Holcim appoints Terver as head of Africa, Middle East and Indian subcontinent ... - Global Cement

Switzerland: Bernard Terver, Member of the Holcim Executive Committee, has been appointed head of a company region encompassing Africa, Middle East and the Indian subcontinent. The appointment caps a series of changes in the company’s senior management. All changes become effective on 1 January 2014.

Onne van der Weijde will remain Area Manager for India and will assist in the restructuring of Holcim’s subsidiaries, ACC and Ambuja Cements. Javier de Benito will remain Area Manager for Africa and the Middle East, reporting directly to Terver. Member of the Holcim Executive Committee, Ian Thackwray will become responsible for East Asia, South East Asia, Oceania and Holcim Trading.

Daniel Bach, currently CEO of Holcim Romania, will be appointed Area Manager for South East Asia and member of senior management of Holcim. Alain Bourguignon, currently CEO of Aggregate Industries UK, will be appointed Area Manager for North America / UK and member of senior management of Holcim. He will report directly to the CEO of Holcim. Investor Relations and Risk Management will now report to CFO Thomas Aebischer.

Member of the Holcim Executive Committee Paul Hugentobler, currently responsible for South Asia and the ASEAN nations (Association of Southeast Asian Nations excluding the Philippines), will be retiring upon reaching the statutory age limit in February 2014. He will act as an advisor to the CEO of Holcim starting from 1 January 2014.

The area of responsibility of Holcim Executive Committee members Roland Köhler, in charge of Europe excluding the UK, and Andreas Leu, responsible for Latin America, will remain unchanged.

Holcim appoints Terver as head of Africa, Middle East and Indian subcontinent ... - Global Cement

How does a Middle East online travel agency crack India? Musafir says it has ... - Tnooz

How does a Middle East online travel agency crack India? Musafir says it has the answer

Musafir, Middle East-based OTA recently launched its India service with $16 million investment and legendary cricketer Sachin Tendulkar as brand ambassador.

Tnooz spoke to Albert Dias, co-founder, marketing and technology director, Musafir.com regarding the India service launch. Q&A with Dias below.

Why did you launch in India and not in other emerging markets in Asia?

We are embarking on a regional expansion plan, which has been in the works for several years now, and India was the first country outside the UAE that came to mind especially since two of the company’s co-founders are Indian.

We see strong opportunities for growth with the country’s increasing Internet penetration and rapid adoption of online travel booking.

We are looking to open in other emerging markets in the region in the near future.

When there are so many OTAs dominating the online travel space in India, how Musafir will differentiate itself?

As a service provider, we don’t fly the planes that people travel in or build the hotels that people stay in, which is why we are committed to making the quality of our service our differentiator – and not just any level of service, but exceptional service.

We intend to supplement this in the long term with product innovations, of which we have lined up two key innovations in the year ahead.

How is the investment money ($16 million / Rs 100 crore) going to be spend?

The largest portion of our investment will be spent in marketing and customer acquisition over a four to five year horizon. Our investments in our product are currently led from the UAE.

Musafir wants to be one of the top five OTAs in India by 2018. What are the strategies in place to achieve this?

We are looking to build a strong base of travellers in year one and aim to increase our turnover by 75% each year to break into the top five.

We have begun promoting flights to build initial scale, and we plan to tap into mobile travel bookings followed by tailored holiday planning – both of which product innovations lined up in the year ahead – to fuel growth.

How is the India website different from the .com version of Musafir?

Our Indian website runs on the same technology platform as our main website, so they are identical from a user experience standpoint.

However, they differ significantly from inventory and content standpoint, both of which are managed by a dedicated team in Mumbai for our Indian website.

How Musafir is going to leverage (from digital media standpoint) Sachin Tendulkar as a brand icon?

We are looking to leverage the trust and longevity that Sachin Tendulkar stands for to help build faster market adoption. We have already begun rolling out our new through-the-line media campaign on digital channels and will be activating others over the coming weeks.

We are also running a quirky digital campaign at the moment to #shekhufy the world with a turban and moustache, based on the character that Sachin Tendulkar plays for Musafir.

How does a Middle East online travel agency crack India? Musafir says it has ... - Tnooz

Russia says Iran must be invited to Syria peace conference - Haaretz

A Free Syrian Army fighter holds his machine gun as a fellow young fighter helps him to carry the ammunition in Old Aleppo, November 4, 2013. Photo by Reuters

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By Reuters | Nov. 4, 2013 | 3:21 PM

Russia said on Tuesday Iran must be invited to a proposed peace conference on Syria, reiterating its stance after the main Syrian opposition leader said his coalition would not attend if Iran took part.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov also criticized Syrian National Coalition chief Ahmad Jarba’s demand for a clear time frame for President Bashar Assad to leave power, saying there should be no preconditions for the “Geneva 2″ peace talks.

“All those with influence on the situation must certainly be invited – this includes not only Arab countries but also Iran,” Lavrov told a news conference when asked about Jarba’s statement.

Two of Lavrov’s deputies were due to meet U.S. diplomats and UN-Arab League Syria peace envoy Lakhdar Brahimi on Tuesday in Geneva to discuss efforts to convene the long-delayed conference first proposed by the United States and Russia in May.

Envoys from Iraq, Jordan, Lebanon, Turkey and the Arab League would also take part, a UN spokeswoman said.

It was unclear if a date for the planned peace talks in Geneva would be set ahead of a meeting by the opposition Syrian National Coalition on Saturday in Istanbul to decide whether to even attend.

The Syrian conflict, which began with peaceful anti-government protests in 2011, has killed more than 100,000 people, according to UN estimates.

Russia says Iran must be invited to Syria peace conference - Haaretz

As part of the forthcoming WorldPost launch, HuffPost is putting two sets of ... - Capital New York

Over the past few years, The Huffington Post has been laying down cross-continental roots with its growing stable of international editions designed to scale the brand from London to Tokyo to Maghreb.

Now the voluminous aggregator turned Pulitzer Prize-winning news website is aiming to cement its global cachet by nurturing an endangered species of journalist: the full-time foreign correspondent.

Earlier this year, HuffPost struck a partnership with the Berggruen Institute on Governance. The global policy think tank, which has offices in the U.S., Germany and Switzerland, is teaming up with HuffPost to launch a new web site called WorldPost that will feature original reporting (provided by HuffPost journalists) and op-ed content (provided by Berggruen).

There will also be a broadcast component tied to HuffPost Live, a year-old streaming video offering that recently reduced its U.S. footprint in pursuit of a broader, more international audience.

As part of the forthcoming WorldPost launch, HuffPost is putting two sets of boots on the ground in the Middle East, with a third hire planned for China.

Max J. Rosenthal has signed on as a Beirut-based Middle East bureau chief who will largely focus on the war in Syria; Sophia Jones will be a Middle East correspondent based in Cairo.

WorldPost also is in the process of looking for someone in China, mostly likely to work out of Beijing, where HuffPost editor-in-chief Arianna Huffington and executive business editor Peter Goodman have been rubbing elbows with heads of state and other Davos types at a Berggruen Institute conference they’re currently attending.

“Given our international expansion, and given the reality of a truly global news cycle with issues that can’t be understood through a national lens, we feel the need to deploy people outside the U.S.,” said Goodman, whose portfolio is expanding to include the “global news editor” title for WorldPost, when Capital reached him by phone Monday afternoon (New York time).

“We’re beginning with correspondents,” Goodman continued, “in areas that are now generating some of the most important news: Syria, via beirut; Egypt and the broader Middle East, via Cairo; and eventually China.”

It’s a modest expansion, but it comes amid concerns over diminished foreign-reporting resources at legacy print outlets. Many of them have begun relying on freelancers who lack the type of institutional support that can make parachuting into a conflict zone a lot less dicey.

HuffPost isn’t the only digital disruptor that’s trying to pick up some of the slack, either. The Boston-based Global Post and Brooklyn’s Vice Media have both developed substantial foreign-reporting bona fides. More recently, correspondents were installed in Istanbul and Eastern Europe as part of Buzzfeed’s Gremlin-like expansion.

Goodman declined to elaborate on WorldPost’s specific plans, but he said it was his “intention” to build up a “robust international staff” and that WorldPost would also draw on the resources of the mothership’s existing eight global editions. (For those of you keeping score: Canada, the U.K., France, Italy, Spain, Germany, Japan and Maghreb, with a Brazilian site on the way.)

A HuffPost spokesman declined to comment on the targeted launch date for WorldPost or the Berggruen/HuffPost funding breakdown, nor would he confirm whether WorldPost would get a distinct URL or if it would be a new vertical on huffingtonpost.com.

But judging by the looks of Huffington’s Twitter feed these past few days, it appears she and her collaborators may still be ironing out the details:

Brainstorming launch of global site w/ @berggruenInst Nicolas Berggruen @PeterSGoodman Nathan Gardels & Dawn Nakagawa pic.twitter.com/61uMv2qWmC

— Arianna Huffington (@ariannahuff) November 1, 2013

Huffington and Goodman’s Beijing trip also included a meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping, but Goodman declined to say what they talked about.

More by this author:

As part of the forthcoming WorldPost launch, HuffPost is putting two sets of ... - Capital New York

India works despite its politicians, Egypt should do the same: Paul Danahar ... - Economic Times

Paul Danahar is the author of the best-selling book, The New Middle East: The World After The Arab Spring. As BBC’s Middle East bureau chief he has extensively covered the region and tracked the Arab Spring, from Tunia to Egypt and Turkey to Syria. He has won high praise for capturing in his book the political convulsions in the nearly three years winds of change swept through the region. Now BBC’s North American bureau chief, Danahar tells ET that the Arab Spring will reach Saudi Arabia sooner or later. Edited excerpts:

Why did you write this book?

I was told while living in Jerusalem by a friend who works in publishing that nobody bought books on the Middle East because the subject matter was too complicated and the books written about it were either a string of war zone-anecdotes or academic tomes that felt like you were doing college homework.

So when the Arab Spring happened I decided to try to break that mould by writing a book that was an accessible read but also included the historic detail to understand the changes in the region and why the rest of the world should care about them. I’ve had lots of nice reviews but the comments I am happiest about are those that say they actually enjoyed reading the book.

You talk about myriad uncertainties of the “new” Middle East without its dictators. How long do you expect this chaotic phase to last?

It will last at least a decade because the war in Syria is slowly sucking in not only the neighbouring countries but also the wider region and the world. The Arab Spring, but in particular the Syria conflict, has breathed new life into the schism within Islam. Sunni and Shia Muslims are facing off against each other in some of the region’s most volatile areas.

But even the Sunni powers are divided, with the revolts reigniting old rivalries between the competing ideologies of the Muslim Brotherhood and the Kingdom’s in the Gulf. There is also a growing religious divide in Israel. Their society is split along ultra-Orthodox, religious Zionist and secular lines. Across the Arab world Christians and other minorities wonder if they still have a safe place in the new societies being formed. So what I think is clear is that religion, not nationalism or Arabism, is now the dominant force in the region. That makes solving its problems much harder.

Do you think Condoleezza Rice, the then US secretary of state, had any clue about what it would be when she used the term “the New Middle East” in 2006?

She regretted making that comment not least because it provoked some appalling racial abuse including a particularly disgusting cartoon of her in the Palestinian newspaper Al-Quds, wearing a blue dress and pregnant with an armed monkey.

The caption said: “Rice talks about the birth of a new Middle East” as blood dripped from her teeth. But her comments were part of a wider belief within the Bush administration that their “Freedom Agenda” to democratise the Middle East was bearing fruit. It wasn’t, but what it did show was how corrupt the dictatorships were.

Has this churning in the Middle East been similar – in its unpredictability factor – to the global recession? Were there many people in the West who saw it coming?

Nobody saw it coming, not even the protesters who manned the barricades. But some understood its consequences better than others. The US saw much of the early stages of the Arab Spring through the prism of its impact on Israel and oil. It didn’t have a plan for the New Middle East so it defaulted back to the ideas it used to manage the old one. The US sought stability in the region. But the Gulf states, once they were sure they had sorted out stability at home, set about shaking things up everywhere else.

Instead of trying to contain the changes they decided to steer them in the direction they wanted. So we saw the start of another round in the decades-long proxy war between the most conservative Shia power and the most conservative Sunni power. Saudi Arabia saw in all the turmoil an opportunity to dramatically weaken Iran’s influence in the region. And that has largely been played out in Syria. That’s also why the Saudis are unhappy about Iran possibly being brought back into the international fold with this new round of nuclear talks.

Do you think Saudi Arabia would remain largely immune to the changes that have swept the neighbourhood because its ruler is also the custodians of Mecca and Medina? Or is that a simplistic view of looking at things?

Their huge wealth has bought countries like Saudi Arabia time, nothing more. The changes in the region will come to them. The only real question is how quickly will that change come and how brutal will it be? There is no guarantee that a new generation of cosseted princes will bring with it any new ideas. And even if they do, they have very little experience of managing transition, because changing Saudi society has been something they have only ever been taught how to avoid. The Gulf kingdoms keep saying, “It will not happen here”. So did Mubarak and then Gaddafi and then Assad. The Arab monarchies are now scared of their people. They should be.

India works despite its politicians, Egypt should do the same: Paul Danahar ... - Economic Times

Middle East OTA Musafir eyes India with $16M fund, Tendulkar in tow and big ... - Tnooz

Middle East OTA Musafir eyes India with $16M fund, Tendulkar in tow and big ambitions
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Oct 30.2013



UAE-based online travel agency Musafir has made its first foray into the subcontinental marketplace with a dedicated website for India.
Musafir India has an initial investment commitment of $16+ million (INR 100 crore) backed by parent company Universal Travels Read more [...]
Middle East OTA Musafir eyes India with $16M fund, Tendulkar in tow and big ... - Tnooz

Will China Save the Middle East? (With comment by Paul) - Power Line (blog)

Through the post-war era, and especially after the fall of the Soviet Union, the United States has been the guarantor of something approximating peace in the Middle East. The U.S. accepted that role largely because of its need for Middle Eastern oil imports. But times have changed: domestic energy development, especially fracking technology, unleashed on private lands beyond the reach of the Democratic Read more [...]
Will China Save the Middle East? (With comment by Paul) - Power Line (blog)

Russia returns to Egypt as US backs away - Haaretz

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By Reuters | Oct. 29, 2013 | 7:08 PM



By Reuters | Oct. 28, 2013 | 7:24 PM




The divide between Washington and Cairo and the suspension of American aid to Egypt have brought an old-new player back into the arena – Russia.
Last Thursday an Egyptian public diplomacy delegation visited Moscow to express its gratitude to Russia, Al Read more [...]
Russia returns to Egypt as US backs away - Haaretz

The President Understands It"s Time To Get Out Of The Middle East Altogether - Forbes

US President George W Bush (2-R) shakes hands with Foreign Minister of Saudi Arabia Prince Saud al-Faisal (2-L) as Secretary of State Condolezza Rice (R), and Saudi Ambassador to the United States, Prince Turki Al-Faisal look on before meetings in the Oval Office of the White House 23 July, 2006 in Washington, DC. Bush and Rice met with Saud ahead of Rice"s departure to the Middle East for talks that Read more [...]
The President Understands It"s Time To Get Out Of The Middle East Altogether - Forbes

Abu Dhabi Media Summit: Walt Disney"s Andy Bird Talks 3D Printers, China ... - Hollywood Reporter

ABU DHABI – Walt Disney International chairman Andy Bird predicted here Tuesday that there would be a 3D printer in every family home within the next decade.

Speaking on the first day of the Abu Dhabi Media Summit, Bird predicted that the technology would “revolutionize” the way the world works. “Every home in ten years, probably less than that, will have its own 3D printer Read more [...]
Abu Dhabi Media Summit: Walt Disney"s Andy Bird Talks 3D Printers, China ... - Hollywood Reporter

Indian Hajis flying back - Arab News

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Indian pilgrims have begun returning home, with the first flight having departed from Jeddah to Goa and Mangalore on Sunday carrying 234 pilgrims.A consulate official told Arab News on Tuesday that Indian Haj Mission offices in Makkah, Madinah and Jeddah are fully equipped to handle the situation and are working around the clock to ensure that the process runs smoothly.He Read more [...]
Indian Hajis flying back - Arab News