The news that the UAE will have a sharia-compliant trade bank soon has given a big boost to the Islamic economy. Earlier, the launch of ‘My Salaam’ portal and mobile app — an innovative step — manifested the keeness of the country to consolidate the Islamic ecosystem. The launch of Awqaf International Organization is also an initiative that will …

  It wasn’t so long ago that rivers of bicycle commuters coursed through Chinese cities. As a means of navigating urban roads, two wheels couldn’t be beat. They were cheap (and China was poor), and Chinese cities were compact enough to allow for conveyance by pedal power alone. As recently as 1986, 63 percent of Beijingers used a bike as …

  The minutes of the September meeting of the Federal Reserve’s Open Market Committee released Wednesday explained why three Fed board members had dissented from the majority’s “close call” decision to keep rates unchanged. The highly anticipated transcript provides insights into internal and external developments, illustrating the “unusual uncertainty” that policy makers must contend with. The transcript is an important …