Kuwait’s $112bn pension fund has cash to burn after revamp

Cash accounts for about 11.5 per cent of its investments, which the fund aims to cut to 4 per cent over the next seven months

King Fahd Causeway zwischen Bahrain und Saudi Arabien

Saudi reopens land borders with the UAE, Kuwait and Bahrain

Trucks coming from the GCC will be allowed entry into the kingdom

careem now

Network International underpins Careem’s digital payments initiative

The five-year agreement will see Network International process prepaid cards on behalf of Careem in five countries

Mimecast acquires anti-phishing technology provider MessageControl

MessageControl uses machine learning to protect emails

Maya Zakhour takes on new role as NetApp channel director for MEA, Italy and Spain

NetApp keen to expand footprint in booming cloud market

Social media

Social space: A roundup of all the GCC social media news in July

Fadi Khater, founder and managing partner of digital marketing agency Netizency, provides an overview of social media trends in the region

League-of-Legends-world-championship

The League of Legends World Championship to be held in China next month

The League of Legends 2020 World Championships would be held in Shanghai, from September 25 – October 31

Kodak

Former electronics major Kodak to enter the pharmaceutical industry

It has obtained a $765m loan from the US government to support its foray into the pharmaceutical business

GCC Covid-19 update: UAE records 189 cases; 1,342 infections registered in Saudi

No new deaths were recorded for the fourth consecutive day in the UAE

Dubai’s Emirates to resume flights to more cities

The carrier’s passenger network will broaden to 70 destinations in August

Dubai attracted around Dhs12bn of FDI in H1 2020

There were 190 FDI projects announced in the emirate in H1 2020, around 50 per cent of them being greenfield initiatives

Saudis spend twice as much time watching mobile video as TV, study shows

Most consumers say a full-length TV or video series is too much of a time commitment

Customers to earn $60.4bn in credit card rewards this year, research says

Rewards to climb to $67.9bn in 2023 as consumer credit spend recovers post-Covid

Zainab Invesco

Video: Where are Middle East sovereigns investing?

Fixed income and gold have emerged as attractive asset classes for regional sovereigns, finds the Invesco Global Sovereign Asset Management study

UAE developer Azizi Developments announces Dhs3.5bn investment

The developer will construct 45 buildings comprising over 11,000 homes across MBR City, Dubai Healthcare City and Al Furjan over the next 2-3 years

UAE’s NMC Health secures $250m funding

NMC has developed a three-year business plan with a strategy to deliver continued growth in its core UAE business

Shanghai Electric awarded contract for 5th phase of Dubai solar park

The Solar Park project is the largest single-site solar power plant in the Middle East

AirArabia-Abu-Dhabi

Air Arabia Abu Dhabi to add services to two more cities starting August 7

The low-cost carrier will fly to Kabul thrice a week and to Dhaka twice a week

dubai silicon oasis

Dubai Silicon Oasis switches to AI-enabled IBMS, saving Dhs1m monthly

AI system leads to 36 per cent less energy usage per year while reducing operators from 110 to five

Thierry Bolloré Jaguar Land Rover CEO

Jaguar Land Rover appoints ex-Renault chief, Thierry Bolloré, as new CEO

He will replace Sir Ralf Speth who will in turn assume the role of non-executive vice chairman of JLR

Microsoft Edge overtakes Firefox for second place in browser market

Google Chrome remains the leader with 71 per cent market share

Dubai’s Emirates to operate A380 to Guangzhou from August 8

The airline has now resumed passenger network operations to half of its pre-pandemic destinations

Huawei p30 pro

Huawei becomes world’s top smartphone vendor in FY Q2 2020

The majority of Huawei’s phone sales from April-June was in China

GCC Covid-19 update: Kuwait reports 388 cases

The death toll in Kuwait has risen to 461

Kuwait Airways

Kuwait issues guidelines to permit entry of people from banned countries

Last week, the cabinet agreed to resume flights from Kuwait International Airport in three phases

Arada Aljada Sharjah

Arada awards Dhs423m construction contract for phase two of Aljada development in Sharjah

The East Village contract includes the construction of 16 apartment blocks with the project set to be completed by 2021

Microsoft talks to acquire TikTok to continue after Trump’s about-turn

US President agrees to 45-day window for negotiations between Microsoft and ByteDance

Dubai UAE

JPMorgan sees virus fallout stoking Middle East deals into 2021

The first six months saw $72bn of bond issuance from the region

2019 IPL Final - Mumbai v Chennai

UAE set to host IPL 2020 cricket tournament beginning next month

The matches are slated to be held in Dubai, Abu Dhabi and Sharjah

Bitcoin crashes spectacularly after hitting multi-year high of $12,000

More than $1bn in positions liquidated as bitcoin crashes by $1.4k in minutes