Congress’s investigation of a deadly defect in some General Motors cars widened on Tuesday, and a House committee ordered the automaker and a federal regulator to provide details on steps they took to get unsafe cars off the road. In another development, federal prosecutors in New York are examining whether GM is criminally liable for failing to properly disclose the defect, according to a source familiar with […]
|By Rory Jones, Doug Cameron | The head of Emirates Airline said Tuesday that establishing a U.S. Customs post at its Dubai hub could create a logistical nightmare, just as the world’s largest carrier of international passengers ramps up for fresh expansion to North America. The U.S. Customs and Border Protection agency in January opened a post in Dubai’s neighbor, Abu Dhabi, to allow passengers there to […]
|By K Raveendran|The recent vote by the European Parliament to allow visa-free travel to Europe for UAE nationals and the reciprocal arrangement under which European citizens can visit the UAE without the need for pre-entry visas will be a tremendous boost to bilateral tourism. The development represents a major achievement for the UAE in terms of its standing in international comity. That this has come despite powerful […]
Gold is getting more attractive to hedge-fund managers even as Goldman Sachs Group Inc. says the metal’s surprising rally this year will soon fizzle. Hedge funds and other speculators expanded bets on higher prices for a fourth week in New York futures and are now the most bullish since December 2012, government data show. While gold is off to its best start in six years after topping […]
The private equity arm of Dubai Holding has asked buyout groups to submit binding bids for its German packaging group Mauser, after putting on hold a larger auction which comprised two additional assets, three sources familiar with the transaction told Reuters. The sale of Mauser by Dubai International Capital (DIC) would be one of the largest asset disposals by the emirate since its debt crisis in 2009, […]
|By TAP Staff| Bank of Baroda, which identifies itself as India’s international bank on the strength of its global operations, is set to celebrate the milestone of a Ten Trillion Bank, taking it into a unique league of banks with turnover of ten trillion rupees or more. The largest Indian bank, after the State Bank of India, is the only bank in the UAE with a full-fledged […]
Qatar will likely face higher labor costs as a result of publicity about deaths of migrant construction workers building the infrastructure for the 2022 World Cup soccer tournament, the International Monetary Fund said. Britain’s Guardian newspaper reported in September that dozens of Nepali workers had died during the summer in Qatar and that laborers were not given enough food and water. Qatar, which has denied the Guardian’s […]
|By TAP Staff| Being in Dubai helps businesses and investors to reap rich rewards, according to findings in a summary report compiled by Dubai FDI, the foreign investment agency in the Department of Economic Development (DED) of Dubai. And the ease and competitiveness of doing business in Dubai is attracting the attention of worldwide investors, it adds. The reports cover such key sectors as logistics, retail, information […]
The use of stolen passports by two passengers to board a Malaysian airliner that vanished over the South China Sea raises concerns that terrorists may have caused the jet’s apparent crash, say former U.S. security officials who specialize in transportation safety. Use of stolen passports is a tactic of terrorists trying to avoid detection, while groups including al-Qaeda have sought to crash airplanes into oceans to cover […]
Emirates airline said its alliance with Australia’s Qantas was working and had helped the Gulf carrier to improve yields, after some analysts questioned the benefits of the partnership. Qantas is reducing its workforce by 15 percent, slashing spending and selling gas-guzzling older planes after stiff competition at home and overseas pushed the Australian flag carrier deep into the red in the first half. The loss in Qantas’s […]
Goldman Sachs Group Inc., which generated one-third of its profit from trading last year, is restarting Middle East and North Africa equity sales in Dubai, according to two people familiar with the matter. The fifth-largest U.S. bank by assets is hiring Veer Ramlugon as part of the plans, one of the people said, asking not to be identified because the matter isn’t public. Ramlugon, who declined to […]
U.S. regulators are mobilizing to shore up confidence in America’s generic-drug supply as alarm grows over the quality of products made in India, and the head of the largest U.S.-based maker of the medicines predicted more trouble lies ahead. “It’ll get worse before it gets better,” said Mylan (MYL) Inc. Chief Executive Officer Heather Bresch, whose company has half of its more than 20,000 employees in India. […]
A diplomatic split between Qatar and its wealthy Gulf neighbors may disrupt billions of dollars of investment in the region and slow efforts to make economies more efficient through trade and transport reforms. Qatar’s vast natural gas wealth means the tiny country, with a population of about 2.1 million, could probably continue operating indefinitely despite the displeasure of Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain. But […]
Dubai World, one of the emirate’s big state-owned conglomerates, has prepaid $284.5 million to creditors under its $25 billion debt restructuring plan, sources familiar with the matter said on Wednesday. The conglomerate obtained money for the prepayment from asset sales, said the sources, who declined to be named because the matter isn’t public. Under the terms of the restructuring deal, cash raised from asset sales above a […]
|By TAP Staff| The Dubai Mall gets more foot traffic than the Eiffel Tower, Niagara Falls and Disney World combined. Attracting 75 million visitors a year, it is one of the most visited tourist attractions on the planet. The Dubai Mall is no ordinary shopping center. Recognized by Guinness World Records as the world’s largest shopping mall (in terms of total floor space) it is larger than […]
Investor sentiment toward Dubai is about the best it has been since before the Persian Gulf emirate skirted default amid the global credit crisis. The cost of insuring its debt against non-payment with credit-default swaps was quoted at 189 basis points at the end of last month, the least since the 187 reached in May, which was the lowest since the collapse of Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc., […]
The ranks of the world’s billionaires continue to scale new heights–and stretch to new corners of the world. Forbes’ global wealth team found 1,645 billionaires with an aggregate net worth of $6.4 trillion, up from $5.4 trillion a year ago. A record 268 new ten-figure fortunes, including 42 new women billionaires, were unearthed, another record. In total, there are 172 women on the list, more than ever […]
|By TAP Staff| The UAE Banks Federation proposes to soon issue a charter for customer rights, which will incorporate certain minimum standards in banking services and provide for remedial actions open for them in case of failures by the banks. The CEOs Advisory Committee of the Federation has examined the framework and content of the charter at its first meeting this year. The meeting reviewed the Federation’s […]
The new Savills World Cities Live-Work Index reveals that it now costs an average of just under $72,000-a-year per employee to rent residential and office space in Dubai, a thumping 41 per cent increase on a year ago, making the city the world’s seventh most expensive. However, the survey noted that this surge in rents came from ‘a relatively low base’ and that ‘the high costs in […]
Middle East fund managers remain bullish on most of the region’s major equity markets, but some are shifting money from the United Arab Emirates to less richly valued markets, a Reuters survey shows. The survey of 15 leading investment managers, conducted over the past 10 days, found 53 percent – a four-month high – expected to raise their equity allocations to the Middle East over the next […]
Citigroup Inc said on Friday that it has discovered at least $400 million in fraudulent loans in its Mexico subsidiary and said employees may have been in on the crime. The bank wrote down bogus loans to a company whose assets Mexican law enforcement officials have now seized. Citigroup’s 2013 profit fell by $235 million to $13.67 billion after the write-down. Citigroup Chief Executive Officer Michael Corbat […]
The London gold fix, the benchmark used by miners, jewelers and central banks to value the metal, may have been manipulated for a decade by the banks setting it, researchers say. Unusual trading patterns around 3 p.m. in London, when the so-called afternoon fix is set on a private conference call between five of the biggest gold dealers, are a sign of collusive behavior and should be […]
Among the hundreds of soft drinks and beverages that were displayed at the Gulfood 2014, a unique cola brand attracted visitors. Dubai Cola is a carbonated soft drink mixed with pure Arabian dates and honey. “It is a revolution in the world of soft drinks,” claims the producer, who is expanding into other markets. It is now available in the UAE at various Emarat petrol stations and […]
The path toward U.S. energy independence, made possible by a boom in shale oil, will be much harder than it seems. Just a few of the roadblocks: Independent producers will spend $1.50 drilling this year for every dollar they get back. Shale output drops faster than production from conventional methods. It will take 2,500 new wells a year just to sustain output of 1 million barrels a […]
