News

Sao Paulo / AFP Supporters of Brazil’s former president Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva rallied in their hundreds outside his Sao Paulo house a day after his dramatic detention in a corruption probe. The show of resolve was the latest sign a mounting political crisis over the investigation into alleged embezzlement and bribery at the state oil giant Petrobras was ...

Bloomberg Frontier Airlines Inc., the no-frills U.S. carrier owned by private-equity firm Indigo Partners, hired underwriters for an initial public offering, people with knowledge of the matter said. Barclays Plc, Deutsche Bank AG and JPMorgan Chase & Co. are working on the IPO, said the people, who asked not to be identified because the discussions are private. Citigroup Inc. also ...

Bloomberg It’s boom time for Canadian maple-syrup producer Ray Bonenberg, who is expanding sap output from his tree farm near Pembroke, Ontario. About three hours away in the province of Quebec — the Saudi Arabia of syrup — producers like Jim Dempsey can only watch in frustration. Dempsey’s output is capped by the Federation of Quebec Maple Syrup Producers, a ...

CAIRO / EMIRATES BUSINESS Egypt’s Sixth of October Development and Investment Company (Sodic) and Heliopolis Development Housing (Heliopolis Housing) have signed a co-development contract for a major mixed-use scheme in Cairo. Sodic will develop 70 per cent and 69.8 per cent of the residential and commercial units respectively, while Heliopolis House will develop the rest, according to a company statement. ...

MANHATTAN / Bloomberg For Wendy Maitland, Town Residential’s president of sales, an Oscar-winning director client of hers was a typical real estate shopper with typical requests. He had a seven-figure budget and was keen to buy into one of the many new luxury condo complexes sprouting around Manhattan. Maitland showed him multiple locations until they whittled his choice down to ...

Emirates Business Oman Power and Water Procurement Company (OPWP), the sole buyer of all electricity and desalinated water output in the Oman Sultanate, plans to shortly invite prequalified bidders to submit proposals for the development of Independent Water Projects (IWP) in Sharqiyah and Dhofar governorates, a top official has revealed. Ahmed bin Saleh al Jahdhami, CEO of OPWP , said ...

Dubai / EMIRATES BUSINESS The government of the Republic of Azerbaijan has lifted advance visa requirement for citizens of Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi, Japan, Malaysia, People’s Republic of China, Republic of Korea and Singapore. His Excellency Mr. Abulfas Garayev, Minister of Culture and Tourism of the Republic of Azerbaijan, has been closely monitoring the lifting of visa process and ...

Beijing / Bloomberg Persistent capital outflows from China since mid-2014 were probably driven more by local companies paying down their dollar-denominated debt — in anticipation a stronger US currency — than investors ditching Chinese assets, according to the Bank for International Settlements (BIS). The outpouring of China’s currency “led to two different narratives,” researchers for the Switzerland-based institution said in ...

Beijing / AFP China’s economy “absolutely will not” suffer a hard landing, the chief of its top planning body said on Sunday, as Beijing’s leaders try to reassure global investors about the world’s second-largest economy. Xu Shaoshi, head of the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC), made the comments to reporters on the second day of the annual meeting of ...

Tokyo / DPA The Japanese government plans to start talks with the European Union to conclude a deal that would require EU airlines to provide Passenger Name Records, a move aimed at beefing up antiterrorism defences at Japan‘s borders. According to sources, EU airlines that have routes to Japan would have to provide this electronic record before a flight departs. ...