Author: dailyguardian.ae

Rachida Smati was in for a surprise when she boarded her Emirates flight to Algiers last weekend. The 101-year-old well-travelled customer was not only accorded a warm welcome but was also extended a First-Class upgrade. The airline had made it comfortable for the centenarian as soon as she arrived at the airport. The Algerian national was fast-tracked through the airport and taken to the First-Class lounge where she could relax ahead of boarding her flight. And when she boarded the flight, the crew did their best to make the trip comfortable and memorable for her. Rachida said she planned to…

Hurricane Beryl barrelled across the Atlantic Ocean toward the Caribbean’s Windward Islands as an “extremely dangerous” storm on Monday, threatening to devastate communities with floods, storm surges and life-threatening high winds, officials said. Locals boarded up shops, stocked up on food and filled their cars with petrol as the storm approached. The Prime Minister of St Vincent and the Grenadines, Ralph Gonsalves, said he was expecting a natural disaster that could continue for days. It was an unusually fierce and early start to this year’s Atlantic hurricane season – the earliest Category 4 storm on record, according to National Hurricane…

Gulf equities reversed months of losses to end the month of June in the green, research showed on Monday. According to Kamco Invest’s GCC Markets Monthly Report for June, after three consecutive months of decline, the GCC index monthly performance witnessed its first monthly gain during June 2024 amid mixed market performance in the region. The gains were primarily led by Qatar and Abu Dhabi, which rose seven per cent and 2.2 per cent respectively. The FTSE ADX index recorded its first monthly gain during the year to close the month at 9,060.73 points. The monthly gain also lowered the…

Bluetooth speakers are everywhere. I think it’s safe to say that they’ve replaced the receiver-based component setup as the main music delivery system for most people (unless you’re into hi-res digital music or vinyl records). They’ve become such commonplace audio devices that it’d be odd not to see one (or several) speakers at parties, poolside, at the beach, or even strapped to the front of a mountain bike. And rightfully so. Bluetooth speakers have come a long way. They sound better than ever, are reliable, portable, and they come in so many varieties that it’s becoming easier to find one…

Residents and investors are opting for off-plan projects due to a lack of affordable inventory for sale, brought about by a rental market that has seen prices more than double in some communities post-pandemic. The demand for Dubai’s off-plan properties has grown tremendously among residents and foreign investors due to lower prices and higher returns than other major cities around the world, as well as the double-digit rental income that properties in the emirate can offer. Meanwhile, expat residents in Dubai are buying off-plan units to beat the competitive rental markets. Stay up to date with the latest news. Follow…

The Philippines surpassed Indonesia and China to break into the world’s top ten economies most dependent on coal-fired power, data from energy think tank Ember showed, underlining the challenges it faces to achieve its green energy goals. The country’s share of coal in electricity generation rose for the fifteenth straight year in 2023, the data showed, despite a target to cut dependence on the fuel to less than half of total power output by 2030. Kosovo had the highest coal dependence in 2023 according to the data released by Ember, with 88.21% of its power coming from the polluting fuel.…

Oil prices climbed about 2 per cent on Monday on hopes of rising demand during the Northern Hemisphere’s peak summer driving season and worries that Opec+ production cuts could result in supply deficits later in the year. On its first day as the front-month contract, Brent futures for September delivery were up $1.25, or 1.5 per cent, from where that contract closed on Friday to $86.25 a barrel at 11:48 a.m. EDT (1548 GMT) on Monday. US West Texas Intermediate crude for August delivery rose $1.27, or 1.6 per cent, to $82.81 per barrel, putting the contract on track for…

A wide-open Wimbledon women’s draw has 25 potential champions, according to Greece’s Maria Sakkari who became the first seed to reach the second round on Monday. Sakkari, seeded nine, made short work of American qualifier McCartney Kessler 6-3 6-1 in little over an hour to begin her quest to finally make her mark at the tournament. The 28-year-old Athenian has never been beyond the third round at Wimbledon but believes there is an opportunity to improve on that mediocre record this year. “For sure it boosts my confidence in a way. Obviously the more I get to play in this…

Lenovo Yoga Slim 7x MSRP $1,313.00 “The Lenovo Yoga Slim 7x is a fantastic platform for Copilot+ and the Qualcomm Snapdragon X chips.” Pros Solid build and attractive aesthetic Quite thin Efficient performance and battery life Spectacular OLED display Attractive pricing Cons Graphics performance is disappointing So-so mechanical touchpad I reviewed one of the first laptops in Microsoft’s new Copilot+ and Windows on Arm initiative, the HP OmniBook X, which provided very good performance and better efficiency than previous Windows machines. Now, I’m taking a look at another, the Lenovo Yoga Slim 7x, which uses the same chipset but demonstrates…

An overturned truck on a key highway caused a traffic jam on Monday, at around 6pm in Dubai. Eyewitnesses stuck in the snarl-up told Khaleej Times that authorities were trying to lift the truck that had overturned on Sheikh Zayed exit, heading towards Jebel Ali. Meanwhile, the exit has been blocked while authorities clear the site and recover the vehicle. Stay up to date with the latest news. Follow KT on WhatsApp Channels. Motorists passing through the Al Maktoum airport roundabout were facing the gridlock too, close to where the accident took place. A screengrab from Google Maps below shows…