For nearly a week late last month, a modicum of peace appeared to have settled over El Salvador. After the country’s leading criminal gangs called a unilateral truce, violent crime suddenly plunged, and the homicide rate fell to around nine a day. If that doesn’t sound like much to cheer about, consider this: The small Central American nation of about ...

Zurich / Bloomberg Chinese conglomerate HNA Group Co. agreed to buy Swiss airline catering company Gategroup Holding AG for 1.4 billion francs ($1.5 billion), as billionaire Chairman Chen Feng continues on an acquisition spree of aviation-related assets around the world. Gategroup shares jumped the most in almost seven years. Shareholders would get 53 francs a share as well as the ...

TEHRAN / AP Iran said that the US has allowed Boeing to have direct talks with Iranian airliners following reports that a Boeing delegation will visit the country, the official IRNA news agency reported. The report quoted Ali Abedzadeh, head of Iran’s Civil Aviation Organization, as saying “Boeing intends to launch its talks with Iranian companies with permission from the ...

Bloomberg Sears Holdings Corp., the department-store operator run by hedge fund manager Edward Lampert, obtained a new short-term loan partially funded by an investment firm that manages billionaire Bill Gates’s fortune. Cascade Investment has funded $125 million of a $500 million loan that Sears raised by using about 20 of its mortgaged properties as collateral, the retailer said in a ...

Bloomberg Associated British Foods (ABF), the biggest shareholder in Illovo Sugar, has reached an agreement to buy the rest of the South African sugar producer for 5.6 billion rand ($370 million) after raising an earlier offer. ABF, which holds a 51.35 percent stake in Illovo, has made an offer of 25 rand ($1.65) per share for the stake it does ...

Bloomberg Air France-KLM Group will enter into talks with an exclusive buyer for its in-flight service unit Servair within the next few weeks, a person familiar with the plan said. The company won’t sell the entire business, said the person, who declined to be identified because the discussions are private. Servair, the world’s third-largest in-flight caterer, was valued at about ...

Kathmandu / DPA Khwaja Asad Shah sits in his cramped beads shop in the heart of the Nepalese capital Kathmandu, surrounded by the glitter of colourful pieces of glass. “We’ve been here for eight generations,” says Shah, explaining that Muslim families like his arrived from Kashmir some 500 years ago. They came during the Malla era, 1484-1520, as masons and ...

Ritika Sharma / emirates business Every now and then you hear people comparing an insignificant deed with “man has reached the moon” expression. But how many times did you think it really was that big deal. Not often? Today is a day to not only acknowledge the fact that it indeed is a momentous accomplishment of mankind, but that the ...

Ritika Sharma / Emirates Business Dubai-based Kehkashan Basu is founder of a youth sustainability organisation named Green Hope UAE, winner of NRI of the year award, has been a speaker at 45 United Nations and other international summits and has travelled to over 20 countries. Guess what makes her extraordinary – she is just 15. This UAE teenager was a ...

Sunaina Rana/ Emirates Business Leading organisations worldwide count on NetApp for software, systems and services to manage and store their data. Customers value the IT company’s teamwork, expertise and passion for helping the clients succeed in achieving their goal. Alfred Manhart, Head of EMEA Channel at NetApp, is leader of the combined channel and system integration (SI) business across Europe, ...