Abu Dhabi / EMIRATES BUSINESS ’Pakistan-based JS Bank has officially opened its first branch office outside of its home country, in the Kingdom of Bahrain, targeting the GCC, and eventually the wider Middle East and North Africa (MENA). The announcement follows the awarding of a wholesale conventional banking license to JS Bank by the Central Bank of Bahrain (CBB) last ...

Abu Dhabi / EMIRATES BUSINESS The Abu Dhabi Education Council (ADEC) and Mubadala Development Company (Mubadala), the Abu Dhabi-based investment and development company, has announced the commencement of Live Science, a joint initiative to bring together aspiring engineers, scientists and curious UAE youth. Live Science launched at Mushrif Central Park in Abu Dhabi. The event welcomes Abu Dhabi’s youth to ...

Sunaina Rana / EMIRATES BUSINESS SAP SE and Lenovo has announced a multidimensional partnership to develop cloud solutions in China. The creation is an innovation between SAP HANA platform and Lenovo systems, both the entities would jointly implement global go-to-market programmes. The arrangement is anticipated to significantly reinforce a current association and further combine SAP solutions with Lenovo’s data center. ...

RITIKA SHARMA / EMIRATES BUSINESS Jebel Ali Free Zone, Jafza, the flagship Free Zone of Dubai and trade and logistics hub for the wider Middle East region, is home to hundreds of companies from SMEs to big business houses. In recent years as much as have the trade figures increased, the frequency of business travel has increased too. The business ...

DUBAI / EMIRATES BUSINESS The overall investment market is not looking very promising due to fluctuating oil prices and financial meltdown in various industries, but Dubai property firm Aqua Properties is sure to make good out of even dismal market. In a bid to achieve its aim of providing an opportunity to individuals to own their own home in the ...

Jerusalem / Bloomberg Israel’s natural gas companies and Noble Energy Inc. have signed the first contract to supply natural gas from the Leviathan site offshore Israel. Partners in Leviathan, Israel’s largest field, will supply 6 billion cubic meters of gas over 18 years to two power stations owned by local electricity producer Edeltech Group, according to an e-mailed statement. Under ...

Lagos / AFP Onele Vincent and his colleagues are fed up with the rising cost of living. So they decided to do something about it and led a noisy protest at a top Lagos hotel where they work. “Things are more expensive, rent is high, food is high,” Vincent said last week in the lobby of the Southern Sun hotel, ...

Michael Schuman special to emirates business All of the pieces are in place for a financial crisis in China. The currency is weakening and, if left to the market, would likely plunge further. Capital outflows have hit record levels. Reserves are in retreat. A dramatic selloff on Shanghai’s stock market has wiped out all the gains from 2015’s bull run. ...

Although South Korea is stepping up efforts to become an innovative and entrepreneurial economy, entrepreneurial possibilities remain slim for the majority of the population. President Park Geun-hye began her term in 2013 with plans to create a “creative economy, » driven by a vibrant startup culture in the tech industry. Since then, the Park administration has launched a number of ...

A world “drowning in oversupply” of oil and other commodities could make 2016 a super-cheap year for Asia’s major resource importers such as China and Japan. However, the drag on growth for commodity exporters is putting yet more pressure on emerging markets, according to the World Bank. In a January 26 report, the Washington-based lender cut its forecast for crude ...