Business

By Abid Ali in Business on January 7th, 2011

Is this YouTube video proof that China has developed a stealth fighter jet? The origin of the video is unclear but the fact that Chinese censors allowed it to be posted on domestic websites indicates that it may have been leaked with the approval of the authorities.

The J-20 stealth bomber could challenge the US air force's F-22 Raptor. India and Russia recently signed an agreement to develop their own stealth fighter.

By Abid Ali in Business on November 25th, 2010
Photo by EPA

Would you give money to someone in debt?

Tough question I guess. You would ask yourself what is the possibility of them paying you back.

How would you feel if the money you give was guaranteed?

I think you would step up.

Now here’s the problem. Bond holders to the troubled economies of Greece, Ireland, Portugal and Spain have been offered unwritten guarantees. They have been banking on Germany stepping in to help bailout Europe’s laggards.

The lady who triggered the latest crisis that has Ireland taking its begging bowl to the European Union and International Monetary Fund is at it again. And she’s right.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel said:

Have politicians got the courage to make those who earn money share in the risk as well? Or is dealing in government debt the only business in the world economy that involves no risk?

By Laurence Lee in Europe, Business on November 16th, 2010
Photo: GALLO/GETTY

Middlesbrough, a large town in the northeast of England, has some of the nicest people you'll find anywhere, and that's particularly surprising given what they've been through over the last few decades.

Other than the container port, the two main drivers of employment here were steel (first British Steel, then Corus, then Tata, now nothing), and Imperial Chemical Industries (ICI), which also got sold off in packets to conglomerates from the Middle East, Indonesia and elsewhere. Those people who say globalisation works should take a look here - it's failed people utterly.

People say that every one of the 50,000 or so who worked in steel or petrochemicals kept another seven people in work in feeder industries - suppliers and the like - so the fact that steel's now gone and petrochemicals employs just 3,000 means ... well, you work it out.

So Middlesbrough is on its knees.
By Dan Nolan in Business on October 19th, 2010
Photo by Reuters

The United Arab Emirates' new crackdown on business with Iran will no doubt draw applause in Washington but alarm in Dubai.

New regulations preventing transactions with Iranian banks means trade between the two nations has all but come to a standstill in recent weeks, according to those affected.

In 2009 total trade was worth an estimated $12bn, making the oil-rich Arab nation Iran's top trading partner.

But the reality is that only one of the seven emirates that make up the UAE federation has been responsible for the bulk of Iranian trade and is thus regarded as Tehran's backdoor to the West – Dubai.

For years, Dubai has been seen by the West as dragging its feet on rigorous enforcement of UN sanctions - an accusation it always denies.

By Abid Ali in Business on October 19th, 2010
Photo from AFP

There’s a race going on right now. A "war" if you take the words of Brazil’s finance minister, Guido Mantega, to devalue currency. The reason is simple: by keeping your currency low against your competitor you will export more.

Timothy Geithner, the US treasury secretary, says his country  is not involved in currency manipulation. On the other hand, the US accuses China of being a currency manipulator and has delayed publishing a report to this effect.

"It is not going to happen in this country." Geithner said.

It is very important for people to understand that the United States of America and no country around the world can devalue its way to prosperity, to (be) competitive.

By Abid Ali in Business on September 13th, 2010
Photo by AP

Kabul Bank is a private bank. A monopoly, if you like: the only avenue for government employees to receive their salaries.

A great money making machine. A bank that likes to say its "Touching Hearts, Changing Lives" - it certainly has for its shareholders.

In America’s attempt to break the stranglehold of the informal cash economy, mostly the hawalas - used to transfer vast amounts of money that they fear is driving the insurgency and drugs trade - they've inadvertently created a behemoth on an Afghan scale.

In fact, Western Union is the preferred partner for remittances.

I want to share some numbers with you.

By Abid Ali in Business on September 8th, 2010
Photo by Getty Images

It sounds like the start of a joke. But these are the thoughts of Michael O’Leary, the chief executive of low-cost airline Ryanair.

O’Leary would like to fly short hop routes with only one pilot.

Let the bloody computer fly it,

he tells Bloomberg Businessweek. If the pilot was to have a heart attack then the flight attendant should land the plane, he says.

O’Leary tells the Financial Times that trains only have one driver.

In 25 years with over about 10 million flights, we’ve had one pilot who suffered a heart attack in flight and he landed the plane.  

By Hoda Abdel-Hamid in Business on September 4th, 2010
Photo by AFP

Kabul Bank is the topic of the moment in Afghanistan. 

Last week, several American media outlets broke the story that the bank was in trouble and its top two executives - the chairman and the CEO - had been fired. The bank had apparently over-loaned to its own shareholders, who in turn, invested millions of dollars in property in Dubai.  

It took a while for the news to spread around the country, but when it did, it sent a shockwave. Kabul Bank is the largest private bank in Afghanistan - it has a good network of branches throughout the country, and it handles the salaries of security forces, teachers and civil servants.

By Teymoor Nabili in Business on August 3rd, 2010
Photo by AFP

Banks on the mend, stocks in London and New York bouncing... looks like the recovery is in full flow, right?

For David Stockman, a director of the Office of Management and Budget under President Ronald Reagan, all this apparent recovery is a myth built on borrowed money, and he's having none of it:

The day of national reckoning has arrived.

By Abid Ali in Business on July 27th, 2010
Photo by Reuters

Tony Hayward paid a heavy price.

In stepping down as the chief executive of BP he’ll cushion the blow with a 1.6 million dollar pay-off, and that does not include his pension pot of 900,000 dollars a year.

A heavy price when we consider the Lloyd Blankfien is still the chief executive of Goldman Sachs and Toyota’s Akio Toyoda is still the president. 

It will be a matter of time before Transocean, the owner of the drilling rig BP was leasing, and oil engineering contract Halliburton have to answer for their actions. All the signs are that BP was not to blame.

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