The UAE’s Ministry of Finance (MoF) has begun establishing committees to start collecting tax data on any US citizen living in the UAE from 2017, it has announced. The moves are required under the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA), a US federal law that aims to combat offshore tax evasion by US persons. The ministry will coordinate with various government authorities to collect financial data in […]
FRANKFURT German pilots union VC said on Sunday it was open to further talks with Lufthansa (LHAG.DE) to try to find a compromise over a long-running pay dispute that caused a four-day strike last week, adding the airline needed to present a new offer. “It will become clear in the course of the day how the dispute will continue,” a spokesman for VC told Reuters. Lufthansa said […]
November 27, 2016 by: Kiran Stacey in New Delhi and David Keohane in Mumbai Indian banks will have to deposit as cash all the extra money they have been given as a result of demonetisation with the Reserve Bank of India, the central bank announced this weekend. The RBI made its sudden move after the country’s banks, flush with cash, went on a bond-buying spree, bringing down […]
the UAE’s Ministry of Infrastructure Development (MoID) plans to construct all of its buildings using 3D technology, according to local media. “All of the buildings to be built in the future by the ministry across the UAE will be 3D-printed in line with the national agenda of the country and the UAE 2021 vision,” Munira Abdul Kareem, manager of the Ministry of Infrastructure Development’s Project Execution Department […]
By Edward Taylor and Jan Schwartz | FRANKFURT/HAMBURG FRANKFURT/HAMBURG Just as Porsche and Audi have fought for supremacy on the race track, the Volkswagen brands are now locked in a cut-throat battle to develop and manufacture the next generation of electric cars at a group embroiled in the “Dieselgate” scandal. Volkswagen Group denies that the kind of internal rivalry that it encouraged at the Le Mans 24 […]
Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, 27 November 2016 Saudi Hollandi Bank, announced today that it has rebranded to Alawwal Bank. The name change marks the start of a transformation that will see the bank build on its reputation for innovation and service excellence. The new branding highlights the bank’s commitment to supporting the growth of the country’s economy while meeting the demands of its existing customers and a new […]
Hotel demand will outpace supply by 2020, according to STR’s client relationships director Sarah Duignan. She made the pronouncement at the Accommodating growth in the Middle East presentation at the Hotelier Express Summit 2016, held on November 23 in Dubai. Duignan said Middle East hotels’ revenue per available room (RevPAR) levels had peaked in October 2009 at AED1,300 ($353.9) and today current average rates over the last […]
Indian online payment firm Paytm says it has added 8 million new users in the two weeks since the government announced the replacement of the country’s highest-denomination bank notes. In a bid to root out corruption, counterfeit money and tax evasion, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Nov. 8 announced the replacement of notes worth 500 rupees ($7.30) and 1,000 rupees ($14.60). That move has resulted in a […]
First Avenue, the new shopping mall and hotel planned for Dubai’s Motor City, has signed up leading retailer Carrefour as a key anchor tenant ahead of the project’s launch early next year. Carrefour, owned by Majid Al Futtaim, will open the new store in First Avenue while other major retailers are set to be announced for the AED500 million project’s launch during the first quarter of next […]
“We have lost everything, our infrastructure, and we have nothing left to lose,” he said. “Now it is a long war of attrition.” Photo A nonfunctioning cement factory in Amran, Yemen, that was bombed twice by the Saudi-led coalition. Credit Tyler Hicks/The New York Times The Houthis’ control of such key territory has made them essential to international efforts to end the conflict, leaving policy makers and […]
Payday lenders asked a federal judge in Washington, D.C., for emergency relief to stop what they called a coordinated effort by U.S. regulators to stop banks from doing business with them, threatening their survival. In Wednesday night filings, the Community Financial Services Association of America (CFSA) and payday lender Advance America, Cash Advance Centers Inc said a preliminary injunction was needed to end the “back-room campaign” of […]
Dubai, November 27, 2016: Al-Futtaim has announced the appointment of Dr. Hayan Sayed as Chief Executive Officer of Al-Futtaim Engineering and Technologies. Part of Al-Futtaim Group Real Estate, Al-Futtaim Engineering is a multi-disciplinary engineering organisation operating across UAE, Qatar and Saudi Arabia with over 30 years of successful operations. Al-Futtaim Technologies is a leading Converged Systems Integrator and provides complete business solutions to large, medium and small […]
Dany El-Eid, a Lebanese-Canadian entrepreneur based in Dubai for more than a decade, believed in the power of augmented (AR) and virtual reality (VR) technologies much before photos of heads of state trying VR headsets could be seen, tweeted and retweeted. El-Eid is the founder and CEO of Pixelbug, a rapidly growing tech company, set up in Dubai in 2012, which specialises in developing advanced AR applications. […]
AMSTERDAM Royal Dutch Shell expects to pump out all the fossil fuel reserves listed on its balance sheet, its chief executive said, dismissing concerns that production limits in the wake of the Paris climate accord could hit the energy giant’s valuation. In an interview with Dutch newspaper Het Financieele Dagblad, Ben van Beurden said the issue of “stranded” reserves – deposits in the ground that cannot be […]
Saudi-based developer Cayan Group is set to announce the launch of a hotel apartments tower as part of its $272 million Cayan Cantara project in Dubai. The developer said in a statement that the hotel apartments tower will be managed and operated by a well-renowned hospitality giant, to be named later this month. The launch will represent the company’s first foray into the hospitality sector, it said. […]
By Marc Frank and Sarah Marsh | HAVANA HAVANA Fidel Castro’s death could give his younger brother, President Raul Castro, more space to pursue economic reforms, but change will also depend on whether U.S. President-elect Donald Trump decides to work with or challenge Cuba’s communist government. Raul Castro has introduced market-oriented reforms in recent years, but the pace of change has been slowed, many Cubans say, by […]
Sales and traffic at U.S. brick-and-mortar stores on Thanksgiving Day and Black Friday declined from last year, as stores offered discounts well beyond the weekend and more customers shopped online. Internet sales rose in the double digits on both days, surpassing $3 billion for the first time on Black Friday, according to data released on Saturday. Data from analytics firm RetailNext showed net sales at brick-and-mortar stores […]
Kuwaitis voted on Saturday in an election energised by the participation of opposition candidates for the first time since 2012 and focused on recent government austerity measures aimed at tackling the oil-rich nation’s deficit. The parliament of Western-allied Kuwait was due to run until July 2017, but the emir, Sheikh Sabah al-Ahmad al-Sabah, dissolved it in October, saying “security challenges” in the region – an apparent reference […]
Nov 24, 2016 10:04 am IST NEW DELHI—Unable to spend or deposit their sackfuls of large bank notes amid India’s crackdown on hoarding cash, business owners across the country are paying employees months of salary in advance, ringing up bogus sales and even buying gold they can smuggle overseas to get rid of stashed money or conceal its source. Such illegal workarounds are threatening to undercut Prime […]
By Doina Chiacu and Emily Stephenson | WASHINGTON WASHINGTON Republican presidential front-runner Donald Trump said on Wednesday that women who end pregnancies should face punishment if the United States bans abortion, triggering a torrent of criticism from both sides of the abortion debate, including from his White House rivals. After MSNBC broadcast a clip of an interview with Trump, the billionaire businessman rowed back his remarks, first […]
Etihad Airways has announced an expanded codeshare agreement with Hong Kong Airlines to give air travellers enhanced connections between Australasia, Asia, the Middle East, Europe and North America. The two airlines have obtained regulatory approval to codeshare on nine additional routes, bringing the total number of services in their codeshare agreement to 14, Etihad said in a statement. Under the expanded codeshare agreement, Hong Kong Airlines has […]
By Stephen Grey and Jack Stubbs | LONDON/MOSCOW LONDON/MOSCOW A little-known Russian businessman from St Petersburg has provided properties to multiple women who share one common theme: President Vladimir Putin. One of the women is Putin’s younger daughter; two are close relatives of a woman Russian media have reported to be Putin’s girlfriend – though the president has strongly denied any relationship. And a fourth is a student […]
By Noel Randewich | SAN FRANCISCO SAN FRANCISCO Wall Street expects consumers to open their wallets a little wider this holiday shopping season but bargains among red-hot retail stocks could be hard to find, especially as profit growth proves elusive for many big names. Retailers, including Best Buy, Kohls Corp and Macy’s, that were pummeled in last year’s disappointing holiday quarter have seen their shares surge recently […]
If breakfast is the most important meal of the day, why not have it for lunch and dinner, too? It seems the all-day breakfast trend is being embraced by cafes across the UAE, with options appearing at many venues. Much like the age-old chicken or the egg question, it is unclear whether the birth of the ‘Breakfastarians’ – a term popularised on the internet and in IHOP […]
