SHARJAH / WAM Sharjah-based Air Arabia has launched its inaugural service to Baku, marking the airline’s first entrance into Azerbaijan. An official delegation including Sheikh Fahim Al Qasimi, Executive Chairman of the Department of Government Relations of Sharjah, and Dr. Mohammed Ahmed Hamel Al Qubaisi, UAE Ambassador to Azerbaijan as well as Dashgin Shikarov, Ambassador of Azerbaijan to the ...
Read More »Maldives a must-see place
Emirates Business For all those who think that Maldives is exclusively a honeymoon destination need to visit Maldives to know that the beautiful islands of Maldives have a lot more to offer. The Maldivian cuisine is worth a try. Milaidhoo Island has opened the first modern Maldivian restaurant in the Maldives, called Ba’theli. It is one of the few ...
Read More »Baby boxes as cribs gain popularity
TRENTON, NJ / AP Cardboard boxes certainly aren’t new technology. But when they’re linked to a practice that started in Finland decades ago to help babies sleep safely, they’re taking on a new purpose as so-called baby boxes make their way to the U.S. Parents are beginning to take baby boxes home from hospitals along with their newborns. A ...
Read More »PepsiCo, Coca-Cola in a bind in South Indian state
Bloomberg A potent blend of pride, economic nationalism and mounting concern over water security have the world’s two biggest cola brands in a bind in southern India. Shopkeepers in drought-hit Kerala state decided to promote local brands over Coca-Cola Co. and PepsiCo Inc. beverages after counterparts in neighboring Tamil Nadu boycotted the multinational drinks. While retail groups claim the ...
Read More »Japan’s power producers next to face China coal pain after steel
Bloomberg First it was Japan’s steelmakers, now it’s the nation’s power producers that are set to pay for China’s coal policies. Japanese utilities may pay at least 29 percent more for annual supplies this year after China’s efforts in 2016 to trim overcapacity led to a more than doubling of spot prices, according to UBS Group AG and Morgan ...
Read More »China introduces services index to reflect changing economy
Bloomberg China introduced a new indicator for the services sector to better track the vast range of activity from movies to restaurants that now account for more than half of the economy. The services output index rose 8.2 percent in January and February from a year earlier on growth in technology, transportation, and deliveries, the National Bureau of the ...
Read More »Dutch liberals defeat Wilders’ party in blow to populists
Bloomberg Dutch voters turned out in force to back pro-European parties and help Prime Minister Mark Rutte’s Liberals easily beat off an election challenge by the anti-Islam Freedom Party of Geert Wilders, drawing a line in the sand over the spread of populism. With votes counted in all but one of the country’s 388 municipalities, the Liberal Party had ...
Read More »Kofi Annan calls on Myanmar to allow access to troubled area
YANGON/ AP A commission chaired by former UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan has recommended that the government allow aid workers and journalists free access to an area in western Myanmar where security forces are accused of major human rights abuses against the Muslim Rohingya minority. Annan spoke on Thursday in a video shown at a news conference in Yangon, where ...
Read More »Netanyahu vows new settlement ahead of meeting with US envoy
JERUSALEM / AP Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is vowing to keep his promise to build Israel’s first new West Bank settlement in two decades — even as Netanyahu and President Trump’s envoy continue discussions on future settlement building. Netanyahu will meet with Trump envoy Jason Greenblatt on Thursday as part of efforts to reach an “agreed-upon policy†on ...
Read More »Britain’s Brexit bill receives royal assent, becomes law
LONDON / AP A bill authorizing Britain to start its exit from the European Union received royal assent and became law on Thursday, empowering Prime Minister Theresa May to begin divorce proceedings from the bloc. House of Commons Speaker John Bercow announced that the European Union (Notification of Withdrawal) Act has received the assent of Queen Elizabeth II. The ...
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