Business Press

  The UAE President, His Highness Sheikh Mohamed Bin Zayed Al Nahyan, and US President John Biden issued a joint statement on Monday at the conclusion of the UAE President’s first official visit to Washington, reflecting the two nations’ growing ties. And these ties point to the future that the two countries hope to build based on technologies such as artificial intelligence (AI), nuclear power for civilian purposes, and climate-friendly policies and programs such as Partnership Accelerating Clean Energy (PACE), Agricultural Innovation Mission 4 Climate (AIM4C), and several others. The United States has also recognised the UAE as a major defence partner, making it the only country other than India to do so. Anwar Gargash, the UAE president’s foreign adviser, told CNN’s Becky Anderson that Sheikh Mohamed’s visit to Washington “was mostly and almost exclusively about the future.” He explained: “It was about the economy. The UAE aims to collaborate on future technology.The AI componen...

  Due to Hurricane Helene, the UAE Embassy in Washington, DC, advised UAE nationals in Atlanta, South Carolina, and Florida’s West Coast to use caution. The mission also emphasises the importance of adhering to safety directives provided by the authorities, calling 0097180024 or 0097180044444 for emergencies, and signing up for the UAE’s Tawajudi program. One of the strongest storms to ever hit the US, Hurricane Helene slammed into Florida and into Georgia on Friday, leaving a path of severe destruction and perhaps fatalities in her wake. Authorities said it would likely be several hours before any rescue personnel could head out to help those in need. Helene is tied as the 14th most powerful hurricane to hit anywhere in the United States since records have been kept and is the seventh most powerful to slam into Florida, according to data from the National Hurricane Center (NHC). As of right now, officials in Florida have identified at least one fatality that they attribute to the ...

  The Ministry of Finance (MoF), as the issuer, and the Central Bank of the UAE (CBUAE), as the issuance and payment agent, announced the results of the auction for Islamic Treasury Sukuk (T-Sukuk) denominated in UAE dirhams for Dhs1.1 billion. This issuance is part of the Islamic Treasury Sukuk program for the third quarter of 2024, as announced on the Ministry’s website. The auction showed high demand from the eight principal bank dealers for the tranche graduating in May 2027 and the new five-year tranche maturing in September 2029. Bids totalled Dhs5.07 billion, which exceeded the subscription volume by 4.6 times. The auction’s success is reflected in the competitive market prices achieved, with a yield to maturity (YTM) of 3.67% for the tranche maturing in May 2027 and 3.65% for the tranche maturing in September 2029, with a spread of 13 to 15 basis points over US Treasury bonds of comparable maturities at the time of issuance. It is worth noting that the local currency-denomi...

  The Biden administration’s proposed embargo on Chinese connected-car technology could be its most powerful weapon yet against a wave of low-cost Chinese electric vehicles that have upended the global auto sector. The US Commerce Department’s announcement on Monday of a prohibition on hardware and software is the administration’s latest salvo after imposing 100% tariffs on Chinese EVs and rejecting a $7,500 consumer EV subsidy for any vehicle containing Chinese-made components. According to a Reuters story, unlike those regulations, the connected-car tech prohibition would apply to automobiles made by Chinese enterprises outside of China, such as in Mexico or Europe, where facilities are planned. “It’s a powerful statement,” said Michael Dunne, a consultant who monitors the Chinese auto industry. After slapping heavy tariffs, he claimed, US authorities “looked at it again and said: ‘Is that going to be enough?'” And they concluded, “Probably not.” BYD, the Chinese EV market leader...

  Microsoft-backed G42, an AI technology company based in Abu Dhabi, has unveiled “Nanda,” a large language model (LLM) created especially for Hindi speakers in India. Both national and international dignitaries were present at the unveiling, which took place at the UAE-India Business Forum in Mumbai. Nanda is a 13-billion-parameter LLM that was trained on an enormous dataset of 2.13 trillion tokens, which included Hindi, English, and Hinglish. The model is named after Nanda Devi, the second-highest peak in India. Nanda’s release comes after G42 released Jais, an open-source Arabic language model intended for Arabic natural language processing (NLP), last year. Several model sizes, including one with 70 billion parameters, were included in the Jais release. Microsoft became a major supporter and secured a seat on the board of G42 with a $1.5 billion investment in April 2024. Microsoft’s dedication to developing AI capabilities and growing its presence in emerging markets is demonst...

  Do you sell your used items on OLX? If so, you should exercise extreme caution before completing any transactions on the app.Bengaluru-born Siddarth, a 27-year-old software engineer, was caught up in a really upsetting circumstance recently. He lost almost Rs 2 lakh to an online scam in the course of what began as a standard air cooler sale. As per a Times of India report, on August 29, Siddarth made the decision to sell his air cooler and put it up for sale on OLX, charging Rs 5,200. Shortly after the advertisement was posted, he got a call from someone posing as Srikanth Varma, who said he owned a used furniture showroom in Whitefield. Varma appeared to be interested in purchasing the cooler and said he would take care of the payment upfront, with the item to be picked up later. But the payment procedure took an odd turn. Siddarth received a QR code for Rs 5 from Varma; he needs to scan it to get the money. Siddarth successfully scanned the code and was rewarded with Rs 5. Sour...