A logo is pictured at Google’s European Engineering Center in Zurich April16, 2015. Reuters/Arnd Wiegmann/Files SAN FRANCISCO Google Inc launched a free version of its music streaming service on Tuesday, as it sought to upstage the debut of Apple Inc’s rival service next week. Google Play Music has offered a $9.99 per month subscription service for two years but Tuesday’s launch is the first free version of […]
Op-Ed Contributor By ALAN J. KUPERMAN June 23, 2015 PRESIDENT OBAMA’S main pitch for the pending nuclear deal with Iran is that it would extend the “breakout time” necessary for Iran to produce enough enriched uranium for a nuclear weapon. In a recent interview with NPR, he said that the current breakout time is “about two to three months by our intelligence estimates.” By contrast, he claimed, the pending deal […]
|By K Raveendran| The trigger for Dubai’s property crash of 2009 had come in the form of a Standard & Poor’s report that warned of a serious price correction in the wake of a highly unrealistic boom. Six years later, the rating agency has issued another ominous report on Dubai’s property market, although there are not even the faintest signs of a boom present now. The warning […]
UAE. While Standard & Poor’s expects somewhat of a correction in the UAE’s residential real estate market after three years of sharp price appreciation–it should be nothing on the order that led to the Dubai crisis in 2009. After reaching a peak in 2014, the property market in the United Arab Emirates is set to soften in 2015 and early 2016. The market is facing a turnaround […]
DUBAI // Education can arm children to break through the cycle of poverty and war in the developing world, Reem Al Hashemy, Minister of State, said on Monday night. “Children are the most innocent and vulnerable and like in any war zone they are first to suffer,” said Ms Al Hashemy, also chairwoman of Dubai Cares, which on Monday night held a Ramadan talk titled “Empowerment through […]
Open Source By ROBERT MACKEY Dozens of Egyptian women on Sunday defied a nationwide ban on unsanctioned street protests, rallying for an hour outside the presidential palace in Cairo to demand the release of political prisoners. The demonstration, staged where 23 opposition activists were arrested a year ago while marching against the protest ban, was called by organizers a “stand,” a form of peaceful assembly used during […]
Windows users, rejoice. Over the weekend, Microsoft announced that its latest operating system, Windows 10, will be free for anyone who wants it. Previously, the company said that it would make the new OS available as a free upgrade, but only to certain users who were currently running Windows 7 or 8. That arrangement would have excluded anyone still running Windows XP, Vista, or even Windows 7 […]
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel, right, and France’s foreign minister, Laurent Fabius, in Jerusalem on Sunday. By ISABEL KERSHNER June 21, 2015 JERUSALEM — Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel on Sunday rebuffed the French idea of restarting the Israeli-Palestinian peace process with international support and the backing of a United Nations Security Council resolution. Speaking at a joint news conference with France’s foreign minister, Laurent Fabius, who […]
WASHINGTONSurging investment by Chinese companies in U.S. research labs is yielding a fast-growing trove of patents, part of a push to mine America for ideas to help China shift from being the world’s factory floor to a driver of innovation. Largely absent from American research hubs a decade ago, Chinese firms including Huawei Technologies and ZTE Corp are now using U.S. researchers to create patents ranging from […]
Guards stand near an entrance to Alibaba’s headquarters in Hangzhou, Zhejiang province, China, May 18, 2015. Reuters/John Ruwitch/Files BEIJING China will increase support for cross-border e-commerce as the world’s second-largest economy shifts from manufacturing to higher-value services, the government said. China’s e-commerce industry has been booming in recent years, with companies like Alibaba Group Holding Ltd and JD.com Inc benefiting from a rising middle class with more […]
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS June 20, 2015 CAIRO — A prominent Al Jazeera journalist was detained Saturday in Germany over an Egyptian arrest warrant, the latest in a series of legal entanglements between Egypt and Al Jazeera. Al Jazeera, which is based in Qatar, reported the detention. The journalist, Ahmed Mansour, who works for the broadcaster’s Arabic service, was detained while trying to board a Qatar Airways flight at Berlin’s […]
KUWAIT. Fitch Ratings has affirmed Kuwait’s Long-term foreign and local currency Issuer Default Ratings (IDR) at ‘AA’ with a Stable Outlook. The Country Ceiling has been affirmed at ‘AA+’ and the Short-term foreign currency IDR at ‘F1+’. KEY RATING DRIVERS Kuwait’s ratings reflect its exceptionally strong fiscal and external position, balanced against a heavily oil-dependent economy, a degree of geopolitical risk, and weak scores on measures of […]
UAE. On 14 June 2015, the Abu Dhabi Global Market (ADGM) published the final version of its first raft of regulations, including the Employment Regulations (the Regulations). In this article, we examine the Regulations and contrast them to the employment provisions in operation in the Dubai International Financial Centre (DIFC) and the UAE Labour Law (the Labour Law). Background In 2004, the UAE amended its constitution to […]
ABU DHABI // The transition towards smart services within federal agencies and departments is on course to hit 80 per cent usage rates by 2018, according to a new report. A review by the Telecommunications Regulatory Authority found the UAE Insurance Authority, Securities and Commodities Authority, the General Civil Aviation Authority and Ministry of the Economy had already achieved a 100 per cent shift towards electronic services. […]
Humans will be extinct in 100 years because the planet will be uninhabitable, according to Australian microbiologist Frank Fenner, one of the leaders of the effort to eradicate smallpox in the 1970s. He blames overcrowding, denuded resources and climate change. Fenner’s prediction is not a sure bet, but he is correct that there is no way emissions reductions will be enough to save us from our trend […]
For an earnest young Christian named Ben Lowe, revelation came on the shores of Lake Tanganyika, in Africa. A relentless warming of the lake was reducing the catch of fish, the people were going hungry — and he had learned of scientific evidence that climate change was to blame. For the Rev. Brian Sauder, who grew up attending a small Anabaptist church in rural Illinois, the moment […]
WASHINGTON — Iran continued its “terrorist-related” activity last year and also continued to provide broad military support to President Bashar al-Assad of Syria, the State Department said Friday in its annual report on terrorism. The assessment suggests that neither the election of President Hassan Rouhani nor the prospect of a nuclear accord with the United States and its negotiating partners has had a moderating effect on Iran’s […]
|By TAP Staff| The shale industry boom, which was instrumental in oil producers like Gulf countries losing control of the market, is facing the risk of being sunk by the weight of debt. That should bring some reassurance to Gulf countries, who are now struggling to cope with the impact of lower oil prices. According to a Bloomberg report, drillers are devoting more revenue than ever to […]
AT&T Chairman and CEO Michael Armstrong (L) shakes hands withComcast Chairman Ralph Roberts (C) and his son, Comcast President Brian Roberts, before a press conference to announce the merger of AT&T Broadband with Comcast, in New York, in this file photo taken December 20,… Reuters/Peter Morgan/Files Comcast Corp (CMCSA.O) founder and prominent cable industry executive Ralph Roberts died on Thursday at the age of 95, the company […]
By MICHAEL R. GORDON and ERIC SCHMITT June 19, 2015 WASHINGTON — Iran continued its “terrorist-related” activity last year and also continued to provide broad military support to President Bashar al-Assad of Syria, the State Department said Friday in its annual report on terrorism. The State Department’s assessment suggests that neither the election of President Hassan Rouhani nor the prospect of a nuclear accord with the United States and its negotiating partners […]
Mohamed Alsawafiri, the presenter of “The News Program,” playing with a prop on the set last month. By DIAA HADID and MAJD AL WAHEIDI June 19, 2015 GAZA CITY — Men and women stood with suitcases at the port, waiting for a boat. Suspicious, Tarek, a 13-year-old tea seller, wandered over and asked, “Are they really leaving?” He had never seen anyone leave Gaza before, he explained. As it turned out, his […]
A man types on a computer keyboard in Warsaw in this February 28, 2013 illustration file picture. Reuters/Kacper Pempel/Files SAN FRANCISCO The Chinese hacking group suspected of stealing sensitive information about millions of current and former U.S. government employees has a different mission and organizational structure than the military hackers who have been accused of other U.S. data breaches, according to people familiar with the matter. While […]
UAE. Dubai and Abu Dhabi have been ranked as the 23rd and 33rd most expensive cities to live in (respectively) according to Mercer’s 2015 Cost of Living Survey. The two cities have experienced a significant jump compared to 2014, with Dubai soaring 44 places from last year’s position at 67 and Abu Dhabi going up 35 places 68th in 2014. Dubai and Abu Dhabi are the most […]
LEBANON. Economena Analytics, a specialized economic information provider, released its Lebanese Economic Outlook (LEO) for the second quarter of 2015. Key forecast findings show heightened levels of pessimism in recent months, with growth forecasts for 2015 falling to 1.5% in the Q2 survey from 2% at the start of the year. The findings are based on the views of 17 leading Lebanese economists. None of the surveyed […]
