Electrical and Gulf Projects Operating Company, a part of L&T's construction segment, has pocketed orders worth Rs 5.82 billion for 4 electrical projects in India and United Arab Emirates.

The further details of projects pocketed by the company from its various clients are as follows:

New York University, which is building its Dubai campus, has called for more worker friendly measures in order to avoid their exploitation of workers besides protecting their rights. The university and its Abu Dhabi Government partner has expressed its commitment to do everything possible for protecting the interests of the workers hired to build its Saadiyat Island campus.

The one of the most famous stores in America, Bloomingdale, today opened its store in Dubai, which comes as its first ever branch outside the US.

A JV by the US luxury store and Al Tayer Group will lead to opening of two outlets in The Dubai Mall, which comes as good news for the UAE shoppers.

While the main store's full 146,000sq ft, spread over three stories, will have products related to fashion and accessories, the second store is a home store, spread in 54,000 sq ft.

In a unique event of its kind in the Universe, people will see Mars - the Red Planet, coming closer to the Earth. Astronomical observers gear up for enjoying the special phenomenon set to happen in few hours in the sky.

The planet will appear brighter and bigger than usual at the occasion and it would be a best time for the telescopic viewing and astrophotography, according to the US space agency-NASA.

According to Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries, OPEC, about 2.68 million barrels a day (mbpd) are expected to be produced by the African countries during
2010.

Nigeria, during December 2009, produced 1.984 million barrels per day, excluding the condensate, and was the highest amongst the African countries, where as Angola was the next.

The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN), in response to the request made by the Telecommunication Regulatory Authority (TRA), has given its nod for using the string 'emarat' as the official Arabic top-level domain for the United Arab Emirates (UAE).

Indian Bollywood Super-star Amir Khan, currently in news for rocking success of 3 Idiots, will be the new brand ambassador of Etisalat, a leading firm based in UAE which plans to roll out operation in Indian telecom segment.

The agreement reportedly for Rs 30-35 crores will last for three years, told persons concerned with the development.

Tokyo, Dec 20 - Japan will stockpile crude oil produced in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) under a bilateral agreement that stipulates Tokyo could receive emergency supplies with priority in the event of a global supply shortage, WAM news agency reported.

The first crude oil shipment from Abu Dhabi will arrive in Kagoshima Prefecture in southwestern Japan Monday. The Abu Dhabi National Oil Company leases a storage tank in Kagoshima. The capacity of the tank is 600,000 kiloliters.

The agreement, signed in June between Japan and Abu Dhabi, is the first such agreement for Tokyo.

Cairo  - Police in the United Arab Emirates cracked down on youngsters at shopping malls who violated so-called "decency laws," media reported Saturday.

Scores of youngsters were detained by police in the Ras Al Khaimah emirate for sporting "unusual hair cuts" and clothing that showed parts of their bodies immodestly, the Gulf News reported.

Some of the teenagers were given haircuts by the police, in an effort to enforce the conservative code of the Gulf country.

Cairo  - Queues for lorry drivers trying to pass the border between Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates now extend for 15 kilometres, local media reported Tuesday.

According to estimates published in the regional Gulf News, some 750 trucks are stuck at the border itself, with about 5,000 in total waiting at nearby car parks and rest areas to cross into Saudi Arabia.

UAE-based Dana Gas has reported an increasing trend in its gross profit for third-quarter. The company has registered handsome growth of 64% in its third-quarter gross profit as compared to the similar period in 2008.

In a declaration, the company said that its revenues have witnessed an upward trend of 12% at Dh359 million (USD 97.74 million) in the reporting quarter.

As per last financial statements, the company has posted a net profit of Dh26 million in the third three month period of fiscal 2008.

Emirates Aluminium (Emal), the largest single aluminium smelter in the World, has decided to commence production in December. Emal is a 50-50 joint venture formed between Dubal and Mubadala Development Company, Abu Dhabi-based investment vehicle.

In a declaration, the company said that it will sell its product in Chinese and European markets. The project will involve constructing an aluminium-based cluster around this plant.

Dubai  - The United Arab Emirates will appoint the world's first female muftis next year, according to media reports Tuesday.

The Gulf state's Grand Mufti Ahmed al-Haddad said that six Emirati women are being considered for the training programme, which will last several months and commence early next year, the UAE's The National newspaper reported.

In May, al-Haddad called on qualified Emirati women to apply for

the programme, which includes instruction in Sharia law and legal thinking.

Thiruvananthapuram, Oct 17 United Arab Emirates will recover from the global recession by the end of the year, the country's envoy to India Mohammed Sultan Abdullah Owais said here Saturday after a meeting with Kerala Chief Minister V.S. Achuthanandan.

"New jobs will certainly be there and even now things in my country are coming back to normal. The country will recover from the global recession fully by the end of the year," said Owais, who belongs to a big business family of the UAE.

At least 1.7 million Indians live and work in the seven states of the emirates.

Momentum Logistics, the logistics subsidiary of UAE terminal operator Gulftainer, has entered into a contract with United Arab Shipping Company (UASC) to provide the company with logistics services.

The signing of deal with Momentum Logistics comes in line with UASC's expansion strategy and in anticipation of the arrival of some of the world's largest container ships to the region during 2011.

UAE based Spark Mobiles has announced its foray into the Indian market.

The company has appointed actor R Madhavan as its brand ambassador.  

The mobile manufacture is scheduled to launch its handsets in the country before the end of 2009.

Speaking on this, the actor said: “The single most important factor that convinced me to endorse this product was the amount of research and development that has gone into the making of the phones.”

New Delhi  - A transport plane of the United Arab Emirates (UAE) air force was detained by authorities in eastern India for carrying undeclared arms and explosives, officials said Monday.

The plane en route from Abu Dhabi to Hanyang in central China landed at the international airport in Kolkata on Sunday night to refuel.

"During the customary checking of plane by customs officials, a large cache of arms and ammunition was found stockpiled inside the craft," said an Indian Air Force official who requested anonymity.

Dubai - An eight-storey building under construction in central Dubai collapsed on Sunday, local media reported.

It was not initially clear if there were any victims, although a number of nearby parked cars were destroyed.

The building, situated in Deira neighbourhood, collapsed at about 4pm local time (1200 GMT), Khaleej times newspaper reported.

One witnesses, a security officer, said no workers were believed to be on-site at the time. However, he was not able to confirm whether anybody had been hurt in the building collapse.

House prices in Dubai have witnessed a slump of 9% in the second quarter due to property downturn amid the global financial crisis.

Prices in the Gulf emirate had declined 41% from the fourth quarter to the first quarter.

The sources said that market transactions in the second quarter grew by 50% over the first quarter due to increased financing options for buyers, mainly for completed or nearly completed properties.

Emirates Airline has announced that it has inked mutual agreement with Australian budget airline Virgin Blue with the aim to introduce "Emirates Visit Australia Pass", which will provide unprecedented access to the country.

The sources said that the move takes the interline agreement inked between the two airlines last month a step forward, with the pass offering domestic connections to 22 additional Australian destinations on Virgin Blue from all four Australian cities served by Emirates: Brisbane, Melbourne, Perth and Sydney.