|By Arabian Post Staff| OPEC members aren’t likely to reach a supply deal in Algiers next week, but an agreement to boost prices could be drawing closer after Saudi Arabia signaled for the first time in two years that it’s willing to cut production, Bloomberg reported. Saudi Arabia and Iran, whose rivalry thwarted a deal with other major producers in April, didn’t reach agreement after two days of […]
|By Arabian Post Staff| The global oil market will most likely remain oversupplied for the rest of 2016 and well into 2017, rating agency Standard & Poor’s has forecast. The view has been attributed to global oil production remaining in excess of demand, and the resulting persistently high crude oil and product inventories putting spot prices and near-term futures under significant pressure. Members of the Organization of […]
|By Arabian Post Staff| Abu Dhabi’s Masdar City without light switches or water taps has much to teach people around the world about saving energy and precious resources. With its low-rise and energy efficient buildings, smart metering, excellent public transport and extensive use of renewable energy, the 2,000 citizens of Masdar City are living in a place which is a ‘green’ example to city planners around the […]
|By Matein Khalid|I had written a column two weeks ago outlining my view that US equities faced a dangerous autumn and the S&P 500 index was set for a fall of 150 points. However, even I did not expect the S&P500 index to fall 52 points on Friday (the Dow dropped 394 points and NASDAQ 133 points), its worst performance since the Brexit shock. It was even […]
|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 […]
SAUDI ARABIA. Saudi Arabia’s non-oil private sector continued on its upward trajectory in August, with business conditions improving to the greatest extent in a year. Output and new business remained the key growth drivers – both rose sharply and more quickly than in July. Employment and input stocks also increased, with a number of companies looking to expand capacity in line with rising workloads. Meanwhile, price pressures […]
By Laurence Frost and Gilles Guillaume | PARIS PARIS Renault expects diesel engines to disappear from most of its European cars, company sources told Reuters, after the French automaker reviewed the costs of meeting tighter emissions standards following the Volkswagen scandal. The sober reassessment was delivered at an internal meeting before the summer break. It shows how, a year after VW admitted engineering software to cheat U.S. […]
ABU DHABI // An 11-month-old Emirati received a birthday gift to remember after becoming the youngest owner of a new Maserati sports car. Humaid Al Muhairi may be far too young to drive but that didn’t stop his family celebrating after he became the second major prize winner in Yas Island’s Say Yas summer campaign. His delighted father was given the keys to the vehicle during a […]
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 […]
Despite recently weakening consumer sales for both the iPhone and iPad, Apple devices and software have enjoyed a growing presence in business enterprises. Out of net sales of nearly $234 billion in 2015, some $25 billion came through sales to large business customers, according to Apple’s most recent annual report, released in October. While those sales were just a small fraction of the company’s overall revenues, they […]
JERUSALEM — Israeli prosecutors on Tuesday charged a Palestinian employee of the United Nations in the Gaza Strip with providing material assistance to Hamas, the Islamist group that controls the territory, including helping to build a jetty for its military wing. The accusations against the employee, Waheed Al Bursh, came after Israel leveled charges Thursday against a Palestinian employee of World Vision in Gaza, saying he had […]
When Shahram Amiri emerged from the shadows into the spotlight six years ago, he was a young Iranian scientist who suddenly appeared on YouTube from a safe house, telling a bizarre story of having been kidnapped by the Central Intelligence Agency. Then, in another video that quickly followed, his story changed: He had come to the United States voluntarily to study, but desperately missed his son back […]
LEBANON. Byblos Bank issued today, in cooperation with the Olayan School of Business at the American University of Beirut, the results of the Byblos Bank/AUB Consumer Confidence Index for the second quarter of 2016. The results show that the Byblos Bank/AUB Consumer Confidence Index improved by 5.3% in each of April and May, while it regressed by 1% in June 2016. The Index averaged 36.1 in the […]
YANGJU, South Korea — Surrounded by salvaged used-cars parts bound for Syria, Ahmad Khalifa has worked 12 hours a day for three years in one country that does not really want him while longing for another that war has destroyed. In junkyards in South Korean towns like Yangju, north of Seoul, there are hundreds of young Syrian men like Mr. Khalifa, who often worked, ate and slept […]
UAE. Project activity in the UAE is forecast to recover in 2017 after a difficult 2016 on the back of a strong recovery in economic growth, according to a new report from Middle East business intelligence service MEED. MEED’s annual UAE Outlook Report for 2016 says that a recovery in oil prices combined with growing public and private sector activity boosted by Dubai’s preparations for the Expo […]
HUSAN, West Bank — The Sabateen clan recognized the dewy-eyed boy in the World Vision sponsorship card from his birth date and the striped collar of his cardigan. His mother used to make him wear that sweater on special occasions. It was their Othman, who turned 18 on Monday but at the time was 5. None of his relatives recalled signing him up for the World Vision […]
Nick Denton, founder of Gawker, talks with his legal team before Terry Bollea, also known as Hulk Hogan, testifies in court, in St Petersburg, Florida, United States, March 8, 2016. Reuters/John Pendygraft/Pool/File Photo NEW YORK Gawker Media Chief Executive Nick Denton filed for personal bankruptcy protection on Monday, according to court documents that name his largest creditor as Hulk Hogan, a former professional wrestler who won a […]
INTERNATIONAL. Following the vote to leave the EU, the UK economy is expected to face challenges in the short term, with high levels of uncertainty leading to a slowdown in business investment and lower GDP growth. UK: In light of this, PwC has revised down its main scenario real GDP growth projection for the UK to 1.6% and 0.6% per annum in 2016 and 2017 respectively, down […]
A self-driving car by Google is displayed at the Viva Technology event in Paris, France, June 30, 2016. Reuters/Benoit Tessier BERLIN Germany plans new legislation to require manufacturers of cars equipped with an autopilot function to install a black box to help determine responsibility in the event of an accident, transport ministry sources told Reuters on Monday. The fatal crash of a Tesla Motors Inc Model S […]
Have you been to see all the summer shows in town yet? Many of the galleries are running extended exhibitions throughout the long, hot summer to keep us entertained and our art-thirst quenched. A personal discovery for me was the work of Farhad Ahrania at Lawrie Shabibi’s group show titled Unseen. The works here are from his Khatam series. A khatam is an Iranian micro-mosaic used decoratively […]
INTERNATIONAL. The Bloomberg Commodity Index, which tracks the performance of 20 major commodities split evenly between energy, metals and agriculture, continues to show a gain of more than 10% in the year to date. Some softness, however, has crept in during the past few weeks with some sectors, most notably energy, pausing after rallies in oil and natural gas ran out of steam. Industrial metals found support […]
When Akio Toyoda, CEO of Toyota Motor Corporation, said he wanted the Lexus brand to be more sporty, this is what he had in mind. The Lexus GS models are rear-wheel-drive sports sedans. The entry GS 200t is a new model for 2016 that comes with a turbocharged four-cylinder engine. Our tester had the F Sport performance package that should ramp up the fun-to-drive meter even more. […]
