News

  Tokyo / AFP Japan’s prime minister said on Wednesday that he will delay a consumption tax hike that threatened the fragile economy, but analysts said the move highlighted his failure to spark growth. Shinzo Abe announced his decision to members of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) in televised remarks ahead of a press briefing expected around 6:00 pm ...

  London / AFP India’s Tata Steel on Wednesday completed the part-sale of its European assets, safeguarding 4,800 jobs, but thousands more are threatened with no buyer found for the rest of the business. Tata Steel UK announced completion of the sale of its European piping business to Greybull Capital, a British-based family investment firm for an undisclosed sum. The ...

  Beijing / bloomberg Upstart smartphone maker Xiaomi has bought nearly 1,500 patents from US technology giant Microsoft, the companies and reports said, as part of a “global partnership” that will help the Chinese firm expand outside its home market. The patents cover wireless communications, video, cloud and multi-media technologies, Bloomberg News quoted a Xiaomi spokeswoman as saying. “This will ...

  Jakarta / Tribune News Service Farmers in the Pelalawan village of Pelalawan, Pangkalan Kerinci, used to employ the slash and burn method when it came to clearing their land for farmland or rice fields. That approach triggered massive fires as the soil in the village was combustible, especially with peatland at a depth of around 3-9 meters. In a ...

  RITIKA SHARMA / Emirates Business As technology continues to change the way in which payments are made across the Middle East, improved application performance and flexibility are expected to play an important role in making the region’s digital economy mature. Experts at the Cards and Payments Middle East, and its co-located exhibitions — Retail Show Middle East 2016 and ...

  ABU DHABI / Emirates Business Etihad Airways, the national airline of the United Arab Emirates, invited more than 500 local and international suppliers, to a major conference in Abu Dhabi aimed at transforming the traditional buyer and supplier relationship. Hosted by the company’s Procurement and Supply Management team, the theme of the event was ‘Transformation’. The mandate set for ...

  Dubai / Emirates Business Investbridge Capital — an independent alternative asset management and advisory firm based in the Dubai International Financial Centre (DIFC) covering emerging growth markets — has announced that it arranged and advised on a cross-border US$25 million (AED 92 million) convertible loan by the International Financial Corporation (IFC) to Carbon Holdings. The latter is an Egyptian ...

  Dubai / Emirates Business The Telecommunications Regulatory Authority (TRA) has issued a directive ordering major operators Etisalat and du to put a ceiling, or hard cap, on their respective mobile data bundles in a bid to protect consumers from unwittingly incurring disproportionately higher additional charges. Directive (1) of 2016 applies to all mobile data bundles whether included as part ...

  ALKESH SHARMA Emirates Business ‘Go Green’ is the new corporate mantra of enterprises worldwide in their eco-friendly pursuit to ensure a sustainable tomorrow. Following this green path, UAE-based Al Ghurair Investment — one of the largest diversified industrial enterprises in the Middle East — has unveiled its environmental and sustainability plan for the next three years. Various entities, active ...

  Dubai / Emirates Business National Industries Park (NIP) and Proclad have signed an agreement to invest and develop plots in the National Industries Park to a tune of approximately AED 500 million and develop 1.5 million sq. ft. of industrial area specializing in Products and services related to the Oil and Gas Industry. Proclad currently owns four factories in ...