March, 2016

• 29 March

  UAE giving right push to knowledge economy

  The UAE is on track to usher in a knowledge-based economy. Recently, it adopted the Science, Technology and Innovation’s Higher Policy, which includes 100 national initiatives in the educational, health, energy, transportation, space and water sectors. AED300 billion is being pumped into this ambitious plan. A knowledge-based economy has four requisites: education and training, information infrastructure, economic incentive and institutional ...

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• 29 March

  The clean-energy deadline is sooner than we think

  Everyone knows that at some point, if we want to contain climate change, we’ll have to stop building polluting power plants. New research suggests that moment may come much sooner than we realize. In some areas, the world is making progress toward reducing harmful emissions. Earlier this year, the Business Council for Sustainable Energy reported that the use of coal-fired ...

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• 29 March

  Obama exudes optimism for Democrats

  President Barack Obama’s surging approval rating is becoming a major plot line of the 2016 election. Obama has reached 53 percent approval from Gallup, a three- year high, and he’s been at or above 50 percent in that survey for four weeks. HuffPollster’s aggregate of all current polls gives Obama an average approval rating of 49.2 percent,compared with 47.3 percent ...

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• 29 March

  Investors are in denial about China’s slump

  

  As you’ve no doubt noticed, companies and investors around the world are feeling the pain of China’s economic slowdown. They’re worried about all the layoffs, cuts to surplus capacity and deleveraging to come on the mainland, which will further depress demand. The natural temptation is to blame China for the world’s woes. But outsiders should focus just as much on ...

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• 29 March

  Is China exporting its environmental problems?

  One of the best pieces of news in years is that China’s finally getting serious about cleaning up its environment. Renewable energy use is growing rapidly while coal use is declining. Air pollution targets are being tightened. Contaminated farmland is finally getting high-level attention. Yet all that good could be undermined if China simply exports its environmental problems elsewhere. A ...

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• 29 March

  Testing Republicans’ professed love of guns

  

  Beneath a photograph of an AR-15 with all the trimmings, an online petition calling for the open carry of firearms at the Republican National Convention in Cleveland in July (and possibly intended as parody) has acquired more than 40,000 signatures. USA Today reported that the petition is “of unknown origin.” Because extreme gun culture excels at self- parody, it’s dangerous ...

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• 29 March

  Crude declines, weighing on stocks as govt bonds advance

  

  BLOOMBERG Oil led commodities lower, pulling down the currencies of raw-material producing nations and helping lift government bonds. Futures on the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index retreated as crude slipped through $39 a barrel in New York in a fourth day of losses. Euro-area sovereign securities climbed as lower energy prices dimmed the outlook for inflation and the European Central ...

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• 29 March

  Emirates Securities Market up by 0.72 percent

  

  ABU DHABI / EMIRATES BUSINESS The Emirates Securities Market Index has increased by 0.72% to close at 4425.32 points. Accordingly the Market Capitalization has gained AED 5.12 billion attaining AED 717.84 billion. A total of 217.7 Million Shares were traded with a total value of AED 320.86 million during the trading session of 29-03-2016 through 3663 transactions. The number of companies which ...

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• 29 March

  Credit Suisse hires Lazard’s Cohen for retail banking deals

  

  Bloomberg Credit Suisse Group AG hired Jeffrey Cohen from Lazard Ltd. as the firm seeks to expand its retail and consumer products investment-banking business. Cohen, 52, is a vice chairman based in New York and reports to Jens Welter, global head of retail and consumer products, the Zurich-based firm said in a staff memo, a copy of which Bloomberg obtained ...

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• 29 March

  Saudi Arabia Central Bank net foreign assets fall by 1.7pc

  

  Dubai / Reuters Net foreign assets at Saudi Arabia’s Central Bank dropped 1.7 percent from the previous month to 2.19 trillion riyals ($584 billion) in February, central bank data showed on Tuesday. Assets fell 17.3 percent from a year earlier to their lowest level since May 2012. They reached a record high of $737 billion in August 2014 before starting ...

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