Mortgages are perhaps the only specialist lending that will survive in India. Every other form of credit, especially subprime, is made so risky by the country’s fickle policies and populist politics that it must eventually lose its independence in the safety of a deposit-taking bank. Bharat Financial Inclusion Ltd., India’s biggest micro-lender, is a good example. Bad loans at ...

  British Prime Minister Theresa May recently surprised the country — and most of her ministers — by calling an election for early next month. Up against self-imposed deadlines, and anxious to increase her majority in Parliament, she’s scrambling to devise a policy platform. With Brexit looming, this isn’t a normal election, and the usual litany of detailed proposals won’t ...

  First, the sandpaper-tongue US president called him a “smart cookie.” Then Trump says he is open to meet North Korean leader Kim Jong-un if conditions allow. Although Trump has made many policy U-turns, this is a classic one and steeped into irony. “If it would be appropriate for me to meet with him, I would absolutely, I would be ...

  Thiruvananthapuram / Emirates Business Etihad Airways is celebrating 10 years of flying to the southern Indian state of Kerala with the introduction of additional flights to the popular destination. The airline has launched a fourth daily non-stop service between Kozhikode and its Abu Dhabi hub offering convenient onward connections to cities worldwide. The extra capacity takes to 63 the ...

  Dubai / Emirates Business wasl Asset Management Group, one of the largest real estate development and management companies in Dubai – has announced the launch of the city’s second luxury Mandarin Oriental hotel, which is due to open in November 2020. The new location in Dubai’s Commercial District of Sheikh Zayed Road will complement wasl’s Mandarin Oriental hotel on ...

  Dubai / WAM Hussain Nasser Lootah, Director-General of Dubai Municipality inaugurated the Meteorological Radar project, which was launched by the Municipality in the field of Geodetic Survey. The project is implemented as part of the development of the early warning system for weather forecasting and monitoring of climate change and its impact on all regions of the Emirate of Dubai. ...

  Bret Stephens of the New York Times made a splash the other day with a column questioning the scientific consensus on climate change. Stephens didn’t cite any skeptical research papers or alternative theories — his doubt was based purely on distrust of those who make confident predictions. We live in a world in which data convey authority. But authority ...

  Emmanuel Macron looks on course to become France’s new president, ending the threat of a euroskeptic at the Elysee. Even if Macron wins, though, it’ll be too soon to celebrate a new phase of stability in the euro zone. Across the Alps, an economic and political storm is brewing — and there’s no sign anyone can stop it. Italy’s ...

  The United States is a land of diminished economic prospects. Today the recession is over but the slowdown isn’t: The most recent projections by the Federal Reserve imply future growth in output per head of barely 1 percent a year. That matters for many reasons. For one thing, as Benjamin Friedman argued in “The Moral Consequences of Economic Growth,” ...

  DUBAI / Reuters Saudi Arabian stocks fell on Wednesday after oil prices slipped, while an interview by the top economic policy official, Deputy Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, did little to boost sentiment. Other regional bourses were mixed in quiet trade. Advanced Petrochemical drop-ped 2.5 percent after the polypr-opylene maker posted first-quarter net income of 124 million riyals ($33.1 ...