Bloomberg Kuwait Airways Co. is considering adding a flight to Washington, D.C., or Chicago despite mounting US travel restrictions, as the Gulf carrier revives long-standing efforts to better compete with its more prosperous regional rivals. The additions, which could also include new service to Seoul; Manchester, England; Sarajevo, Bosnia-Herzegovina; or airports in China, Morocco and Saudi Arabia, are part of …

Bloomberg Nike Inc. rallied the most in almost two years after the athletic brand delivered a rosy forecast and announced plans to forge a closer relationship with shoppers, a move that will let Amazon and Instagram users buy its sneakers directly. The athletic brand expects sales to increase by a mid- to high-single-digit percentage this year, excluding currency effects. The …

Bloomberg Southwest Airlines Co. will join other US carriers in reducing flights to Cuba, saying laws that restrict Americans from travelling to the island for tourism are constraining demand. Southwest becomes the latest airline to accept that the industry, with little way to judge demand beforehand, was too optimistic when US regulators allowed passenger routes to the island nation last …

Bloomberg The difficulties facing Britain’s non-food retailers were laid bare Tuesday in gloomy reports from department-store group Debenhams Plc and floorcoverings seller Carpetright Plc. Debenhams, the operator of 250 stores across 27 countries, said full-year earnings could be at the low end of analysts’ estimates should current market volatility persist. Carpetright, which runs 426 outlets in the U.K. alone, reported …

DUBAI / AGENCIES The UAE’s AED522 billion Islamic banking assets will help fuel the growth of the country’s Halal sector, according to a research conducted by Orange Fairs and Events, organisers of the Halal Expo – Dubai, 2017. Seven Islamic banks out of the 23 registered commercial banks in the UAE represent nearly a fifth of the country’s banking assets. …

DUBAI / WAM The Executive Team of the Global Innovation Index held its 4th meeting of the current year at the headquarters of the Ministry of Economy in Dubai, to examine the results of yearly report for 2017, where the UAE has achieved an important leap in its general ranking on the Index by six places compared to last year’s …

DUBAI / WAM Imdaad, a Dubai-based facilities management (FM) firm, signed a three-year renewable agreement to provide FM services across over 500 mosques managed by the Department of Islamic Affairs and Charitable Activities (IACAD). The integrated FM contract, worth AED30 million (US$8.2 million) per annum, also includes over 1,200 homes associated with mosques. Imdaad will provide a comprehensive range of …

DUBAI / WAM The Commercial Compliance and Consumer Protection (CCCP) sector at Dubai Economy and Souq.com, the Middle East’s largest online retail and marketplace website, have announced co-operation on the ‘Digital Protection’ initiative for consumer rights protection. The Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) signed by the CCCP and Souq.com aims at promoting consumer confidence in the region’s growing e-commerce industry and …

ABU DHABI / WAM First Abu Dhabi Bank (FAB) has been recognised as the ‘Best Trade Finance Bank in MENA’ at the GTR Leaders in Trade 2016 Awards in recognition of its excellence in the trade, commodity, supply chain and export finance markets. FAB received the award at a ceremony organised by Global Trade Review, GTR, magazine, in London recently. …

DUBAI / WAM The World Economic Forum (WEF) will convene its first Sustainable Development Impact Summit in New York on September 18-19. The Summit is dedicated to accelerating progress towards Sustainable Development Goals and Paris climate agreement through public-private cooperation and the application of technologies of the Fourth Industrial Revolution. Building on conversations at the Forum’s Annual Meeting 2017 in …