Two years ago, Meitha Al Mazrooei and Rand Abdul Jabbar, two young architects, decided to form a partnership. The decision was born of frustration. Both had spent years studying their profession, Al Mazrooei at the American University of Sharjah (AUS) and Abdul Jabbar at Dalhousie University in Nova Scotia and Columbia University in New York, but given their views on the way that architecture is understood and […]
MUMBAI/HONG KONG Wal-Mart Stores Inc is in talks to buy a minority stake in India’s largest e-commerce firm Flipkart, two people familiar with the matter said, as the world’s biggest retailer aims to break into a fast growing but highly competitive online retail market. One of the sources said the U.S. retailer was looking to invest between $750 million and $1 billion in Flipkart, but the final […]
UAE. A new report by The Boston Consulting Group (BCG) reveals that, when it comes to its current-level Sustainable Economic Development Assessment (SEDA) scores, the UAE outperforms the GCC and the rest of the world in most dimensions—including income, employment, education, infrastructure, civil society, governance, and environment. Across these dimensions, the UAE topped the average scores of both the GCC and the rest of the world. The […]
UAE. Mobile phones are the most commonly used device among consumers in the UAE and more than half of all consumers (59%) prefer using their smartphones over any other device to make payments, the new Mastercard Impact of Innovation Study reveals. The study surveyed 23,000 consumers in 23 different countries across the Middle East, Africa and Europe about their attitudes to digital technology. It found that while […]
The European Union’s law enforcement agency, Europol, issued a warning today regarding the cybercrime threat landscape, particularly threats emanating from the so-called “Darknet.” Produced by Europol, the “2016 Internet Organized Crime Threat Assessment” report, outlines the biggest threats online. The annual report concluded that techniques that have normally been associated with cybercrime are now extending into other crime and threat areas, said Rob Wainwright, director of Europol. […]
The Infiniti Q50 gets a new four-cylinder engine making it a good entry-level luxury car. Affordable and satisfying to drive, it gets good fuel economy and has a lower price point. If you’re in the market for a small, luxury sports sedan, the Infiniti Q50 might just be the ticket. This week we test drove the completely refreshed 2016 Infiniti Q50 2.0t Premium. What’s New For 2016? […]
By PETER BAKER and RANA F. SWEIS September 20, 2016 AMMAN, Jordan — At the headquarters of the Muslim Brotherhood, Ali Abu al-Sukkar’s telephone would not stop ringing Tuesday. It was Election Day, the first time the Islamist organization had taken part after nearly a decade of boycotts, and Mr. Sukkar found himself in demand. The deputy secretary general of the Islamic Action Front, the brotherhood’s political wing, Mr. Sukkar listed the […]
By ERIC SCHMITT, MICHAEL R. GORDON and SOMINI SENGUPTA September 20, 2016 Russia was probably responsible for the deadly bombing of a United Nations humanitarian aid convoy in Syria, American officials said Tuesday, further shredding what remained of a severely weakened agreement between the United States and Russia aimed at halting the war. Aghast at the attack on Monday night, United Nations officials on Tuesday suspended all aid convoys in Syria, describing the […]
By MATTHEW ROSENBERG September 20, 2016 WASHINGTON — If there is a single link between the wars fought by the United States in the Middle East and Afghanistan, it is the long list of errant airstrikes carried out by American warplanes. Weddings, funerals, hospitals and friendly forces have been mistakenly attacked, with each strike prompting fresh outrage. While most of those killed have been civilians — in Afghanistan alone, […]
|By Matein Khalid| When Ben Bernanke uttered the word “taper” in May 2013, he triggered a bloodbath in emerging markets and a free fall in “fragile five” currencies that included the Indian rupee and the Indonesian rupiah. However, Asian equities markets, while not immune to a Fed rate hike, are far better positioned for higher US dollar interest rates than in 2013, let alone 2007 or 1998. […]
An international research team discovered a human skeleton during its ongoing excavation of the famous Antikythera Shipwreck (circa 65 B.C.). The shipwreck, which holds the remains of a Greek trading or cargo ship, is located off the Greek island of Antikythera in the Aegean Sea. The first skeleton recovered from the wreck site during the era of DNA analysis, this find could provide insight into the lives […]
For part 1 of this series, click here. Traffic on highway 65 was moderate and became heavy once we merged onto highway 10. Gone was the tranquility of the country side. We stopped to refuel north of Biloxi. The Maritime museum would have been a nice place to visit, but we were late in the day and they were likely closed. Besides, we wanted to make it […]
|By Arabian Post Staff| Switching from conventional ‘Western’ financial practices to Islamic banking gives distinct advantages to banks, with the change improving the liquidity and value of stocks, a study of the merger between a Bahrian Islamic bank and a conventional bank revealed. Researchers at the Universities of Birmingham and Brighton studied a merger that took place in Bahrain, between an Islamic bank and a conventional bank […]
|By Steve Austin| At first sight it appears that low oil prices are good for society. A low oil price helps us save dollars at the pump, acts as an economic catalyst making exchanges cheaper and thereby stimulating the economy. However, there are downsides as well, often out-of-sight-out-of-mind and we will address these today. Change in economic model For the first time we have entered an era […]
/By Matein Khalid/The oil market has been a rollercoaster in 2016. A global financial panic triggered by China’s yuan depreciation caused Brent crude to fall below $30 a barrel in late January. I was amazed at the sheer scale of the speculative short positions accumulated by oil traders and hedge funds in both West Texas and Brent futures markets, the highest since the oil crash of 2008. The […]
UAE. Asteco, the Middle East’s largest full service real estate company has released a special Cityscape report on the current status of the UAE real estate market revealing a general slowdown in all emirates, but highlighting marked differences between Abu Dhabi and Dubai. Dubai experienced a slow first six months, but for different reasons, with developers slowing the pace of project completions and handovers due to the […]
By Tom Bergin | LONDON LONDON Apple CEO Tim Cook has said he will appeal the European Commission’s ruling that his company received an unlawful 13 billion euro ($14.5 billion) subsidy when Ireland gave it preferential tax deals and that he was confident the decision would be reversed. But over a dozen lawyers, including three advising companies on appeals, told Reuters it was impossible to predict how […]
ABU DHABI // Fish prices are expected to fall next month as the summer heat subsides after increasing by as much as 50 per cent over the past few months. Ali Al Mansouri, president of Abu Dhabi Fishermen Cooperative Society and the UAE Fishermen Cooperative Association, acknowledged the increased prices but said they would soon start to decrease. “Due to the summer heat the catch is very […]
Using the world’s most powerful telescopes, an international team of astronomers has found a massive galaxy that consists almost entirely of dark matter. The galaxy, Dragonfly 44, is located in the nearby Coma constellation and had been overlooked until last year because of its unusual composition: It is a diffuse “blob” about the size of the Milky Way, but with far fewer stars. “Very soon after its […]
By Heather Somerville | SAN FRANCISCO SAN FRANCISCO Chinese powerhouse Didi Chuxing’s acquisition of Uber Technologies Inc’s China operations marked the biggest move yet toward consolidation in an industry that many investors and Silicon Valley pundits view as a winner-take-all game. On the day the Didi deal was announced earlier this month, Uber board member Bill Gurley said Uber’s rivals in other markets had a slim chance […]
Can the woolly mammoth be brought back from the dead? Scientists say it’s only a matter of time. In fact this year, the International Union for Conservation of Nature issued its first official set of guidelines on resurrecting extinct species. What’s more, university research labs and non-governmental agencies have projects in motion to bring back extinct species. But is all of this a good idea? A new […]
FUJAIRAH // Commuters are contending daily with roadworks, diversions and traffic jams as the emirate proceeds with upgrading its road infrastructure. As part of the Fujairah 2040 Plan, busy streets and motorways are being refurbished, uneven surfaces relaid, and lanes and traffic signals added to cope with the population growth and the increase in the number of vehicles that accompanies it. Although the work meant short trips […]
ABU DHABI // Few people can say they have braved subzero temperatures and the virtually uninhabited, ice-covered landmass of Antarctic, but Fatma Al Sahlawi Al Ali can add her name to that list. After enduring mountainous hikes in the blistering cold, witnessing crumbling icebergs, observing fur seals, humpback whales and penguins on the frozen continent and plunging into icy waters during her expedition earlier this year, the […]
INTERNATIONAL. Nearly all of the Chief Strategy Officers (CSOs) surveyed by Accenture (NYSE: ACN) around the world acknowledge that digital disruption will reshape their industries, but very few are equipped to navigate the change. Those who feel most prepared are embracing new strategic alliances, devising more collaborative ways of operating with partners, and making themselves indispensable within a broader ecosystem. For the report ‘Thriving on Disruption’, the Accenture […]
