A moving train in Tokyo
People wearing protective masks travel on a train heading through Shinjuku district in Tokyo.
Sequoia protection
Jon Wallace, operations section chief, looks over General Sherman, the famous tree that has been protected from wildfires by structure wrap at Sequoia National Park, California. Hundreds of firefighters were this week battling to protect several groves of giant sequoias, warning the enormous ancient trees were facing danger from out-of-control blazes.
A cosmos field in Seoul
A couple wearing face masks as a precaution against the coronavirus take a selfie in the middle of a cosmos field at Olympic Park in Seoul, South Korea.
Tunnel breakthrough in India
Indian engineers and workers from the Bangalore Metro Rail Corporation celebrate as the tunnel-boring machine, nicknamed 'Urja', breaks through a junction between Cantonment Station and Shivajinagar Station on the pink line. Urja also dug 855 metres to achieve a breakthrough from Kalenga Agrahara to Nagawara, 21 kilometres of North Bangalore.
Little Amal in Marseille
Little Amal is carried along the Mucem museum in Marseille, as part of 'The Walk', a festival of art that follows the journey of Little Amal, a giant puppet depicting a Syrian refugee girl travelling 8,000 kilometres across Turkey and Europe to highlight the travails of migration.
Floating house in Washington
Activists from climate action group Extinction Rebellion float a mock row house in the tidal basin in Washington, DC. They say the action aims to "illustrate the urgent need for our government to stop the climate crisis, invest in clean energy infrastructure and keep DC above water." On September 17, UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres said the world was on a "catastrophic pathway" to warm by 2. 7°C by the end of the century.
Effective Russian camouflage
Russian servicemen test military camouflage equipment at Donguz training ground in the Orenburg region. More than 3,400 personnel from Russia, India, China, Pakistan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan and more than 600 units of weapons, military and special equipment are involved in the exercise, called Peace Mission.
Migrants playing football
Migrants seeking asylum in the US, who returned to the Mexican side of the border to avoid deportation, play football in a makeshift camp in a park in Ciudad Acuna, Mexico.
The specs
Engine: 1.5-litre turbo
Power: 181hp
Torque: 230Nm
Transmission: 6-speed automatic
Starting price: Dh79,000
On sale: Now
Living in...
This article is part of a guide on where to live in the UAE. Our reporters will profile some of the country’s most desirable districts, provide an estimate of rental prices and introduce you to some of the residents who call each area home.
Email sent to Uber team from chief executive Dara Khosrowshahi
From: Dara
To: Team@
Date: March 25, 2019 at 11:45pm PT
Subj: Accelerating in the Middle East
Five years ago, Uber launched in the Middle East. It was the start of an incredible journey, with millions of riders and drivers finding new ways to move and work in a dynamic region that’s become so important to Uber. Now Pakistan is one of our fastest-growing markets in the world, women are driving with Uber across Saudi Arabia, and we chose Cairo to launch our first Uber Bus product late last year.
Today we are taking the next step in this journey—well, it’s more like a leap, and a big one: in a few minutes, we’ll announce that we’ve agreed to acquire Careem. Importantly, we intend to operate Careem independently, under the leadership of co-founder and current CEO Mudassir Sheikha. I’ve gotten to know both co-founders, Mudassir and Magnus Olsson, and what they have built is truly extraordinary. They are first-class entrepreneurs who share our platform vision and, like us, have launched a wide range of products—from digital payments to food delivery—to serve consumers.
I expect many of you will ask how we arrived at this structure, meaning allowing Careem to maintain an independent brand and operate separately. After careful consideration, we decided that this framework has the advantage of letting us build new products and try new ideas across not one, but two, strong brands, with strong operators within each. Over time, by integrating parts of our networks, we can operate more efficiently, achieve even lower wait times, expand new products like high-capacity vehicles and payments, and quicken the already remarkable pace of innovation in the region.
This acquisition is subject to regulatory approval in various countries, which we don’t expect before Q1 2020. Until then, nothing changes. And since both companies will continue to largely operate separately after the acquisition, very little will change in either teams’ day-to-day operations post-close. Today’s news is a testament to the incredible business our team has worked so hard to build.
It’s a great day for the Middle East, for the region’s thriving tech sector, for Careem, and for Uber.
Uber on,
Dara
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
Specs
Engine: Duel electric motors
Power: 659hp
Torque: 1075Nm
On sale: Available for pre-order now
Price: On request
The specs
Engine: 4.0-litre V8 twin-turbocharged and three electric motors
Power: Combined output 920hp
Torque: 730Nm at 4,000-7,000rpm
Transmission: 8-speed dual-clutch automatic
Fuel consumption: 11.2L/100km
On sale: Now, deliveries expected later in 2025
Price: expected to start at Dh1,432,000
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
