The News Journal

As businesses accelerate investments in artificial intelligence, automation, and digital technologies, many leaders are discovering that technology alone cannot drive lasting success. While modern tools improve efficiency and streamline operations, sustainable business transformation depends on leadership, organizational culture, and a clear strategic vision. Entrepreneur Afroz Fatta believes that companies should view technology as an enabler rather than the foundation of transformation. According to him, organizations achieve meaningful growth when digital innovation is combined with capable leadership, skilled employees, and a willingness to embrace continuous change. Afroz Fatta shares insights on digital transformation, leadership, organizational culture, and business strategy Technology Is an Enabler, Not the Entire Strategy Across industries, businesses are investing heavily in digital platforms to modernize operations, improve customer experiences, and remain competitive. Howev...

Afroz Fatta on startup profitability and sustainable growth in India. Entrepreneur Afroz Fatta highlights why Indian startups should balance growth with profitability, strong governance, and financial discipline. As investor expectations evolve, sustainable business models are becoming essential for long-term success and resilience. Read More : https://www.mid-day.com/buzz/article/indian-startups-must-focus-on-profitability-alongside-growth-says-entrepreneur-afroz-fatta-10186#google_vignette 

Europe is a “few years” away from overcoming its current energy deficit triggered by the loss of Russian gas supply, according to Alfred Stern, chief executive of Austrian energy group OMV. The continent is in the middle of its worst energy crisis after Russia, the region’s biggest natural gas supplier, curtailed exports sharply in response to EU sanctions over its military offensive in Ukraine. However, the crisis has been a few years in the making. Spending on new oil and gas projects has nearly dried up amid pressure from investors, who have adopted more pro-renewable energy strategies in recent years. This issue is “bigger than Europe” and is a result of underinvestment in the energy sector, as well as from “thinking that we could magically move to renewable energy overnight”, Mr Stern told The National at the Adipec energy summit in Abu Dhabi. “Fixing this up will require significant investments, and typically, our industry is one that has very long investment cycles,” he said. Up...

Global passenger demand for air travel remained strong in September, with both domestic and international traffic increasing, despite macroeconomic headwinds and geopolitical instability, the International Air Transport Association said. Total traffic in September, measured in revenue passenger kilometres, grew 57 per cent compared to the same month in 2021, Iata's monthly report showed. Globally, traffic is now at 73.8 per cent of September 2019 levels, before the Covid-19 pandemic, said the report, which was released on Monday. “Even with economic and geopolitical uncertainties, the demand for air transport continues to recover ground,” said Willie Walsh, Iata's director general. “The outlier is still China, with its pursuit of a zero-Covid strategy keeping borders largely closed.” Airlines' domestic traffic for September was up 6.9 per cent compared to the year-ago period. Total September 2022 domestic traffic was at 81 per cent of pre-Covid levels. International traffic...

Global trade dipped 1 per cent in May from the previous month as container shipping congestion and delays stretched to European ports in the North Sea, according to Kiel Trade Indicator data. For the first time since the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic, container ships are now also jammed in the North Sea off the ports of Germany, the Netherlands, and Belgium, the Kiel Institute for the World Economy said in its monthly report. Currently, just under 2 per cent of global cargo capacity is stuck in the area and can neither be loaded nor unloaded. “Overall, May trade is rather restrained and continues the sideways movement of recent months. However, international trade is again suffering more from the congestion and delays in container shipping, which have now also reached the North Sea,” Vincent Stamer, head of Kiel Trade Indicator, said. The pandemic highlighted significant challenges in the logistics sector, with many cargo customers struggling to find shipping containers amid labour...

The UAE and Japan are exploring ways to strengthen economic, energy and industrial co-operation in a bid to drive low-carbon growth opportunities, including studying the development of a hydrogen supply chain between the two countries. Dr Sultan Al Jaber, Minister of Industry and Advanced Technology, Special Envoy for Climate Change, and Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (Adnoc) managing director and group chief executive met senior Japanese government and business leaders during a three-day working visit to the country. Dr Al Jaber met leading officials including Hagiuda Koichi, Minister of Economy, Trade and Industry; Tsuyoshi Yamaguchi, Minister of Environment; and Odawara Kiyoshi, State Minister of Foreign Affairs, the state-run Wam news agency reported on Tuesday. Discussions focused on economic and industrial development, energy supply, hydrogen and climate action. Dr Al Jaber reviewed continuing joint initiatives between the UAE and Japan in hydrogen and low-carbon blue ammonia an...

Mubadala Investment Company, Abu Dhabi’s strategic investment arm, and EQT Private Equity have agreed to acquire Envirotainer, a global temperature-controlled supply chain solutions company for the biopharmaceutical industry. The financial details of the deal were not provided. However, the enterprise value of Envirotainer is about €2.8 billion ($2.99bn), Mubadala said on Tuesday. The two partners will support Envirotainer in its next phase of growth, accelerating its expansion in the Asia-Pacific region. The investment will also help the company to maintain stable growth in its other core markets, leveraging on EQT’s “local with locals” approach and Mubadala’s global network. Read More : https://www.thenationalnews.com/business/economy/2022/06/07/mubadala-and-eqt-to-buy-global-pharmaceutical-supply-chain-solutions-company-envirotainer/

Apple said it stopped fraudulent transactions worth about $1.5 billion on its App Store in 2021, as it continues to rein in potential illicit activity on its platform. More than 1.6 million apps deemed risky and untrustworthy were prevented from defrauding users and more than 3.3 million stolen credit cards were blocked from making purchases last year, the iPhone-maker said in its annual fraud analysis on Wednesday. Apple attributed the detection and prevention of malicious apps to its App Review programme, a multilayered approach that combines computer automation with manual human review, which is the “distinguishing component” of the process. “Bad actors continue to evolve their methods of online fraud, often making their schemes harder to recognise,” the iPhone-maker said in the report released before its Worldwide Developers Conference next week. Read More : https://www.thenationalnews.com/business/technology/2022/06/02/apple-wwdc-2022-fraudulent-transactions-worth-15bn-blocked-on...

A former employee of OpenSea, the world’s largest marketplace for non-fungible tokens (NFTs), has been arrested on charges of insider trading, in the first such case involving digital assets. Nathaniel Chastain, 31, a former product manager at Ozone Networks, was charged with wire fraud and money laundering for committing insider trading by using confidential information about what NFTs were going to be featured on OpenSea’s homepage for his personal financial gain, said the US Department of Justice in a statement. Mr Chastain was arrested by the Federal Bureau of Investigation on Wednesday in New York. The charges of wire fraud and money laundering carry a maximum sentence of 20 years each in prison. Read More : https://www.thenationalnews.com/business/2022/06/02/ex-employee-of-nft-marketplace-opensea-arrested-for-insider-trading/

Jamie Dimon, chairman and chief executive of JP Morgan Chase, described the challenges facing the US economy as akin to a “hurricane” down the road and urged the Federal Reserve to take forceful measures to avoid tipping the world’s biggest economy into a recession. Mr Dimon’s comments come a day after US President Joe Biden met Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell to discuss inflation, which is hovering at 40-year highs. “It is a hurricane" and the current situation is unprecedented, Mr Dimon told a banking conference. Read More : https://www.thenationalnews.com/business/economy/2022/06/02/jp-morgans-jamie-dimon-warns-us-is-approaching-economic-hurricane/

Property prices in Saudi Arabia's capital Riyadh rose at their fastest pace in at least five years, according to a new report. Apartment prices rose by 20 per cent on average in the past 12 months while villa prices were up 18.6 per cent, property consultancy Knight Frank said. However, deal numbers have declined 27 per cent in the past year as households find themselves needing to save for longer before being able to transition to home ownership. Transaction volumes across the kingdom fell to 60,000 during the first quarter, although total deal values receded by only 2 per cent to 40.4 billion Saudi riyals ($10.8 billion), reflecting the significant price growth “The spectacular house price growth in the kingdom mirrors what we are seeing around the world,” said Faisal Durrani, partner and head of Middle East research at Knight Frank. READ MORE : https://www.thenationalnews.com/business/property/2022/05/30/riyadh-property-prices-rise-at-fastest-pace-in-five-years/

Arguably the biggest shock of this turbulent year for investors is that the gold price is not going through the roof. After surging at $2,052 an ounce on March 8, it has slumped to about $1,850 at the time of writing ― a drop of 9.8 per cent. Gold is in correction territory, which is odd, given that for thousands of years it has been seen as a safe haven in times of trouble, and these are undoubtedly troubled times. Most investment experts say every portfolio needs a sprinkling of gold dust to hedge against riskier assets such as shares. When stock markets lose their lustre, gold usually glitters. But not this year. Gold is often seen as an inflation hedge, too, but rocketing consumer price growth hasn’t lifted it. Does gold no longer work? Gold is often seen as an inflation hedge, too, and investors certainly need one of those right now, with shares falling everywhere and New York’s Nasdaq tech index down more than a quarter. Read More : https://www.thenationalnews.com/business/money/...

A relative of mine pointed out how impatient I was in my younger days. “The problem with your generation,” she would say, “is that you don’t put in the time and dedication for anything to work. You have big dreams, but you give up too easy”. As a teenager, I dismissed her comments and thought they were irrelevant. It wasn’t until I gave up on a small business idea that I started in college a few years later that I started paying attention to her advice. “If you just dedicate time and persistence to anything in life, it will become a success,” she had said. Over the years, I learnt to become more patient. I knew that the success stories we hear about are the result of long years of hard work. Eventually, I got better at focusing on future goals. Just as my relative had advised, I realised that success — be it on business or personal front — is about showing up every single day, and consistently dedicating time and effort to developing your business, abilities, skills and brand. Read Mor...

Assets under management in the Middle East, which increased 52 per cent over the past three years, are set to grow further as oil and gas prices continue to rise. A rally in oil prices, up more than 60 per cent over the past year and hovering above $100 a barrel, along with soaring natural gas prices are helping to drive private capital's improved fortunes in the Middle East, alternative assets industry data and analytics specialist Preqin said in a report on Thursday. Natural gas prices in the US soared to a 14-year high this month and they surged in Europe as a result of the Russia-Ukraine war, now in its third month. Preqin said: "The ongoing conflict in Ukraine alongside the continued post-pandemic economic resurgence is pushing commodity prices higher, creating short-term opportunities. "But in the long-term, Europe’s governments are looking to reduce reliance on imported hydrocarbons. Efforts to increase energy independence and step away from imported hydrocarbons h...

The global economy is "teetering on the brink of recession" as the war in Ukraine, Covid-19 lockdowns in China and a hawkish US Federal Reserve weigh on activity worldwide, the Institute of International Finance said in a report. In its latest forecast, the IIF estimates global gross domestic product to grow 2.2 per cent this year, with activities slowing to 0.5 per cent in the fourth quarter. The Euro area as well as emerging markets, excluding China, are anticipated to go into a recession by the end of the year. "Since the statistical carryover from 2021 is 2.3 per cent, this is a de facto flatlining of global GDP," the report said. The IIF's estimates are below the latest prediction from the International Monetary Fund, which has also lowered its growth forecast this year, due to the Ukraine war and inflation stoked by soaring commodity prices. The IMF projects global growth at 3.6 per cent this year and next, down 0.8 and 0.2 percentage points from its Janua...

Saudi Arabia’s oil revenue is expected to jump about 66 per cent this year to about $249 billion amid surging crude prices that will enable the Arab world’s biggest economy to boost spending, according to Jadwa Investment. Brent, the benchmark for two thirds of the world's oil, rose 69 per cent year on year in the first quarter of this year to an average of $103 per barrel, and that rise was reflected in a “substantial jump in royalties and income tax received by the Ministry of Finance", Asad Khan, chief economist and head of research at Jadwa, said in a research note on Wednesday. “As oil prices remain elevated, and Saudi crude oil production rises in line with the Opec+ agreement, we expect government oil revenue to continue showing sizeable yearly rises.” Both Brent and West Texas Intermediate, the benchmark for US crude, have surged more than 60 per cent since the beginning of the year. Brent climbed to a notch under $140 per barrel in March, its highest since 2008, befor...

Abu Dhabi National Oil Company has made new oil discoveries at Bu Hasa, the emirate’s biggest onshore field, as well as at the onshore Block 3 and Al Dhafra Petroleum Concession. Bu Hasa, which has a crude oil production capacity of 650,000 bpd, is part of the Adnoc Onshore Concession and is operated by Adnoc Onshore. “The 500 million barrels of oil discovered from an exploration well in the Bu Hasa field has unlocked a new formation within the field, offering substantial additional premium-grade Murban oil resources,” Adnoc said in a statement on Thursday. In Abu Dhabi’s Onshore Block 3, operated by US oil company Occidental, about 100 million barrels of oil were discovered, marking the second oil find in this concession. Occidental was awarded the exploration rights for Onshore Block 3 in early 2019. About 50 million barrels of light and sweet Murban-quality crude was also discovered in Al Dhafra Petroleum Concession, operated by Al Dhafra Petroleum, a joint venture between Adnoc, th...

Billionaire businessman Elon Musk said Tesla is on his mind “24/7" in a bid to soothe investor concerns that he is being distracted by his $44 billion Twitter acquisition deal, which has weighed on the stock price of the world's largest electric vehicle maker that he runs. “To be clear, I’m spending 5 per cent (but actually) of my time on the Twitter acquisition. It ain’t rocket science!” the world’s richest person tweeted to his 94.1 million followers on Thursday. “Yesterday was Giga Texas, today is Starbase. Tesla is on my mind 24/7.” To be clear, I’m spending <5% (but actually) of my time on the Twitter acquisition. It ain’t rocket science! Yesterday was Giga Texas, today is Starbase. Tesla is on my mind 24/7. So may seem like below, but not true. pic.twitter.com/CXfWiLD2f8 — Elon Musk (@elonmusk) May 19, 2022 Tesla opened its new car factory in Texas this year, and Mr Musk’s rocket company SpaceX has a launch site known as Starbase in Boca Chica, Texas. Mr Musk has lost...

Since it was first produced in 1976, the Ford Fiesta has regularly topped bestseller charts because of its affordability, availability and reliability. Yet, in an extraordinary twist, an automotive expert has told The National the previously ubiquitous model now comes with a 12-month wait in the UK. Unsurprisingly, it is now nowhere near the UK top sellers list for 2022 to date. It's a far cry from the slogan of mass production pioneer Henry Ford, who promised buyers any car they wanted (as long as it was black). "The longest lead times are now on the cheapest cars," said Steve Young, managing director of the International Car Distribution Programme. Ford is not the only manufacturer whose forecourts are no longer crowded. Giant lots with rows of cars awaiting a willing buyer are a thing of the past. Motorists expecting to walk into any showroom and leave with a new car are likely to be sorely disappointed. This remarkable situation doesn't have a single root cause. ...

“Meltdown”, “turmoil”, “financial disaster”. It has been quite a week for the world of cryptocurrencies as markets plummeted and the value of investors' holdings in digital assets such as Bitcoin and Terra rapidly diminished. Bitcoin was set for a record losing streak while Terra, a stablecoin, collapsed to close to zero on Thursday. But what happened? Why did the crash occur and is it now over? What happened to Terra? Stablecoins, which are pegged to the value of traditional assets such as the US dollar, are usually popular in times of turmoil. They are key elements of the cryptocurrency market and traders park funds in these assets as they move in and out of other digital tokens. However, Terra slipped below its 1:1 peg to the dollar this week, as global stock markets fell amid rising interest rates and high inflation. Terra's value is derived by algorithmic processes and it is linked to another paired token called Luna. Luna fell by more than 94 per cent on Wednesday to almo...