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After wifi at the Taj, Modi revives campaign for "digital" India

NEW DELHI/MUMBAI Prime Minister Narendra Modi urged more companies to make electronic and digital goods on Wednesday, reviving his campaign promise to bridge India’s digital divide backed by over $70 billion in investment pledges. Launching a “Digital India Week” aimed at popularising the government’s push to connect 250,000 villages by 2019, Modi spoke of the need to boost local manufacturing of electronics – the country’s largest import […]

Regulatory requirements top challenge for 79% of financial services institutions

UAE. 85 percent of financial institutions from around the world reported that their boards of directors currently devote more time to oversight of risk than they did two years ago, while 79 percent felt that increasing regulatory requirements and expectations were their greatest challenge, according to the ninth edition of Deloitte’s Global risk management survey. In addition, the most common board responsibilities are approving the enterprise-level statement […]

Open Source: Israel’s Cartoon Diplomacy Equates Iran and Islamic State

Open Source By ROBERT MACKEY Apparently undeterred by the backlash over its last venture into cartoon diplomacy, Israel’s government released an animated video on Tuesday that equates the threat from Islamic State militants to that of a nuclear-armed Iran. The 28-second animation, uploaded to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s official accounts on social networks, attempts to erase the distinction between the Sunni Muslim extremists of the Islamic State […]

Dubai to build 3D-printed office

|By TAP Staff| Dubai announced plans to build the world’s first fully functional 3D printed building, an ambitious move that will establish the UAE’s position as the global centre of technology in architecture construction and design. The building will be located close to the ‘Museum of the Future’, launched earlier this year in Dubai, and will act as temporary headquarters for its staff. It will be approximately […]

Emirates debunks subsidy theory

|TAP Special|Emirates has released a point-by-point rebuttal of subsidy allegations, asserting that the US legacy carriers got the facts wrong, got the law wrong, and set their sights on an outcome that will be wrong for American consumers, communities and the national economy. This is the airline’s response to allegations of subsidy and unfair competition leveled by the “big three” US legacy carriers – Delta, United and […]

Microsoft Moves Display Ads to AOL, Sells Bing Imaging to Uber

Under a new 10-year agreement that starts in 2016, AOL will be taking over a large part of Microsoft‘s display ad sales for numerous sites and services, including MSN, Xbox, Outlook.com and Skype. As part of the partnership, announced Monday, AOL will adopt Microsoft’s Bing as its exclusive provider of search and search advertising services across all of its properties. In a separate deal, first reported Monday […]

UAE residents rest easy but sleep poorly during Ramadan, report says

DUBAI // Ramadan is a less stressful time despite the late nights, poor sleep and grumpy mornings, a survey shows. The Sleep Cycle survey of 1,000 residents looked into the sleeping patterns of residents during the holy month. Only 34.7 per cent of respondents said they felt stressed, compared with 37.9 per cent who felt under pressure the week before Ramadan. › View the results: Hours slept […]

Sprint Goes "All-In" with New Unlimited Talk, Text and Data Plan

It looks like 2015 will be the remembered as the summer of dueling mobile offerings. Only days after T-Mobile said it would begin allowing users to upgrade their smartphones up to three times a year, Sprint promised to go “All-In” with a new pricing structure that offers unlimited talk, text, and data for $80 a month. The company, which is the third-largest wireless carrier in the country […]

Exclusive: Amazon to offer loans to sellers in China, 7 other countries

Two freshly delivered Amazon boxes are seen on a counter in Golden, Colorado August 27, 2014. Reuters/Rick Wilking/Files   CHICAGO Amazon.com Inc will launch its business loan program for small sellers later this year in eight more countries including China, where credit is becoming a key factor in competing for new vendors and grabbing market share. Until now, the e-retailer has offered the service only in the […]

BCG outlines critical actions that E&P companies in the GCC must take to survive

UAE. A new report by The Boston Consulting Group (BCG), a global management consulting firm and the world’s leading advisor on business strategy, delves into the challenges faced by Exploration & Production (E&P) companies here in the GCC region. The fact is, these are trying times for E&P companies globally. Following more than a decade of strong financial returns, the industry has experienced several difficult years caused […]

UAE expat woman and child infected with Mers

ABU DHABI // A child aged 11 and a woman have contracted Mers from a relative who had the virus diagnosed last month. The two expatriates, who live in the Eastern Region of Abu Dhabi, were found to have been infected later. The World Health Organisation reported that the woman, 46, was suffering from other disorders. The WHO said they were relatives of one of two patients […]

Crucial Questions Remain as Iran Nuclear Talks Approach Deadline

VIENNA — Iran’s top nuclear negotiator was heading back to Tehran on Sunday to consult with his nation’s top leadership, as negotiators remained divided over how to limit and monitor Tehran’s nuclear program and even on how to interpret the preliminary agreement they reached two months ago. With all sides now acknowledging the talks would need to continue beyond what was once considered the absolute deadline for […]

Proceeds from song played at UAE Expo pavilion to help Nepal earthquake victims

DUBAI // A catchy rap number, Sara’s Song, which is being played at the UAE Pavilion at the Milan Expo is now for sale on iTunes, with proceeds going to victims of Nepal’s earthquakes. The song comes from the short film The Family Tree, about the challenges overcome by past generations of Emiratis. It is being screened at the pavilion and has been seen by thousands of […]

Weighing The Week Ahead: Greek Ripples Or Economic Fireworks?

Trying to Placate All, Iran Leader Zigs and Zags on Nuclear Talks

TEHRAN — Persian carpets were rolled out in the Beit-e Rahbar, the downtown Tehran offices of Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, on Tuesday, a sign that important guests were on their way. One by one, members of Iran’s establishment, politicians, clerics and commanders filed in, many exchanging the perfunctory greetings of committed rivals. They sat cross-legged and waited anxiously, knowing a crucial week of nuclear negotiations […]

Jihadi threat in Saudi Arabia

Sophisticated attacks by an Islamic State branch in Saudi Arabia show the jihadist group is better established there than previously suspected, and that fueled by anger over Arab civil wars, Riyadh’s militancy problem is not going away. A sustained militant campaign could undermine stability in the world’s top oil exporter and birthplace of Islam, one of the few major Arab states that has so far mostly avoided […]

Kerry, in Vienna, Begins Effort to Complete Nuclear Accord With Iran

VIENNA — Secretary of State John Kerry began on Saturday what the Obama administration hopes will be the final push for a nuclear accord with Iran, just three days before a deadline for concluding an agreement. However, American officials have almost discounted the notion that a deal will be made by Tuesday’s deadline. Their goal is to bridge a number of technical and political divides over the […]

Rapid MENA digitization leads to heightened exposure to cyber-attacks

UAE. MENA’s digital market value is expected to reach US$35 billion in 2015, and overall digitization initiatives could add $820 billion to regional GDP, creating 4.4 million jobs by 2020. However, this rapid digitization and the resources of the region make MENA an attractive target for a wide array of cyber-threats, according to a study by Strategy&. The Strategy& study looks into national cyber-security efforts by the […]

Parents concerned by move to close school canteens in Abu Dhabi during Ramadan

ABU DHABI // Parents have expressed their concern at a decision to close school cafeterias during Ramadan. They say that an equal number of children are not fasting because they are not Muslim or are too young. The Abu Dhabi Education Council, which issued the ruling, said it “does not have a particular policy regarding serving food for students during the holy month of Ramadan, however schools […]

Fujairah market shop owners left destitute a month after fire

FUJAIRAH // A month on from the fire that tore through the Friday Market in Masafi, shop owners are still waiting for promised financial relief and Government support. Some of those who lost their shops can no longer pay for their children’s schooling while others do not have a home or food to eat. Sayd Abdalmajed, a 35-year-old Bangladeshi trader, lost four vegetable shops and one pottery […]

Facebook staff diversity little changed over past year

A 3D plastic representation of the Facebook logo is seen in this illustration in Zenica, Bosnia and Herzegovina, May 13, 2015. Reuters/Dado Ruvic SAN FRANCISCO Facebook Inc (FB.O) released new diversity data Friday that showed the number of women and minorities has remained little changed over the past year. The number of women increased only 1 percentage point, from 31 percent to 32 percent. The number of […]

Microsoft CEO Nadella Lays Out Mission in Internal Memo

In a memo to employees on Thursday, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella spelled out his mission for the company: “to empower every person and every organization on the planet to achieve more.” Microsoft will also aim to “reinvent” productivity and business processes, build an intelligent cloud platform and create a more personal computing experience for its users, he said. Nadella’s vision statement comes just a week after the […]

Breakthrough May Double Speed of Fiber Optics Networks

An engineering breakthrough by researchers at the University of California, San Diego, has the potential to double the speed of fiber optic networks. The findings, reported by a team of photonics researchers in the June 26 edition of the journal Science, could dramatically increase the maximum power capacity of signals sent through fiber optic cables. Although not every user connects to the Internet through an optical cable, […]

Netgear Rolls Out First Nighthawk Modem-Router Combination

Networking company Netgear just made a big move in the cable modem router world. So big, in fact, that high-speed Internet users on home fronts everywhere have good reason to rejoice. The firm just rolled out the industry’s fastest-ever cable modem router. It’s the first router in the Nighthawk line and it aims at cable Internet subscribers who have an extreme need for broadband speed. The Nighthawk […]