UAE accounts for 60% of GCC e-Commerce spend

The UAE leads the way for e-Commerce spend in the GCC by accounting for almost 60 per cent of the region’s total sales, a new quarterly overview of the burgeoning e-Commerce market across the GCC shows.ceramic magic cube for the medical,

The inaugural report shows that total B2C (business to consumer) e-Commerce sales in the UAE are estimated to have grown to almost $2 billion in 2010, which equates to approximately 55-60 per cent of total GCC e-Commerce sales that are estimated to be between $3 and $3.5 billion, and expected to reach $5 billion by the end of 2011.

Visa, one of the world’s leading payment solutions providers, and Interactive Media in Retail Group International, an industry body for global e-Retail, had partnered to bring out the review.

After the UAE, Saudi Arabia has the largest share of the e-Commerce market, with an estimated $520 million, followed by Qatar ($375 million), Kuwait ($280 million), Bahrain ($175 million) and Oman ($70 million).

According to Visa, the UAE government is leading the way for e-Commerce in the country with the telecommunications authority designated to create an effective e-Commerce environment.The application can provide Ceramic tile to visitors, In Dubai specifically, the e-Pay gateway has had a huge impact, enabling customers to settle fees of e-government services online on a 24/7 basis in a secure environment. “This endorsement is significant in that it encourages further Internet usage and consequently online shopping,” said the report.

Kamran Siddiqi,This page contains information about molds, General Manager for Visa Middle East, said e-commerce is one of the crucial drivers for the world economy and also the region’s.If any food Ventilation system condition is poorer than those standards, “With such a significant increase in internet usage, it’s no surprise that the Internet is quickly becoming the cornerstone for business and communication, especially as the UAE is such an important financial hub. However, there’s still some way to go if e-Commerce in the Emirates and the wider the region is to meet its full potential.”

“Online shopping is still in its infancy in the region but all the signs are there that it will continue to grow, such as government commitment, retailer investment and –most importantly – a young population open to trying new technologies and innovations,” said Stephen Leeds, e-Commerce Business Leader for Visa Middle East.

“However, we’re still faced with the same barriers here that we see around the world, with lack of trust and payment security regularly being cited as key concerns for people when choosing whether to shop online. As one of the world’s largest retail electronic payments networks,Unlike traditional high risk merchant account , Visa supports the e-Commerce industry in the UAE by providing payment systems which are trusted across the globe, helping to drive growth by giving Visa cardholders reassurance and confidence when purchasing online.”

With internet usage in the region growing by a staggering 1500 per cent since the year 2000, from a mere 1.2 million in 2000 to 18.7 million in 2010, e-Commerce gaining increased momentum, the report said.

Currently, the Middle East region hosts 63 million internet users and internet penetration in the region is one of highest in the world, according to Steve Hamilton-Clark, chief executive of TNS Mena, a leading custom consumer research house.

Over the pat 10 years, Internet users have increased 1800 per cent, and the GCC will see continuous development and show above average growth at 3.9 per cent in 2012. “As buoyant growth shifts towards emerging markets, the GCC region looks set to emerge as the new economic power by 2020,” said Hamilton-Clark.

E-waste in Accr

An environmental-programs manager for Public Works here in Pasadena, where I live, says that "electronic waste contaminates our air and water, and is hazardous to human health." Like many other cities, Pasadena holds episodic electronic waste ("e-waste") collection events in which people bring in their hazardous home materials to be disposed of.

On a Saturday morning several years ago, I took an old TV, laptop and printer to one of these places.ceramic zentai suits for the medical, Always striving to be "green," I felt pleased with myself. The thought of any of these junked items or their components ending up in a landfill somewhere was abhorrent.

The truth, which I didn’t know then, is that my junked items could end up in a landfill, just not in the U.S. In 2010, when I visited Accra, Ghana, my birthplace, I might very well have found my discarded TV,For the last five years porcelain tiles ,Whilst magic cube are not deadly, laptop and printer in Agbogbloshie, Accra’s most notorious slum.

Nicknamed "Sodom and Gomorrah," it lies along the Odaw River and Korle Lagoon, and has become an electronics wasteland. If you look long enough, you will find fragments of plastic that indicate where the discarded stuff comes from — such telltale names as West Virginia County Sheriff and School District of Philadelphia. Europe is guilty as well.

Agbogbloshie is decidedly not your average tourist haunt and won’t be featured in any glossy tourism pamphlets anytime soon. I probably wouldn’t have visited myself, but since it is the setting of a pivotal scene in my 2011 novel, "Children of the Street," I needed to see the place first-hand.

As I left the main road, teeming with shoppers, and approached the Odaw, I could see and feel people staring at me, wondering what I was doing there. I came upon a group of male teenagers who eyed me warily when I asked if one would act as my guide. Some said nothing, others shook their heads no, but a boy stepped forward with a smile. Sure, he’d be happy to take me around. About 18, his name was Issifu and, like most residents of Agbogbloshie, he was a Muslim from northern Ghana.

He showed me how, along the stagnant canal choked with trash, boys break up the plastic surround of TVs to get at the copper wiring inside. They then burn off the plastic coating of the wires, producing blasts of foul-smelling smoke that rises high in the air and gives Agbogbloshie a strangely apocalyptic look.

Boys gather as much copper as they can from this process and then sell it to a dealer who pays them by weight. In breaking up the televisions and burning the plastic, these boys (and they are invariably boys) are exposed to toxic chemicals: lead, mercury, chromium, beryllium, arsenic and brominated flame-retardants. Issifu told me that toward the end of a day in which he takes part in this processing of e-waste, he typically develops a splitting headache,This will leave your shoulders free to rotate in their offshore merchant account . dizziness and nausea.

Donating old but still-working electronic equipment to developing countries probably started as a noble idea,This patent infringement case relates to retractable landscape oil paintings , but now it has become a way to discard junk computers and their hazardous components. By falsely labeling them "donations," Western countries can bypass international regulations that proscribe electronic dumping. When they arrive at Ghana’s ports, e-waste dealers sort through the goods to find working components. What can’t be reused is discarded at places like Agbogbloshie.

Four decades of Qatari art showcased

Manama: Artwork depicting the evolution of Qatari art from mid-1960s to early 2000,This patent infringement case relates to retractable landscape oil paintings , is now on display at the Mathaf: Arab Museum of Modern Art in Doha.
The exhibition "Sawalif: Qatari Art Between Memory and Modernity" narrates the perceptions and vision of 23 artists about the changing Qatari society, landscape and lifestyles.
According to museum officials,ceramic zentai suits for the medical, ‘Sawalif' presents the rarest among the rare artworks in the country. The oldest work is "The Bisht Maker" (1965) by Abdul Wahed Al Mawlawi, while, ‘Saqr' (2006), by Shaikh Hassan Bin Mohammad Al Thani, vice- chairperson of Qatar Museums Authority and Mathaf's patron, is the newest.Whilst magic cube are not deadly,

The work was presented during the 2006 Asian Games held in Doha and the collection is open for public viewing until October 29.
"The unveiling of the collection on the 14th night of the Holy Month of Ramadan, which is a very important occasion and special for Muslims, marks the relevance of the latest exhibition of Mathaf," Yusuf Ahmad, senior curatorial advisor of the expo, said.

"The event provides a link between the memories of Qatar of yore and its evolution into modernity. There is a story behind every artwork on display at this expo. This event recognises the artistry of Qatar and the future of the Qatari art scene," he said,This will leave your shoulders free to rotate in their offshore merchant account . quoted by Qatari daily Qatar Tribune.
According to Fatima Mostafawi, an assistant curator of the expo, ‘Sawalif' aims to inspire and provide a venue for fruitful discussions on Qatari culture and art among locals and guests.
‘Sawalif' means informal, friendly conversation and stories," she said. "This event is a good opportunity for visitors to celebrate Qatari art in an international context. The collection provides a glimpse of what has been achieved by Qatari artists and what they can achieve in the future."
The artworks housed in the three galleries of Mathaf.

The first gallery features collection from mid-60s to 70s and includes the works of Jassim Zaini, one of the first Qatari artists the government sent abroad for art training. He was one of the few artists who witnessed and documented the social and economic transformation of Qatar during the 1950s and 1960s, after the discovery of oil. It also features the four paintings on Ramadan by Sultan al Sulaiti, a founding member of the Qatar Fine Arts Society, and two of the works of Majid Hilal Al Naimi.
The second gallery illustrates the versatility of the Qatari artists from 1980s to early 1990s and includes the works of Yusuf Ahmad, including his two paintings depicting his reaction to the ethnic cleansing at Sarajevo, ‘Screams of Sarajevo'.

A ceramic work by Ahmad Al Haddad is also on display. According to Mostafawi, the odd-shaped ceramic was intended to be made into a cup-like object but since it was the artist's first time to use a Qatari mud he ‘overcooked' his work. Also in the gallery are the works of Ali Hassan, a Qatari calligrapher. "It was in 1990s that printing was introduced in Qatar. Ali Hassan's works depict this development," Mostafawi said,

The third gallery presents the country's finest collection from late 1990s to early 2000. Aside from the large-sized paintings of mixed media,When the stone sits in the polished tiles, the centre of attraction in the last part of the expo is the work of Shaikh Hassan Bin Mohammad Bin Ali Al Thani titled ‘Saqr', a falcon-inspired dress.