April, 2017

• 6 April

  Wi-Fi UAE rolls out at Sharjah’s Sahara Centre

  

    Sharjah / Emirates Business Shoppers and visitors of Sahara Centre in Sharjah can now enjoy the benefits of Wi-Fi UAE as it rolls out in the Mall. Providing everyone with access to the Internet through a choice of either free or premium Wi-Fi. This latest launch expands the Wi-Fi UAE footprint to help enhance happiness through connectivity, which has …

  Read More »
• 6 April

  Japan can teach US how to overcome national rot

  

    The US is in a period of institutional sclerosis, and more people are noticing it. Even JPMorgan Chase & Co. Chief Executive Officer Jamie Dimon is sounding the alarm. But it’s reasonable to ask whether, despite all its difficulties, the US is still the proverbial best house in a bad neighborhood. Many other rich, industrialized nations are facing their …

  Read More »
• 6 April

  WhatsApp payments to be Facebook’s saving grace in India

  

    After its plan to offer free internet in India was rejected, Facebook Inc. may soon find that the fastest way to consumers’ hearts is through their wallets. Digitally. Its WhatsApp service is preparing to start digital payments in the country, a move that would leverage India’s rush to online transactions after November’s sudden demonetisation, the Financial Times reported. WhatsApp …

  Read More »
• 6 April

  Nicolas Maduro hasn’t gotten the message

  

    Another day, another cloud of pepper spray and tear gas in the streets of Caracas. The autocratic government of President Nicolas Maduro has hardly changed its spots. It may have seemed otherwise, after the Venezuelan Supreme Court was forced last month to reverse its unconstitutional takeover of the country’s legislature. But Maduro has continued to suppress peaceful protests of …

  Read More »
• 6 April

  Gas attack shines harsh light on Assad’s barbarity

    Once again, Assad gassed his own people. At least 74 civilians died, including a dozen children, in one of the worst chemical weapons attack in an opposition-held town of Khan Sheikhoun in northern Syria. The mind-numbing images of people gasping for breath and convulsing in the streets show that Assad regime atrocities against Syrians have crossed all limits. The …

  Read More »
• 6 April

  Long-awaited ‘Asian Century’ might not ever come

  

    People in the West, certainly Americans, have long had a fascination with the East, with many predicting an inevitable “Asian century” marked by economic and market dominance. I have long disagreed with the consensus on China and other Asian Tigers, and others are beginning to agree. Many problems stand in the way of the “Asian century.” Japan dazzled Westerners …

  Read More »
• 6 April

  ChemChina-Syngenta could be last of the big love-ins

  

    China is within striking distance of locking down its biggest-ever overseas acquisition, after China National Chemical Corp. won US and European Union antitrust approval for its $43 billion takeover of Swiss pesticide maker Syngenta AG. Just as well, because it may be the last big deal in a while. Although the transaction still needs the green light from regulators …

  Read More »
• 6 April

  Europe’s addiction to bailing out banks

  

    Like repentant smokers, Europe’s politicians have promised to quit bailing out banks. They’re finding the habit hard to break. The Italian government wants to rescue three banks which are struggling under the weight of non-performing loans. The trade-offs, as always, are complicated: financial stability now against financial stability later; shielding taxpayers from the costs of a rescue against protecting …

  Read More »
• 6 April

  TCMB pushes rates to max before referendum

  

    Bloomberg With two weeks to go before a referendum that could remodel Turkey’s political landscape, the Central Bank of Turkey (TCMB) pushed interest rates to the upper reaches of its monetary framework and depleted its policy tool of choice: flexibility. The bank’s average interest rate was 11.47 percent, near the mathematical limit of its current funding mix. That leaves …

  Read More »
• 6 April

  RBI in neutral may be reading India’s prices wrong

  

    Bloomberg As India’s monetary policy committee begins its two-day meeting, the inflation-targeting central bank may be using flawed price measures as the basis for its swing to neutral policy. All 50 economists in a Bloomberg survey predict the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) will leave the repurchase rate unchanged at 6.25% on Thursday, as price pressures appear to be …

  Read More »