Author: gulf-daily.com

NEW DELHI: Sheikh Khaled bin Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi, arrived in New Delhi on Wednesday on behalf of UAE President Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan to participate in the India AI Impact Summit 2026, which runs in the Indian capital through Feb. 20. He was received at the airport by Jyotiraditya M. Scindia, India’s Minister of Communications, and was accorded a ceremonial red-carpet welcome that included cultural performances, according to UAE official communications. Sheikh Khaled later greeted senior Indian officials after arriving in the capital, where summit events and related meetings are being held across multiple venues.…

NEW DELHI: India’s Union Cabinet has approved a new state-backed venture capital initiative, clearing the Startup India Fund of Funds 2.0 with a corpus of ₹10,000 crore (about $1.1 billion) to mobilize venture capital for the country’s startup ecosystem, the government said in a statement issued Feb. 14. The program, launched under the Startup India initiative, sets out a segmented funding approach aimed at supporting deep tech, tech-driven innovative manufacturing startups, and early-growth stage startups. The Cabinet note said the fund is intended to mobilize long-term domestic capital and strengthen the venture capital ecosystem while supporting innovation-led entrepreneurship across the country. Officials said the…

ABU DHABI: Etihad Airways carried 2.2 million passengers in January 2026, the Abu Dhabi based airline said in its monthly traffic update, reporting a 29% increase from 1.7 million passengers in January 2025. The carrier also reported a passenger load factor of 89.9% for the month, compared with 89.1% a year earlier, reflecting continued high seat occupancy at the start of the year. Etihad said it operated an average passenger fleet of 127 aircraft in January, up from 101 in the same month last year, as it expanded capacity across its network. The airline reported 110 destinations in its network listing, compared…

CAIRO: Egypt’s Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities said it has documented a previously unknown rock art site in South Sinai featuring a natural sandstone rock shelter that preserves paintings, carvings and inscriptions spanning thousands of years. The ministry said the site, known as the Umm Irak Plateau, contains layered imagery that begins with prehistoric drawings dated in a preliminary study to between 10,000 and 5,500 BCE, and continues through later historical periods. The ministry said an Egyptian archaeological mission from the Supreme Council of Antiquities identified the site during survey and documentation work in South Sinai. The plateau lies in a sandy area about…

NEW YORK: Silver prices fell sharply on Thursday, extending a volatile run for the metal as fresh U.S. labor data pushed the U.S. dollar higher and pressured precious metals. Spot silver was down 8.9% at $76.54 per ounce by early afternoon in New York trading, after rising about 4% a day earlier. At the session low, silver traded around $74.4 per ounce, a drop of more than 10% on the day. The selloff followed new U.S. employment figures showing the job market began 2026 on firmer footing than expected. Total nonfarm payrolls rose by 130,000 in January and the unemployment rate was 4.3%, according…

SHARJAH: Air Arabia (PJSC) reported a record AED 1.8 billion net profit before tax for 2025 and said its board has proposed a cash dividend of 30 fils per share, subject to shareholder approval. The Sharjah-headquartered low-cost airline said the results cover the year ended Dec. 31, 2025, and marked its strongest annual financial and operational performance to date. The company said pre-tax net profit rose 14% from AED 1.6 billion in 2024, while annual turnover increased 15% to more than AED 7.78 billion, up from AED 6.76 billion a year earlier. Net profit after tax was AED 1.62 billion, compared…

ABU DHABI: Etihad Airways carried 2.2 million passengers in January 2026, the Abu Dhabi based airline said in its monthly traffic update, reporting a 29% increase from 1.7 million passengers in January 2025. The carrier also reported a passenger load factor of 89.9% for the month, compared with 89.1% a year earlier, reflecting continued high seat occupancy at the start of the year. Etihad said it operated an average passenger fleet of 127 aircraft in January, up from 101 in the same month last year, as it expanded capacity across its network. The airline reported 110 destinations in its network listing, compared…

CALIFORNIA: Sony Interactive Entertainment and Santa Monica Studio announced on February 12 that the original God of War trilogy is being remade, reviving the series’ Greek era in a project the studio said is still in very early development. The announcement was made during a PlayStation State of Play presentation and was accompanied by a message from Santa Monica Studio asking for patience, saying it will be some time before more information can be shared. Sony did not disclose a release date, platform list, pricing, or gameplay footage for the trilogy remake. The original God of War launched on PlayStation 2 in March 2005, introducing Kratos…

SAN FRANCISCO: Google has launched an official YouTube app for Apple Vision Pro, making “YouTube for visionOS” available as a free download in the visionOS App Store. The release brings a native YouTube viewing experience to Apple’s mixed reality headset, with the app described as a spatial watch experience designed for viewing YouTube content in an immersive environment. The App Store listing says the app lets users explore content across YouTube, including standard rectangular videos and YouTube Shorts, alongside immersive formats. It also offers a signed-in experience, allowing access to subscriptions, playlists and watch history, aligning the headset experience with core…

EuroWire, PETROPAVLOVSK-KAMCHATSKY: The 6th Sustainable Development Forum is scheduled to be held in Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky from Feb. 17 to Feb. 21, bringing together government officials, business representatives and industry specialists for a multi day program focused on regional development in Kamchatka Krai and the wider Russian Far East. Organizers describe the forum as an interregional platform covering multiple sectors, with the Government of Kamchatka Krai leading preparations and support involving the Ministry for the Development of the Russian Far East and Arctic, the office of the presidential envoy in the Far Eastern Federal District, and the Roscongress Foundation. The forum is also positioned as a network…