A cushy government job, cheap fuel, a mortgage-free home and a bit of five-star travel and luxury shopping were never too much to expect in the Gulf. Yet what previously was taken for granted in the oil-rich region is being replaced by something more familiar to the western world: spending cuts, taxation, a scarcity of jobs and even strikes. There’s discontentment among young populations rarely seen before […]
|By Matein Khalid| After five years of pathetic under-performance, emerging markets are easily the asset class to own in 2016, as Europe is hit by a resurgent Euro/Italian banking woes and Japan by institutional gaijin selling and a stronger yen. A dovish Janet Yellen has talked down the US dollar and deferred the timing of FOMC interest rate hikes. The Chinese Politburo and People’s Bank have managed to […]
An Apple iphone 6 with Apple Pay is shown in this photo illustration in Encinitas , California June 3, 2015. Reuters/Mike Blake SAN FRANCISCO Apple Inc’s first-ever drop in quarterly iPhone sales has spurred Chief Executive Tim Cook to turn the spotlight on prospects for its services business, but the field is rife with competition and may prove challenging for a brand based on gadgets. Second-quarter earnings […]
A man is seen near cyber code and the U.S. National Security Agency logo in this photo illustration taken in Sarajevo March 11, 2015. Reuters/Dado Ruvic SAN FRANCISCO Internet traffic to Wikipedia pages summarizing knowledge about terror groups and their tools plunged nearly 30 percent after revelations of widespread Web monitoring by the U.S. National Security Agency, suggesting that concerns about government snooping are hurting the ordinary […]
Apple Inc (AAPL.O) on Tuesday posted its first-ever decline in iPhone sales and its first revenue drop in 13 years as the company credited with inventing the smartphone struggles with an increasingly saturated market. The company’s sales dropped by more than a quarter in China, its most important market after the United States, and it also forecast another disappointing quarter for global revenues. Its shares fell about […]
Technology stocks are cooling, and that could be bad news for the world’s most valuable company. Apple Inc. warned investors this week that its quarterly earnings report will contain bad news about iPhone sales. How bad? That remains to be seen. According to its January forecast, Apple’s revenue is set to drop for the first time in more than a decade as iPhone sales slow. Even though […]
Judging by the responses from users on Twitter, Dropbox’ new technology for accessing cloud-based files from the desktop will be a welcome and much-needed improvement. Unveiled today, the “Project Infinite” preview will let Dropbox users view all their cloud-stored files and folders from their devices without having to first launch a browser. “Dropbox Infinite is exactly what I’ve been looking for for several years now,” Web developer […]
By MICHAEL D. SHEAR April 25, 2016 HANOVER, Germany — The United States will significantly increase the number of military personnel, including Special Forces, in Syria to fight the Islamic State, President Obama said on Monday as he concluded a six-day trip to the Middle East, Britain and Germany. Mr. Obama, whose comments came in a speech in which he pressed for European unity, said that he would add 250 […]
UAE. End of Service Gratuity (Gratuity) is a statutory severance pay across most Middle Eastern jurisdictions and one which is conceptually analysed as akin to a retirement savings scheme or pension scheme. This article explores some of the common pitfalls and tricky issues which arise in relation to statutory Gratuity in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) under Federal Law No.8 of 1980 Regarding the Organisation of Labour […]
The Lexus NX is a vehicle of firsts for the luxury brand from Toyota. It was the first compact crossover from Lexus, the first with a turbocharged engine, and the first example of a more extreme design language. This new, aggressive exterior styling is now showing up on other Lexus models, like the new RX 350 F Sport we tested earlier this month. While some won’t like […]
Saudi Arabia’s plan for the post-hydrocarbon era will have to overcome habits developed over decades of relying on crude sales to fuel economic growth, create job and build infrastructure. Almost eight decades after oil was first found in the country, officials are set to unveil Deputy Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman’s “Vision for the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia” on Monday, a blueprint seeking to reduce the reliance […]
DUBAI // He may be a desert explorer and 11-time world record holder, but there was one thing about Max Calderan that all the pupils at a primary school wanted to know – was he ever bitten by a snake? The answer was yes, but three days later it was the snake that died. The Italian adventurer recently became the first person to cross the 340-kilometres Tropic […]
|By Dr Xiaoxi He, Technology Analyst, IDTechEx| Many interests have been raised within the battery business in 2015 through a number of activities: the launch of Tesla’s Powerwall with low prices supported by the capability of Gigafactory, Apple’s patent relating to charging and managing power in a device with solid-state batteries, LG Chem’s opening of a mega battery plant in Nanjing, Bosch’s purchase of polymer solid-state battery companySeeo, etc. Not to mention the tremendous number of investment, acquisitions, partnerships and joint ventures. At the same time, new battery technologies are appearing […]
The current-generation Audi A3 debuted in 2014. However, in just short two years, the competition in entry-level luxury sports sedans has intensified. Now Audi is playing “keeping up with the Joneses” with the mid-cycle refresh of the 2017 A3. As of this writing, we only have information on the European-Spec Audi A3. U.S. model information will be confirmed by Audi USA later this year. What’s New With […]
Oil tumbled after output talks Sunday between the world’s biggest producers ended without an agreement, outweighing the supply impact of strikes that cut 60 percent of Kuwait’s output. Futures fell as much as 6.8 percent in New York. The summit in the Qatari capital faltered after Saudi Arabia and other Gulf nations wouldn’t agree to a deal unless all OPEC members joined including Iran, which didn’t attend the […]
|By Arabian Post Staff| The way gold is bought and sold in London, the world’s largest gold-trading hub, may finally give way to newer methods to ensure that the city retains its status as a major gold hub. Currently, more gold is sold and bought in New York and Shanghai than London. Reports suggest that the London Bullion Market Association and the World Gold Council are pursuing […]
|ARABIAN POST SPECIAL| The Ras Al Khaimah Offshore Centre was among the centres, along with London, Miami and Zurich, used by Mossack Fonseca, the little-known but powerful law firm based in Panama, that constitutes the core of the Panama Papers, which has rocked the world by revealing the offshore links some of the planet’s most prominent people used to hide wealth. Mossack Fonseca has branches in London, Beijing, Miami, […]
|By Arabian Post Staff| Hedge funds which bet on Saudi riyal’s dollar peg are reported to have lost heavily as the price rebound in the oil has apparently removed all immediate possibilities of Saudi Arabia abandoning the currency’s peg with the dollar. Several US hedge funds are understood to be among the losers. According to Bloomberg, contracts used to speculate on the kingdom’s exchange rate in the […]
|By Matein Khalid| I was surprised by the dovishness of the Federal Reserve’s FOMC policy statement last week given the white hot US labour market and metrics of wage inflation. Hence the $29 rally in gold, the plunge in the Volatility Index to 15, the fall in the US dollar and the surge in oil/mining shares. The Yellen Fed is still worried about deflation risk in China, Europe […]
|By Arabian Post Staff| The much-expected boom for trade hubs like Dubai from the opening up of Iran market has not materialised yet, as traders still face several impediments to doing business with that country. While it is true that global majors have announced a series of major deals with Teheran, investors are showing continued reluctance to enter Iran due to the impact of the US sanctions […]
|By Lawrence Williams| The most recent call by Goldman Sachs to once again sell gold short has not, so far been a good move by the investment bank, and it comments in its latest research that it is down 5% on the call – with a stop loss indicated at 7%. But, it also reiterates that it remains confident in its bearish viewpoint and that it still stands […]
|By Arabian Post Staff| Wealthy Chinese, who are emerging as a new force in overseas real estate investments, are consistently raising their profile in the Dubai property market as well. According to Nakheel sources, Chinese bought 70 percent of its almost 600 townhouses sold at Warsan Villa close to its Dragoncity shopping mall, where Chinese merchants offer their wares in the biggest Chinese market outside mainland China. […]
|By Arabian Post Staff| The introduction of a new technique, using excavators that could virtually be called concrete-eaters, is set to revolutionize the way high rise structures are demolished in the UAE. The new method reduces the time required to bring down a high rise structure to a matter of days, instead of months and years required by conventional methods. The shorter time frames would mean much quicker […]
Consumers who like doing a little armchair R&D will soon get their chance, thanks to a new initiative from Sony. The electronics giant has established what it’s calling the Future Lab Program to help the company employ user feedback to refine and improve new products. The newfangled research and development effort has the goal of releasing concept prototypes that will eventually evolve in an open, creative environment […]
