A U.S. border checkpoint located a day’s flight from New York in the Arabian desert promises to become an oasis for weary travelers heading for the States. U.S. Customs and Border Protection opened an Abu Dhabi base on Jan. 24, the first in the Middle East and the second outside the Americas after Ireland. Another post is planned in Dubai within a year as part of a […]
Google Inc., the company that leads Internet search, has gained a new superlative: top dealmaker. From buying a digital-thermostat developer to selling a mobile-phone business, Google has executed more deals than any company in the world over the past three years, according to data compiled by Bloomberg through January, up from 13th place in the three years prior. Advertising-firm WPP Plc was second, followed by chipmaker Intel […]
The Bayt.com ‘Millennials in the MENA’ survey, recently conducted by Bayt.com and YouGov Siraj, a research and consulting organization, has revealed that in the UAE, millennials (working professionals 35 years of age or below) are considered to be innovative and hardworking by older peers, and that the majority of them (71%) consider entrepreneurship more preferable than employment. Millennial Careers in the UAE: Current and Future Four in […]
Smarting from growing losses, Taiwanese phone maker HTC Corp says it will expand its range of cheaper products as it fixes off-target marketing for its premium smartphones. The company that has long prided itself as a purveyor of upscale, feature-loaded products says it needs to sell more mid-tier and affordable smartphones after losing out in 2013. Muscled off-track by fast-growing Chinese rivals like Xiaomi Inc as well […]
Emerging Asia will become the world’s primary weak spot in 2014, but we have reached the beginning of the end of this crisis, according to Saxo Bank’s investment outlook for the first quarter of 2014 Global overview Having maintained world growth at acceptable levels throughout the current crisis, emerging Asia will become the world’s primary weak spot in 2014. Investment in that region has reached a staggering […]
Oman, which faces Iran across the Strait of Hormuz, said it’s poised to start raising cash for a $3 billion rail line offering an alternative route for oil and freight shipments that funnel through the 21 mile-wide channel. The nation of 3.3 million people, located on the southern side of the strait, is considering issuing bonds by the end of 2014 to kick-start funding for the track […]
For global automakers, the dusty backroads of rural India could be the new El Dorado. As economic torpor suffocates demand for new cars in India’s megacities, incomes are growing faster in small towns and country areas. That’s pushing the likes of General Motors and Honda Motor Co to fan out in search of buyers in places where fewer than 20 people in every thousand own a car […]
Commodities moved lower during the course of the week as the diverging outlook between emerging and developed economies continued to raise uncertainty about the demand outlook for commodities. The weakness was primarily driven by losses in both metal sectors with industrial metals being hurt by weak China manufacturing data together with a slowdown in activity ahead of the Lunar New Year shutdown in several Asian markets. Precious […]
The Reserve Bank of India unexpectedly raised its policy interest rate on Tuesday by 25 basis points but said that if consumer price inflation eases as projected it does not foresee further near-term tightening. The policy decision was driven by an expectation that consumer price index (CPI) inflation will remain high, an indication that the RBI is looking to adopt a recent proposal to base its policy […]
The impact of Saudi Arabia’s crackdown on illegal foreign workers is spreading through its economy, moving beyond the labour-intensive construction industry to sectors as far afield as banking and telecommunications. Nearly 1 million foreign workers, out of a total of roughly 9 million, are estimated to have left Saudi Arabia between last March and November, as authorities enforce work permit rules and corporate quotas for employment of […]
Iranian President Hassan Rouhani will court global business in Davos next week after winning an easing of some economic sanctions, but any trade bonanza depends on the long-term success of nuclear diplomacy. A U.S. stranglehold on Iran’s access to the international financial system, the uncertain future of talks on its nuclear program beyond a six-month initial deal, and vested interests in the Islamic Republic suspicious of Western […]
India’s leading mobile phone operators as well as aspiring new entrant Reliance Industries have applied to bid in what will be the government’s third attempt at auctioning off some radio frequencies in the hope of raising billions of dollars in much-needed revenue for state coffers. Revenues from the new licensing are crucial as the government seeks to rein in its budget deficit but two previous attempts to […]
Abu Dhabi conglomerate Al Jaber Group has appointed a new chief financial officer (CFO) as it pushes to close a long-awaited $4.5 billion restructuring before the end of the first quarter, three sources with knowledge of the matter said on Tuesday. Al Jaber, a family-owned group with operations in aviation, construction and retail, has been in talks with bank creditors to renegotiate its obligations since 2011 and […]
By Parag Deulgaonkar An increasing number of developers in Dubai are issuing final termination notices to investors before their properties are foreclosed for non-payment of dues. Since the beginning of the year, developers such as Damac Properties, Time Properties, The Wave LLC, Triplanet International and ETA Star have issued notices, asking defaulters to rectify their status by paying the monies due. These notices are mandatory according to […]
As the tidal wave of global central bank liquidity recedes in 2014, emerging market investors are growing more anxious about local political risks – and how to spot them early on. Developing economies have had a rough ride since the U.S. Federal Reserve first mooted a wind-down of its money printing last year. The looming withdrawal of easy cash worldwide pushed the dollar and Treasury yields up […]
Negotiations between Iran and six world powers on implementing a landmark November deal to freeze parts of Tehran’s nuclear program in exchange for easing some sanctions have run into problems over advanced centrifuge research, diplomats said. The dispute over centrifuges highlighted the huge challenges facing Iran and the six powers in negotiating the precise terms of the November 24 interim agreement. If they succeed, they plan to […]
The genetic testing for breast cancer made famous by Oscar winning Hollywood actress Angelina Jolie would now be locally available for UAE residents, thanks to the first genome testing lab set to open in Abu Dhabi. Angelina Jolie had rocked the Internet and the medical community earlier this year with a disclosure through New York Times that that she had tested positive for a faulty BRCA1 gene […]
Moscow: An explosion on a trolleybus in the city of Volgograd left 10 people dead Monday, a day after a suicide bombing that killed at least 17 at the city’s main railway. The explosions put the city on edge and highlighted the terrorist threat that Russia is facing as it prepares to host the Winter Games in February. Volgograd is about 400 miles northeast of Sochi, where […]
The Index tower on Dubai’s answer to Wall Street has 23 floors of empty offices out of the 25 it opened in 2011. A few hundred feet away, buildings controlled by the Dubai International Financial Centre are almost full. The difference is ownership. The office space in the Index on Sheikh Zayed Road was sold in pieces to nine different investors under a system known as strata […]
While it may be the most common given name in the world, the global banking system seemingly can’t cope with Mohammed and its various different spellings. When it comes to false positives – where a person or transaction is incorrectly flagged for contravening sanctions – the total at Middle Eastern banks is around twice that of many international lenders because of the high use of names like […]
Surging vegetable prices led wholesale price inflation to a 14-month high in November, reinforcing expectations Reserve Bank of India (RBI) will have to raise interest rates again this week at a time the country’s economy is flagging. Policymakers have been grappling with high prices for food staples such as onions and potatoes even after the RBI raised interest rates by a quarter percentage point in each of […]
Abu Dhabi’s Etihad Airways is examining Alitalia’s books and is expected to decide by Christmas whether to take a stake in the troubled Italian airline, two sources familiar with the matter said on Wednesday. Alitalia offers access to Europe’s fourth-largest travel market and flies 25 million passengers a year. But the airline, which loses 700,000 euros a day and has net debt of more than 800 million […]
Etisalat could resurrect talks to sell its Sudanese telecom arm Canar to Kuwait’s Zain , as both sides remain keen on a deal despite a breakdown in negotiations earlier this year, a source close to the matter said. Zain Sudan is the African country’s No.1 mobile company. Buying Canar – the top fixed-line carrier – would be in line with Zain’s broader strategy, as outlined by chief […]
Saudi Arabia seems to have few viable options for pursuing a more independent and forthright foreign policy, despite its deep unease about the West’s tentative rapprochement with Iran. Upset with the United States, senior Saudis have hinted at a range of possibilities, from building strategic relations with other world powers to pushing a tougher line against Iranian allies in the Arab world and, if world powers fail […]
