News

  DUBAI / WAM The Department of Community Development (DCD) in Abu Dhabi has concluded the first phase of the Virtual Reality (VR) initiative for the elderly, in cooperation with the Family Development Foundation (FDF). The experiment witnessed the participation of senior citizens and residents and was designed to explore the impact of VR and modern technology in strengthening communication ...

  Bloomberg Italy is trying to lock in historically low financing costs at the start of a year where inflationary and political pressures could spell an end to super easy borrowing conditions. Rome offered a new 30-year bond via banks, kicking off Europe’s first sovereign syndicated deal of 2022. Initial price guidance was at eight basis points above comparable bonds, ...

  Bloomberg Alphabet Inc’s Google was slapped with a record French fine of $170 million by the nation’s privacy watchdog, together with a 60 million-euro fine for Meta Platforms Inc’s Facebook, over the way the companies manage cookies. CNIL, France’s data protection authority, issued the companies with a three-month ultimatum “to provide internet users located in France with a means ...

  Bloomberg Chile’s economic boom is proving more resilient than many had forecast, with activity expanding faster than expected in November for the eighth time in the past nine months. The Imacec index, a proxy for gross domestic product, rises 14.3% in November from the year earlier, above the 12.9% median estimate of analysts surveyed by Bloomberg. For the month, ...

  Bloomberg UK automakers expect sales to rebound this year as the semiconductor shortage eases and demand for battery-powered vehicles grows. The Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT) estimates new-car registrations in Britain will climb 19% to 1.96 million in 2022. The group said it will update that forecast — formulated shortly before the emergence of the highly transmissible ...

  ABU DHABI / WAM BBC Travel, a designated BBC portal for travel stories, has praised on Thursday the UAE’s “resilience” during the Covid-19 global pandemic. “Even as the Omicron variant has parts of Europe on lockdown again, the UAE has managed, so far, to stay open to most travellers while keeping infections low,” said the report headlined “Why is ...

  AJMAN / WAM His Highness Sheikh Humaid bin Rashid Al Nuaimi, Supreme Council Member and Ruler of Ajman, approved AED2.417 billion for Ajman Government’s 2022 budget. His Highness Sheikh Ammar bin Humaid Al Nuaimi, Crown Prince of Ajman and Chairman of Ajman Executive Council, said the Ajman Government’s budget embodies the vision of the emirate’s leadership and its plans ...

DUBAI / WAM The World’s Coolest Winter campaign, which celebrates the UAE’s most beautiful tourism destinations, is extending humanitarian support to more than 100,000 refugees and people in need through a new humanitarian initiative called Warm Winter. The campaign will collaborate with Galaxy Racer’s Content Creator AboFlah, to support hundreds of thousands of refugees and families in need in Africa ...

  Sharjah / WAM The Central Region Department of the Sharjah Electricity, Water and Gas Authority (Sewa) implemented a number of development projects during 2021. As many as 80 projects have been implemented for network modifications and the installation of approximately 50 transformers in the central region. Cables have been extended to implement these projects with up to 197,624 km ...

  ABU DHABI / WAM Reef, the largest operator of delivery kitchens, logistics, and proximity hubs in North America, and Americana Group (Americana), the largest food & beverage operator in the Middle East region, announced a joint venture to open cloud kitchens that will operate Reef, Americana and third party brands throughout the Middle East and North Africa. “As Reef ...