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Dubai / WAM Dubai Islamic Bank (DIB) has announced the distribution of a 45% cash dividend for 2015, a 12.5% increase from the previous year, following the conclusion of its Annual General Meeting (AGM). The assembly approved the bank’s 2015 financial statements. For the 12 months ended December 31, 2015, DIB reported a net profit of AED3.83 billion, a significant ...

RITIKA SHARMA Emirates Business A whopping US$1 billion in startup investment funds will be present at the STEP conference, which will host more than 200 start ups and exhibitors, organisers announced. STEP, the largest tech and interactive gathering in the Middle East to be held in Dubai next month, plans to host more than 5,000 industry leaders and entrepreneurs from ...

Alkesh Sharma Emirates Business Credit cards could be like double-edged swords. They can come to your aid in dire financial situations, but can also land you in soup if used injudiciously. And prudence calls for being aware. It is this awareness that is lacking here! Known globally for the wide circulation of plastic money, residents in the UAE have a ...

Dubai / WAM Hani Rashid Al Hamli, Secretary-General of the Dubai Economic Council (DEC) has said that Dubai has adopted an “innovation” approach for its development agenda, and there are several institutions in Dubai that are actively working to stoke this trend and turn the city towards being at the forefront of the world’s economies in innovation. He also said ...

Sharjah / WAM Sharjah Investment and Development Authority (Shurooq) is preparing to launch the 10th edition of Sharjah Food Festival. It will take place from March 31 to April 9 in four locations across Sharjah: Al Qasba, Al Majaz Waterfront, Al Montazah and Heart of Sharjah. This year, the festival will include live cooking shows, cookery competitions, entertainment and activities ...

Bloomberg Democrat Hillary Clinton and Republican Donald Trump emerged from Super Tuesday as the odds-on favourites to capture their parties’ presidential nominations, setting up a White House showdown between a longtime political stalwart and an electoral novice whose candidacy has rocked the Republican party. The pair each won seven states on their way to commanding victories yesterday, as Clinton used ...

Tukey / AFP Turkey on Wednesday denied claims that it was blocking NATO vessels deployed in the Aegean Sea from launching a mission to help stop the flow of migrants from Turkish shores to EU territory. “Turkey has been the mastermind” of the proposed mission— details of which have been held up by discord between Turkey and Greece—foreign ministry spokesman ...

Calais / AFP French demolition workers set about razing makeshift shelters in the “Jungle” migrant camp for a third day Wednesday under close watch of dozens of police officers equipped with water cannon. The destruction of the southern half of the sprawling shantytown in the northern port city of Calais, where thousands of migrants and refugees have gathered in the ...

Manila / AP A Philippine official said on Wednesday that he recently spotted five suspected Chinese coast guard and navy ships at a disputed atoll in the South China Sea and fears Beijing will take control of another area frequented by Filipino, Vietnamese and Malaysian fishermen. Mayor Eugenio Bito-onon Jr., who heads a Philippine-claimed region in the disputed Spratly Islands, ...

Yangon / AFP Myanmar’s persecuted Rohingya continue to languish in “dreadful conditions” with children dying because they are refused healthcare, the UN has warned, adding that the Muslim minority risked being forgotten in the afterglow of recent elections. The comments were made by a senior UN official following a visit to western Rakhine state, where the Rohingya have been targeted ...