TThe global economic development initiative that China calls “One Belt, One Road” is considered one of Beijing’s major instruments in its geopolitical conflict with the US. But it’s unlikely to do much to boost Chinese power as it helps most of the world. China is investing in fixed assets and infrastructure from southeast Asia to the Balkans and East Africa. ...

After almost three years of wrangling and gridlock following the 2016 European Union (EU) referendum, more than half of British voters say they long for a strong leader. It’s not an unreasonable demand in the current bleak situation. The 2019 “Audit of Political Engagement” by the Hansard Society (a group co-led by the speakers of the two houses of the ...

The SoftBank Vision Fund paid about $7.7 billion for its 16.3 percent stake in Uber Technologies Inc. A more important number is what Uber’s bankers can turn that into when the ride-sharing company IPOs on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE). Investors in the Vision Fund, and in Masayoshi Son’s listed SoftBank Group Corp., are rightly expecting a windfall. This ...

The department store isn’t dead. Turns out, it was just in the changing room. In the week that Debenhams Plc, once a household name, passed into the hands of its lenders, Primark opened its biggest ever-outlet in Birmingham. The new store is an upgrade on the old awkwardly shaped unit Primark had occupied in the city since 2002. At 160,000 ...

Bloomberg In naming Corie Barry chief executive officer, Best Buy Co hands the reins to the architect of its current growth strategy, widely considered to be one of the retail industry’s most remarkable turnarounds. Barry, chief financial and strategic transformation officer, will replace Hubert Joly in June after almost seven years at the helm. In her outgoing role, she oversaw ...

Bloomberg Deutsche Lufthansa AG shares dropped as Europe’s largest airline reported a first-quarter loss that was 80 percent higher than the average analyst estimate. The stock fell as much as 5 percent after Lufthansa posted an adjusted loss before interest and tax of 336 million euros ($380 million). The figure was worse than any of 12 earnings estimates and came ...

Bloomberg President Donald Trump gave Boeing Co a little advice on Twitter. The company should fix its troubled 737 Max and choose a new name following the Ethiopian Air Lines and Lion Air Crashes. “What do I know about branding, maybe nothing (but I did become President!), but if I were Boeing, I would FIX the Boeing 737 Max, add ...

Bloomberg On a recent weekday at the newly opened Champion store in Philadelphia’s Center City, the brand’s oversize red, white and blue “C” is everywhere: across the chest of thick cotton sweatshirts, down the sides of track pants and on the front of baseball caps. A couple of 20-somethings sift the clothing racks during the lunch hour. They drift through ...

DUBAI / WAM Expo 2020 Dubai and its legacy are expected to contribute AED122.6 billion ($33.4 billion) of gross value added (GVA) to the UAE’s economy from 2013 to 2031, according to the EY report, ‘The economic impact of Expo 2020 Dubai’. The report states that Expo 2020 is also expected to support up to 905,200 full-time equivalent, FTE, job-years ...

RED SEA COAST / WAM The UAE on Monday commissioned a new fishing slipway in Al Heima area, in Yemen’s Red Sea Coast, bringing to 22 the number of fishing facilities revamped by country to ease the suffering of the Yemeni people. The solar-powered facility caters to needs of over 10,000 people in Al Heima area and its adjacent districts. ...