Nicosia / AFP A Cyprus-based budget airline, Cobalt, announced it will launch passenger flights to Greece and Britain from June. Cobalt said it was granted an Air Operator Certificate after a successful test flight with its first Cyprus-registered Airbus A320 from Larnaca to Heraklion in Greece. Its chairman, Gregory Diacou, said the carrier will begin flights to Athens on June …

  London / Bloomberg A weekly letter from Tesco Plc’s U.K. chief executive officer, posted in break rooms of the retailer’s 3,500 domestic stores, praises employees who go out of their way for customers. Recent examples include everything from fixing a motorist’s flat tire to collecting corporate memorabilia for a fan. During its rise to the top of British grocery …

  The Hague / AFP Nameless migrants laid to rest in unmarked scrubland, murder victims dumped in mass graves, desperate searches for the missing after natural disasters. Around the world, millions of families wait in vain to bury their dead. “You cannot close the book on the life of a loved one if you do not know the truth, or …

  San Francisco / AFP In a Silicon Valley culture known for brilliant ideas boiling up in coffee shops, Gaurav Chawla is pouring his heart into chai. Chawla was on a break from his job as an engineering manager at San Francisco-based cloud-computing star Salesforce when he began lamenting how tough it was to find a cup of chai as …

  Our Correspondent/ Emirates Business Saeid and Luisa Momtahan, founders of Craft By Two, have explored different sectors that could include elements like designing, photography, plumbing, and craftsmanship. Now working together for many years, the duo have been in the creative field for the past 20 years. The couple has a background of engineering and computer science, where their passion …

  Our Correspondent / EMIRATES BUSINESS Nestle’s heritage in the Middle East goes back over 80 years to 1934 when the first import operation was set up in Lebanon. Building a foundation of trust among consumers has since made the company the region’s leading nutrition, health and wellness company. Nestle owns and operates 18 factories that cater to the region, …

  Sharjah / EMIRATES BUSINESS Sharjah Islamic Bank (SIB), a leading shariah compliant commercial bank in the UAE, successfully repaid a USD 400 million sukuk. The Sukuk was raised in May 2011 under challenging market circumstances. The funds raised under the sukuk were used for general corporate purposes and business expansion of SIB. Mohamed Abdulla, CEO of SIB, thanked the …

  DUBAI / WAM Secretary-General of the Federation of UAE Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Humaid bin Salim, said the UAE was at the top member of Organisation of Islamic Cooperation in terms of intra-OIC trade in 2014 with US$121.7 billion accounting for 15.2 per cent of the total intra-OIC trade. Turkey came second with $77.8 billion (9.7 per cent …

  ABU DHABI / WAM His Highness Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Presidential Affairs, stressed that the strong and active presence of the UAE’s diplomacy in the regional and international arenas in terms of hosting numerous international agencies and conferences, as well as its active participation in international efforts to fight terrorism and …

  Pristina / WAM UAE, represented by the Ministry of Finance (MoF), signed two final agreements on avoidance of double taxation on income and the protection and promotion of investment with the Republic of Kosovo. The signing ceremony took place in the capital Pristina during an official visit of the UAE delegation headed by Younis Haji Al Khoori, Under-Secretary of MoF …