Worldwide smartphone shipments grew by 4.3 percent, according to research firm IDC. The figure is a few ticks above above the firm’s previous first-quarter forecast of 3.6-percent growth. Samsung regained the title of “world’s largest smartphone vendor” from Apple during the first quarter thanks to shipments of 79.2 million smartphones, IDC said. Samsung’s position was bolstered by deep discounts on the Galaxy S7 and S7 edge, which […]
MANILA, Philippines – The Philippines has taken the limelight in Southeast Asia not only as the host of the ASEAN Summit this year, but also as a center of infrastructure development in the region given the government’s aggressive infrastructure push. The country’s lead infrastructure agencies said in a press briefing yesterday their respective infrastructure development programs have garnered strong interest from other members of the Association of […]
Oman positioned fourth among Dubai’s top 10 source markets for inbound tourism, with the second highest contribution to visitation among GCC countries 26 April 2017 Dubai, UAE – The Annual Visitor Report 2016 released by Dubai’s Department of Tourism and Commerce Marketing (Dubai Tourism) during this year’s Arabian Travel Market reveals the emirate welcomed over a million overnight visitors from Oman. This marks a 3 per cent […]
A second home to affluent frequent flyers, First Class airport lounges are designed to make you feel like a VIP, whilst amenities and services should help you relax before, or in between flights. Some airlines go the extra mile when it comes to their lounge offering, making the airport experience a truly special one, with little extravagant benefits for the discerned traveller. The following first class lounges […]
There’s rich material to be mined from the premise of The Circle, a new thriller set in the offices of a tech giant that’s like Google, Facebook, and Apple all rolled into one. Unfortunately, the film has neither the patience nor the insight to dig very deeply at all. Instead, it blows the whole concept to rubble and pats itself on the back for having the insight […]
By Lucia Mutikani | WASHINGTON WASHINGTON New orders for U.S.-made capital goods rose less than expected in March, but a second straight monthly increase in shipments suggested business investment accelerated in the first quarter amid a recovering energy sector. While other data on Thursday showed a bigger-than-expected increase in first-time applications for unemployment benefits last week, the trend in claims remained consistent with tightening labor market conditions. […]
A desire to volunteer led Abdul Karim Al Zarouni to the war-torn Syria where he saw both ISIL brutalities and the deep scar they have left in the minds of young Syrian children. It is every student’s dream to have a gap year and see what the world has to offer. But nobody wants a gap year, and see something as horrible as ISIL troops trying to […]
Qatar Airways grows route network This week Qatar Airways announced 12 new flight routes for 2018. The Doha-based airline will launch services to San Francisco next year, as well as Cardiff in Wales, Utapao in Thailand, Chittagong in Bangladesh, Mykonos in Greece, Málaga in Spain, Accra in Ghana, Lisbon in Portugal, Abidjan in Ivory Coast, Prague in the Czech Republic, Kiev in Ukraine and Mombasa in Kenya. […]
Growth in cable and internet customers and the box office strength of films, including the latest instalment in the Fifty Shades of Grey series, powered better than expected quarterly revenue and profit at Comcast. Net income at the largest US cable group, which owns the NBC TV networks and the Universal Pictures film studio, jumped 20 per cent to $2.6bn, or 53 cents a share, in the […]
A recent Saudi government and security shake-up aims to strengthen King Salman’s increasingly powerful son against a royal rival and to bolster ties with Washington, analysts and diplomats say. Royal decrees at the weekend saw a number of allies of Deputy Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman moved into key positions and another son of the king named as ambassador to Washington. The goal, a foreign diplomat told […]
Dubai, 26 April, 2017: Mawarid Exchange, a leading exchange company has signed Remittance Agreement with the Land Bank of the Philippines, one of the top government financial institutions in Philippines. The agreement has been signed by Mr. Mohamed Al Nuaimi, CEO, Mawarid Exchange and Mr. Alex V. Buenaventura, President, Land Bank of the Philippines. According to this agreement, Mawarid Exchange clients shall be able to use the […]
The malware code contains references to Felis and Mus — Latin for ‘cat’ and ‘mouse’. Image: Getty Images/iStockphoto A sophisticated form of Trojan malware allows its highly-skilled creators to secretly take over an infected system — and it comes with self-updating capabilities that enable it to strengthen itself, fix bugs, or change what it looks like in order evade detection. Once it has infected a system, the […]
The UAE’s telecoms regulator has said that roaming charges incurred by UAE customers who travel to other Gulf countries have fallen by 18 percent this month. The Telecommunication Regularity Authority (TRA) has announced the implementation of price caps for intra-GCC roaming services by UAE-based mobile operators. As a result, average international roaming prices for UAE customers fell by 18 percent since April 1, state news agency WAM […]
NEW YORK United Parcel Service Inc (UPS.N) reported a higher quarterly net profit on Thursday as revenue grew across its domestic, international and supply chain and freight segments. The Atlanta-based company posted first-quarter net income of $1.158 billion, or $1.32 per share, up 2.4 percent from $1.131 billion, or $1.27 per share, a year earlier. Analysts had, on average, expected earnings per share for the quarter of […]
Since at its core, yesterday’s 1-page “tax plan” was a Goldman creation, who better to explain what Trump offered than Goldman Sachs itself, which it did overnight in a far lengthier note from its chief Washington analyst Alec Phillips. Here is Goldman with an elaboration of the handful of bullet points contained on the much anticipated one page, extended to 6 pages. Q&A on the President’s Tax […]
A UAE court on Wednesday sentenced an Iranian to 10 years in prison followed by deportation for attempting to ship a generator to his home country in breach of international sanctions. The appeals court in Abu Dhabi found the unnamed man guilty of “attempting to export a power generator to Iran for its nuclear programme, in breach of international sanctions,” state news agency WAM reported. It did […]
MANILA, Philippines — The Republic of the Philippines and Brunei Darussalam issued a joint statement following the state visit of Prime Minister Hassanal Bolkiah to Manila. Bolkiah is also in the country to attend the 30th Association of Southeast Asian Nations Summit at the Philippine International Convention Center on Saturday. Read the full statement below. 1. At the invitation of the President of the Republic of the Philippines […]
Integrated lifestyle development establishes a new benchmark for experiential travel in the region Dubai, UAE – 27 April 2017 – Majid Al Futtaim, the leading shopping mall, communities, retail and leisure pioneer across the Middle East, Africa and Asia, together with Marriott International (NASDAQ: MAR) today announced plans to launch the region’s first cinema-themed concept at Aloft Dubai City Centre Deira. The concept will feature a unique […]
Betting big on Amazon and selling the shares of traditional retailers has been a blockbuster trade for some time. Now, a small but growing number of hedge funds are wagering that the next leg of the woes afflicting bricks and mortar retailers in the US will unfold dramatically for those shopping mall owners who have largely so far been considered immune. The level of bets against some […]
Screenshot via YouTube Waymo is moving forward with plans to bring self-driving cars to US roads by opening up rides to the public. Earlier this week, Waymo, formerly known as Google’s self-driving car project, said that a handful of Phoenix, Arizona residents have already tested out the technology as part of the early rider program. Now, other residents can apply to join the project as part of […]
By James Pomfret, Lawrence White and Sumeet Chatterjee | DONGGUAN, China/LONDON/HONG KONG DONGGUAN, China/LONDON/HONG KONG In the digital age, footfall in bricks-and-mortar outlets is an incomplete measure of business activity, but HSBC’s empty branches in the Pearl River Delta (PRD) suggest it’s not all plain sailing for the bank’s expansion in mainland China. HSBC, the world’s sixth-largest bank by assets, announced in 2015 that it would hire […]
Deutsche Bank must set its sights higher, its chief executive said on Thursday, after its core investment banking businesses were outpaced by US rivals in the first quarter of the year. In the three months to March, Germany’s biggest bank managed a net profit of €575m, more than double the €236m it posted in the same period a year earlier, and ahead of analysts’ expectations of €522m. […]
Saudi Arabia has imposed limits on the ownership of prepaid SIM cards for citizens and foreigners, restrictions that the regulator said aim to prevent the use of cards in carrying out militant attacks in the kingdom. Foreign residents, who make up more than a third of the population, are now limited to two prepaid SIM cards across all operators, according to two people familiar with the matter. […]
By Brian Ellsworth | CARACAS CARACAS Protesters blocked a highway in Venezuela’s capital Caracas for nearly eight hours this week in an effort to show the opposition’s dedication to civil disobedience as their main tool to resist President Nicolas Maduro. But by the end of the afternoon, hooded youths had filled the highway with burning debris, looted a government storage site, torched two trucks and stolen medical […]
