Dubai / Emirates Business Businesses in Dubai expect the market to hold steady through the second quarter of 2016 after the first quarter saw strong performance across the manufacturing, services, transport and construction sectors helping the emirate offset the impact of the slowdown felt across regional markets. The quarterly business survey conducted by the Department of Economic Development (DED) ...

  Dubai / Emirates Business Several Telecommunications Regulatory Authority’s (TRA) executives have made eight field visits to its customers’ centers since the launching of the ‘Hathreen’ initiative in October 2015. The initiative aims to promote direct communication with customers, establish proper ways to receive and welcome visitors, identify the best methods to deliver services to ensure quality and satisfaction, and ...

  Dubai / Emirates Business Volunteer Emirates, one of Dubai Cares’ most popular volunteering initiatives, has kicked off with the first edition of 2016 taking place at the National Charity School for Girls in Maysaloon, Sharjah. The first of four planned editions for the year saw125 volunteers from the UAE come together to help enrich the school’s learning environment by ...

  KUWAIT / Reuters State-owned refiner Kuwait National Petroleum Co (KNPC) has signed the first tranche of financing for its multi-billion-dollar Clean Fuels Project, a major plank of the country’s economic development plan. The tranche, provided by local banks and lasting for 10 years, is worth 1.2 billion dinars ($3.98 billion) and led by National Bank of Kuwait and Kuwait ...

  KHOBAR / Reuters The government-owned Public Investment Fund (PIF) replaced four of its representatives on the board of Ma’aden, the Gulf’s largest miner, in which it owns 49.99 percent. Saudi Arabia’s Mining Co (Ma’aden) said its board now includes the chairman of state oil giant Saudi Aramco, Khalid al-Falih and prominent Saudi businesswoman Lubna al-Olayan. Besides Falih and Olayan, ...

  DUBAI / Reuters Qatari telecom operator Ooredoo reported a 75 percent rise in first-quarter net profit driven by foreign exchange gains from Indonesia and Myanmar. The earnings of the former monopoly, which operates in about a dozen territories across the Middle East, Africa and Asia, have been volatile since mid-2013 when foreign exchange losses and plunging earnings from Iraq ...

  New Delhi / Bloomberg India’s top court extended a ban on registration of new large diesel-powered vehicles in New Delhi to curb pollution, dealing a blow to automakers such as Daimler AG’s Mercedes-Benz and Toyota Motor Corp. The prohibition, imposed in December, will continue until the next hearing on May 9, said Gopal Subramaniam, a lawyer appearing for Mercedes ...

  New Delhi / Bloomberg IndiGo, India’s largest airline, posted fourth-quarter profit exceeding analysts’ estimates as a slump in crude oil cut fuel costs, helping the carrier offer cheaper fares and garner a bigger share of the world’s fastest-growing air travel market. Net income in the three months through March was almost unchanged at 5.79 billion rupees ($87.3 million) compared ...

  Tokyo / AFP Nissan said it will recall more than 3.8 million vehicles, mostly in North America, because the passenger-side airbag may not deploy in a crash due to a defect in the seat sensor. The Japanese automaker said the global recall would cover 2013-2017 including some Nissan Altima, Leaf, Maxima, Murano, Pathfinder, Sentra and Rogue models. “This recall ...

  Tokyo / Bloomberg Japan’s Sharp Corp. will post a net income loss of 250 billion yen ($2.3 billion) for the year through March, according to the Mainichi newspaper. The company had previously said it expects a loss of 170 billion yen on an operating level. Sluggish sales at the firm’s display and solar battery units were given as reasons ...