India wants to buy more rough diamonds directly from mining companies as the world’s biggest polisher of the gems seeks to bypass traditional dealers. Prime Minister Narendra Modi called on more major suppliers such as Russia’s OAO Alrosa to sell directly to India, which polishes 80 percent of the world’s diamonds, avoiding trading centers such as Antwerp and Dubai. Speaking alongside President Vladimir Putin in New Delhi […]
Dubai family-owned conglomerate Al Habtoor Group has cast doubt over plans for an imminent initial share sale but expects revenues to more than double over the next five years helped by strong local economic growth, its chairman said on Tuesday. Speculation around a flotation of the group, which has interests in hospitality, retail and construction, has revived in recent months as the market for offerings in Dubai […]
The latest entrant into Islamic finance is leading the industry in the new direction of socially responsible investment – which could even include the fight against Ebola. Last week an immunisation programme secured a $500 million issuance of Islamic bonds, or sukuk, in the largest debut issue ever by a global non-profit organisation, under a broader trend to use bond markets to fund development and humanitarian projects. […]
If you’ve been waiting to get your hands on Microsoft’s new polling data application, this is your lucky day. The company announced this week that it is opening up Bing Pulse 2.0, its experimental polling analytics technology, to anyone who wants to use it — free of charge — for part of its beta test. “Bing Pulse 2.0 beta brings an easy-to-use, self-service version of this voting […]
If some information leaked online this week is any indication, Samsung’s next Galaxy phone will feature a yet-bigger and improved display. A screenshot of the new phone was published on the Chinese Web site CNMO, which said it got the information from the database of benchmarking site AnTuTu. The specs supposedly show details of the yet-to-be-released Samsung Galaxy S6. The most prominent features of the new Galaxy, […]
Oil market analysts are debating if oil will fall to $50. In North Dakota, prices are already there. Crude sold at the wellhead in the Bakken shale region in North Dakota fell to $49.69 a barrel on Nov. 28, according to the marketing arm of Plains All America (PAA) Pipeline LP. That’s down 47 percent from this year’s peak in June, and 29 percent less than the […]
Saudi Arabia will probably deepen discounts for crude supplies to Asia after leading OPEC to maintain the group’s output target amid a global battle for market share, according to a Bloomberg survey of traders. The world’s biggest oil exporter will announce January official selling prices to buyers in Asia this week, after lifting its Arab Light grade from the lowest level in almost six years a month […]
Deloitte LLP may be blocked from auditing companies in Saudi Arabia after the country’s market regulator told firms registered in the kingdom to stop using its local services, according to a circular obtained by Bloomberg. The Capital Market Authority said in the circular dated Nov. 27 that publicly traded companies it regulates should avoid working with Deloitte’s Saudi Arabian practice as of June 1. The ban could […]
Herman von Rumpuy Photo: REX Tomorrow, Herman Van Rompuy (which, lest we forget, rhymes with ‘Pumpy’) steps down as President of the European Council. He may look like Sven-Göran Eriksson’s less exciting older brother, but for five years this unelected eminence very grise has dominated European politics. So what do you know about this human riddle wrapped in a mystery inside a bland, Belgian enigma? 1 The man […]
OPEC’s decision to cede no ground to rival producers underscored the price war in the crude market and the challenge to U.S. shale drillers. The 12-nation Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries kept its output target unchanged even after the steepest slump in oil prices since the global recession, prompting speculation it has abandoned its role as a swing producer. Yesterday’s decision in Vienna propelled futures to the […]
I recently reached out to my Twitter followers, asking “What can I, as a VOA reporter in Washington, write about that you need/want to know?” The responses were varied and interesting, but one topic dominated: U.S. policy in Syria. Why hasn’t the U.S. done more to help the Syrian people? “There is lot of frustration with the Obama’s administration’s ambiguous, vague and often incoherent strategy regarding dealing […]
Five weeks after launching its OS X Yosemite operating system, Apple has released an updated version: OS X Yosemite 10.10.2 (14C68k). This second beta version comes swiftly on the heels of the first, which was made available Monday but didn’t seem to address some of the issues with Wi-Fi that were plaguing users and developers. Since OS X Yosemite made its debut on Oct. 16, community members […]
Building on its previous work in electronic collaboration forms that include audio and video conferencing, Cisco Systems is now offering ways to manage workers’ day-to-day interactions and tasks. The networking giant this week announced the availability of Project Squared, a service aimed at offering an online gathering place for getting work done. Project Squared is delivered via an app or the Web. It is the latest response […]
To better its customer service, Comcast is pulling out at least some of the stops. One of the initiatives the cable giant is undertaking has to do with the frustration customers experience while waiting around for technicians who may or may not show up exactly during the two-hour window the company offers. And who wants to wait around for two hours, anyway? Comcast CEO Brian Roberts demonstrated […]
By Nantoo Banerjee War is not all about attack. History has shown that tactical retreat as a war strategy had succeeded in winning more wars by entrapping advancing enemy than the show of blind belligerence by a brigade. Unfortunately, the use of tact is not a very strong point of this last Lok Sabha poll defeated Sonia-Rahul led Congress party. Its leaders are speaking in babel of […]
By P. Sreekumaran THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: An unfortunate upshot of the ongoing bar bribery scam battering the ruling United Democratic Front Government has been the war of words which raged for a while between the CPI and the CPI(M). Instead of cashing in on the acute discomfiture felt by the UDF Government on account of the bar bribery controversy, the CPI and the CPI(M) expended precious energies […]
NEW DELHI: The National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government on Thursday approved an outlay of Rs 43,033 crore to fund an ambitious initiative to supply electricity through separate feeders for agricultural and rural domestic consumption, aimed at providing round-the-clock power to village households. In addition, the cabinet also approved spending Rs 32,612 crore on an integrated power development initiative, which involves strengthening sub-transmission and distribution systems, according […]
By Kalyani Shankar Why is Prime Minister Narendra Modi wooing the Indian Diaspora? While Modi’s critics say that he is building up the brand Modi abroad, Modi is clear that with their support he could build a better image for himself. There are about 100 million Indians living abroad and he obviously feels that their power should be harnessed for the growth of India and for his […]
By Nora Chopra The erstwhile commerce minister in the UPA government Anand Sharma is the man to watch. Sharma who is known to be a man without roots is tipped to become the leader of the opposition in Rajya Sabha if the present leader Ghulam Nabi Azad does not get re elected from any state by February next year. Congress leadership wanted to give Azad the Rajya […]
NEW DELHI: The government is working on big-ticket financial package for about 1,30,000-mw thermal and hydro power plants worth over Rs 6,00,000 crore that are hit by severe funds crunch while continuing to face cost and time overruns. Officials said the Department of Financial Services will shortly recommend a series of steps to the Reserve Bank of India. These include lenders providing additional debt to […]
NEW DELHI: The government will decide on Saturday whether to press ahead with the Rs 13,000 crore mega project for the private sector to supply 56 medium transport aircraft to the IAF despite only a single bidder, the Tata-Airbus consortium, being in the fray. Though the defence acquisitions council (DAC) chaired by Manohar Parrikar will take the final decision, MoD sources on Tuesday said the “emerging […]
New aircraft and fresh routes will help Dubai’s flagship carrier Emirates grow profit by no less than eight to ten percent in coming months, its president said on Wednesday. “We will continue to grow at a percentage which is never going to be less than about 8-10 percent, and that’s a conservative figure,” Tim Clark said on the sidelines of an aviation conference in Dubai. Clark warned […]
KOLKATA: State-run NTPC, the country’s biggest power generator and thermal coal consumer, plans to acquire at least 26 per cent stake in coal mines abroad to secure longterm fuel supplies for all its power plants, a senior executive said. This is a shift from the company’s earlier stance of seeking only minority stakes in such mines to ensure fuel for plants that operate only on imported […]
From L.S. Herdenia BHOPAL: Both the Bharatiya Janata Party and Congress are in serious trouble. The reason is mounting discontent over the distribution of tickets for the three-tier urban bodies which will go to polls during the current month and also during December this year. How much serious situation is in both the parties can be appreciated by the headlines in a local English newspaper. The […]
