At 10% growth, Saudi banking sector shows resilience
With Vision 2030 steering the economic diversification, Saudi banks face challenges and opportunities in liquidity, asset quality, and navigating geopolitical...Business Banking & Finance
AI game gains popularity during Chinese New Year festivities
SHANGHAI, CHINA - Young Chinese flocking home for Lunar New Year this weekend have turned to an AI chatbot game to...Arts & Culture Business Culture & Society Tech & Media
Ras Al Khaimah to allow ‘gaming’ at upcoming resort in Marjan
The emirate of Ras al-Khaimah on Tuesday announced a multibillion-dollar deal with casino giant Wynn Resorts and said it will...The emirate announced a multibillion-dollar deal with casino giant Wynn Resorts, but did not elaborate on 'gaming', a euphemism for gambling in the US.
Ras Al Khaimah Tourism Development Authority said a new gaming division would require “compliance with all applicable laws and regulations".
Saudi Arabia to build $79m tourism facility in Taif region
Saudi Arabia’s Tourism Development Fund (TDF) today announced a strategic partnership with Al-Ameen Real Estate, part of Al Nahla Group,...‘Taif Front’ would be a 100,000 sqm project featuring upscale accommodation with more than 150 keys.
The Tourism Development Fund has enabled projects with an investment value of around $1.6 billion.
Expo 2020 records close to 11m visits so far
Expo 2020 Dubai has recorded 10,836,389 visits as of 24th January, while the virtual visitation reached 72.5 million.Global Goals Week, which ran from 15th to 22nd January at Expo 2020 Dubai associated with the United Nations, proved similarly popular
Expo 2020 Dubai’s mass virtual visitation is driven by the range of entertainment and extensive live coverage of the Global Goals Week sessions
Volkswagen and Bosch join forces to rev up automated driving
Car giant Volkswagen and parts supplier Bosch have embarked on an "extensive partnership" to bring automated driving to the mass...The functions the companies want to make available include so-called "hands-free" systems for urban and motorway driving.
The project is expected to require the skills of around 1,000 employees and the two companies have already started recruiting new experts to work in the alliance.
e-Trader licenses issued by Dubai’s BRL up 6 percent in 2021
The Business Registration and Licensing (BRL) unit of Dubai’s Department of Economy and Tourism (DET) has issued 16,409 e-Trader licenses...79 percent of the e-Trader licenses issued in 2021 were professional, and 21 percent were commercial.
A licensee cannot open a shop/store but can avail of three visas if the ownership is 100 percent Emirati and legal liability falls under the license holder.
How GCC countries can become digital leaders
The region must urgently strengthen innovation and localization. These two make significant contribution to GDP and jobs, either directly through...If the region were to accelerate that growth and catch up with its more advanced peers, it could add up to $255 billion GDP, create a large number of high quality jobs.
GCC must reform its regulatory frameworks, deepen the talent pools, and boost innovation and the domestic production of digital products
US lawsuit could turn global headache for Google
If the search giant loses this lawsuit, it could have to pay back a significant portion of the revenue it...Google stands accused of misleading people into believing that changing device and account settings protects people’s personal data
District of Columbia Attorney-General Karl A Racine said Google has since 2014 ‘systematically surveilled’ users no matter the settings
QIIB 2021 profit at $276m
This was an increase of 7 percent in net profit year on year.QIIB said in its statement that the Earnings per share (EPS) amounted to QR0.59 (around $0.16) as of December 31, 2021
This was against an EPS of QR0.55 (around $0.15) for the same period in 2020marking a rise of around 7.27 percent
Boeing makes $450m air-taxi bet
The investment is in Wisk, which looks to make autonomous air taxis.Boeing has added $450 million to a venture that aims to commercialize autonomous electric air taxis
Wisk envisions some 14 million annual flights serving more than 40 million people in five years
Which are the top equity markets in the Middle East?
Here is a comparison between the top equity markets in the Middle East, and how they stack up against a...Saudi Arabia has Tadawul, or the Saudi stock exchange, whose benchmark index is known as TASI
The UAE has the Dubai Financial Market (DFM) as well as the Abu Dhabi Exchange (ADX)
