News

  Reuters Saudi-based ACWA Power expects to win further business in South Africa this year as the power plant developer rides out concerns about the country’s currency to tap into its need for more electricity, the firm’s chief executive said. South Africa’s economy has been hit hard by a significant fall in the rand’s value against the dollar, while businesses ...

  Hong Kong / Tribune News Service In a landmark for Asia, Hong Kong has been named the world’s most competitive economy for 2016, moving from second place last year to push the United States into third spot behind Switzerland. But while Asia might top the world in business, a separate report has shown the Nordic nations lead in life ...

  Tokyo / Bloomberg Japan’s peak power prices may ease as the country’s solar-power expansion taps scorching summers to displace fossil fuels. The resource-poor country, which has boosted solar capacity more than sevenfold since 2011, may follow a similar path as Germany, where electricity prices fell along with fossil fuel use during high consumption periods, according to Trevor Sikorski, an ...

  Seoul / AFP South Korea on Thursday cut its key interest rate to a record low 1.25 percent in a surprise move to address concerns over the impact of corporate restructuring on the sluggish economy. The Bank of Korea’s 0.25 percentage point reduction was the first in 12 months but there had been little hint of such a move, ...

  New Delhi / Bloomberg India will introduce competitive auctions for wind farms this year in a bid to fulfill Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s goal for 60 gigawatts of capacity by 2022. Varsha Joshi, joint secretary at the new and renewable energy ministry, said the auctions for 1 gigawatt of capacity will start in two months and have a minimum ...

  Tokyo / AFP Conservation activists on Thursday showed undercover video they say suggests that a “huge loophole” in Japanese law enforcement is hindering efforts to rein in illegal ivory trading. Experts say most illegal ivory heads for China, where it is seen as a status symbol. By some estimates the country accounts for as much as 70 percent of ...

  LONDON / EMIRATES BUSINESS United Arab Emirates is ranked as the 61st country in the Global Peace Index (GPI) 2016 released on Wednesday, and is ranked third out of the 20 countries in the Middle East and North Africa region. The tenth edition of the GPI highlights a stark and growing inequality in global levels of peacefulness as the ...

  RAS AL-KHAIMAH / WAM Julphar, Gulf Pharmaceutical Industries, has launched its latest Continuous Medical Education, CME, programme for pharmacists, “JUMP” (Julphar Updates on Modern Pharmacy) at the Park Hyatt Hotel in Dubai. The launch event was attended by over 200 pharmacists from the UAE and was an opportunity for to address the audience on pharmacists’ responsibility in the art ...

  ABU DHABI / WAM His Highness Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi and Deputy Supreme Commander of the UAE Armed Forces, exchanged greetings over the phone with His Highness Sheikh Nawaf Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah, Crown Prince of the State of Kuwait, and the Grand Imam Dr Ahmed Al-Tayeb of Al-Azhar Al-Sharif, on the occasion ...

  DUBAI / Emirates Business The Roads and Transport Authority (RTA) scooped the ‘Leadership Award for Outstanding Contribution towards Building Smart Cities Award’. Abdullah Ali Al Madani, CEO of RTA’s Corporate Technology Support Services Sector, received the award in recognition of his outstanding performance and strenuous efforts towards transforming Dubai into the smartest city worldwide within three years. An announcement ...