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Soldiers take a selfie on the plateform at a metro station in Ho Chi Minh City on December 22, 2024. -AFP
‘Finally, we made it!’: Ho Chi Minh City celebrates first metro
HO CHI MINH CITY: Thousands of selfie-taking Ho Chi Minh City residents crammed into train carriages Sunday as the traffic-clogged business hub celebrated the opening of its first-ever metro line after years of delays. Huge queues spilled out of every station along the $1.7 billion line that runs almost 20 kilometers (12 miles) from the city centre—with women in traditional “ao dai” dress, soldiers in uniform and couples clutching young...
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Global markets digest mixed signals on growth and policy
KUWAIT: In the week ending on the 22nd of December, global markets witnessed major developments, as economic data continues to shape the economic outlook. In the US, inflation, as measured by core PCE, increased by 0.1 percent month-over-month and 2.8 percent year-over-year in November, maintaining stable inflation expectations. Personal spending rose 0.4 percent, while disposable income grew 0.3 percent. The US dollar showed resilience, reaching...
A group photo of bank officials and employees with the Visa representative.
Gulf Bank launches Kuwait’s fastest and most comprehensive rewards program
KUWAIT: Gulf Bank has officially launched its enhanced Gulf Points Program, setting a new benchmark for loyalty rewards in Kuwait. Renowned as Kuwait’s fastest and most rewarding loyalty program, the enhanced Gulf Points now offers customers unparalleled benefits, including cashback, seamless airline and hotel bookings, and a cutting-edge digital shopping store - the first of its kind in the banking sector. The announcement was made during a...
Rodrigo Rato
Ex-IMF chief Rato gets four-year jail term in Spain
MADRID: A Madrid court sentenced ex-IMF chief and Spanish economy minister Rodrigo Rato to more than four years in prison for tax crimes, money laundering and corruption, it said Friday. The sentence comes after the disgraced former heavyweight of Spain’s conservative Popular Party was jailed for four and a half years in 2018 for misusing funds while working at lender Bankia. Prosecutors had alleged that Rato defrauded the Spanish tax office...
Negotiator of the IG Metall metalworkers union Thorsten Groeger and chairwoman of the General and Group Works Council of the Volkswagen Group Daniela Cavallo hold a joint press conference in Hanover. -- AFP
Volkswagen unveils major job cuts in cost-saving drive
HANOVER: Crisis-hit auto giant Volkswagen said Friday it planned to axe 35,000 jobs by 2030 in Germany after reaching an agreement with unions on a drastic cost-cutting plan. The deal, struck at the end of marathon negotiations with labor representatives, will save Europe’s largest carmaker around four billion euros ($4.2 billion) a year, the German group said. But the powerful IG Metall union hailed the agreement, which came just in time for...
The US Capitol is seen in Washington, DC, on December 20, 2024. - AFP
US Congress passes bill to avert shutdown
WASHINGTON: The US Congress averted a Christmastime government shutdown early Saturday after weeks of tense negotiations that went down to the wire, passing a bill to fund federal agencies through mid-March. With the midnight deadline already expired by minutes, senators dropped normal procedure to fast-track the package to a vote, halting government shutdown preparations and saving Christmas for more than 800,000 workers at risk of being sent...
NEW YORK: A picture of Donald Trump is displayed as traders work on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) floor in New York City. -- AFP
Fed caution on rate cuts could cause friction with Trump
WASHINGTON: Donald Trump’s imminent return to the White House and uncertainty about his policy proposals has begun weighing on the US Federal Reserve, raising concerns of a reckoning between the central bank and the president-elect. Fed chair Jerome Powell acknowledged on Wednesday that Trump’s economic platform, which includes the threat of major tariff hikes, the extension of tax cuts, and mass deportations, had been a consideration when...
NOVATO, California: Customers wait in line to check out at a Costco store on December 11, 2024 in Novato, California. -- AFP
Fed’s favored inflation gauge edges higher
WASHINGTON: The Federal Reserve’s preferred inflation measure rose for a second straight month in November, according to government data published Friday, although the increase came in a touch below expectations. The personal consumption expenditures (PCE) price index rose 2.4 percent in the 12 months to November, up from 2.3 percent in October, the Commerce Department said in a statement. “What we’re seeing is encouraging news,” New York...
TOKYO: A dog looks on as a customer browses through snacks on sale at a shopping street in Kichijoji district of Tokyo on January 19, 2024. -- AFP
Japan inflation jumps to 2.7% in November
TOKYO: Japanese inflation accelerated in November, with prices rising 2.7 percent on-year partly because of higher energy costs, government data showed Friday. The core Consumer Price Index (CPI), which excludes volatile fresh food prices, topped market expectations and was up from 2.3 percent in October. The reading remained above the Bank of Japan’s two percent inflation target, set more than a decade ago as part of efforts to boost the...
New VW ID Buzz vehicles, fully electric-driven microbus from Volkswagen Commercial Vehicles, are parked next to the commercial vehicle plant of German car manufacturer Volkswagen (VW) in Hanover. -- AFP
‘Dark lull’ in German energy transition fuels political debate
FRANKFURT: As Germany heads for February 23 elections the grey winter weather has become a hot campaign topic because of its impact on the country’s shaky green energy transition. Twice in recent months electricity prices temporarily spiked in Europe’s top economy because of a lack of both sunlight and wind to power its solar panels and turbines. The phenomenon—dubbed a “dark lull”—briefly sent the price soaring to 936 euros ($972)...
KUWAIT: Sheikha Intisar Salem Al-Ali Al-Sabah and Indian Ambassador Dr Adarsh Swaika inaugurate the India tourism networking event at Millennium Hotel & Convention Centre, Kuwait on Tuesday.
Indian Embassy issued more than 8,000 tourist visas in 2023: Envoy
KUWAIT: Embassy of India in Kuwait hosted a networking event on Tuesday to promote Indian tourism in Kuwait in which 10 prominent tourism entities from India participated. The event, held on Tuesday at Millennium Hotel & Convention Centre, was inaugurated jointly by Sheikha Intisar Salem Al-Ali Al-Sabah and Indian Ambassador Dr Adarsh Swaika. In her brief remarks, Sheikha Intisar Al-Sabah welcomed the initiative to promote tourism between the two...
MUMBAI: A vendor counts a wad of Indian rupees. - AFP
Indian rupee hits record low amid geopolitical jitters
KUWAIT: The Indian rupee, the most volatile among its Asian peers, plunged to an all-time low of Rs 274.9 against the Kuwaiti dinar on Monday, weighed down primarily by rising geopolitical tensions in the Middle East and growing recession fears in the US economy. But currency exchange houses in Kuwait continued to experience lackluster business as residents adopted a “wait-and-see” approach, even as Asian currencies remained on a downward...
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KUWAIT: The Cabinet holds its weekly meeting at Bayan Palace on April 29, 2025. - KUNA
Kuwait repeals law absolving abductor if he marries victim
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Traffic violations plunge 72%, road discipline hailed
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Abdullatif Al-Meshari
Plans move forward for new cities to ease housing demand
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GAZA: A Palestinian boy reads the Holy Quran as he sits in rubble of a house following overnight Zionist strikes at the Nuseirat refugee camp in the central Gaza Strip on April 29, 2025. — AFP
‘Catastrophe’, ‘live-streamed genocide’, ‘silent killer’ in Gaza
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JERUSALEM: People are evacuated from a highway during a forest fire near the central Israeli town of Bet Shemesh on April 30, 2025. - AFP
Israelis flee Jerusalem's raging wildfires