ABU DHABI, United Arab Emirates - Thursday, December 12th 2013 [ME NewsWire]

The Al Ain Traffic and Patrols Section at the Traffic and Patrols Directorate D at Abu Dhabi Police announced that it has confiscated 375 cars and 8 motorbikes for various traffic law violations in November. The Al Ain Traffic and Patrols Section went on to release 368 of these vehicles and two motorbikes.

Lieutenant Colonel Mohammed Ahmed Al Mazroui, Acting Head of the Peripheral Regions Traffic Department at the Traffic and Patrols Directorate in Abu Dhabi Police, stated that the violations include truck drivers’ reckless overtaking other vehicles (resulting in 24 black points), reckless driving and racing on the streets (resulting in 12 black points), and the serious offense of fleeing the scene after causing an accident, (which results in 24 black points).

Al Mazroui also added that another reason for confiscating cars is because the owners had reached the maximum of 24 black points. I ... Read more »

MCLEAN, Virginie - Jeudi 12 Décembre 2013 [ME NewsWire]

(BUSINESS WIRE)--Hilton Worldwide Holdings Inc. (« Hilton Worldwide ») a annoncé aujourd'hui, suite à son introduction en bourse de 117 640 624 actions ordinaires, en avoir fixé le prix à 20 dollars par action. Hilton Worldwide émet 64 102 564 de ces actions en bourse et un actionnaire vendeur offre à la vente 53 538 060 de ces titres. L'actionnaire vendeur a accordé aux preneurs fermes une option d'achat allant jusqu'à 17 646 093 actions supplémentaires au prix d'introduction en bourse, moins la réduction de prise ferme. Les actions devraient commencer à être négociées à la Bourse de New York le 12 décembre 2013 sous le symbole « HLT ». La clôture de l'offre est prévue le 17 décembre 2013, sous réserve des conditions habituelles de clôture.

Hilton Worldwide entend utiliser le produit net de l'offre et la trésorerie disp ... Read more »

Launching "Fakhrouna Khalifa” (Khalifa, our Pride and Joy) Annual Book

Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates - Wednesday, December 11th 2013 [ME NewsWire]

The cultural, social and security 999 magazine published by the Ministry of the Interior took part in the UAE’s 42nd National Day celebrations by releasing its annual book titled: "Fakhrouna Khalifa” (Khalifa, our Pride and Joy). The ceremony was held on Tuesday the 10th of December 2013 at the Emirates Palace Hotel in Abu Dhabi.

Attending the ceremony were Major General Staff Dr. Obeid Al Hiri Salim Al Kutbi, Deputy Commander-in-Chief of Abu Dhabi Police, sponsor of the ceremony; Major General Khalil Dawood Badran, Director General of Finance and Services, Chairman of 999 Magazine Development Committee; Colonel Thani Butti Al Shamesi, Head of the Training Department at Abu Dhabi Police and 999 magazine Development Committee member; Lt Colonel Awadh Saleh Al Kindi, Editor-in-Chief of 999 Magazine. Also present were a l ... Read more »

NEW YORK - Wednesday, December 11th 2013 [ME NewsWire]


(BUSINESS WIRE) Oliver Wyman, a global leader in management consulting, is pleased to announce that 30 consulting professionals have been named Partners of the firm, effective January 1, 2014. The firm's new partners are:

    James Adams
    David Bergeron
    Jérôme Bouchard
    Jamie Bruce
    James Byran
    Scott Campion
    Tim Colyer
    Edouard de Mézerac
    Diego de Miguel
    Jason Ekberg
    Niyum Gandhi
    Ibon Garcia
    Huges Havrin
    Dr. Claus Herbolzheimer
    Tom Ivell
    Anurag Kakar
    Patrick Lortie
    Bridget McVerry
    Rainer Muench
&nb ... Read more »

CARACAS, Venezuela - Jeudi 12 Décembre 2013 [ME NewsWire]

(BUSINESS WIRE)--« Combler 2 790 postes à partir de 16 088 candidats, puis annoncer les résultats officiels en quelques heures. Seuls les pays qui emploient l'automatisation électorale peuvent réaliser ces exploits », a déclaré Antonio Mugica, PDG de Smartmatic, la société responsable de la conception et du déploiement de la plateforme technologique de vote utilisée dans les récentes élections municipales au Venezuela.

Le dimanche 8 décembre, Smartmatic a déployé plus de 39 427 machines de vote pour enregistrer la volonté du peuple : quelque 58 054 847 suffrages exprimés en une dizaine d'heures. Ce rendez-vous électoral marque la treizième fois que le Venezuela organise avec succès une élection nationale en utilisant la technologie et les services de gestion de projet de la soci&eacut ... Read more »

ME Newswire

Dubai,united Arab Emriates - Thursday, December 12th 2013

    70% of consumers feel that governments can clearly afford to subsidize prices since the countries are very rich in natural resources
    60% declare unawareness regarding the magnitude of low subsides which is striking  given the large difference in tariffs between GCC and the rest of the world
    The majority of consumers (70%) do not actually state a feeling of benefit from the low prices/subsidies
    55% of interviewed consumers agree that energy consumption should be reduced via an increase in prices
    An increase of 10% in prices is stated as acceptable by around half of the people across GCC

Subsidies in the GCC put an increasing burden on government's budgets, however, approx. 70% of consumers feel that governments can clearly afford to subsidize prices since the countries are very rich in ... Read more »

MCLEAN, Va. - Thursday, December 12th 2013 [ME NewsWire]

(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Hilton Worldwide Holdings Inc. ("Hilton Worldwide”) announced today the pricing of its initial public offering of 117,640,624 shares of common stock at a price to the public of $20.00 per share. Hilton Worldwide is offering 64,102,564 of such shares and a selling stockholder is offering 53,538,060 of such shares. The selling stockholder has granted the underwriters an option to purchase up to an additional 17,646,093 shares at the initial public offering price less the underwriting discount. The shares are expected to begin trading on the New York Stock Exchange on December 12, 2013 under the ticker symbol "HLT.” The offering is expected to close on December 17, 2013, subject to customary closing conditions.

Hilton Worldwide intends to use the net proceeds from the offering and available cash to repay approximately $1.25 billion of term loan borrowings outstanding under its senior secured credit fa ... Read more »

ME Newswire

ABU DHABI, United Arab Emirates - Wednesday, December 11th 2013

The Ministry of Interior, represented by the Human Rights Department, organized a seminar to commemorate International Human Rights Day. The event, which is celebrated annually on December 10th, was held at the Ministry of Interior’s auditorium. This year’s event took place under the slogan "20 Years of Working for your Rights” and marked the 20th anniversary of the establishment of the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights.

Brigadier Ahmed Mohammed Nehkairah, Head of Human Rights Department at the Ministry of Interior attended the seminar along with Mahir Al Obad, Assistant Undersecretary for Inspection Affairs at the Ministry of Labor; Brigadier General Dr. Abdullah bin Sahoo Al Suwaidi, Director General of Residency and Foreigners Affairs in Sharjah; Brigadier Mohammed Khalifa Al Marar, Director General of Undersecretary Diwan at the Ministry of Interior; and a number of othe ... Read more »

NEW YORK - Jeudi 12 Décembre 2013 [ME NewsWire]

(BUSINESS WIRE)--Scott McDonald a été nommé directeur général d’Oliver Wyman Group à compter du 1er janvier 2014. En qualité de DG, M. McDonald dirigera le cabinet mondial de consultant en management Oliver Wyman, le consultant économique NERA et le consultant en stratégie et conception de marque Lippincott. Il deviendra également membre du comité de direction de Marsh & McLennan Companies, la société mère d’Oliver Wyman Group.

M. McDonald succède à John Drzik, qui a passé près de 30 années au sein d’Oliver Wyman et a occupé le poste de président-directeur général d’Oliver Group pendant 7 années. M. Drzik rejoindra Marsh, inc. pour y occuper le poste de président de la branche mondiale Risque et spécialités et celui de président du conseil d’administration ... Read more »

CARACAS, Venezuela - Thursday, December 12th 2013 [ME NewsWire]

(BUSINESS WIRE)-- "Electing 2,790 posts from 16,088 candidates and then announcing official results within a few hours. These are feats only seen in countries that employ electoral automation,” stated Antonio Mugica, CEO of Smartmatic, the company responsible for designing and deploying the technological voting platform used in Venezuela’s recent municipal elections.

On Sunday, 8 December, Smartmatic deployed over 39,427 voting machines to record the will of the people: some 58,054,847 votes cast in around ten hours. This electoral contest marks the thirteenth time Venezuela has successfully run a national election using the company’s technology and project management services.

"We are proud to have served Venezuela again. It has been almost a decade now since we began developing the most advanced automated voting platform in the world, in partnership with the electoral authorities and political partie ... Read more »

Cette acquisition renforce Copal Partners en créant un prestataire extérieur de premier plan au service des clients de services de financement des entreprises, de recherche en investissement et de gestion de portefeuille

NEW YORK - Jeudi 12 Décembre 2013 [ME NewsWire]

(BUSINESS WIRE) Moody's Corporation (NYSE:MCO) a annoncé aujourd'hui avoir fait l'acquisition d'Amba Investment Services, un fournisseur de services de recherche en investissement et d'analyse quantitative destinés aux institutions financières internationales. Amba exercera ses activités dans le cadre d'une filiale à participation majoritaire de Moody’s Analytics, Copal Partners.

Cette acquisition renforcera les capacités de recherche et d'analyse offertes par Moody’s Analytics par le biais de Copal, créant ainsi un prestataire extérieur de tout premier plan pour le secteur financier international, dont neuf des dix principales banques d' ... Read more »

ME NewsWire / Business Wire

HOUSTON - Wednesday, December 11th 2013

Schlumberger Limited (NYSE:SLB) will hold a conference call on January 17, 2014 to discuss the results for the fourth quarter and full year ending December 31, 2013.

The conference call is scheduled to begin at 9:00 am (US Eastern Time) – 3:00 pm (Paris time). A press release regarding the results will be released prior to the call that same day.

To access the conference call, listeners should contact the Conference Call Operator at +1-800-230-1766 within North America or +1-612-288-0340 outside of North America approximately 10 minutes prior to the start of the call, and ask for the "Schlumberger Earnings Conference Call.”

A webcast of the conference call will be broadcast simultaneously at www.slb.com/irwebcast on a listen-only basis. Listeners should log in 15 minutes prior to the start of the call to test their browsers and register for the webcast. Following the end of the confe ... Read more »

ABU DHABI, United Arab Emirates - Wednesday, December 11th 2013 [ME NewsWire]

The Directorate of Traffic and Patrols at Abu Dhabi Police set up a pavilion at the Gulf Traffic Exhibition and Conference 2013 held at the Dubai World Trade Centre. A variation of local and international actors in the sector of transport and traffic also participated in the event. It is worth mentioning that the directorate organized the pavilion in coordination with Saeed Company for Traffic Systems and the Saaed Society to Reduce Traffic Accidents. Brigadier Eng. Hussein Ahmed Al Harithi, Director of Traffic and Patrols Directorate at Abu Dhabi Police and Chairman of the Saaed for Traffic Systems, noted that their participation highlights their commitment to promoting cooperation between the agencies responsible for traffic safety, and giving access to the best guidance so that they can use this knowledge to better serve the public and develop an integrated system to manage traffic safety. Furthermo ... Read more »

NEW YORK - Wednesday, December 11th 2013 [ME NewsWire]

(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Scott McDonald, has been named Chief Executive Officer of Oliver Wyman Group, effective January 1, 2014. As CEO Mr. McDonald will have responsibility for managing the global management consulting firm Oliver Wyman, the economic consulting firm NERA, and brand strategy and design consultancy Lippincott. He will also become a member of the Executive Committee of Marsh & McLennan Companies, Oliver Wyman Group’s corporate parent.

McDonald succeeds John Drzik, who has been with Oliver Wyman for nearly 30 years and held the position of Chief Executive Officer of Oliver Group for 7 years. Drzik will move to Marsh, Inc. to become President, Global Risk and Specialties, and Chairman of the newly formed Marsh & McLennan Companies Global Risk Center.

"The changes we are announcing today will strengthen Marsh & McLennan Companies," said Dan Glaser, President and Chief Executive Officer of Mars ... Read more »

ME NewsWire / Business Wire


HOUSTON - Jeudi 12 Décembre 2013

Schlumberger Limited (NYSE : SLB) organisera une téléconférence le 17 janvier 2014 pour commenter ses résultats du quatrième trimestre et de l'exercice clos le 31 décembre 2013.

La téléconférence est prévue à 15 h 00 (heure de Paris), soit 9 h 00, heure de New York. Un communiqué de presse relatif aux résultats sera publié le même jour avant l'appel.

Pour accéder à la téléconférence, les auditeurs devront contacter l'opérateur de la téléconférence au +1 800-230-1766 en Amérique du Nord ou au +1 612-288-0340 en dehors de l'Amérique du Nord environ 10 minutes avant le début de l'appel et demander la « Schlumberger Earnings Conference Call ».

Une webdiffusion de la téléconférence sera diffusée sim ... Read more »

Acquisition bolsters Copal Partners to create a leading outsourcer to corporate finance, investment research and asset management customers

NEW YORK. - Wednesday, December 11th 2013 [ME NewsWire]

(BUSINESS WIRE) Moody's Corporation (NYSE:MCO) announced today that it has acquired Amba Investment Services, a provider of investment research and quantitative analytics for global financial institutions. Amba will operate as part of Moody’s Analytics majority-owned subsidiary, Copal Partners.

The acquisition will bolster the research and analytical capabilities offered by Moody’s Analytics through Copal, creating a leading outsourcing provider for the global financial sector, including nine of the ten largest global investment banks. Moody’s acquired a majority stake in Copal in 2011.

Founded in 2003, Amba provides outsourced investment research and analytics to financial institutions, including asset managers, investment banks, broker-dealers, insurance and alte ... Read more »

ME Newswire

ABU DHABI, United Arab Emirates - Wednesday, December 11th 2013

The Ministry of Interior, represented by the Human Rights Department, organized a seminar to commemorate International Human Rights Day. The event, which is celebrated annually on December 10th, was held at the Ministry of Interior’s auditorium. This year’s event took place under the slogan "20 Years of Working for your Rights” and marked the 20th anniversary of the establishment of the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights.

Brigadier Ahmed Mohammed Nehkairah, Head of Human Rights Department at the Ministry of Interior attended the seminar along with Mahir Al Obad, Assistant Undersecretary for Inspection Affairs at the Ministry of Labor; Brigadier General Dr. Abdullah bin Sahoo Al Suwaidi, Director General of Residency and Foreigners Affairs in Sharjah; Brigadier Mohammed Khalifa Al Marar, Director General of Undersecretary Diwan at the Ministry of Interior; and a number of othe ... Read more »

ABU DHABI, United Arab Emirates - Wednesday, December 11th 2013 [ME NewsWire]

The Ministry of Interior recently honored the teams participating in the Minister of Interior’s Excellence Award in its second edition, at the level of the Assistant Undersecretary for Resources and Support Services Sector. The ceremony was held in the conference room at the ministry’s headquarters.

In his speech on the occasion, Major General Khalifa Hareb Al Khaili, Assistant Undersecretary of the Ministry of the Interior for Resources and Support Services, confirmed that the honoring is in pursuance of the police leadership’s instructions. It aims to acknowledge the significant and distinguished efforts exerted by the honorees in preparing the nomination files at the ministry’s level.

Moreover, Al Khaili urged the honorees to redouble the efforts and to always work within z team spirit. He also called upon them to leverage this distinguished achievement as an incentive strive for furth ... Read more »

STAMFORD, Conn. - Tuesday, December 10th 2013 [ME NewsWire]


(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Pitney Bowes Inc. (NYSE:PBI) today announced it has entered into a multi-year licensing agreement with Twitter, the leading global real-time information network, to provide Location Intelligence solutions for their mobile platform.

Pitney Bowes Location Intelligence solutions deliver geocoding and reverse geocoding for mobile platforms, and mapping solutions for the insurance, financial services, retail and public sectors. Precise geocoding is built on addresses that have been carefully verified and validated prior to assigning latitude and longitude coordinates. Developed on a consistent API, the Pitney Bowes geocoding solution is particularly well suited for mobile platforms. Twitter will use Pitney Bowes Location Intelligence technology to support location sharing in Tweets.

The location feature is off by default and Twitter won’t display any location information unless a user has ... Read more »

Élection des premières femmes membres du conseil

DUBAI, Émirats Arabes Unis - Jeudi 12 Décembre 2013 [ME NewsWire]

(BUSINESS WIRE) Le « Middle East Council of Shopping Centres » (MECSC) a annoncé aujourd’hui que trois femmes  ont été élues en tant que membres de son conseil d’administration. Ceci est la première fois de l’histoire de l’organisation qui s’étend sur 19 ans que des femmes rejoignent le conseil. Les trois femmes désignées sont : Maimunah Soliman Shebani, responsable marketing chez « Zubair Corporation » et présidente de la « Oman Retail Association » ; Salma Shasha’a, responsable marketing et location chez « Abdali Boulevard Company »; et Nada Saleh Al Ateegi, directrice  général du « Kingdom Centre ».

En plus de trois nouvelles femmes désignées, neuf autres nouveaux membres ont été également élus : Rashid Doleh ... Read more »