ALKESH SHARMA / EMIRATES BUSINESS Emirates’ Information and Technology industry is at an all-time high, courtesy the UAE government’s progressive policies and presence of world-class IT growth catalysts in the country. It expects a Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) of nearly 3.6 percent over the period of2015-2019, suggests a Business Monitor International (BMI) Research report. According to the survey, the …

Sunaina Rana / Emirates Business As the region gears up for the 21st edition of Gulfood, Egypt’s food and beverage industry is all set to showcase and promote its halal products. Around 167 Egyptian companies are expected to participatein the event, which is scheduled from February 21-25, at Dubai World Trade Centre. “With more than 85,000 food and beverage, wholesale, …

ALKESH SHARMA / EMIRATES BUSINESS Dubai-based eHostingDataFort (eHDF) has joined hands with IT-giant Cisco, an initiative that would ensure better services to its clients through Application-Centric Infrastructure (ACI). ACI would unify all the component of IT infrastructure — networking, storage, compute, network services, applications, security —into a single, dynamic entityand facilitate improved operational efficiency, productivity, scalability and improved security. This …

Sharjah / Emirates Business Al Qasba Turkish Nights wrapped up its activities in Al Qasba on Friday. The ten day event turned Al Qasba’s walkways into a Turkish Bazaar scattered with kiosks selling Turkish goods, beverages and souvenirs and ran from February 4-13, receiving a massive turnout from both families and individuals. The Turkish nights were held for the first …

Abu Dhabi / Emirates Business An innovative initiative for converting waste cooking oil into biodiesel has been launched by Tadweer, the Center of Waste Management, Abu Dhabi, in collaboration with the Masdar Institute of Science and Technology, an independent research-driven graduate-level university focused on advanced energy and sustainable technologies. Working with Masdar Institute, the Facilities Management Company Khidmah and Averda …

Bloomberg Crude oil surged the most in seven years, rebounding from the lowest in more than a decade as equities rallied. Volatility jumped. Futures rose 12 percent in New York and 11 percent in London. U.S. stocks halted a five-day slide that dragged global equities into a bear market. Producers are ready to work together and won’t make cuts unless …

Bloomberg Stock picker David Tepper increased his firm’s U.S. equity holdings by 56 percent last quarter, led by a jump in his Alphabet Inc. position and new stakes in pipeline companies. The billionaire founder of $18 billion Appaloosa Management bought 5.1 million shares of Energy Transfer Partners worth $173.5 million as of December 31, and 9.4 million shares of Kinder …

Bloomberg SunEdison Inc., the worst performing renewable-energy company in the past year, fell to a 14-year low as it contends with two legal disputes. On Tuesday it will face a hearing to defend its planned $1.9 billion acquisition of Vivint Solar Inc. A judge has ordered it to refrain from shifting some assets during a lawsuit over a failed acquisition …

MANILA / AP A summit next week between Southeast Asian leaders and President Barack Obama is unlikely to deliver any big economic prizes, but will allow the American side to press the advantages of joining a Pacific trade pact that doesn’t include China. The meetings at Rancho Mirage in California set for Monday and Tuesday will be the first summit …

Washington / AFP In freezing President Barack Obama’s plan to tackle carbon emissions, the US Supreme Court delivered a blow to a global climate deal — but experts say that US commitments to the deal will survive. Obama’s “Clean Power Plan” would require the power sector to cut carbon dioxide emissions by at least 32 percent compared to 2005 levels …