US climate envoy John Kerry has said that the current commitments on cutting carbon emissions meant the world had a 60 per cent chance of capping a rise in the average temperature at 1.5°C, Arab News reported. Speaking at a breakfast event with world mayors at global climate talks in Glasgow, he said, with the most recent … Read more
LONDON: Britain has announced $68 million in funding to support energy transition and green infrastructure and growth in the Middle East and North Africa, Arab News reported. The announcement was made by UK Minister for the Middle East and North Africa James Cleverly during an event on the second day of the UN Climate Change Conference (COP26) … Read more
ISLAMABAD: The Pakistan Railways is expecting to transport over 20 per cent of the country’s freight business after the completion of Main Line-I (ML-I) under the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor. Currently, Pakistan Railways was transporting 4 per cent of the freight traffic in the country, which was not sufficient for the department, an official in the … Read more
KARACHI: Pakistan’s telecom company, Ufone, has secured its largest syndicated financing facility jointly led by the MCB Bank Limited (agent bank), Allied Bank Limited (ABL), Bank of Punjab (BoP), National Bank of Pakistan (NBP), and the United Bank Limited (UBL) to fund the acquisition and rollout of its 4G services across Pakistan, a statement said. … Read more
KARACHI: Karachi Chamber of Commerce and Industry (KCCI) president Muhammad Idrees, after listening to the grievances being faced by the members of the All City Tajir Ittehad (ACTI), assured that the chamber would take up all their issues with relevant departments and ensure that they do not have to go through any kind of harassment … Read more
KARACHI: The Union of Small and Medium Enterprises (Unisame) on behalf of the SME farmers, processors and exporters have thanked Pakistan Standard Quality Control Authority (PSQCA) for adopting standards for Khashkhash (poppy seeds) under their Pakistan Standards PS 5501-2021 and removing all ambiguities, a statement said. The SME exporters have urged the Ministry of Commerce … Read more
RIYADH: Two major delivery companies have cancelled or drastically scaled back their services between Saudi Arabia and Lebanon, employees said on Wednesday, following a major diplomatic row between the two countries. DHL has stopped inbound and outbound shipments between the two countries, a company employee, who spoke on condition of anonymity, told AFP. An email … Read more
WASHINGTON: Private businesses hired 571,000 workers last month, payroll services firm ADP reported on Wednesday, the latest sign that the US economy is bouncing back from the Delta wave of Covid-19. The employment increase was better than analysts had forecast, and saw firms of all sizes add positions, with the bulk of the growth in … Read more
ISLAMABAD: President Dr Arif Alvi has urged the business community to employ persons with disabilities and women, and improve their business skills so as to empower them financially. He emphasised the need for facilitating differently-abled people by providing them easy access to buildings and workplaces, the president’s media office said. The president made these remarks, … Read more
PESHAWAR: The Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa Cabinet has approved the first-ever food security policy and plan for a period of 10 years with a huge financial allocation of Rs236 billion. KP Chief Minister Mahmood Khan will review the implementation status of the project on a monthly basis. The approval was accorded during a cabinet meeting held with Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa … Read more
ISLAMABAD: The Expo 2020 Dubai organisers have welcomed the first month of the event as a “huge success”, announcing an impressive 2,350,868 visits from October 1 to 31, with a host of memorable events, entertainment and seminars attracting people from the UAE, region and beyond. So far, 28 per cent of the visits were made … Read more
NEW YORK: The United States is rendering an uncontrolled experiment with every strategy all at once, with Covid-19 policies differing wildly by state, county, university, workplace and school district, The Atlantic has reported. “We’re sleepwalking into policy because we’re not setting goals,” Joseph Allen, a Harvard professor of public health, was quoted as saying. The … Read more
RAMALLAH: The European Union (EU) has provided US $18.8 million to the Palestinian authority to help it pay October’s salaries and pensions for staff in the health and education sector, according to a statement on Wednesday. The money was already transferred to the Palestinian ministry of finance, the EU office in Palestine said in the … Read more
GAZA: More than half of the children in the Gaza Strip need psychological support, said the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) on Wednesday. Thomas White, director of UNRWA operations in Gaza, made the remarks during a meeting with local journalists at his office in Gaza, noting … Read more
BERLIN: Germany is experiencing a “massive” pandemic of the unvaccinated, Health Minister Jens Spahn said on Wednesday, calling for tougher action to tame a resurgence in Covid cases. “We are currently experiencing mainly a pandemic of the unvaccinated and it is massive,” Spahn told reporters. “In some regions in Germany intensive care beds are running out again.” Germany, Europe’s … Read more
TEHRAN: Iran said on Wednesday it had thwarted an attempt by the US navy to seize a tanker in the Sea of Oman carrying its oil, state television reported. It gave no details of the date of the incident or the country where the vessel is registered. The report comes amid faltering efforts to revive Iran’s nuclear … Read more
KABUL: As the Taliban shift their focus from insurgency to government, their most formidable rival is the Islamic State’s regional chapter, which has staged a string of bloody attacks in recent weeks. The latest atrocity claimed by Islamic State-Khorasan (IS-K) killed at least 19 people on Tuesday, including a senior Taliban commander at a military hospital in Kabul, with … Read more
MANILA: Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte ordered military and police to airlift Covid-19 vaccines across the country’s provinces to bypass “gridlocks” in jab distribution that he blamed on local governments. While nearly 90 per cent of adults in the capital region are fully vaccinated, only about 35 per cent of adults in the country have had both jabs. … Read more
BEIJING: Troubled Chinese developer Evergrande said on Wednesday that it has delivered over 57,400 units to buyers between July and October, in a latest bid to calm worries over its liquidity crunch. As one of China’s biggest property developers, fears around Evergrande’s debt mountain have battered investors’ sentiment and shaken the country’s mammoth real estate market. … Read more
FRANKFURT: German national carrier Lufthansa said on Wednesday that it was back in the black in the third quarter of this year, for the first time since the start of the coronavirus pandemic, as restrictions are lifted and air travel takes off again. “With rising demand for business travel and a record result of Lufthansa Cargo, … Read more
WASHINGTON: Prisons in the United States have been facing more severe staff shortages as officers quit in droves amid the Covid-19 pandemic, the Associate Press (AP) has recently reported. “By failing to protect prisoners from Covid, the criminal justice system not only created an unfair risk of severe illness and death for the incarcerated, but … Read more
RIYADH: FedEx Express, a subsidiary of FedEx, the world’s largest express transportation company, has signed an agreement with Dubai South to build its new regional hub for the Middle East, Indian Subcontinent and Africa (MEISA) region at the Logistics District, Arab News reported. Located near Dubai World Central Airport (DWC), the hub will incorporate state-of-the-art technologies to … Read more
RIYADH: Rivian Automotive, the electric truck maker backed by Amazon, is seeking to raise as much as $8.4 billion in an IPO that could give it a market value of up to $53 billion, Bloomberg reported. The business plans to allocate up to 7 per cent of its shares to eligible US customers who had … Read more
RIYADH: Oman’s Minister of Economy, Saeed bin Muhammad Al-Saqri, has called for speeding up the activation of the maritime link between Saudi Arabia and Oman, Arab News reported. This would involve transferring the region’s oil and gas exports to the Arabian Sea through the Sultanate of Oman, without passing through the Strait of Hormuz, he said in … Read more
RIYADH: The Qatar Central Bank (QCB) has approved the $50 billion merger between Masraf Al Rayan and Al Khaligi Bank, Arab News reported. The merged entity will be the second largest Islamic banking entity in Qatar, CNBC Arabia reported. QCB clarified that the former would legally replace the latter in all its rights and obligations towards third parties.
RIYADH: Saudi Arabia’s sustainable tourism developer, The Red Sea Development Co, signed an agreement with the Red Sea Farms to establish a farm that will produce food using smart technologies, sunlight, and seawater to supply the hotels it is building with sustainable food, Arab News reported. Red Sea Farms will build and operate the indoor farm, growing … Read more
RIYADH: Revenues of aviation hubs in the Middle East could fall by approximately $11 billion by the end of 2021, Arab News quoted Airports Council International (ACI) Asia-Pacific, as saying in a statement. “Consistent with forecasts previously reported in 2020, the Middle East will be one of the hardest-hit regions globally with almost 70 per cent passenger … Read more
RIYADH: Emirates Telecommunications Group Company (Etisalat Group) has appointed Salvador Anglada as the new CEO to lead its Enterprise Digital Division, Arab News quoted the company, as saying in a disclosure to the Abu Dhabi Securities Exchange. Anglada has more than 25 years of experience in the telecom and IT industry, and had previously held leadership roles … Read more
