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INTERNATIONAL.  In the wake of China’s recent devaluation of the yuan, companies need to be more strategic than ever in their manufacturing-sourcing decision-making, focusing on clear-headed, case-by-case analysis and tight project management.  That is according to a new study, including a survey of almost 250 senior-level executives in Western Europe and North America from manufacturing and distribution companies in 20 industries, released today by AlixPartners, the global […]

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 first half of 2015. The results show that the Byblos Bank/AUB Consumer Confidence Index declined marginally in January and February, grew in March, regressed in April, and slightly improved in May and June 2015. Further, the Index […]

The UAE’s gross domestic electricity consumption has more than doubled over the past 10 years, and is expected to grow even more rapidly over the next five years as the country undergoes substantial population and economic growth, according to a recent study. The study by management consultancy Strategy&, formerly Booz & Company, revealed that energy usage in the UAE has grown at an annual average of four […]

Redmond is adding container support to its latest Windows Server 2016. The idea is to help developers deliver applications more quickly so they can keep up in a competitive landscape. Users will get the first public preview of Windows Server Containers in Microsoft‘s third technical preview of Windows Server 2016 and System Center 2016. The company is also integrating features such as Nano Server functionality and improving […]

UAE. The UAE’s gross domestic electricity consumption has more than doubled over the past 10 years, and is expected to grow even more rapidly over the next five years as the country undergoes substantial population and economic growth, according to a study by management consultancy Strategy&, formerly Booz & Company. The study reveals that energy usage in the UAE has grown at an annual average of 4% […]

Future versions of the Firefox Web browser could provide users with new ways to block online site elements that track visitors’ behaviors. Mozilla, the organization that develops Firefox, said it is currently experimenting with a private browsing update and other new features in pre-beta versions of its browser being tested by developers. The new features are currently being taken for a test drive on the Firefox Developer […]

Tech giant Oracle just rolled out new functions to its Service Cloud and Social Cloud. The new bells and whistles aim to help organizations serve up better customer experiences and make data-based business decisions. Specifically, the new social features promise to help brands increase social engagement and mine business insights through a new community self-service solution, as well as beefed up social service and incident routing. Oracle […]

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KALBA // Fishermen are questioning a decision to protect areas off the coast of Khor Kalba. Boat captains who live in the area and fish the waters off the east coast, said the protected zone, set up in 2012, interfered with their livelihoods. Restricted access to mangroves has halted crab fishing, but the most contentious issue for the fishermen is their exclusion from waters within a nautical […]

GAZA CITY — A new training regimen for fighters in Hamas’s armed wing employs slide presentations and a whiteboard rather than Kalashnikov rifles and grenades. The young men wear polo shirts instead of fatigues and black masks. They do not chant anti-Israel slogans, but discuss how the Geneva Conventions governing armed conflict dovetail with Islamic principles. The three-day workshop, conducted last month by the International Committee of […]

A Dubai Cares funded programme in Palestine is helping preschool teachers to get children reading and using their imagination. While Dubai Cares supplies teacher training in Gaza, it also reaches children with books and supplies brochures for parents and teachers on how to best use the resources at hand. However, Reem El Bohisi, a teacher at Hekayat Preschool in Deir Al Balah who took the training, said […]

An employee works near screens in the virus lab at the headquarters of Russian cyber security company Kaspersky Labs in Moscow July 29, 2013. RUSSIA-CYBERCRIME/ Reuters/Sergei Karpukhin/Files SAN FRANCISCO Beginning more than a decade ago, one of the largest security companies in the world, Moscow-based Kaspersky Lab, tried to damage rivals in the marketplace by tricking their antivirus software programs into classifying benign files as malicious, according […]

UAE. After delivering strong results in 2014, Islamic banks in the Gulf region face a gradually weakening operating outlook in 2015-2016, largely due to declining oil revenues, says a report published today by Standard & Poor’s Ratings Services. But as the report, titled “Gulf-Based Islamic Banks Grapple With Weakening Regional Economies,” also points out, we believe investor demand for Sharia-compliant products and supportive government actions will enable […]

Seagate, a world leader in storage solutions, has unveiled a new custom 2TB game drive for Xbox, in a strategic relationship with Microsoft. This new external drive is designed to complement the Xbox colour scheme and is set up for an easy plug-and-play connection with an Xbox One or Xbox 360 gaming console.   “With all of the new and amazing titles expected for this holiday season […]

While excess capacity and price volatility are among the key challenges faced by the steel industry, digital is shaping the future of metals in a complex business environment, said the managing director of Accenture metals. John Lichtenstein shared his passion for steel and how the industry can address growth challenges in an interview published by Accenture, a multinational management consulting, technology services, and outsourcing company. What are […]

Government overreach is the primary culprit that keeps the Internet from being the free and open source of information and ideas that it could be, according to a leading computer crime defense attorney. Jennifer Granick, director of civil liberties at the Stanford Center for Internet and Society, addressed the subject of Internet freedom yesterday in her keynote address at the annual Black Hat computer security conference in […]

SAUDI ARABIA.  JLL, the world’s leading real estate investment and advisory firm, today has released its second quarter (Q2 2015) Jeddah Real Estate Overview report that assess the latest trends in the office, residential, retail and hotel sectors. Mr Jamil Ghaznawi, National Director and Country Head of JLL KSA, commented: “In the second quarter, the Jeddah real estate market remained in the upturn stage of its cycle. […]

DUBAI // Innovation is the driver of progress, and governments and businesses that fail to innovate will go backwards, Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid warned on Wednesday. The Vice President and Ruler of Dubai was launching National Innovation Week, which will take place from November 22 to 28. Sheikh Mohammed urged all public, private and academic entities to participate and called on the public to get involved through […]

RAS LAFFAN, Qatar — The temperature hovered around 100 degrees on the jetty here, where a set of pipes were connected to a giant red-hulled ship. But the moisture in the air froze on the pipes and flaked off, creating snowlike flurries on the early summer evening. The incongruous sight is common on the Qatari ship, the Al Rekayyat, which carries a frigid fuel known as liquefied […]

ISTANBUL — Confronted with widespread protests two summers ago, Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan ordered a harsh police crackdown and tarnished the demonstrators as traitors and spies. Faced with a corruption inquiry focused on his inner circle, he responded by purging the police and judiciary. So when Mr. Erdogan, now president, suffered a stinging electoral defeat in June that left his party without a majority in Parliament […]

From Saturday Night Live in the 70s to big 80s blockbusters to movies like Moonrise Kingdom today, Bill Murray is an actor like no other. The Big Bad Book of Bill Murray chronicles every single Murray performance in loving detail, relating all the milestones, yarns, and controversies. It is also packed with color film stills and behind-the-scenes photography. This entry passed through the Full-Text RSS service – […]

SAUDI ARABIA.  JLL, the world’s leading real estate investment and advisory firm, today released its second quarter (Q2 2015) Riyadh Real Estate Market Overview that asses the latest trends in the office, residential, retail and hotel sectors in Saudi Arabia’s largest city. Mr Jamil Ghaznawi, National Director and Country Head of JLL KSA, commented: “there has been relatively little change in the real estate market in Riyadh […]

The developer Meydan has announced the launch of a new scheme known as Meydan One featuring a 711m-high tower, a huge new mall, the world’s largest indoor ski slope, a 25,000 sq metres indoor sports facility, the biggest dancing fountains in the world, a beach and a civic plaza capable of hosting up to 60,000 people. It is also to contain a 100-berth marina. And, a retractable […]

DUBAI // The guiding ethos of the Dar Al Ber Society, one of the UAE’s oldest charitable organisations, was established many centuries before the first dirham was donated. “Our people have always liked to help others, including the relatives of the foreigners who have visited here,” executive director Abdullah Ali bin Zayed said. “The people who started Dar Al Ber knew there were people out there asking […]

INTERNATIONAL.  New research from PwC projects that traditional assets under management (AuM) in 12 markets across Africa will rise to around $1,098 billion by 2020, from a 2008 total of $293 billion. This represents a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of nearly 9.6%. Traditional asset management, in particular the mutual fund industry, is expanding aggressively across Africa. This will largely be driven by a number of factors: […]

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