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 …

  PARIS / AP Rihanna and Natalie Portman dressed to the nines. Jennifer Lawrence opted for jeans. And most of the stars passed unnoticed amid the sea of celebrities awash inside Paris’ Rodin Museum on Friday. The great equalizer for them all was a chance to glimpse one of the year’s biggest fashion spectacles: the hugely-awaited debut from Christian Dior’s …

  Paris / AFP If the idea of an “It girl influencer” sitting in a “frow” watching a “gender fluid” collection available in “see now, buy now” has you scratching your head, then you need our essential guide to fashion jargon. Here are a few basic terms to help you understand what is going on at Paris fashion week: FASHION …

  Relaxnews Lacoste creative director Felipe Oliveira Baptista gave Jean-Paul Goude free rein to rework the iconic crocodile logo that has adorned the brand’s polo shirts and ready-to-wear pieces for several decades. The new logo, capturing a kind of crocodile courting dance, will be used on garments in the brand’s “Holiday Collector” line, due out from November. Best remembered for …

  Paris / AFP They wear the world’s most beautiful and expensive clothes yet their faces are the picture of blank boredom. Why do fashion models always look so miserable? “You don’t smile. It is just not done,” said model Ty Ogunkoya as catwalk stars criss-crossed Paris for fashion week. In his decade as a top model, the 26-year-old Nigerian-born …

  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, was re-assured on the condition of the students who were injured on Thursday following a traffic accident in Mussafah. Sheikh Mohamed wished the students speedy recovery to return to their schools. Earlier, a …