|By Arabian Post Staff|The announcement by Saudi Deputy Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman about a possible floatation of state-owned oil firm Aramco is part of a larger game plan, a report by a US private intelligence corporation has concluded. “Whether or not the IPO happens is not important. What is vitally important is that it was publicly discussed by the Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia. He was […]
Three days after a report indicated that Twitter might soon introduce an algorithm-driven timeline, fans of the microblogging site are continuing to tweet their complaints using the hashtag #RIPTwitter. The outpouring of commentary in the wake of Friday’s report in BuzzFeed prompted CEO Jack Dorsey (pictured above) to respond with two tweets of his own on Saturday. In one, he noted that Twitter “never planned to reorder […]
Citing a desire to gain a foothold in the growing market for the Internet of Things, the leadership of Mozilla said it is ceasing development efforts on its Firefox smartphone operating system. Mozilla is ending development on Firefox OS for smartphones after version 2.6 is released in May. The development team that had been working on the OS will now work on initiatives related to connected devices […]
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, […]
CRM giant Salesforce is adding some lightning to its customer success platform. The latest iteration of Salesforce Lightning aims to raise the bar on customer relationship management by with a platform that taps cloud, mobile, social, IoT (Internet of Things) technologies and data science. Salesforce launched Lightning in 2015 as a multi-tenant, next-generation metadata platform that enterprise workers can use on any device. It quickly gained traction, […]
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 […]
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 […]
Regular readers of the Reddit website might soon see their long wait for an official mobile app coming to an end. In an online post about things to expect from the site in 2016, co-founder and CEO Steve Huffman yesterday revealed that an Android app for Reddit is currently being tested in a private beta version and an iOS app “should follow it out soon.” Now in […]
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
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.
Saudi Arabia may further ease restrictions on foreign ownership in the economy and overhaul one of the world’s most restrictive visa systems as the kingdom seeks to draw investors to help reduce its reliance on oil exports. The world’s biggest oil exporter is considering allowing foreigners to own 100 percent of a company in at least four more industries, Mohanud Helal, secretary general of the Economic Cities […]
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
|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 […]
The trend of cyberattackers targeting retail and fast-food chains is continuing in 2016. Nationwide fast-food chain Wendy’s is the latest to announce it is investigating a possible credit card breach stemming from its POS (point-of-sale) system. “Reports indicate fraudulent charges may have occurred elsewhere after payment cards were legitimately used at some restaurants,” Wendy’s spokesman Bob Bertini told Reuters. “Until this investigation is completed, it is difficult […]
A remote-controlled Parrot AR.Drone 2.0 Quadricopter is seen during a flight demonstration at the Google I/O Conference at Moscone Center in San Francisco, California June 28, 2012. Reuters/Stephen Lam/Files SAN FRANCISCO Google’s secretive drone delivery project could include a component designed to store packages securely. A patent filed Tuesday in the United States by the company, a unit of Alphabet Inc, describes a “delivery receptacle” designed to […]
DUBAI // Three members of a gang that broke into a villa in Jumeirah and stole Dh1.5 million worth of jewellery have been locked up for three years. The Dubai Criminal Court was told that in July last year American R J, Mexican D P and Colombians M A and M O, all aged 32, broke into the empty villa and stole diamonds and other valuables. They […]
With Star Wars: The Force Awakens being the biggest in the series, it’s gotten me thinking about the influence of this incredible franchise on our lives. It defined a movie genre, of course, and no doubt inspired many a young kid to want to become a pilot or astronaut (me included, even if NASA still won’t return my calls). And just think how many cultural references we have […]
|By Matein Khalid| I had called for Brent crude to fall to $30 in successive columns since the November 2014 OPEC conclave in Vienna, when Saudi Arabia abandoned its traditional role as the “swing producer” the central bank of black gold. The world oil markets now face a supply shock, a demand shock, epic volatility and the loss of the “swing producer”. The world is running out […]
|By Arabian Post Staff| Gold seems to be re-discovering its safe haven status in the wake of a turmoil that billionaire investor George Soros describes as the beginning of a global market crisis. Bullion rallied above $1,100 an ounce, rising for a fourth day to a two-month high, after Chinese shares plunged, the yuan slid and the country’s stock exchanges closed early for the second time this […]
At almost any other time, an escalating diplomatic conflict between OPEC members Iran and Saudi Arabia would mean a spike in oil prices. That the rally this time couldn’t be sustained shows just how abnormal things are in the oil market. Brent crude has fallen 0.5 percent this week as a global supply glut and the slowest Chinese growth in a generation trumped mounting strife between the […]
Saudi Arabia’s move to isolate Iran raises the specter of deepening conflicts in the volatile Middle East after the biggest meltdown in relations between the two regional powers in almost three decades. The Saudi government and staunch ally Bahrain severed diplomatic ties, giving Iranian ambassadors 48 hours to leave after protesters set the Saudi embassy in Tehran on fire over the weekend following the execution of Saudi cleric […]
Lower power. Longer range. That’s the story behind Wi-Fi HaLow, a new technology the Wi-Fi Alliance has just introduced to help tap into the momentum around low power Wi-Fi solutions that cater specifically to the Internet of Things (IoT). The Wi-Fi HaLow designation, which aims at products leveraging IEEE 802.11ah technology, works at and below the one gigahertz frequency band without sacrificing range. In fact, HaLow promises […]
|By K Raveendran| Given Dubai’s fame as one of the most happening cities of the world, the international media attention to the New Year-eve fire at the Address Hotel was quite natural. At the same time, it did not escape the attention of the discerning that some sections of the media lost no opportunity to use the unfortunate incident to show things in a rather poor light. […]
|By Hanan Alsuraihi| “Hezbollah and the Iranian regional strategy” is considered one of the hottest themes debated today in the Arabic and Islamic world. It focuses on the role of Hezbollah in the Iranian scheme of things. The Iranian strategy is cloaked in secrecy and disguised in an Islamic dress. It is a project that draws on the intelligence, political skill, publicity and media so as not […]
