Bloomberg The United Arab Emirates is seeking to establish Budapest as a bridgehead for onward flights in a move that could allow two of the Gulf region’s biggest airlines to carry people between central Europe and the USA. The application for so-called fifth-freedom rights concerns services to two points beyond Hungary, Saif Al Suwaidi, director general of the UAE’s General ...

Sharjah / EMIRATES BUSINESS Bukhatir Education Advancement & Management (Beam) has been recognised for its pursuit of academic excellence through classroom technology and innovation after it was presented with a Promethean Centre of Excellence Award, thereby making two Beam schools the only ones in the Middle East to have attained the prestigious accolade. Robert Speed, Promethean Head of Middle East ...

Dubai / Emirates Business Lacklustre growth in the West coupled with a slowdown in China and Russia means global fragrance houses are training their sights on the Middle East and Africa, with twelve of the world’s top 18 ready to line-up at Beautyworld Middle East 2016. According to analysts Euromonitor International (EMI), The Middle East and Africa (MEA) will be ...

Ritika Sharma / Emirates Business From five star luxury yachts to eco-boats and personal submarines – the ongoing International Dubai Boat show has attracted the latest innovations in the GCC’s marine industry. The range of water crafts being exhibited at the show are a reflection of variety and novelty in the region’s industry. The 24th edition of region’s leading marine ...

Dubai / Emirates Business Ladybird Early Learning Centre is set to change the face of pre-school education in Dubai when it opens its doors to little learners aged from 6 months to 5 years-old in July 2016. Located within Jumeirah Village Circle, the warm and welcoming purpose-built centre boasts state-of-the-art, environmentally-friendly facilities, and will follow the UK’s Early Years Foundation ...

Sunaina Rana / Emirates Business The Italian luxury car brand Maserati, has finally introduced its first SUV in its hundred-year history: the Levante. Maserati’s new car’s name has been inspired by the wind. The Levante is a warm Mediterranean wind that can change from a light breeze to an irresistible natural force in an instant, mirroring the character of the ...

Bloomberg Almost 100 million households worldwide may be powered by solar panels by 2020, according to Bloomberg New Energy Finance. The off-grid solar market has grown to $700 million now from non-existent less than a decade ago, according to a report Thursday from the London-based research company and the World Bank Group’s Lighting Global. They expect that to swell to ...

Muscat / EMIRATES BUSINESS Oman Power and Water Procurement Company (WPC) — a member of Nama Group — the sole procurer of all power generation and water desalination capacity in the Sultanate, is going to sign a number of agreements to establish the Barka Desalination Plant (Phase 4) with a consortium of ITOCHU Corporation, SUEZ, ENGIE and WJ Towell & ...

New Delhi / Bloomberg Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s message to OPEC is come and store crude oil in India. Modi’s February 29 budget exempts foreign companies from federal income taxes on permitted local sales of oil kept in caverns India has been building. That may spur the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries to fill the bunkers, allowing Modi to ...

Beijing / Bloomberg China’s most prolific Internet dealmaker has issued a stern warning about the dangers facing investors in “lawless” venture capital and startup markets, urging regulators to step in and curb irrational investment and asset bubbles. Individual investors lured by promises of extravagant returns are flooding into the high-risk realm of venture capital, Fan Bao, head of China Renaissance ...