On Monday, China heavily criticized the European Parliament for a resolution passed last week that squarely took aim at Beijing’s bid for market economy status at the World Trade Organization (WTO). In the non-binding resolution last Thursday, EU legislators declared that China still fails to meet the criteria for a market economy as defined by EU law and that there …

  Taiwan will inaugurate a new president this week who China hates but America should love. On Friday, Taiwan’s newly elected president, Tsai Ing-wen, will come into office amidst a storm of controversy and scandal. She will then begin a long hard slog through a cross-Strait political minefield, alienated from the world and increasingly unpopular at home. That is, if …

  Duyen Bui SPECIAL TO EMIRATES BUSINESS Vietnamese officials and the Vietnamese people are waiting in anticipation to welcome U.S. President Barack Obama in about a week. But each have very different reasons for awaiting Obama’s visit. The Vietnamese government will be laying out the red carpet for the leader of its former enemy, with whom it now seeks alliances …

  BLOOMBERG Global stocks slid to a six-week low and commodities fell as markets braced for the possibility that the Federal Reserve will raise interest rates as soon as next month. A gauge of the dollar’s strength stood at a seven-week high. The MSCI All Country World Index declined for a third day after the minutes of the last Fed …

  Bloomberg Egyptian stocks declined after the nation’s flagship airline said one of its passenger planes went missing on the way back to Cairo from Paris. Most equities dropped across the Middle East as oil retreated. The EGX 30 Index fell 1.8 percent to 7,499.49 at the close. About 538 million Egyptian pounds ($61 million) of shares traded, 21 percent …

  Dubai / Bloomberg Etihad Airways is confident that Air Berlin Plc and Alitalia SpA are making progress in their turnarounds as the UAE carrier seeks to stem losses at the European affiliates. Etihad wants to strengthen ties between the Italian and German airlines’ route networks and cooperate in other areas to enable them to compete with mainline operators such …

  London / AFP British retail sales jumped by 1.3 percent in April from a month earlier, official figures showed on Thursday, handing a boost to the economy following a string of weak data. Sales by volume shot higher last month compared with a drop of 0.5 percent in March, the Office for National Statistics said in a statement. March’s …

  Washington / Bloomberg American Airlines Group Inc. is stepping up efforts to reduce delays at U.S. airport security checkpoints after bottlenecks caused passengers to wait for hours and miss some flights this week. The carrier will spend $4 million to hire more contractors to assist Transportation Security Administration personnel with non-screening functions, Chief Operating Officer Robert Isom said in …

  Dubai / Emirates Business Gulf Air and TransSys Solutions announced that they have partnered to enhance Oracle E-Business Suite capabilities and features to utilise latest technologies such as mobility and interface to Hybrid Cloud. The agreement was signed by Dr Jassim Haji, Director Information Technology, Gulf Air and PrabuBalasubramanyan, Executive Director, TransSys Solutions. As part of Gulf Air’s digital …

  New York / Bloomberg Southwest Airlines Co.’s growth plans may be jeopardized by a lawsuit filed by its pilots union over flying Boeing Co.’s newest 737 jetliner, Chief Executive Officer Gary Kelly said. The Southwest Airlines Pilots Association, representing 8,300 aviators, on Monday asked a federal court to block the carrier from flying the 737 Max until the plane …