October, 2020

• 20 October

  Contractual value of building permits in Sharjah hit AED6.9b

  

  DUBAI / WAM Sharjah Municipality (SM) announced that the contractual value of construction permits issued in the city of Sharjah since the beginning of this year until the end of September amounted to approximately AED6.9 billion, and the engineering and buildings sector outputs witnessed a remarkable increase of 26% during the third quarter compared to the second quarter of this ...

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• 20 October

  Enoc opens two marine service stations in Dubai

  

  DUBAI / WAM Enoc group opened a new marine station in Umm Suqeim, and will open a second station at Dubai Harbour, an integrated lifestyle development set by the Arabian Gulf, in November, marking Enoc’s sixth marine station in the UAE. Speaking on the occasion, Saif Humaid Al Falasi, Group CEO of Enoc, said, “Dubai has a vibrant marine transportation ...

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• 20 October

  SEWGA prepares plan to develop central region

  SHARJAH / WAM Sharjah Electricity, Water and Gas Authority (SEWGA) has prepared a plan to carry out the resolution of HH Dr Sheikh Sultan bin Muhammad Al Qasimi, Supreme Council Member and Ruler of Sharjah, to provide electricity, water and gas services in the Central Region’s cities and districts. Dr Engineer Rashid Al Leem, Chairman of SEWGA said that teams ...

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• 20 October

  Dubai participates in ‘initiative’ for carbon-free future

  

  DUBAI / WAM Abdulla Mohammed Al Basti, Secretary-General of the Executive Council of Dubai, and Vice Chairman of the Steering Committee of the C40 Cities Network for South and West Asia, confirmed that the Emirate of Dubai has made significant progress within the areas of sustainable development, clean energy, and green economy, in line with the vision of His Highness ...

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• 19 October

  Australia seeks clarity on coal import

  

  Bloomberg The Australian government is seeking clarification from Beijing on reports that China has suspended purchases of Australian coal amid heightened diplomatic tensions between the two countries. Chinese power stations and steel mills have been verbally told to immediately stop using Australian coal, people familiar with the order said, asking not to be identified as the matter is private. Ports ...

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• 19 October

  ConocoPhillips to buy Concho for $9.7 billion

  

  Bloomberg ConocoPhillips agreed to buy Concho Resources Inc for about $9.7 billion in stock, the largest shale industry deal since the collapse in energy demand earlier this year and one that will create a heavyweight driller in America’s most prolific oil field. Investors will get 1.46 Conoco shares for each Concho share, the companies said in a statement. The transaction ...

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• 19 October

  Poland’s PGE to invest $19b for zero-emissions goal

  

  Bloomberg Poland’s largest utility plans to spend 75 billion zloty ($19.4 billion) by 2030 as it aims to become climate-neutral by mid-century. PGE SA seeks to invest half of that amount in renewable energy sources, including offshore and onshore wind as well as solar power plants, it said in a statement. Its 2050 strategy is conditional on a planned spinoff ...

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• 19 October

  Would Joe Biden be a friend to British PM?

  

  The US election is weeks away and the doomsayers for the UK’s relationship with a post-Trump America are out in force. Joe Biden is “an Irish-American with no particular love for Boris Johnson or Brexit Britain” thundered a Times of London column last week. Other Conservative voices predict that a Democrat victory would be disastrous for the Brits and end ...

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• 19 October

  Who are ‘Good Censors’ on internet

  

  When talking among themselves, Silicon Valley big shots sometimes say weird things. In an internal presentation in March 2018, Google executives were asked to imagine their company acting as a “Good Censor,” in order to limit the impact of users “behaving badly.” In a 2016 internal video, Nick Foster, Google’s head of design, envisioned a “goal-driven ledger” of all users’ ...

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• 19 October

  Do give China cheer for making polluters pay

  China’s ambitious pledge to decarbonise by 2060 requires the world’s top polluter to dramatically raise the cost of spewing greenhouse gases into the atmosphere. A long-awaited national carbon market that is finally set to begin trading this year will be less demanding and more limited than initially anticipated, if draft plans are a guide. It’s worth welcoming anyway. Beijing could ...

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