The next generation of Google’s Android operating system will have data encryption turned on by default, according to The Washington Post. This move puts Google in the same company as Apple, which this week unveiled a new privacy strategy that makes it harder for anyone but an iPhone’s owner to access content on such devices. Default encryption for Android and iOS essentially takes Google and Apple out […]
Consumer tech firm Logitech is bringing its universal remote talents to the home control market with new home automation compatibility and a quartet of new products. Dubbed the Harmony Living Home lineup, the company is promising easy access and control over a library of both entertainment and home automation devices — all from one central control system. Harmony Living Home lets you use your remote, tablet or […]
The start of the United Arab Emirates’ first consumer credit-rating bureau last week will help banks better deal with bad loans six years after one of the world’s worst property crashes. “Banks will intensify their analysis of their existing portfolios,” Marwan Ahmad Lutfi, chief executive officer of the Al Etihad Credit Bureau said in an interview in Dubai today. The reports will allow banks to decide how […]
In a move to beef up its Intercloud strategy, Cisco is acquiring a privately-held company called Metacloud. The firm deploys and operates private clouds for global organizations with an OpenStack-as-a-service model. Metacloud’s model stands out in the industry because it both delivers and remotely operates production-ready private clouds in a customer’s data center. Cisco figures the platform will accelerate its strategy to build the world’s largest Intercloud. […]
While it’s only a year-and-a-half old, Docker appears poised for big things in the world of distributed applications, and the company just scored $40 million in new funding to prove it. The San Francisco-based startup raised the series C funding with the help of Sequoia Capital, just nine months after it closed $15 million in funding led by Greylock Partners. Since launching in March 2013, Docker has […]
By Eric Auchard and Harro Ten Wolde FRANKFURT Tue Sep 16, 2014 7:51pm IST An illustration picture shows the logo of car-sharing service app Uber on a smartphone next to the picture of an official German taxi sign in Frankfurt, September 15, 2014. Credit: Reuters/Kai Pfaffenbach FRANKFURT (Reuters) – A Frankfurt judge has lifted a temporary injunction on online taxi service Uber, only two weeks after […]
ANKARA, Turkey — Having spent most of his youth as a drug addict in one of the poorest neighborhoods of Turkey’s capital, Can did not think he had much to lose when he was smuggled into Syria with 10 of his childhood friends to join the world’s most extreme jihadist group. After 15 days at a training camp in the Syrian city of Raqqa, the de facto […]
Edinburgh in the sunshine Photo: AP In bright sunshine this past week, the cobbled pedestrian streets of Edinburgh and the bustling byways in and around the Royal Mile have been thronged with students getting to know Scotland’s historic capital. Students like me, eager to start this new chapter in our lives while enjoying the cheap alcohol and easy socialising that comes with Fresher’s Week. However, behind the carnival […]
China will launch its international gold exchange 11 days ahead of schedule, sources said on Tuesday, racing ahead in the scramble to set up an Asian bullion benchmark as rival Singapore is forced to delay its gold contract due to technical issues. Asia, home to the world’s top two gold buyers – China and India, has been clamouring to gain pricing power over the metal and challenge […]
By Elzio Barreto, Fiona Lau and Liana B. Baker HONG KONG/NEW YORK Tue Sep 16, 2014 11:06am IST People walk at the headquarters of Alibaba in Hangzhou, Zhejiang province, April 23, 2014. Credit: Reuters/Chance Chan/Files HONG KONG/NEW YORK (Reuters) – Alibaba Group Holding Ltd raised the price range on its initial public offering to $66 to $68 on Monday, reflecting strong demand from investors for the year’s […]
WASHINGTON — The United States, as promised by President Obama, has stepped up its airstrike campaign in Iraq, hitting targets near Baghdad in the effort to help the Iraqi government win back territory seized by the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria, Pentagon officials said Monday. The offensive is the first expansion of the United States’ campaign against the Islamist militant group that Mr. Obama outlined last […]
Unidentified warplanes conducted four airstrikes on Monday near Tripoli, leaving one dead and five wounded, a spokesman for Libya’s Islamist-allied militias and a militia commander said. Mohammed al-Gharyani, a spokesman for the Libya Dawn militia alliance, said the airstrikes hit the town of Gharyan, 50 miles south of Tripoli. A militia commander said the strikes had targeted Libya Dawn ammunition warehouses and weapons depots. This entry passed […]
ISTANBUL — President Recep Tayyip Erdogan of Turkey said on Monday that several exiled leaders of Egypt’s Muslim Brotherhood who fled to Qatar but lately have come under pressure to leave that Persian Gulf monarchy could perhaps find a new refuge in his country. “If they make any request to come to Turkey, such an application would be assessed and examined,” Mr. Erdogan said, according to a […]
|By TAP Staff| Emaar Properties said the IPO of its shopping malls business unit has been sold out to institutional investors on the first day itself. The leading developer aiming to raise as much as AED 5.8 billion ($1.58 billion) from the offer of shares in Emaar Malls Group (EMG), which is expected to be the Gulf’s biggest stock sale since 2008. On offer are 2 billion […]
|By TAP Staff| Qatar National Bank announced the acquisition of an additional holding of 11 percent shares in pan-African bank Ecobank Transnational Incorporated (Ecobank). The cost of the additional holding is equivalent to $283 million. QNB Group’s total stake in Ecobank is now 23.5 percent. This enables QNB Group to become the largest shareholder whilst strengthening the partnership with Ecobank, a leading pan-African bank and is a […]
Mojang, the small Swedish firm behind the wildly popular video game Minecraft, is being acquired by Microsoft for $2.5 billion. The sale is set to be closed late this year, with the acquisition expected to be break-even in fiscal year 2015. One of Mojang’s founders, Markus Persson — known as “Notch” — said in a post on his personal blog on Monday that he would be leaving […]
By Nivedita Bhattacharjee and Tommy Wilkes NEW DELHI/MUMBAI Mon Sep 15, 2014 6:12pm IST 1 of 4. Visitors look at Android One Based mobiles after its launch in New Delhi September 15, 2014. Credit: Reuters/Anindito Mukherjee NEW DELHI/MUMBAI (Reuters) – Google Inc(GOOGL.O) launched in India on Monday a $105 smartphone, the first device from its “Android One” initiative which is aimed at boosting sales in key emerging […]
|By TAP Staff| Emaar Properties said it’s seeking to raise as much as $1.58 billion from the initial public offering of its malls unit in the UAE’s biggest IPO since 2007. Emaar Malls Group PJSC plans to sell 2 billion of its founders’ shares, or about 15 percent of its equity, in a price range of 2.5 dirhams to 2.9 dirhams apiece, according to a company statement […]
|TAP Special| A lower oil price has now become both an economic and political necessity. This is in view of the complications introduced by the disruption of Middle East politics brought about by recent advances by the Islamic State in Syria and Iraq. Bank of America Merrill Lynch notes in a review of the regional political and economic situation that the threat of a radical Islamic Sunni […]
|By TAP Staff| Ramesh S. Ramakrishnan, Chairman of Transworld Group, a Dubai headquartered shipping, logistics and marine services provider, was honoured as “The Visionary and Businessman of the Decade” at the prestigious Maritime And Logistics Awards 2014 held in Mumbai, India on Friday. Ramakrishnan was recognised for his many pioneering and innovative initiatives, outstanding vontributions, visionary leadership and commitment to the development of maritime industry, both in […]
UAE. Two-thirds (66 percent) of millennial high-frequency travellers rate “unique rewards” as an important factor when choosing a hotel loyalty program, compared with just 43 percent of their older counterparts, according to a new Deloitte study, “Winning the Race for Guest Loyalty”. “Our study indicates that customers are waiting to see which program will provide them with the greatest relevant rewards before they commit to a brand, […]
Militants from the al-Qaida-inspired Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) taking aim at captured Iraqi soldiers Photo: AP In the wake of David Haines’ beheading, we have republished this piece explaining why Isil carry out their atrocities As Islamic State militants in Iraq and Syria butcher thousands of “infidels” and carry off their women and children into slavery, many in the West are inclined to see […]
U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said he was “extremely encouraged” by pledges of military assistance against Islamic State militants by countries inside and outside the Middle East and that some nations had offered ground troops. Kerry has been touring the Middle East to try to secure backing for U.S. efforts to build a coalition to fight the Islamic State militants who have grabbed territory in Syria […]
Jeremy Paxman, who is a quarter Scot, would have like a say in the future of the Union Photo: PA/BBC On Thursday, the English will discover what the Scots really think of them. Like the final row in a troubled marriage, it could be the event that serves to separate those we were once told God had joined together. The decision is not for those of us who […]
