Eyes of the India

  Social media posts suggest that some drivers are refusing to work, demanding better wages Restaurants in the UAE are facing difficulties finding riders from the country's most popular delivery services Zomato and Talabat. Owned by Germany-based Delivery Heroes, the two services jointly account for the lion's share of delivery services in the UAE. Social media posts suggest that some riders are refusing to work, demanding better wages. In a statement, Talabat told Khaleej Times that it is "committed to ensuring riders can continue to rely on our platform to provide for their families, having decent stable gross monthly earnings of around Dh3,500 on average". "Until last week, rider pay satisfaction was well above 70 per cent, and we haven't updated our payment model recently. We understand economic and political realities are constantly changing, and we will always continue to listen to what riders have to say," the statement added. The delivery service...

The UAE's biggest telecom operator e& owns a 28 per cent stake in Saudi Arabia's Mobily The UAE’s biggest telecoms operator, e&, said on Wednesday that it has made an offer to increase its stake in Saudi telecoms company Etihad Etisalat, better known as Mobily, to 50% and one share. Formerly known as Etisalat, e& owns a 28 per cent stake in Mobily, which was founded in 2004. "The purpose of the discussions is for e& to come to an understanding with the Mobily board of directors in respect of the conditions applicable to the potential offer (including its implementation) which the Mobily board would be able to recommend to Mobily’s shareholders," e& said in a  regulatory filing  to Abu Dhabi Securities Exchange, where its shares are traded.

 Close to 40 per cent of young people aged 18 to 24 in the Middle East struggled with their mental health last year, a global study has found. The Mental State of the World Report ascribed the worrying trend to the Covid-19 pandemic with its repeated lockdowns, study at home and long spells of enforced isolation. But it also said the surge in mobile phone and internet use meant people spend less time making human connections, a trend the study’s authors believe needs “immediate attention”. Researchers polled 223,087 people in 34 countries with widespread internet access. The results were published by Sapien Labs, a US non-profit. It measured mental health in people of all ages but found the global deterioration in the youngest adults to be of most concern. Clare Turnbull says pupils need  to openly discuss issues of mental health.  “The results, quite honestly, surprised us,” said Tara Thiagarajan of Sapien Labs and Jennifer Newson, the lead scientist for the report. “The...