The new Souq.com's retail centre in Dubai. Satish Kumar / The National
The new Souq.com's retail centre in Dubai. Satish Kumar / The National

A smart investment



Amazon’s interest in making an investment in the online retailer Souq.com highlights the huge potential for growth in the regional e-commerce sector. E-commerce has the potential to radically change the landscape of shopping. Not only a change in mall culture – when people can easily buy hundreds of products online, malls will have to become much more than places to shop – but also in terms of where that shopping is done.

Already some supermarkets do home delivery. As that expands and online retailing does too, so will there be more places to pick up goods bought online. In some western capitals, Amazon purchases can be picked up at small kiosks, not merely at home.

And this will also have an effect on that bugbear of UAE life: the lack of street addresses. As online retailers thrive, so will location mechanisms improve. Meaning that not only will online shopping make it easier to buy that big-screen TV – it will also make it easier for the ambulance service and firefighters to locate an address.

Company%20Profile
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TRAP

Starring: Josh Hartnett, Saleka Shyamalan, Ariel Donaghue

Director: M Night Shyamalan

Rating: 3/5

Water waste

In the UAE’s arid climate, small shrubs, bushes and flower beds usually require about six litres of water per square metre, daily. That increases to 12 litres per square metre a day for small trees, and 300 litres for palm trees.

Horticulturists suggest the best time for watering is before 8am or after 6pm, when water won't be dried up by the sun.

A global report published by the Water Resources Institute in August, ranked the UAE 10th out of 164 nations where water supplies are most stretched.

The Emirates is the world’s third largest per capita water consumer after the US and Canada.

What is graphene?

Graphene is extracted from graphite and is made up of pure carbon.

It is 200 times more resistant than steel and five times lighter than aluminum.

It conducts electricity better than any other material at room temperature.

It is thought that graphene could boost the useful life of batteries by 10 per cent.

Graphene can also detect cancer cells in the early stages of the disease.

The material was first discovered when Andre Geim and Konstantin Novoselov were 'playing' with graphite at the University of Manchester in 2004.