Tourism No experience, no resume – you’re hired! Hotels fight for staff Top European hotel chains are hiring workers without experience or even a resume as executives admit years of underpaying staff have come back to bite, leaving them unable to meet post-pandemic travel demand. Thousands of workers left the hospitality industry when international travel shut down during the coronavirus pandemic. Many chose not to return, finding […] July 4, 2022
Media & Advertising Snapchat paid version launches in Saudi Arabia, UAE Snap Inc on Wednesday launched a paid version of the Snapchat app in the US, priced at $3.99 a month, and a few other markets, in a major step away from a revenue model dependent mostly on advertising. Snap, which had teased the subscription version, Snapchat+, earlier this month, said it would be available in […] June 30, 2022
Uber ex-security chief accused of hacking coverup faces charges A federal judge on Tuesday said a former Uber Technologies Inc security chief must face wire fraud charges over his alleged role in trying to cover up a 2016 hacking that exposed personal information of 57 million passengers and drivers. The US Department of Justice had in December added the three charges against Joseph Sullivan […] June 29, 2022
Banking and Finance US mass shooting insurance rates jump as incidents rise The cost of buying insurance protection against mass shootings has spiked more than 10 percent in the United States this year following a string of deadly events, insurers said. The United States witnessed 293 mass shootings so far this year, according to a report by the Gun Violence Archive that defines them as any event […] June 29, 2022
Health Saudi Arabia to invest $3.4bn in vaccine, biomedical drugs sector Saudi Arabia’s industry and Mineral Resources minister said on Friday the country would invest $3.4 billion in the vaccine and biomedical drugs sector, according to state news agency SPA. The Minister Bandar Alkhorayef, who heads the newly-established vaccines and biopharmaceutical industry committee, said the move is part of the kingdom’s push towards achieving pharmaceutical security […] June 25, 2022
Manufacturing 25 years of Harry Potter: From rejection to 500m global sales When Bloomsbury Publishing founder Nigel Newton brought home a manuscript for “Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone” by a then unknown J.K. Rowling, his daughter Alice described it as “possibly one of the best books an 8/9 year old could read”. Twenty-five years later, it is one of the biggest selling novels of all time […] June 24, 2022
Lebanon’s Mikati named PM, urges action to secure IMF deal Lebanon’s Najib Mikati was named prime minister on Thursday, urging fractious politicians to set aside differences to secure an IMF deal which he said was the only chance to save the country from financial collapse. Facing a politically difficult path to agreeing on a new cabinet, the billionaire tycoon who led three previous governments said Lebanon […] June 24, 2022
Media & Advertising Samsung fined over ‘water-resistant’ smartphone ad Australia’s competition regulator said on Thursday a court has ordered the local unit of Samsung Electronics to pay a penalty of A$14 million ($9.65 million) over misleading claims about a water-resistance feature in some of its smartphones. Samsung Australia admitted to misleading buyers of some of its ‘Galaxy’ phones about the water-resistance level, the Australian […] June 23, 2022
Court challenge puts spotlight on sharia law in Nigeria A Nigerian court on Thursday will hear a challenge against sharia law in the mostly Muslim northern state of Kano, in a case that is set to reignite debate on the place of religious laws in a country whose constitution is neutral on religion. Nigeria is divided between the largely Christian south and mostly Muslim […] June 23, 2022
Development Turkey and Saudi vow to start new period of cooperation Turkey and Saudi Arabia emphasised determination on a new period of cooperation in bilateral relations during talks in Ankara, as the two countries aim to fully normalise ties that were ruptured after the murder of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi. In a joint statement following the talks between Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, the country’s […] June 23, 2022
Tourism Return of the superjumbo: A380 set for a dramatic comeback? Two years ago, dozens of Airbus A380s set course for storage sites in rural France from the Gulf as the outbreak of COVID-19 accelerated the demise of the world’s largest jets. Now, the iconic European double-decker is gaining a new lease on life as airlines scramble to cope with rising demand and shortages of newer […] June 21, 2022
Tourism Egypt’s Sharm el-Sheikh reels from Ukrainian, Russian exodus On Sharm el-Sheikh’s sandy beaches many of the sun loungers lie empty. At a central promenade packed with shops, cafes and nightclubs, crowds are thinner than usual. The resort on the southern tip of Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula is reeling from the impact of the war in Ukraine, which has seen Ukrainians and Russians – previously […] June 21, 2022
Tunisian party will not accept terms of $4bn IMF loan One of Tunisia’s main political parties, the Constitutional Free Party, said on Sunday it would not recognise any agreement that Tunis makes with international lenders in exchange for unpopular reforms, the latest threat to a possible deal with the International Monetary Fund. The director of the Middle East at the IMF, Jihad Azour, will visit […] June 20, 2022
Retail Dior show in Spain glitters with flamenco notes A live show by Christian Dior in the Spanish city of Seville on Thursday included a colourful celebration of flamenco. The event is one of several that mark the return of luxury labels to the catwalk after a period of dormancy during the COVID-19 pandemic. The event in the city’s historic Plaza de Espana showcased […] June 17, 2022
Internet Explorer gravestone goes viral in South Korea For Jung Ki-young, a South Korean software engineer, Microsoft Corp’s decision to retire its Internet Explorer web browser marked the end of a quarter-century love-hate relationship with the technology. To commemorate its demise, he spent a month and 430,000 won ($330) designing and ordering a headstone with Explorer’s “e” logo and the English epitaph: “He […] June 17, 2022
Sheikh Khalifa Remembered Sheikh Khalifa, ‘master statesman’ who put UAE on the map Analysts pay tribute to the visionary leader who transformed his region “The UAE is almost unrecognisable from 20 years ago and has developed into a vibrant and dynamic place where individuals and businesses can flourish,” according to Scott Livermore, chief economist at research group Oxford Economics Middle East. That is the legacy of Sheikh Khalifa […] May 16, 2022
Sheikh Khalifa Remembered Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed has passed away Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan, the second President of the United Arab Emirates and 16th ruler of Abu Dhabi, died today aged 73. In a statement published by Wam, The Ministry of Presidential Affairs expressed its deepest condolences to the people of the UAE, Arab and Islamic nations and the world. The Ministry of Presidential […] May 13, 2022
Tourism Emirates aims to start repaying Dubai $4.1bn in Covid aid Dubai’s Emirates hopes that it will soon start paying back the 15 billion dirhams ($4.1 billion) in state assistance it receive from the government during the pandemic, its chairman said on Monday. The Dubai government injected billions of dollars into its flagship airline via equity injections over the course of the pandemic that had at […] May 12, 2022
Retail Chiara Ferragni reveals investor interest in fashion brand Chiara Ferragni has received various expressions of interest from potential investors in her brand, the Italian Instagram star said in an interview with Milano Finanza. Ferragni, 35, is Italy’s top fashion influencer with 27 million followers on Instagram. In January she mandated BNP Paribas to find an investor to help expand her fashion brand internationally. […] May 12, 2022
Facebook-owner opens access to AI large language model Facebook-owner Meta Platforms Inc is opening up access to a large language model for artificial intelligence research, the social media company said on Tuesday. Meta said its model was the first 175-billion-parameter language model to be made available to the broader AI research community. “Large language models” are natural language processing systems which are trained […] May 3, 2022
Employment Deliveroo backs off plan to cut pay of UAE riders after strike Delivery service Deliveroo on Monday put on hold plans to cut pay and extend working hours for its drivers in the United Arab Emirates after a rare strike over the weekend. The Amazon-backed company said in an email to restaurants, seen by Reuters, that it had paused proposed changes in its rider pay structure and […] May 3, 2022
Tourism Visitors to Turkey jump 130% in March The number of foreign visitors arriving in Turkey jumped 129.7 percent from a year earlier to 2.08 million in March, data showed on Friday, as the sector continued to recover from the impact of measures to combat the spread of coronavirus since 2020. The arrivals compared with a level of 718,097 foreign visitors in March […] April 29, 2022
