portfolio of ultra-luxury residential units in Dubai through 2026 and 2027. The transaction, equivalent to about $100 million or €86 million, is secured against 19 high-end residences owned by CPI Property Group, including 15 units still under construction. The assets […]
Shiba Inu is drawing fresh attention from crypto traders after a market analyst said the meme token could enter a high-momentum breakout phase if it clears a long-running resistance structure that has capped its valuation since late 2024. The token was trading near $0.000006 on Friday, with a market value of roughly $3.4 billion and a circulating supply of more than 589 trillion SHIB. The latest technical […]
Washington is testing rival artificial intelligence models across a small group of Defence Department power users as it seeks a workable replacement for Anthropic’s Claude, deepening a high-stakes contest over military AI, supplier risk and control of advanced software inside classified US systems. The review involves 25 heavy users of AI tools inside the Pentagon, with officials comparing how competing models respond to identical tasks and how […]
Greenlogue/AP Corporate climate target-setting is entering a more flexible phase as the Science Based Targets initiative shifts its global approach from a largely standard-setting and validation role towards a broader model aimed at helping companies deliver emissions cuts in difficult operating conditions. The London-based organisation, widely regarded as the leading verifier of corporate climate goals, has set out a 2026-2030 strategy that gives greater weight to implementation […]
British Airways has pushed back the return of flights to Dubai, Doha and Tel Aviv to August 1, extending disruption on three strategically important Middle East routes as airlines continue to adjust schedules around security risks, airspace limits and uneven demand across the region. The one-month delay, shown on the carrier’s booking systems and reflected in its travel updates, affects passengers who had expected services to resume […]
Investors should be seeking advice on a possible US stock market correction as surging bond yields driven by the ongoing war in Iran pose a near-term risk to stock gains. Wall Street spent the past year treating artificial intelligence as a force powerful enough to overwhelm inflation, war, deficits and interest rates simultaneously. Markets rewarded that conviction spectacularly. Nvidia added more than $2tn in market value in […]
Arabian Post Staff -Dubai Senior ministers, diplomats and business leaders from the UAE and India used a Dubai forum on Monday evening to sharpen a shared push for bilateral trade to reach $200 billion by 2032, building on the momentum generated by the Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement. The high-level gathering, hosted by the UAE India Business Council’s UAE chapter under the theme “Strength in Resilience”, brought together […]
Arabian Post Staff -Dubai Fujairah has become the first completed passenger station on Etihad Rail’s national network, marking a significant step towards the phased start of UAE passenger train operations later this year. The station, located in Madinat Al Hilal, spans 51,900 square metres and places the east coast emirate at the centre of the opening stage linking Fujairah with Dubai and Abu Dhabi. Adhraa Al Mansoori, […]
Dubai has unveiled the Museum of Digital Art at DIFC Zabeel District, positioning the planned five-floor institution as the region’s first museum dedicated to digital art and new technologies. Launched by Sheikha Latifa bint Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Chairperson of Dubai Culture and Arts Authority, the project brings together Dubai Culture and Dubai International Financial Centre in a cultural partnership designed to expand the city’s role […]
Sony has raised PlayStation Plus prices for new customers in select markets, increasing the cost of one-month and three-month subscriptions from 20 May as pressure builds across the video games industry over tariffs, currency swings, platform costs and weaker consumer spending. The company said the change was being made because of “ongoing market conditions”, with one-month subscriptions now starting at $10.99 in the United States, €9.99 in […]
Washington announced a $1.776 billion compensation fund for people who claim they were unfairly investigated or prosecuted, opening a politically charged new phase in President Donald Trump’s campaign against what his administration calls government “weaponisation”. The Justice Department said the Anti-Weaponization Fund would be created as part of a deal resolving Trump’s $10 billion lawsuit against the Internal Revenue Service over the unauthorised leak of his tax […]
Ultra-light gaming laptops are moving from niche showpieces to a mainstream performance category as chipmakers, display suppliers and PC brands push more power into thinner machines without abandoning battery life or portability. The shift is being driven by a convergence of faster mobile graphics processors, AI-assisted rendering, high-efficiency CPUs, brighter OLED displays and more sophisticated cooling systems. Models weighing around 1.5kg to 2kg are now targeting users […]
Ukrainian state bodies are facing a sustained phishing campaign by the Russia-linked Gamaredon group, with attackers using weaponised WinRAR archives to deploy GammaDrop and GammaLoad malware in a multi-stage espionage operation aimed at government networks. The campaign, active since September 2025 and still evolving, has targeted Ukrainian state institutions through spoofed messages and compromised government email accounts. The emails are written in Ukrainian and designed to resemble […]
