News

  AFP Japan on Monday posted its first half-year trade surplus since the 2011 Fukushima nuclear disaster, after the accident sent energy import bills soaring and led to a string of deficits. The world’s third largest economy logged a January-June surplus of 1.8 trillion yen ($17 billion), against a 1.69 trillion yen deficit in the same period last year, the ...

  AFP An Australian couple are raffling their tropical island resort and say they hope whoever holds the winning US$49 ticket loves warm weather. Doug and Sally Beitz moved to the remote Micronesian island of Kosrae in the 1990s, but now want to return to Australia to enjoy being grandparents. Instead of selling their 16-room Kosrae Nautilus Resort to a ...

AFP Ramped-up international sanctions on North Korea have inadvertently disrupted the already challenging work of aid agencies there, those in the field say, with risk-averse banks refusing to transfer funds needed to keep operations running. Aid shipments have also been held up or blocked indefinitely at Chinese customs in confusion over what is covered by the significantly upgraded UN sanctions ...

  Emirates Business Aldar Properties PJSC (Aldar) — Abu Dhabi’s leading listed property development, investment and management company — views Al Ain as a key expansion market for its retail portfolio, driven by its significant local population and vibrant business landscape. According to Urban Planning Council’s “Plan Al Ain 2030”, the city population will witness a 3 fold- increase over ...

  Emirates Business Dubai Land Department (DLD) has unveiled its brand-new revamped website, featuring an innovative and modern easy-browsing system, in addition to providing a range of services tailored to a range of customer demographics. The new system is embedded with options for six major global languages, namely Arabic, English, Spanish, Chinese, French and Russian. The announcement was made at ...

  Dubai / Emirates Business du, the region’s first full member operator of the Global Certification Forum (GCF), welcomed regional and global telcos to the first MENA standardisation conference in association with GCF. A series of knowledge sharing workshops, held at Jumeirah Creekside Hotel on July 19 and 20, presented topics related to GCF such as regulations and certification, live ...

  Emirates Business Jumeirah Golf Estates, the leading residential golf community, successfully launched Phase 2 of its award-winning Redwood Park community to a marketplace of eager buyers. The much anticipated sales event, which saw a major portion of the townhouses within Redwood Park sell out, welcomed a number of purchasers – with buyer confidence boosted by the recent announcement that ...

  Emirates Business Increased demand for energy efficient lighting solutions in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) is spurring fresh growth for the LED market, as the sustainable and long-lasting luminaire looks to dominate the regional architectural and public lighting landscape. Analysts Frost & Sullivan estimate that the GCC’s LED (light-emitting diode) market was worth US$900 million in 2015, comprising 38 ...

  Jeddah / TNS Secretary General of the Committee on Information and Awareness in Saudi Banks, Talaat Hafeth, said that transactions made using the Mada System for sales points and ATMs amounted to SR58.6 billion this Ramadan, marking a growth rate of 8 percent compared to the previous year. He said that the highest number of sales made in a ...

  Jeddah / TNS The Arab Tourism Experts Union, a tourism body of experts seeking to promote tourism among the Arab countries, selected Riyadh as its headquarters. The union also decided to open branch headquarters in a number of Arab countries. The countries that represent the general commission of the union include Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Iraq, Yemen, Oman, Tunisia, Algeria, ...