UAE. The start of 2016 signalled another loss of growth momentum at UAE non-oil private sector firms, with business conditions improving at the weakest rate since March 2012. Underpinning the slowdown was a relatively subdued rise in new work, which was linked in turn to a near-stagnation in new export business. Growth rates for output and employment also eased, though stocks of pre-production items increased more quickly. […]
Sales of robots worldwide hit a record high in 2014 with numbers topping 229,000, a report said, highlighting that smart machines could be performing 45 per cent of manufacturing tasks in a decade. Last year also marked the third consecutive year of increase with 29 per cent year-on-year (YoY) growth, added the new research report titled “Thematic Investing: Robot Revolution: Global Robot & Al Primer” from Bank […]
Video Bashar al-Jaafari, the Syrian government’s chief negotiator, blamed the opposition for the postponement of the talks, calling them a failure. By NICK CUMMING-BRUCE and SOMINI SENGUPTA February 3, 2016 GENEVA — The United Nations on Wednesday temporarily suspended the fledgling talks aimed at ending the war in Syria and called on the countries fueling the conflict to do more to yield results, as Syrian government forces sharply escalated an offensive […]
A GoPro Hero 3+ camera is seen at the Nasdaq Market Site before before GoPro Inc’s IPO in New York City, June 26, 2014. Reuters/Mike Segar GoPro Inc (GPRO.O) forecast current-quarter revenue well below analysts’ estimates on weak demand for its wearable cameras and the company named Brian McGee as its new chief financial officer. GoPro said McGee, who joined the company from Qualcomm Inc (QCOM.O) in […]
Oil bulls distressed that last week’s rally fizzled can find some comfort in forecasts for a bigger and longer rebound by the end of the year. Analysts are projecting prices will climb more than $15 by the end of 2016. New York crude will reach $46 a barrel during the fourth quarter, while Brent in London will trade at $48 in the same period, the median of […]
ALL EYES ON BHUBANESWAR OF FUTURE
By Ashok B Sharma
The mantra of maintaining equidistance from the Congress and the BJP has played well for the Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik. He gets a certification of appreciation from the NDA government at the Centre for urban development. Another feather is on his cap as Bhubaneswar becomes the number one choice for development of Smart City under an ambitious flagship programme mooted by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in 2014.
The central government is slated to release appropriate funds for development of Bhubaneswar from the upcoming Budget which will be operationalized from April 1 – the day celebrated as Odisha Dibas in remembrance of the formation as a separate state in 1936.
Other major urban infrastructure developments on the anvil are the development of Paradeep as a port city and upgrada
|By Arabian Post Staff| The low oil prices are likely to dampen the impact of Iran deal for Dubai, although the emirate will be the main beneficiary in the region from the opening up of Iran’s domestic market, Bank of America-Merrill Lynch said in its latest report. “We still think that normalized external financing flows and macro reforms in Iran will be required to support sustainably higher […]
The global oversupply of crude will decline this year even after Iran adds an expected 500,000 barrels a day in oil output, United Arab Emirates Energy Minister Suhail Al Mazrouei said. Oil prices are fluctuating on speculation about the potential impact of more Iranian crude entering the market this year after the lifting of economic sanctions, Al Mazrouei said on his Twitter account. Iran has pledged to boost […]
CAN JAYA OUTSMART BOTH BJP-LED NDA AND DMK?
By S. Sethuraman
Political parties in Tamil Nadu, ahead of the May elections to the Assembly, want to usher in a “change” in the state’s governance, and BJP is trying hard to bring NDA rule through an alliance by reportedly offering bulk of the seats to contest for the influential state parties, DMDK and PMK, and thus break the hold of “corrupt” regimes of AIADMK and DMK over the last five decades.
Whether the BJP dream fructifies or not, it could cut into the assumed strength of both the ruling AIADMK, which still remains confident of a renewed mandate for ‘Amma’s’ welfare schemes, and of a resurgent DMK which, however, faces difficulty in forging a stronger alliance, with only a divided and demoralised Congress willing to go with it at present..
Pri
SMOULDERING CONGRESS EMBERS MAY LEAP TO FLAME ANY TIME
By P. Sreekumaran
THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Kerala Chief Minister Oommen Chandy has survived a scare. Thus reads the headline in a prominent English daily. But has he really weathered the political storm?
Significant straws in the wind proclaim, loud and clear, that he has not. True, he has managed to secure short-term legal relief. But the price, both in political and electoral terms, the Congress and the party-led United Democratic Front (UDF) Government may be called upon to pay will be prohibitively high. That is for sure.
As for the UDF politics, it is stinking to the high heavens. It cannot get any worse than this. The only question is: how long can a thoroughly discredited Government brazen it out?
The legal relief for Chandy and Power Minister Aryadan Mohammed has
Yahoo Makes Over Mobile App, Home Page in the U.S. Google long ago overshadowed Yahoo, but the company is still working to acquire and retain new users to its network of sites. To that end, Yahoo has just updated its mobile app and home page in the United States. Simply stated, Yahoo is giving prominence to news, content and video on its home page. Viewers will see […]
MADHYA PRADESH EXPLORES AVENUES
From L.S. Herdenia
BHOPAL: Psychiatrists can play a major and decisive role in checking suicides by farmers. This claim was made at the conference of Psychiatrists held in Bhopal. It was suggested that governments should seek the help of Psychiatrists and use a holistic multipronged approach to prevent farmers from taking such an extreme step.
The four-day conference of Indian Psychiatric society discussed various issues relating to mental problems of the people, the lack of doctors, social stigma attached to mental disease, absence of research and effect of internet over use and mobile in triggering mental problems. Shortcomings in the Mental Care Bill pending in the Rajya Sabha was yet another item which was discussed at the conference.
The World Psychiatric Association’s first-ever Indian-origin president
/By Nitten Nair/All of us have that one friend who manages to live a “privileged” life without working in some large MNC known to dish out huge paychecks. I, for one, have quite a few whom I regularly interact with. The gross pay of these friends or acquaintances might not be on par with the industry in general but they love working there and have very little […]
NATHU LA NEW OUTPOST OF COMMERCE
By Ashis Biswas
While investors and business circles grumble over the tardy pace of growth in Indo-China bilateral trade through the Nathu La Himalayan outpost, Beijing is apparently not too keen to launch any export promotion initiative just yet. In the context of India’s large trade deficit vis-à-vis China, the reverse trend at Nathu La, where China imports far more from India than it exports, strikes most observers as an oddity.
In statistical terms, the volume of trade has increased considerably. In 2006, when movement between the two countries was resumed linking Sherathang, Nathu La in Sikkim with Rinqinjing, once part of the Tibet autonomous area(TAR)which is currently Southwest China, there was a trade turnover of Rs 20 lakh only !And there was nil import from China that year.
However, by Jan 2015,
A Samsung Electronics laptop computer is displayed at a shop in Samsung’s main office building in central Seoul in this July 23, 2013 file phboto. Reuters/Lee Jae-Won/Files SEOUL Tech giant Samsung Electronics Co Ltd on Thursday warned of possible weaker earnings this year due to softer sales of gadgets such as smartphones, a trend that is also hurting rival Apple Inc and major chipmakers. The South Korean […]
An Apple logo is seen at the Apple store in Munich, Germany, January 27, 2016. Reuters/Michaela Rehle Apple Inc (AAPL.O) shares fell more than 6.5 percent on Wednesday, the biggest percentage drop in two years, after the company reported its slowest-ever rise in iPhone shipments and forecast that quarterly sales for the current period would post the first drop in 13 years. At least 16 analysts cut […]
ENERGY-HUNGRY BANGLADESH SAW DECADES-LONG WAIT
By Ashis Biswas
KOLKATA: Diplomacy may have won the day for Russia more than financial/technological reasons, in bagging the order to build two nuclear power generating stations in Bangladesh by 2022-23.
This would enable Bangladesh to become the third country in South Asia to generate nuke power, after India and Pakistan. However, Sri Lanka could join the list soon according to present indications.
A proposal to build nuclear power plants in East Pakistan had been put forward as early as 1961 and approved in 1963, according to open source information. Therefore, neither Awami League (AL) leader Sheikh Hasina, nor Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) leader Khaleda Zia, can be rightfully accused of harbouring illusions of grandeur in going nuclear. Bangladesh has pledged to observe non-proliferati
|By Arabian Post Staff| UAE real estate developers will have to look for alternative funding mechanisms such as joint ventures, refinancing, public private partnerships (PPPs) and co-investment vehicles as conventional project financing such as bank lending or IPOs will become more difficult in view of the tightening liquidity conditions, real estate investment and advisory firm JLL said in a report. A by-product of the slowing market conditions […]
The world’s biggest oil producer is spending as much now as it did before the crash in crude prices, signaling no surrender in Saudi Arabia’s battle with rivals. Saudi Arabian Oil Co. is maintaining investment in oil and natural gas projects and has formulated a new strategy in response to cheaper crude as it studies options to sell shares in its parent company and downstream refining and chemical […]
UAE. To coincide with the annual Arab Health Exhibition & Congress this week, six major investment opportunities in the GCC’s health care market in 2016 have been predicted by EY as being areas of high demand and growth in the region. According to the EY ‘Investment Big Bets – Healthcare and Life Sciences in the GCC’ report launched today, specialized centers of excellence (CoEs), home health care […]
UAE. UAE. Hays GCC 2016 Salary & Employment Report, published today by recruiting experts Hays, found that 49 per cent of employers feel positive about 2016 compared to a higher 69 per cent who felt the same in 2015. The survey, which was completed by over 2,400 employees and 200 employers, forecasts mixed fortunes for job candidates and salaries over the next 12 months. In 2015, 48 […]
ECONOMY BEING HELD HOSTAGE BY BULLION MERCHANTS
By Nantoo Banerjee
Swiss banks may not be too happy with India’s latest round of searches for big Indian accounts there. But, largely impoverished India’s endless gold hunt, especially at a time when the global economy and trade are shrinking and stock markets around the world are going topsy-turvy following economic slow-down in China, has placed the Geneva-based World Gold Council on top of the world. India’s gold import last month hit a new 120-day high at nearly $4 billion while all other imports to the country shrank by over 15 per cent in value. The massive gold import by bullion merchants, mostly from Mumbai and Ahmedabad, widened the country’s trade deficit to $11.7 billion in just one month. In the pre-reform period, India’s annual trade deficit rarely topped $5 billion. During the current financial year 2015-16, t
The $15 trillion rout in global equity markets since May is reawakening the lure of gold for investors seeking safety. Hedge funds more than doubled their net-long position in bullion last week, just three weeks after they were the most-bearish ever. Investor holdings of gold through exchange-traded products are expanding at the fastest pace in a year, and the value of the ETPs has jumped by $3 […]
INTERNATIONAL. Oilprice.com recently spoke with Carl Larry, Director of Oil and Gas at Frost & Sullivan, a consultancy that conducts research on oil and gas markets, to get his thoughts on the state of oil in 2016. Oilprice.com: I saw that you were on Bloomberg in December, and you said that you thought oil would go to the low $30s per barrel, which was a good call […]
