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Detroit files for bankruptcy
Detroit files for bankruptcy Steven Church, Dawn McCarty and Margaret Cronin Fisk (Bloomberg) / 20 July 2013 Detroit, the cradle of the automobile assembly line and a symbol of industrial might, filed the biggest US municipal bankruptcy after decades of decline left it too poor to pay billions of dollars owed bondholders, retired cops and current city workers. “I know many will see this as a low point in the city’s history,” Michigan Governor Rick Snyder, a Republican, said in a letter on Thursday authorising the filing in US Bankruptcy Court in Detroit. “Without this decision, the city’s condition would only worsen.” Michigan’s largest city joins Jefferson County, Alabama, and the California cities of San Bernardino and Stockton in bankruptcy. The filing shattered the presumption of many bondholders that local governments, eager to continue borrowing at reasonable rates, would do whatever it took, including raise taxes, to come up with the money to meet bond obligations. Kevyn Orr, the city’s emergency manager, said the debt is $18 billion. While under court protection, Detroit can stop paying some debts, is temporarily immune from most lawsuits and may be able to ask a judge to cancel contracts, including union agreements. Under Chapter 9 of the US Bankruptcy Code, the first step is likely to be a court fight over whether the city was entitled to bankruptcy protection, a challenge that would ask if the city was truly insolvent and it had no alternative to filing. Detroit’s filing “is going to affect a number of local governments around the country,” said Keith W. Mason, a bankruptcy attorney with McKenna Long & Aldridge. “It calls for greater early intervention.” In trading on Thursday, investors demanded higher yields to buy Detroit debt rather than top-rated municipals. Unlimited general-obligation bonds maturing April 2028 traded with an average yield of 5.73 per cent, about 2.3 percentage points more than benchmark munis, data compiled by Bloomberg show. That’s the biggest yield gap since June 24. The bonds are insured by Assured Guaranty Ltd. The city that gave the world the Model T and fuelled the American love affair with tailfins, chrome fenders and big-block V-8 engines began a long decline in the middle of the last century as US carmakers began moving production out of town, and many residents followed. The stomping grounds of Harley Earl, who helped make the Chevrolet Corvette, and Marvin Gaye, a mainstay of Motown music, emptied as the suburbs swelled. Now the city is plagued by barren lots and empty buildings. Its population, which peaked at 1.85 million in 1950, has declined to about 700,000, according to US Census data. Manufacturing jobs fell from about 296,000 in 1950 to fewer than 27,000 in 2011. About 60,000 properties in the city, or 15 per cent of all parcels, were barren and at least 78,000 buildings were vacant, including 38,000 deemed potentially dangerous, Orr said in a report this year. Median household income was less than $28,000, compared with $49,000 statewide, and more than 36 per cent of residents lived in poverty, 2011 Census data show. Continue reading
Enchanted with Pakistani snacks
Enchanted with Pakistani snacks Lily B. Libo-on / 20 July 2013 A thousand Muslim residents and expatriates from Ras Al Khaimah to Dubai queue up before stalls of traditional Pakistani snacks two hours before Iftar at Pak Ghazi Restaurant & Sweets along Bank Square in Rolla. Daily, 2,500 pieces of samosa , 50 kilograms of pakoras and a thousand packs of chazaris, phenis, chapli kebab and many other Iftar snacks are sold in less than an hour. Even Omani and Saudi nationals on holiday in the UAE come to this place to take a bite and buy parcels for their families. From Emiratis to Muslim expatriates in Sharjah, Ajman, Dubai and Ras Al Khaimah, as well as travellers to Ras Al Khaimah and Abu Dhabi have their Iftar fill at this one-stop shop of Pakistani traditional snacks. Between 35 and 40 Pakistani workers serve these growing number of customers, fully satisfied with the special recipes mainly from Ghazi Mohammed Azmal, now 65, who has gone home to Pakistan and left the business to his six sons. The main restaurant started with the popular biryaini , fry chops and korma together with salted roasted meat as its main cuisine, which became popular among Emiratis, Pakistanis, Indians, Bangladeshis and Arab residents, expatriates and visitors to Sharjah 40 years back. Mohammed Azam Ghazi, one of Azmal’s sons managing the main restaurant for seven years, says that their clients increased by 15 to 20 per cent every year, prompting his other brothers to open a branch in another part of Rolla and another branch near National Paints. “As we expanded ten years after the main restaurant started, we just maintained the quality of service and offered more like mutton chapli kabab , katchoris , meat samosa , vegetable samosa , chicken chapli kebab , shami kebab, pakoras, which are popular traditional Pakistan and Indian snacks, particularly during Iftar,” Ghazi says. This 40-year-old main restaurant and the two 30-year-old branches in Sharjah are faring well, particularly during Ramadan when queues become long two hours before Iftar. An Emirati customer, Abdullah, says that he really likes the specially cooked samosas . “I come here daily to buy for my family’s Iftar snacks. I won’t get tired coming daily for a satisfying food.” Farooq Azam, 53, an old customer and on gold business in the UAE for 33 years, says that he spends Dh100 daily to buy meat samosa , chop fry mutton, halim , and traditional sweet jilabi . “I drive all the way from my home in Ajman to Sharjah just to buy these Pakistani snacks for my family’s Iftar daily. I have been a loyal customer since this restaurant began,” he adds. Indian Sayed, who always comes to buy samosa and phenis , says that his family is taking phenis during Suhoor time before the morning prayer. “This pheni is a very popular food because when we eat it in the morning and fast, you cannot feel any hunger throughout the day.” To keep his customers for years, master chef Tariq has been faithfully keeping the main recipes of the old owner, Ghazi Mohammed Azmal, who envisioned and introduced them to Sharjah in 1970. He blends all things, from vegetables to potatoes and meat, and with the secret recipes make thousands of these traditional food to the delight of all. — lily@khaleejtimes.com Continue reading
Wave of strikes worries business leaders
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