Reuters Saudi Arabian Mining Co (Ma’aden) said on Sunday that a subsidiary had started commercial production at a new bauxite mine and alumina refinery which could begin exporting some of its output in coming months. Production will reach maximum annual capacity of 1.8 million tonnes of alumina by early 2017, meeting Ma’aden’s domestic requirement of 1.4 million tonnes for …

  Reuters Saudi Arabia’s securities regulator has suspended trade in the shares of the kingdom’s listed telecommunications operators after the government decided to extend their licences, the Capital Market Authority (CMA) said. The CMA said it was acting after the government decided to extend the licence of Zain Saudi Arabia for 15 years, and also allow other telecommunications firms to …

  San Francisco / AFP A high-profile Google event on Tuesday is widely expected to show a new emphasis on hardware, challenging rivals Apple and Amazon and launching a new strategy for the online giant. While the company has offered no official preview, it is expected to unveil a new line of Google-branded smartphones, a tablet and a home virtual …

  Bloomberg Apple Inc. is in negotiations with Sharp Corp. to secure organic LED displays for the iPhone maker’s next-generation of devices, a person familiar with the matter said. Any OLED supply agreement would depend on the Osaka-based company’s output capacity, said the person, who asked not to be identified because talks aren’t public. The discussions stem from Apple’s desire …

  Bloomberg New rules of the road for robot cars coming out of Washington this week could lead to the eventual extinction of one of the defining archetypes of the past century: the human driver. While banning people from driving may seem like something from a Kurt Vonnegut short story, it’s the logical endgame of a technology that could dramatically …

  Bloomberg It’s official. BlackBerry Ltd., the Canadian company that invented the smartphone and addicted legions of road warriors to the “CrackBerry,” has stopped making its iconic handsets. Finally conceding defeat in a battle lost long ago to Apple Inc. and Samsung Electronics Co., BlackBerry is handing over production of the phones to overseas partners and turning its full attention …

  Dubai / Emirates Business The Middle East market for security, safety, and fire protection is on track for double digit growth over the next four years, as regional governments and the private sector look for improved technologies to better protect assets, people, businesses, and borders. Led by the Gulf nations of Saudi Arabia and the UAE, regional countries are …

  Sharjah / Emirates Business Officials from the UAE Board on Books for Young People (UAEBBY), the national branch of the International Board on Books for Young People (IBBY), recently visited the UAE Red Crescent Authority moderated Emirati-Jordanian refugee camp at the Mrajeeb Al Fhood in Jordan. Representatives from Knowledge without Borders (KwB) accompanied the officials, with the delegation’s visit …

  Dubai / Emirates Business With over a third of the world’s population projected to own a smartphone by next year — an estimated 2.6 billion smartphone users in the world — it is likely that almost all Middle East-based consumers own — or will own — at least one smartphone. So it’s great news that GITEX Shopper 2016, the …

  Dubai / Emirates Business Azizi Developments, a leading UAE-based real estate developer with global reach into international markets, completed the official handover to owners of its Dubai-based property development — Azizi Feirouz Residence — a residential G+11 building with 99 one to three-bedroom units located in the new urban development of Al Furjan. Since then, tenants have begun to …