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Emirates Business Worldwide leader of the Catholic Church, His Holiness Pope Francis, touched down in Abu Dhabi for a three-day trip to strengthen interfaith dialogue and understanding in support of peace. Etihad Airways, as the UAE’s national airline, is celebrating this first ever papal visit to the Arabian Gulf with festivities in its offices and on board its flights in ...

DUBAI / WAM Nasdaq Dubai and FTSE Russell have signed a license agreement for the exchange to launch derivatives on FTSE Russell’s Saudi Arabia equity indices. In its first use of the license, Nasdaq Dubai intends to launch futures on the FTSE Saudi Arabia Index later this month on a date to be announced. The futures, together with other derivatives ...

ABU DHABI / WAM Abu Dhabi Islamic Bank (ADIB), delivered a strong set of results for 2018 with net profit up 8.7 percent to AED 2,500.8 million and rise of 23.2 percent in Q4 2018 from Q4 2017 to AED748.3 million, driven by a growth in customer financing and an improvement in provisioning. The performance was also supported by higher ...

DUBAI / WAM As retail CEOs are adjusting their strategy to reinvent and transform their business, the 5th Edition of the Retail Leaders Circle Mena Summit returns to Dubai on March 25-26 in Dubai. Spotlighting a stellar line-up of speakers and renowned thinkers, the annually summit provides a unique platform for the region’s leaders to navigate a complex business environment ...

DUBAI / Emirates Business Dubai’s Department of Tourism & Commerce Marketing (Dubai Tourism) participated in the 26th edition of South Asia’s largest travel and tourism exhibition (SATTE 2019), in January, in Greater Noida, India, further reinforcing the emirate’s continued commitment to one of its top performing source markets. Marking the first international roadshow of 2019, Dubai Tourism will be represented ...

Bloomberg Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro said “we’re getting ready to defend our country” as the US presses him to cede power. While President Donald Trump signaled he’s confident a transition of power to opposition leader Juan Guaido is under way and said the use of US military force in Venezuela remains “an option,” Maduro went on Spanish television to denounce ...

Bloomberg Two-thirds of Americans oppose President Donald Trump declaring a national emergency if Congress doesn’t offer up the funds he wants to build a wall on the US-Mexican border, a CBS News poll shows. Most survey respondents —73 percent —also said they want Trump to continue negotiating while keeping the government open, rather than forcing another shutdown when funding expires ...

Bloomberg A former top adviser to embattled Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir sees a “new spirit” in widespread protests that he said may bring great change to the economically troubled North African nation. Ghazi Salaheddine Atabani, who quit the ruling party after 2013 protests, said events such as the fall of the Soviet Union are proof that long-standing political systems can ...

Bloomberg German Chancellor Angela Merkel and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said they want to head off a no-deal Brexit that could rattle their economies, as both braced against the UK’s increasingly chaotic course towards an exit from the EU. Abe and Merkel, both 64, are two of the most outspoken defenders of the international order being shaken by Brexit ...

Bloomberg Belgium has agreed to receive former Ivory Coast President Laurent Gbagbo after his conditional release by the International Criminal Court, pending an appeal of his acquittal on charges of crimes against humanity, the Belga news agency reported. The Brussels government decided to host Gbagbo following a request by the ICC, which cleared him of the charges, foreign ministry spokesman ...