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Science & Tech

Oppo brings its most innovative smartphone, the Find X2 Pro, to the UAE

head dubai June 24, 2020 No Comments

In such unprecedented times, our reliance on technology has increased dramatically. The smartphone we use is a crucial tool for productivity and communication and given this scenario, Oppo’s latest Find X2 Pro flagship is the perfect choice to keep up without new normal. It not only offers one of the highest quality screens in the industry but also blends a great smartphone design with connectivity advancements such as 5G technology and the fastest SuperVOOC 2.0 charging technology for its battery.

120Hz QHD+ Ultra Vision Screen

The 120Hz QHD+ Ultra Vision Screen is the most advanced display that Oppo has developed to date and the display is not just smooth but also crystal clear. On the Oppo Find X2 Pro, you have a 6.7-inch QHD+ (1,440 x 3,168) resolution curved AMOLED screen with a contrast ratio of 5,000,000:1. By default, the display can reach a brightness as high as 500nit and 800nit in strong light. Furthermore, the brightness of partial portion of the screen can reach up to 1,200nit when watching HDR videos.

Oppo Find X2 Pro Display — The display on the Oppo Find X2 Pro isn’t just beautiful to look at, it’s smart too!Image Credit: Reach by GN

With up to a 120Hz ultra high refresh rate and 240Hz ultra high sampling rate, the screen boasts accurate color reproduction that matches other professional displays. This refresh rate carries several benefits when playing games requiring fast moving such as racing or shooting games. Given the Oppo Find X2 Pro’s adaptive refresh rate function, it can intelligently optimize the screen’s refresh rate between 60-120Hz based on scenario and power consumption.

The screen on the Oppo Find X2 Pro also supports over one billion kinds of color displays, which is 64 times greater than the conventional 8-bit screen. It is one of the richest mobile screens in the industry thanks to its 10bit depth allowing for more vivid and improved images of scenes like sunsets and the aurora. Above all, the display is equipped to deliver maximum user comfort with Oppo’s AI Eye Protection System and certification from TUV Rheinland.

Ultra Vision Camera System

Oppo’s Find X2 Pro is equipped with the most powerful Ultra Vision Camera System supporting an industry first all pixel omni-directional PDAF to improve focus performance using a customized Sony IMX689 sensor on the phone’s wide 48MP camera. Accompanying this is another 48MP ultra-wide angle camera with a Sony IMX586 sensor with a maximum 120-degree wide angle. To complete the setup, you find a 13MP Periscope Telescope camera supporting both EIS and OIS.

Oppo Find X2 Pro Camera — The camera on the Oppo Find X2 Pro is ready for any scenario you throw its wayImage Credit: Reach by GN

The triple-camera setup allows users to have incredible flexibility when taking photos. You can use Oppo’s 60x smooth zoom and the second-generation 10x hybrid zoom feature for clearer, smoother and more stable photos using the smartphone’s newly upgraded OIS driver chip. Furthermore, the ultra-wide-angle camera does not produce any distortion, making it ideal for use in family gatherings, sports, events and musical concerts.

Oppo has also included features such as an Ultra Macro Mode to draw minute details like the dew on a lotus leaf or the stamen of a flower. The smartphone can take 3cm micro photos with 48 million pixels of super-high image resolution. Conversely, Oppo’s Ultra Night Mode 3.0 offers an ultra-clear night mode especially improving night shot quality with the telephoto camera.

65W SuperVOOC 2.0 Charging

Offering the fastest charging technology in the industry, SuperVOOC 2.0 flash charging supports up to 6.5A and 10V charging in tandem, which can fully charge the Oppo Find X2 Pro’s 4,260mAh battery in just 38 minutes. Despite its speed, this fast charging solution is safe equipped with a VOOC security feature with five levels of security protection from the power adapter, wire and handset.

Oppo Find X2 Charging — Running low on battery? Don’t worry. With 65W Super-VOOC charging, you can have a full day’s charge in just a few mintuesImage Credit: Reach by GN

Furthermore, the Oppo Find X2 Pro comes with a customized battery safety-monitoring chip which can not only monitor the battery status during charging but also track whether the battery in the mobile phone is damaged by accidental abuse in real time. To solve any overheating issues, the Oppo Find X2 Pro uses a VC thermal board and three layers of graphite covers.

Business

Why are Indian stocks surging despite rapid spread of COVID-19?

head dubai June 24, 2020 No Comments

Mumbai: The resurgence in Indian equities despite the economic impact from the still-spreading coronavirus has bewildered professional investors.

Mom-and-pop investors, though, are all in. They’re piling into beaten-down stocks such as financials, telecom and high-quality drugmakers amid expectations that Asia’s third-largest economy may recover faster than expected as it gradually unlocks from the world’s biggest lockdown.

Mirroring the rush of first-time investors who drove record sign-ups at U.S. brokerages including Robinhood, India has seen about 1.8 million new accounts opened since March. The benchmark S&P BSE Sensex is down 14% for the year even after rebounding from the worst sell-off since 2008.

The Sensex has rebounded 36% from its March 23 bottom, as local policymakers and governments globally added stimulus to counter the devastation caused by the coronavirus. But there’s a wide dispersion in performance – the banking sector is down 31% year-to-date, while healthcare stocks have rallied.

“Blue-chip valuations look reasonable and we foresee many new investors coming into the market to take advantage of this correction,” said Nithin Kamath, chief executive officer of Zerodha Broking Ltd., India’s largest online discount broker.

Retail investors are pivoting toward cyclicals as these suffered the most during the lockdown. That underscores the narrative that this is about expectations that the worst is over. Valuations for auto, energy and metal stocks remain low versus the broader market.

Kamath said there’s demand for Housing Development Finance Corp., India’s largest mortgage lender that’s down 24% this year, as well as drugmakers. ICICI Securities Ltd. is seeing appetite for large private banks, beaten-down shadow lenders and telecom, said Chief Executive Officer Vijay Chandok.

“Our customers have been net buyers to the tune of about 85 billion rupees during the past four months, with the ‘buy’ percentage increasing from 51% to 62% in the period,” Chandok said.

Vodafone Surge

Other brokers including IIFL Securities Ltd. say interest has been revived in mid-cap stocks. Abhimanyu Sofat, head of research at IIFL, listed Vodafone Idea Ltd. among names that have seen a surge in retail participation.

Shares have surged more than 50% this month after a May 28 Financial Times report that Alphabet Inc.’s Google is considering buying a stake in the British telecom giant’s Indian unit.

Yet as in other regions, investor optimism is yet to be backed by a meaningful improvement in economic data.

While trade fared better in May than in the previous month, and the services purchasing managers’ index climbed back to double-digits in May from the world-record low in April, shoppers seem to be staying home. Bloomberg Intelligence expects the economy to contract 4.5% for fiscal 2021 – with significant downside risks to the forecast.

That outlook isn’t deterring small investors as the tsunami of money helps markets globally climb the wall of worry. The Sensex is set to cap the June quarter with the steepest gain since 2009, in line with the regional MSCI Asia Pacific Index.

The easing of the lockdown “hasn’t changed anything,” said Maansi Sagar, who opened a trading account in March while waiting for an easing of travel curbs to fly to Dubai for a new job. “If you talk to my friends too, in fact, it’s got us even more excited because we are seeing even bigger returns now.”

Business

UAE banks set for more job cuts, profit decline

head dubai June 24, 2020 No Comments

Dubai: A week away from reporting of the first half 2020 results begins, many UAE banks are headed for implementing drastic cost cutting measures to arrest decline in profits resulting from sharp decline in revenues and a potential spike in non-performing assets.

“Although some banks have been shedding jobs in small numbers quietly since the COVID-19 outbreak began; now it is obvious that more drastic measures are required to cut losses and make businesses viable,” said an industry source

Emirates NBD, the Dubai’s largest bank on Tuesday laid off 800 employees across various sections. Banking sector sources have confirmed more banks are likely to lay-off workers in the next few weeks. Banking sector across the GCC are expected to witness similar trends.

Financial regulators across the GCC announced a number of policy measures during Q2-2020 to deal with the Covid-19 crisis that was marred by lockdowns across the GCC. A significant element of these efforts involved the banking sector in the region that had to postpone installments, waive numerous charges, and support the vital SME sector. Business activities have came to a halt due to the lockdowns that affected project activity and loan offtake and repayments by businesses.

To offset the impact, governments announced numerous monetary and cash-flow measures. Central banks in the region rolled out a number of policy measures starting with rate cuts to encourage borrowing, efforts that focused on continued lending by banks to support businesses and eased the burden of loan payments. In addition liquidity support was offered through interest free funding and relaxation of requlatory capital requirements.

Science & Tech

UAE Mars mission to answer unique exploration questions in July launch

head dubai June 16, 2020 No Comments

With less than six weeks before the launch of the UAE’s Hope mission to Mars the project has provided a model for the development of other important sectors in pharmaceuticals, biotechnology and agriculture technology.

Sarah Al Amiri, the UAE’s Minister of State for Advanced Sciences and Deputy Project Manager of the Emirates Mars Mission, told a webinar with London’s Science Museum on Monday that the mission is poised to answer unique scientific questions while on Mars.

The effects of the work, carried out at the Mohammed bin Rashid Space Centre in Dubai and on Mars, is a pillar of the future of the UAE economy.

“The UAE is currently working towards its diversification plan, a diversification plan for the economy as a whole,” she said. “The development of knowledge-intensive sectors has become key to the economy.”

On July 15 the UAE probe will launch its 495,000,000 kilometre journey to reach and orbit the Red Planet, less than a year after Hazza Al Mansouri blasted off to the International Space Station last September. It has taken just six years from conception to launch, half the time of other Mars projects.

Omran Sharaf, project manager of the Emirates Mars Mission, also spoke at the session and discussed how the probe has been designed to give hope to 100 million Arab youths around the region.

He said the purpose was building the knowledge economy, something that was a national priority leading up to the country’s golden jubilee next year.

“We wanted to focus on 50th anniversary,” Mr Sharaf said. “It is a message not only to the Emirati youth but also the youth of the region.

“Given your history, given your achievements in the past, you can do much more.”

Highlighting a commitment to establish human settlements on Mars by 2117, Mr Sharaf said the goal was to give a framework for future ambition and achievement.

“It is like a 100-year commitment to the Emirati youth that you’re going to have jobs in science,” he said. “We do have a long-term vision for the long-term development of this mission and the UAE economy,” he said. “That’s why we try to include different aspects of the economy in this mission.”

The minister said the mission had been purposely built to be complementary for other missions.

It would focus on the reason for atmospheric “floss” by examining the correlation between Mars’s lower and upper atmosphere. The instruments are designed to collect data on dust storms and water loss.

“What we are doing is studying the weather on Mars for an entire Martian year,” she said.

Sir Ian Blatchford, director of London’s Science Museum Group, said the hurdles to be overcome in getting to Mars were among the hardest posed by space exploration.

“You can’t just launch to Mars whenever you feel like it,” he said. “You can only when there is a window for the launch.

In particular he said the mission chosen by the UAE was the first “wholistic” survey of the planet’s atmosphere.

“It is an enormous feat of national pride but also an enormous contribution of sharing the data it yields,” he said.

Scientists who are resident in the UAE have played a role is shaping the nature of the mission, added Ms Al Amiri. “The data from this mission will be publicly available in due time and we are always interested in collaboration,” she said.

Sports

Shoaib Akhtar lauds Wahab’s decision to return to red-ball cricket

head dubai June 16, 2020 No Comments

Lahore: Former Pakistan speedster Shoaib Akhtar has heaped praise on fast-bowler Wahab Riaz who has made himself available for the team’s tour of England. Pakistan are scheduled to play three Tests and and as many T20Is in England after the conclusion of Windies tour.

In September last year, Wahab took an indefinite break from first-class cricket to focus on limited-overs formats. However, he was recently named in the 29-member Pakistan squad (combined Tests and T20Is) for their tour of England.

Akhtar on Tuesday took to social media to praise Wahab and wrote on Twitter: “Really appreciate your decision Wahab Riaz to make yourself available for Test cricket. Keeping Pakistan first. You will do well in English conditions InshAllah.”

Wahab took note of Akhtar’s post and replied: “Means a lot coming from you chief.

The 34-year-old last made a Test appearance against Australia in October 2018. Having made his Test debut in 2010, Riaz has scalped 83 wickets in 27 matches so far in the longest format.

Following his inclusion in the team, Wahab had expressed his happiness and revealed that when he was asked about his availability for the Test series, he answered in affirmative without thinking twice.

“I am very excited to be a part of this England tour,” Wahab said in a video conference. “As you know this tour is being carried on in very unusual circumstances.

“I was called by the PCB to enquire if I am available to play Test cricket if required on a replacement basis. I straightaway said yes because my priority ultimately is to play for Pakistan.”

Sports

Long-serving Huseynov backs UAE football to reach greater heights

head dubai June 16, 2020 No Comments

Dubai: Faiq Huseynov has never looked past sports. After spending the past 22 years as a humble masseur in varied capacities at a number of UAE football clubs, Husenyov knows the nation’s soccer scene better than most.

From attending to the likes of former Italian captain Fabio Cannavaro and Portugal’s Ricardo Quaresma to Asian Footballer of the Year Ahmad Khalil, Huseynov is left nostalgic recalling all the “friends” that he has made over more than two decades in the country.

“Honestly, I don’t like to think past football,” he recalls, while narrating his treasure trove of experiences in the UAE.

“One of the most humbling experiences is to have a former player coming up to me and wish me well while recalling how much I have been of assistance to him during his career. That’s when I realise that my presence here is not just about football, but something more personal and dear.”

Faiq Huseynov with former Al Wasl coach Diego MaradonaImage Credit: Supplied

Huseynov’s journey began back home in Baku, Azerbaijan, where he first played basketball and then earned a Diploma in Sports Medicine in 1988. After shuttling between some top clubs such as Spartak Moscow and Dinamo Kiev and the national football team, Huseynov made his way to the UAE on the invitation of the newly formed Dubai Club on the Dubai-Hatta road.

“Dubai Club was in Division 2 that time and I came to the UAE on the invitation of an Azerbaijani defender, Deni Gaisumov. That was in 1998, and I can still remember my first match as Dubai Club and Hatta played out a goalless draw,” he says.

Dubai Club worked their way up to the top division of the UAE Football League and Huseynov very soon began experiencing bigger challenges. His calm nature helped him come to terms with these, and by 2006, the Azerbaijan national found himself working with a succession of top-class players and coaches after moving to Al Ahli Club.

“Quique Sanchez Flores, Cosmin Olaroiu, Fabio [Cannavaro], Ricardo [Quaresma], Grafite and, of course, our own UAE stars like Faisal and Ahmad Khalil, Bashir Saeed and Esmail Al Hammadi. It has been one big journey for me over the years,” Huseynov says.

“I feel so lucky and blessed to work with all these top world-famous personalities in football. I have developed some good friendships over the years with so many of them. And when one of them calls me and inquires about me, I feel truly honoured and blessed.”

Faiq Huseynov with former Al Ahli coach Cosmin OlaroiuImage Credit: Supplied

Being at one club for so many years has had its advantages as Huseynov found Khalifa Saeed Sulaiman, Chairman of the Higher Committee that oversaw the merger of three Dubai clubs — Al Shabab, Dubai Club and Al Ahli Club — as one of his biggest supporters. “He has always backed me and I feel obligated to give my best for this club,” Huseynov says.

Football in the UAE adopted a professional model from the start of the 2008-09 season and Huseynov was part of the celebrations as Al Ahli celebrated their first league title of the new era. “For anyone outside it’s just football. But for those involved with the team, it’s all about teamwork. Perhaps, spectators and fans do not realise this aspect of sport,” Huseynov says.

“Be it during training sessions or during matches, everyone is an important part of the team. It’s not just about the 25 players who are in the squad, but it’s also about each and everyone, including the coach, his assistants, the medical personnel and even the administrative staff. This is the entire team that is ultimately responsible for the success of a club.

“But for me who has been blessed to work with some of the biggest and best names in sport, I feel that we are all part of the team that will eventually win the match. Each one does his own job, fulfils his own duties to the best of his abilities and the end result is the success.”

Business

Goldman banker moving from Dubai to London in latest Middle East change

head dubai June 16, 2020 No Comments

Goldman Sachs Group Inc. dealmaker Fabrice Francois is relocating from Dubai to London, people familiar with the matter said, in the latest change to the firm’s Middle East lineup.

Francois plans to move to the UK at the end of the summer, according to one of the people, who asked not to be identified because the information is private. He will join Goldman’s mid-market advisory franchise, known as the cross markets group, with a focus on private equity as well as technology, media and telecommunications dealmaking, the person said.

The banker, who was named a managing director in the firm’s most recent promotion round in November, moved to the Gulf in 2018 and worked on a number of financial sponsors deals.

It wasn’t immediately clear if Goldman plans to replace Francois in the Middle East. A representative for Goldman declined to comment.

The US bank’s Middle East operation has seen a number of personnel changes in the last year, including the departure of regional investment-banking head Hazem Shawki for Credit Suisse Group AG. Goldman named Selma Hassan as Shawki’s replacement in September. Martin Weber, the bank’s financing head for the Middle East and North Africa, also departed late last year.

Goldman has been turning its attention in the Middle East to Saudi Arabia after the fallout from the 1MDB corruption scandal resulted in the bank losing out on some lucrative mandates in Abu Dhabi, once one of its key regional markets. It was a global coordinator on Saudi Aramco’s initial public offering and also worked on the oil giant’s acquisition of a majority stake in Saudi Basic Industries Corp. worth about $69 billion.

The cross markets group Francois is joining forms a central part of Goldman’s strategy to win more mergers and acquisitions business with smaller clients. He fills a vacancy left by the departure of Devin Wilde, who moved to New York for a position on the activism and shareholder advisory team, according to an April internal memo.

Uncategorized

MARÍA CHUECOS

head dubai June 15, 2020 No Comments

Every day traveling brings a new set of issues and opportunities. The way you handle those also gives you insight into who you are. You’ll come home knowing yourself better, and with a fresh perspective on what you want out of life. The experience will change your life.

In my opinion I love to travel because is the best way to learn about another cultures and how amazing the world is

I love adventures and is my way to live and travel around the world makes me the most happy person

It’s common knowledge that traveling teaches you something new. First and foremost, you are studying geography during your trip, and then you can easily identify the capitals of the world. In such a way, you develop your intelligence. Secondly, you have an opportunity to learn new culture and traditions of different nations. Imagine that people have another idea about life, they have strange or horrific traditions and a completely different religion. All these factors inspire your curiosity, and you want to start traveling.

Also, you will learn to be independent. You are invariant with somebody else, and that is why you can go only with your gut. Therefore, traveling is self-knowledge and the disclosure of your abilities and capabilities.

But first of all, traveling is the memories that will warm your soul. We are the creators of moments in our life, both pleasant and painful. You can share impressions with your friends and family, or you can write a separate article. Bear in mind that you live here and now, so enjoy yourself and travel!

Uncategorized

Jaapanen

head dubai June 4, 2020 No Comments

The fitness industry has grown to great proportions over the last few years. The International Health, Racquet & Sportsclub Association has reported that the $30 billion health and fitness industry in America alone has been increasing at least three to four percent annually for the last ten years. What’s more is that experts claim that the market shows no sign of slowing down anytime soon with the help of content marketing and other digital marketing strategies.

At the same time, the demand for fitness clubs and gyms has increased. This is partly because of the increasing health consciousness among the general public. Experts believe this is due to expensive health insurance costs. As a result, consumers are hoping to trim down their expenses on health insurance.

With this in mind, the number of fitness clubs have increased over the years. Each provider offering cheaper gym membership and new services such as streaming exercise classes. Undoubtedly, a growing demand would always equate to tighter competition.

New brands hoping to secure a spot among key players and stay relevant in the constantly changing market of fitness clubs, they need to have a long term strategy in brand awareness

Business

Sell, stow or dump? Retailers wrestle with mountain of unsold stock

head dubai June 2, 2020 No Comments

Forget fast or slow fashion, now it’s ground to a halt. A mountain of apparel stock has been piling up in stores, distribution centers, warehouses and even shipping containers during months of Covid-19 lockdowns. As retailers reopen around the world, they have to work out how to get rid of it.

Their main options? Keep it in storage, hold a sale, offload it to “off-price” retailers like TJ Maxx which sell branded goods at deep discounts, or move it to online resale sites.

None are ideal, and all are damage-limitation.

Real estate company Knight Frank told Reuters it had fielded inquiries for excess stock for over 6 million square feet(557,500 square meters) of short-term let warehouse space in Britain since the pandemic took hold there in March.

Yet storage is only a realistic option for evergreen “basics” that are not tied to one particular year and could be sold at a later date should consumer demand bounce back – items like underwear, t-shirts, chinos and classic sneaker styles.

Apparel chains including British high-street retailer Next and German sportswear brand Adidas said they had stashed away unsold basics, with the aim to offer them to shoppers next year instead.

But stowing away piles of inventory is risky.

“This is not like wine that gets better with age. Your inventory gets worse,” said Emanuel Chirico, chief executive of PVH Corp, which owns Calvin Klein and Tommy Hilfiger, on a recent earnings call.

In the United States, clothing sales fell 89 per cent in April from the same month in 2019, while in Britain clothing sales sank by 50 per cent compared with an already-squeezed March.

Retailers hope that easing of lockdown measures will see shoppers return to stores, eager to unleash pent-up demand. But there is no guarantee that sales will rebound any time soon.

Dumping inventory
Many stores are likely to pursue a combination of holding sales as well selling stock to off-price retailers. The mix will depend on consumer appetite, how much merchandise stores have to shift and how fast they must free up space for new collections.

In-store discounts are usually a better option as dumping inventory in bulk to off-price players returns just pennies on the dollar for the retailers.

Off-price retail group TJX, which started opening its TJ Maxx and Marshalls stores this month, said in May there was “incredible availability” of stock on the market.

UK-based Parker Lane Group, which helps companies manage excess stock and advises on selling off-price, is processing at least double its usual volume of up to 1.5 million items of apparel per month, founder Raffy Kassardjian told Reuters.

“Some of our customers are waiting for retail to open up to gauge their performance before they make a commitment on how much stock they want to write off,” he said, referring to both selling at discount in-store and offloading to off-price.

MOST INSANE SALES
Potentially more lucrative is moving merchandise to online re-sale marketplaces that take a commission on sales, although that option is largely only open for high-end brands.

California-based luxury re-sale marketplace Tradesy opened a new business unit in April to deal with the jump in brands looking to sell stock they were stuck with after department stores canceled wholesale orders, said CEO Tracy DiNunzio.

“A number of these brands are set to go live in the next couple of months,” she said, adding some may set up their own landing page on Tradesy while others would sell more discreetly.

Apparel was still the number-one category for spending cutbacks among US consumers surveyed by Coresight Research on May 20. Non-essential retailers are set to reopen on June 8 in New York City and June 15 in Britain.

Even some shoppers are plotting a quick profit using re-sale websites.

“We’re going to see the most insane sales,” said Melissa McAvoy, founder of events company Luxury Experience & Co, who lives in the celebrity-studded Los Angeles suburb of Calabasas.

The 43-year-old said she planned to snap up merchandise at a discount, to then resell it at a higher price online at a site such as California-based Poshmark, which also makes money by taking a commission on sales.

“I’m going to get a tonne of stuff and either wear it once or put it on Poshmark,” she said. – Reuters