Dubai is positioning itself as a citywide stage for blockchain and Web3 activity as MENA Blockchain Week opens a decentralised programme designed to connect founders, investors, institutions, regulators and technology communities across multiple venues. MENA Blockchain Week, known as MENABCW, has been launched as a seven-day initiative running from 18 to 24 May 2026, with Dubai serving not as a single conference location but as the broader […]
UAE President Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan welcomed Modi on arrival, underscoring the personal diplomacy that has become a defining feature of ties between the two leaders. The visit opened the first leg of Modi’s five-nation tour, which is scheduled to include the Netherlands, Sweden, Norway and Italy between May 15 and 20.
The Abu Dhabi stop carries immediate strategic weight for New Delhi as energy markets remain exposed to geopolitical pressure and supply uncertainty. Discussions between the two sides were centred on long-term energy arrangements, petroleum reserves, liquefied petroleum gas supply and a wider defence framework, reflecting the broadening scope of a relationship once driven largely by trade, remittances and crude oil.
Agreements signed during the visit covered defence cooperation, petroleum reserve collaboration and LPG supply. The defence pact points to a gradual shift in the partnership towards security coordination, technology exchange and maritime stability, particularly as both countries seek to protect trade routes and energy flows across the Arabian Sea, the Gulf and the wider West Asia region.
Energy remains the strongest pillar of the relationship. The UAE is among India’s key suppliers of crude oil and gas, while Abu Dhabi’s state-linked energy companies have already taken part in India’s strategic petroleum reserve programme. New Delhi has been seeking to expand reserve capacity as part of a long-term effort to cushion the economy from global supply shocks, currency pressure and price spikes.
For Abu Dhabi, the visit fits a broader strategy of deepening ties with major Asian economies while positioning the UAE as an energy, finance, logistics and technology hub. The UAE’s investment push into ports, renewable energy, infrastructure, food corridors and financial services has increasingly aligned with India’s priorities in manufacturing, digital infrastructure and supply-chain diversification.
Bilateral trade has grown strongly since the Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement came into force in 2022. The pact reduced tariffs on a wide range of goods and helped accelerate commerce in gems and jewellery, petroleum products, food, metals, machinery and services. Both sides have set ambitious targets to lift non-oil trade, while businesses have expanded their use of rupee-dirham settlement mechanisms and cross-border payment links.
The partnership has also moved deeper into technology. Artificial intelligence, digital public infrastructure, data centres, financial technology and advanced computing have emerged as major areas of cooperation, especially after high-level exchanges earlier this year involving Sheikh Mohamed and Abu Dhabi Crown Prince Sheikh Khaled bin Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan. The proposed deployment of advanced computing infrastructure in India, with UAE-linked institutions and companies involved, has reinforced the technology dimension of the relationship.
People-to-people ties remain central to the diplomatic equation. The UAE hosts one of the largest overseas communities from India, with millions working across construction, services, health care, finance, aviation, education and technology. Their remittances and social links have long shaped the political warmth between the two countries, while improved consular services, labour welfare frameworks and easier travel arrangements remain important issues in bilateral engagement.
Modi’s Abu Dhabi visit also follows a sequence of symbolic gestures that have strengthened the public profile of the relationship. Sheikh Mohamed visited India in January this year, while senior members of Abu Dhabi and Dubai’s ruling families have taken part in major diplomatic and technology engagements. Modi’s 2024 visit to the UAE included the inauguration of the BAPS Hindu Mandir in Abu Dhabi, a project presented by both sides as a marker of tolerance and cultural connection.
Bitcoin traders are positioning for a possible push towards $90,000 after the CLARITY Act cleared a key Senate committee vote, giving digital asset markets their strongest regulatory signal from Washington this year. The largest cryptocurrency traded near $80,600 on Friday after briefly testing the $82,000 area, with market participants watching whether legislative momentum in the United States can extend a rally that has already lifted sentiment across […]
The proposal, pushed by the Reserve Bank of India and under examination by the finance ministry, would lower the tax burden on overseas investors earning returns from government and corporate debt. The measure is being considered as policymakers seek to align India’s bond taxation framework more closely with other emerging markets and strengthen the appeal of rupee assets at a time of volatile global capital flows.
Foreign investors currently face tax on coupon income of around 20 per cent, alongside capital gains obligations that vary depending on treaty arrangements and holding periods. A concessional 5 per cent tax rate on interest income had earlier helped attract participation, but that dispensation ended in 2023. Market participants have since argued that the higher tax cost has limited the impact of India’s inclusion in major global bond indices.
The government securities market is valued at about $1.3 trillion, but foreign ownership remains near 3 per cent, far below levels seen in several comparable emerging markets. The gap has persisted despite the phased inclusion of government bonds in widely tracked indices run by JPMorgan and FTSE Russell, and despite the country’s relatively high real yields compared with several Asian peers.
Bond investors have welcomed the direction of policy discussions, though the scale and timing of any tax change remain uncertain. A reduction could improve net returns for overseas funds, especially passive investors whose allocations are guided by benchmark weights. It could also encourage more active managers to increase positions in rupee debt, provided currency risks and settlement procedures remain manageable.
The rupee has been under pressure as foreign investors trimmed exposure to local equities and as global dollar strength affected emerging-market currencies. A deeper foreign bid for bonds could help stabilise capital flows, support reserves management and reduce the cost of government borrowing over time. The benchmark 10-year yield has already reacted to expectations of a friendlier tax regime, moving lower as traders priced in the possibility of stronger inflows.
The debate forms part of a broader effort to make the domestic debt market more accessible. The Reserve Bank has retained foreign portfolio investment limits for the 2026-27 financial year, keeping the cap at 6 per cent for central government securities, 2 per cent for state development loans and 15 per cent for corporate bonds. Available headroom under these limits remains underused, suggesting that tax treatment, liquidity conditions and operational procedures matter as much as formal access.
Policy planners are also focused on the corporate bond market, where deeper foreign participation could help fund infrastructure, green energy, housing finance and private-sector expansion. The country’s corporate debt market remains smaller than its banking system and equity market, leaving companies heavily dependent on bank lending. A more attractive tax framework could draw long-term investors such as pension funds, insurers and sovereign wealth funds, although credit depth and transparency would still need improvement.
Foreign investors have long cited India’s source-based taxation, documentation rules and compliance requirements as barriers to larger allocations. Tax treaties reduce the burden for investors from some jurisdictions, but the framework remains uneven. A clearer and lower withholding structure could reduce uncertainty and help India compete more effectively with Indonesia, Malaysia, Mexico and South Africa, where foreign bond investors often face lighter tax treatment.
The policy choice is not without trade-offs. Lower taxes would reduce immediate revenue from foreign bond income, and a larger foreign presence could make the debt market more sensitive to shifts in global interest rates and risk appetite. Sudden outflows during periods of stress could amplify pressure on the rupee and complicate monetary policy. Authorities are therefore likely to balance market deepening with safeguards designed to prevent destabilising flows.
The fiscal backdrop will also shape the decision. The Centre continues to manage a large borrowing programme while trying to lower the fiscal deficit gradually. A broader foreign investor base could help absorb government debt and keep yields contained, but officials are unlikely to move without assessing revenue costs, treaty implications and the impact on domestic financial institutions.
Arabian Post Staff -Dubai FUCHS Egypt Lubricants has appointed Dynamic Distribution Co. as its official distributor across Upper Egypt, marking a sharper push by the German-rooted lubricant group to deepen its access to workshops, fleet operators, agricultural users and industrial customers beyond the Cairo-centred supply chain. The partnership gives Dynamic Distribution responsibility for expanding the availability of FUCHS products in a region that includes major commercial corridors […]
The move established a new category for international live entertainment ticketing within China’s import e-commerce market, with Tmall Global positioning Veritickets as a specialist overseas brand addressing an underserved market.
Ahead of Tmall Global’s annual 618 shopping festival, Veritickets will offer tickets to all 104 FIFA World Cup matches, alongside global tour tickets for leading Chinese-language artists including Jay Chou, Stefanie Sun, and Mayday. The platform will also feature K-pop tours across Asia, enabling fans to secure seats for performances by groups such as EXO, BTS, and i-dle.
The move comes as outbound demand for live entertainment continues to rise among Chinese consumers, driven by a packed calendar of international sporting events, including the FIFA World Cup, UEFA Champions League and Premier League, as well as a broader recovery in concerts across the Asia-Pacific region.
Veritickets aims to address longstanding difficulties in cross-border ticket purchasing. Consumers buying overseas event tickets have typically faced challenges ranging from language barriers and complex payment processes to uncertainty over ticket authenticity and availability. The platform was designed to resolve these issues for international buyers.
The platform commits to issuing confirmed, in-stock tickets in as fast as 12 hours and provides multilingual interfaces and multi-currency payment options. It also offers a “100% verified tickets” guarantee backed by a consumer-protection policy that provides a full refund, plus additional compensation of up to the ticket price, if tickets are not delivered.
Tickets are available through the Veritickets website or mobile app. The platform accepts major international credit cards, including Visa, Mastercard and JCB, and is also an officially certified partner of Alipay, China’s leading digital payments and services platform.
To enhance transparency and reduce search friction, Veritickets aggregates official and vetted ticket inventory into a single interface, allowing users to compare offerings with real-time availability and pricing. An all-in pricing model is used to limit hidden charges and last-minute price adjustments.
Event recommendations are tailored using a preference-based engine, while dedicated customer support and real-time transaction verification form part of the platform’s service and supervision standards.
Initially focused on Hong Kong, Macau and Southeast Asia, Veritickets plans to strengthen its footprint across the Asia-Pacific region, with phased expansion into additional international markets.
The platform is currently recruiting internationally qualified ticketing agents, requiring valid operating licenses, strong credit records and proven professional service capabilities. All agents must comply with stringent requirements, including real‑time ticket updates, instant transaction validation and round-the-clock customer support, ensuring a consistent and reliable experience for buyers worldwide.
Hashtag: #Veritickets
The issuer is solely responsible for the content of this announcement.
South Africa’s rand firmed in early Wednesday trade as investors turned their attention to Beijing, where talks between U. S. President Donald Trump and China’s President Xi Jinping were expected to influence appetite for emerging-market assets, commodities and risk-sensitive currencies. By 0749 GMT, the rand was trading at 16.4517 against the dollar, about 0.4% stronger than its previous close. The move followed a weaker session on Tuesday, […]
Jeep’s Rubicon badge has crossed one million global sales, strengthening the off-road marque’s standing in the Middle East as demand for high-capability SUVs continues to be shaped by desert driving, enthusiast communities and the enduring appeal of the Wrangler and Gladiator nameplates. The milestone covers Rubicon versions of the Jeep Wrangler and Jeep Gladiator, two models positioned at the most capable end of the brand’s factory-built 4×4 […]
Discord Nitro subscribers will receive a starter edition of Xbox Game Pass at no additional charge under a new partnership with Microsoft, adding a substantial gaming benefit to the paid chat and community service as both companies compete for deeper engagement among players. The offer gives eligible Nitro members access to more than 50 PC and console games, along with 10 hours of Xbox Cloud Gaming each […]
Oil loadings at Iran’s main crude export terminal appear to have stopped for several days, raising fresh concerns over Gulf supply as war pressure, shipping restrictions and environmental fears converge around Kharg Island. Commercial satellite imagery showed no ocean-going oil tankers at the island’s loading jetties on May 8, 9 or 11, marking the clearest sign so far of an extended interruption at the facility that handles […]
Nigeria’s equities market has moved into a stronger expansion cycle as abundant domestic liquidity, expectations of looser monetary conditions and a widening valuation rerating continue to draw investors into listed banks, industrial counters, consumer goods companies and exchange-traded funds. Analysts at PAC Research have linked the rally on the Nigerian Exchange to four main forces: expanding local liquidity, expectations that monetary policy will normalise further, renewed […]
Alphabet is preparing its first yen-denominated bond sale as the Google parent broadens its financing base to support a sharp increase in artificial intelligence spending, underscoring how the world’s largest technology groups are moving beyond domestic debt markets to fund the infrastructure race. A term sheet shows the planned multi-tranche offering may include notes with maturities of three, five, seven, 10, 15, 20, 30 and 40 years, […]
Dubai in 2008 was a different place to do business. The city was mid-boom, construction cranes were everywhere, and the interior design industry was running to keep pace with a market that wanted everything built fast. Standards existed, but they were applied loosely. Clients were moving quickly. So was everyone else. Then the correction came. The market contracted hard, and a lot of firms that had been […]
Android users across parts of Europe face a sharper mobile-fraud threat after a redesigned TrickMo variant began targeting banking, fintech, cryptocurrency wallet and authenticator applications with stronger stealth, persistence and network-control features. The malware, tracked as TrickMo C, does not appear to be a wholly new family. It is an overhaul of a known Android banking trojan that has been under active development for years, with its […]
Arabian Post Staff -Dubai Dubai has cleared a regulated path for residents to pay government service fees using virtual assets, after Crypto. com’s UAE entity secured a Stored Value Facilities licence from the Central Bank of the UAE. The approval allows Foris DAX Middle East FZE, Crypto. com’s local entity, to activate its partnership with Dubai Finance and process payments for Dubai government fees through a framework […]
Attackers used a fake Hugging Face repository posing as an OpenAI privacy tool to spread credential-stealing malware to Windows users, exposing a widening security gap in the fast-growing market for open AI models. The repository, named Open-OSS/privacy-filter, climbed to the top of Hugging Face’s trending list and recorded about 244,000 downloads before access was disabled. Its model card closely mirrored OpenAI’s legitimate Privacy Filter project, a tool […]
Cybersecurity teams are tracking a stealthy espionage-style malware operation that uses GitHub Releases to hide a Python-based infostealer behind humanitarian-themed phishing material aimed at Russian-speaking targets. The campaign, tracked as Operation HumanitarianBait, begins with phishing emails carrying a RAR archive that contains a malicious Windows shortcut file. The lure presents itself as a Russian-language humanitarian aid request or application form, exploiting a sensitive social context while keeping […]
Binance Bahrain has renewed its ISO/IEC 27001 and ISO/IEC 27701 certifications, strengthening its information security and privacy credentials as regulated crypto platforms face rising scrutiny over user protection, operational resilience and compliance standards across the Gulf. The Manama-based crypto asset platform said the renewed certifications cover its information security management and privacy information management systems. The development places data governance at the centre of its Bahrain operations, […]
Cybercriminals are exploiting interest in OpenClaw with a counterfeit installer that delivers a Rust-based information stealer designed to harvest cryptocurrency wallet data, browser secrets and password-manager credentials. The campaign centres on a fake OpenClaw download site and a typosquatted GitHub organisation that impersonates the legitimate open-source AI assistant project. Victims are lured into downloading what appears to be a Windows installer, but the archive instead contains a […]
German and Spanish police have shut down a revived version of Crimenetwork, the German-speaking dark web marketplace that had re-emerged within days of its 2024 takedown, arresting a 35-year-old German citizen at his home in Mallorca under a European arrest warrant. The suspect, from the Recklinghausen district in North Rhine-Westphalia, is accused of building and administering a new technical infrastructure for Crimenetwork after the original platform was […]
Gold prices fell on Monday as President Donald Trump’s rejection of Iran’s latest peace proposal deepened concern that a prolonged squeeze on the Strait of Hormuz will keep energy costs elevated and complicate the fight against inflation. Spot gold dropped 0.8 per cent to $4,678.39 an ounce, while US gold futures for June delivery declined 0.9 per cent to $4,686.20. The fall came despite renewed geopolitical strain, […]
Mac users searching for Claude installation help are being targeted by a malvertising campaign that turns Google-sponsored results and legitimate Claude shared-chat pages into a malware delivery route. The campaign, disclosed on 10 May by security researcher Berk Albayrak, uses search ads that appear to point to Anthropic’s real claude. ai domain. Users looking for terms such as “Claude mac download” are led to a shared Claude […]
More than 70 days of near-total internet disruption have left millions of Iranians cut off from work, customers, banking tools and relatives abroad, turning a state security measure into a nationwide economic emergency. The shutdown, imposed after a fresh phase of unrest and intensified following military escalation in late February, has become one of the longest and most sweeping digital blackouts recorded in a major economy. Connectivity […]
ForexCoupons. com has launched from London as a specialist coupon and discount-code platform aimed at forex, cryptocurrency, proprietary trading and wider retail trading users, entering a crowded online market where traders face rising costs, uneven transparency and tougher regulatory scrutiny. The website presents itself as a dedicated savings portal for traders seeking verified promotional codes on broker services, crypto exchanges, prop-firm evaluations, funded-account programmes, trading tools, signal […]
