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Citi sees Oilmageddon coming

Markets are currently in a well-oiled “death spiral,” according to Citigroup Inc. analysts led by Jonathan Stubbs. “It appears that four inter-linked phenomena are driving a negative feedback loop in the global economy and across financial markets,” the analysts write, citing the resilient U.S. dollar, lower commodities prices, weaker trade and capital flows, and declining emerging market growth. “It seems reasonable to assume that another year of extreme moves in […]

Nearly 40% of MENA businesses believe cyber breaches or insider threats are the fastest growing fraud risk

UAE.  Cyber breaches and insider threats are the fastest-growing risks and are driving investment in Forensic Data Analytics (FDA) according to MENA executives. This is  according to EY’s 2016 Global Forensic Data Analytics Survey, Shifting into high gear: mitigating risks and demonstrating returns. The threats and breaches include malicious insiders stealing, manipulating or destroying data. Sixty-nine percent say that they need to do more to improve their […]

UAE PMI drops to near-four year low

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. […]

Qatar's Alfardan sticks to family model

On the seventh floor of a Doha tower block, in a room filled with display cases containing old coins, clocks and Koranic manuscripts, 82-year-old Hussain Alfardan sits fingering a pearl necklace he says is worth $2 million. “These pearls are yakka, the highest grade of natural pearl – each piece is rare. Today the pearl is the number one stone in the world. The most expensive stone, […]

Next industrial revolution: rise of the smart machines

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 […]

GoPro forecasts revenue below estimates, names new CFO

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 […]

Israeli Police Officer Is Killed in Attack by 3 Palestinians in Jerusalem

Israeli investigators on Wednesday near the body of a Palestinian who was killed after he and two others attacked border police officers in East Jerusalem. By ISABEL KERSHNER February 3, 2016 JERUSALEM — Three Palestinian men armed with automatic rifles, knives and pipe bombs attacked Israeli border police officers in East Jerusalem on Wednesday, killing one officer and wounding another. The three assailants were fatally shot by officers at […]

Zagg Buys Battery Pack Maker Mophie

Two of the largest manufacturers of mobile accessories are teaming up. Salt Lake City, Utah-based Zagg said it is acquiring California-based Mophie for $100 million. Zagg is best known for its screen protectors and Mophie for its battery cases, which are used in the iPhone among other devices. Zagg will be handling the manufacturing in both areas as Mophie becomes part of Zagg. Mophie CEO Daniel Huang […]

Sarasin DIFC unit defaults major payment

|By Arabian Post Staff|Bank Sarasin-Alpen (ME) Limited, the former Middle East affiliate of co-defendant Swiss Private Bank J. Safra Sarasin, has failed to deposit $35 million in damages by the deadline of February 1, 2016 as per the order of the DIFC Court, the aggrieved party announced. The case relates to one of the biggest financial mis-selling cases in the GCC region. The defendant bank apparently failed […]

Hong Kong asset market in state of siege

|By Matein Khalid| “One country, two systems”. This was the historic formula under which Margaret Thatcher agreed to hand over the British Crown Colony of Hong Kong to the People’s Republic of China, then ruled by Paramount Leader Deng Xiao Ping. The Hong Kong dollar’s spike to 7.81, on the high end of its 7.75 – 7.85 band, demonstrates the sheer scale of the speculative attack against […]

Alphabet profit sends shares up; overtakes Apple in value

Reuters/ DEBORAH M. TODD AND ANYA GEORGE THARAKAN/Alphabet Inc easily beat Wall Street’s quarterly profit forecasts on Monday, helped by strong mobile advertising sales, sending the shares of Google’s parent higher in after-hours trading to surpass Apple Inc as the most valuable U.S. company. For the first time, the company disclosed the profitability of Google’s search engine and its other online services, and how much it is […]

PLAYING SHABBY POLITICS FOR SMART CITIES

MODI SARKAR PICKS NAMES TO TRUMP RIVALS

By Arun Srivastava

The politics of vengeance has been the key factor in the Modi government denying the smart cities to the eastern Indian states. Except Bhubaneswar, Odisha’s capital, no city from Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, Jharkhand or Bengal has made it to the smart list. Last year, when the names of the cities for including in the list of the smart cities were being finalized Bihar government was given the impression that at least three of its cities – Bhagalpur, Biharsharif and Muzaffarpur – are among the 97 shortlisted and would be upgraded. But none made it to the first list of 20 released by the Union minister Venkaiah Naidu.

Reacting to it Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar compared the Centre to the fabled “andher nagri (City of lawlessness)” for ignoring Bihar while picking the first list of 20 smart

NAVEEN PATNAIK GETS SMART CITY NOD

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

Alphabet to give first peek at cost of "moonshot" bets

Letters spell the word ”Alpahbet” as they are seen on a computer screen with a Google search page in this photo illustration taken in Paris, France, August 11, 2015. Reuters/Pascal Rossignol How much is Google-parent Alphabet Inc spending on “moonshots” – self-driving cars, glucose-monitoring contact lenses, Internet balloons and other ambitious projects? Investors will get their long-awaited answer when Alphabet reports fourth-quarter results after markets close on […]

Apple Buys Education Analytics Startup

Perhaps taking aim at the well-entrenched presence of other tech giants in the education market, Apple confirmed Thursday that it has acquired LearnSprout, a San Francisco-based startup that specializes in education analytics and used for tracking the performance of students. The purchase of LearnSprout should give Apple some ammunition as it tries to challenge the existence of Microsoft’s software programs and Google’s Chromebook in the classroom. Apple […]

CHINA SLOWDOWN OFFERS OPPORTUNITY

INDIA IN SWEET SPOT TO BALANCE THE ACT

By K R Sudhaman

India is in a sweet spot as global economy is not looking good in the face of market turmoil in China. A global recession triggered by poor showing of European economy had hit badly the export led growth model of China, whose economy grew by 6.9 per cent in 2015, the slowest in two decades. Following this slowdown, high commodity prices had started correcting exerting more pressure on China down turn. The massive over investment in China in steel, cement, shipbuilding, petrochemicals, real estate and other infrastructure sectors began to burst. This volatility in equity and commodity markets did not augur well for the global and Chinese economies. Global economy may not be in a crisis as in 2008 during the financial meltdown but it is certainly not out of the woods and outlook for global economy is certainly bearish in 2016.

START-UP INDIA’S FOUNDATIONAL SCAM

WHY TAX/GREEN BREAK FOR INDIA’S RICH?

By Garga Chatterjee

On 16th January, with much fanfare, the Union government announced its “Start-up India” scheme. On attendance were big people, big enough not to deserve any income tax break in their next seven lives. But this is precisely what the Government of India (GoI) has offered – an income tax exemption for first three years of a “start-up”. There will also be tax exemption on capital gains. After all its fake environment-love recently in Paris, this GoI scheme has also offered a three-year exemption on environment law compliance! Entities will only need to self-certify! In the name of “start-up”, exactly what anti-environment, anti-labour racket are we starting up here? This will also be true for labour law and working condition compliance (including payment of wages and benefits to staff). Shamelessly, this whole sch

Facebook shares soar as mobile drives big jump in ad sales

A 3D plastic cut-out of the Facebook logo is seen in this illustration in Zenica, Bosnia and Herzegovina, May 13, 2015. Reuters/Dado Ruvic Facebook Inc (FB.O) smashed investors’ expectations with a 52-percent jump in quarterly revenue as it sold more ads targeted at a fast-growing number of mobile users, sending its shares sharply higher after hours. The world’s biggest online social network bucked the trend of underwhelming […]

Saudi will not de-peg or devalue riyal

|By Matein Khalid| The collapse in Brent crude oil below $30, a 20% fall in the Tadawul share index in January 2016’s global equity bloodbath, the cut in fuel subsidies and geopolitical risk escalation in the Middle East has spawned speculation in financial markets that Saudi Arabia will devalue the kingdom’s riyal, now pegged at 3.75 against the US dollar. Senior princes of the royal family and […]

With China weakening, Apple turns to India

SAN FRANCISCO/MUMBAI As China sales show signs of cooling, Apple Inc(AAPL.O) is touting India’s appetite for iPhones, betting that rising wages and an expanding middle class will pull consumers away from the cheap alternatives that currently dominate the market. In an earnings call in which the company reported meagre iPhone growth and forecast its first revenue drop in 13 years, the Indian market stood out as a […]

NO THREAT FROM DHAKA-MOSCOW NUCLEAR BONHOMIE

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

Saudi brave face: no spending cuts

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 […]

Millennials and their employers: Can this relationship be saved?

UAE. Businesses must adjust how they nurture loyalty among Millennials or risk losing a large percentage of their workforces, according to Deloitte’s fifth annual  Millennial Survey. Forty-four percent of Millennials say, if given the choice, they expect to leave their current employers in the next two years. That figure increases to 66 percent when the time frame is extended to 2020. The findings were revealed through a […]

Google to face grilling by UK lawmakers over tax deal

A logo is pictured at Google’s European Engineering Center in Zurich April16, 2015. Reuters/Arnd Wiegmann/Files LONDON A British parliamentary committee will ask Google to testify about a back tax deal under which it will pay 130 million pounds ($185 million) to settle claims covering a 10-year period — an amount the opposition Labour party has described as derisory. Meg Hillier, the Labour party chairwoman of parliament’s Public […]