DUBAI: Colm McLoughlin, an Irishman who landed in the deserts of the United Arab Emirates and helped lead Dubai Duty Free into becoming an airport retail behemoth generating billions of dollars, has died. He was 81.
McLoughlin ran Dubai Duty Free from 1983 until he retired earlier this year, a span of over 40 years that saw Dubai grow from a creekside trading port into a modern metropolis, home to the world’s tallest building and other attractions.
And all the millions of passengers coming into Dubai International Airport, now the world’s busiest for international travel, saw the rows of electronics, cigarettes, cigars, alcohol and other goods available duty-free at his stores, hawked by a salesforce in green suit jackets, yellow ties and conversing in multiple languages.
“It’s a very Middle Eastern kind of thing,” McLoughlin told the Los Angeles Times in 1987 as he showed off its gold market. “We have to cater to a lot of tastes.”
Dubai Duty Free said in a statement that McLoughlin died Wednesday after a short illness, without elaborating. The operation’s new managing director, Ramesh Cidambi, praised McLoughlin for steering its “growth to a $2 billion dollar business with over 6,000 employees at the time of his retirement.”
Sheikh Ahmed bin Saeed Al Maktoum, the CEO of long-haul carrier Emirates and chairman of Dubai Duty Free, offered his condolences.
“His passion, commitment and pioneering spirit have left a lasting legacy,” Sheikh Ahmed said in a post on the social platform X.
Born in Ballinasloe, Ireland, in 1943, McLoughlin joined Shannon Airport’s first-in-the-world duty-free operation in 1969. In July 1983, he came with a 10-man team to Dubai to set up the sandy airport’s duty-free operation. His six-month contract ended up stretching into 40 years.
Like the rest of the aviation industry, Dubai Duty Free took a hit during the years of the coronavirus pandemic and airline groundings. But sales have since bounced back. In 2023 alone, under McLoughlin, Dubai Duty Free sold 6 million cans of beer, 2.3 million bottles of whiskey, 2.3 million cartons of cigarettes, 10.2 million cigars and 3.3 million bottles of perfume.
One big segment has been Chinese travelers, after Dubai Duty Free worked to accept their credit cards, had staff speaking Mandarin and put in goods they wanted.
“We would be silly if we didn’t take advantage of it and try to serve them,” McLoughlin told The Associated Press in 2012.
And many a bleary-eyed traveler in Dubai’s cavernous airport tried their luck at the constant raffles being offered, whether for $1 million, a luxury automobile or a racing motorcycle.
McLoughlin also was known for Dubai Duty Free’s sponsorship of tennis and golf tournaments, as well as his work supporting Dubai’s Irish community. He received the Irish Presidential Distinguished Service Award in 2014.
“Colm McLoughlin has been an integral part of the Irish community in the UAE,” his award citation read. “Both in his highly successful professional career with Dubai Duty Free and in his leadership roles across almost every Irish organization, Colm McLouglin has played a hugely positive role in the promotion of Irish interests in the UAE.”
McLoughlin is survived by his wife Breeda, son Niall, daughters Tyna and Mandy, and their families.
Colm McLoughlin, Irishman who led Dubai Duty Free to become an airport retail giant, dies at age 81
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Colm McLoughlin, Irishman who led Dubai Duty Free to become an airport retail giant, dies at age 81
- Colm McLoughlin ran Dubai Duty Free from 1983 until he retired earlier this year
- He helped lead Dubai Duty Free into becoming an airport retail behemoth generating billions of dollars
Russia, Syria to hold further talks on Russian military bases in Syria, TASS reports
“This issue requires additional negotiations,” TASS news agency cited Bogdanov as saying. Bogdanov is heading Russia’s delegation to Damascus for the first time since Moscow’s ally President Bashar Assad was toppled.
He added that so far there have been no changes to the presence of Russian military bases in the country.
New backlash over Trump plan to move people out of Gaza
- “We emphasize that Jordan’s national security dictates that the Palestinians must remain on their land and that the Palestinian people must not be subjected to any kind of forced displacement whatsoever,” Jordanian’s spokesman Mohammad Momani said
- Israel has killed at least 47,317 people in Gaza, the majority civilians according to figures from the Hamas-run territory’s health ministry that the UN considers reliable
JERUSALEM: An idea floated by US President Donald Trump to move Gazans to Egypt or Jordan faced a renewed backlash Tuesday as hundreds of thousands of Gazans displaced by the Israel-Hamas war returned to their devastated neighborhoods.
A fragile ceasefire and hostage release deal took effect earlier this month, intended to end more than 15 months of war that began with Hamas’s October 7, 2023 attack on Israel.
After the ceasefire came into force, Trump touted a plan to “clean out” the Gaza Strip, reiterating the idea on Monday as he called for Palestinians to move to “safer” locations such as Egypt or Jordan.
The US president, who has repeatedly claimed credit for sealing the truce deal after months of fruitless negotiations, also said he would meet Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Washington “very soon.”
Jordan, which has a tumultuous history with Palestinian movements, on Tuesday renewed its rejection of Trump’s proposal.
“We emphasize that Jordan’s national security dictates that the Palestinians must remain on their land and that the Palestinian people must not be subjected to any kind of forced displacement whatsoever,” Jordanian government spokesman Mohammad Momani said.
Qatar, which played a leading role in the truce mediation, on Tuesday said that it often did not see “eye to eye” with its allies, including the United States.
“Our position has always been clear to the necessity of the Palestinian people receiving their rights, and that the two-state solution is the only path forward,” Qatar’s foreign ministry spokesman Majed Al-Ansari said.
Following reports that Trump had spoken with Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi at the weekend, Cairo said there had been no such phone call.
“A senior official source denied what some media outlets reported about a phone call between the Egyptian and American presidents,” Egypt’s state information service said.
On Monday, Trump reportedly said the pair had spoken, saying of El-Sisi: “I wish he would take some (Palestinians).”
After Trump first floated the idea, Egypt rejected the forced displacement of Gazans, expressing its “continued support for the steadfastness of the Palestinian people on their land.”
France, another US ally, on Tuesday said any forced displacement of Gazans would be “unacceptable.”
It would also be a “destabilization factor (for) our close allies Egypt and Jordan,” a French foreign ministry spokesman said.
Moving Gaza’s 2.4 million people could be done “temporarily or could be long term,” Trump said on Saturday.
Israel’s far-right Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich said he was working with the prime minister “to prepare an operational plan to ensure that President Trump’s vision is realized.”
Smotrich, who opposed the ceasefire deal, did not provide any details on the purported plan.
For Palestinians, any attempts to force them from Gaza would evoke dark memories of what the Arab world calls the “Nakba,” or catastrophe — the mass displacement of Palestinians during Israel’s creation in 1948.
“We say to Trump and the whole world: we will not leave Palestine or Gaza, no matter what happens,” said displaced Gazan Rashad Al-Naji.
Almost all of the Gaza Strip’s inhabitants were displaced at least once by the war that has levelled much of the Palestinian territory.
The ceasefire hinges on the release during a first phase of 33 Israeli hostages held in Gaza in exchange for around 1,900 Palestinians held in Israeli jails.
On Monday, Israeli government spokesman David Mencer said eight of the hostages due for release in the first phase are dead.
Since the truce began on January 19, seven Israeli women have been freed, as have about 290 Palestinians held in Israeli prisons.
On Monday, after Hamas and Israel agreed over the release of six hostages this week, “more than 300,000 displaced” Gazans were able to return to the north, according to the Hamas government media office.
“I’m happy to be back at my home,” said Saif Al-Din Qazaat, who returned to northern Gaza but had to sleep in a tent next to the ruins of his destroyed house.
“I kept a fire burning all night near the kids to keep them warm... (they) slept peacefully despite the cold, but we don’t have enough blankets,” the 41-year-old told AFP.
Hamas’s October 7 attack on Israel resulted in the deaths of 1,210 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on official Israeli figures.
During the attack, militants took into Gaza 251 hostages. Eighty-seven remain in the territory, including dozens Israel says are dead.
Israel’s retaliatory offensive has killed at least 47,317 people in Gaza, the majority civilians, according to figures from the Hamas-run territory’s health ministry that the UN considers reliable.
“In terms of the death toll, yes, we do have confidence. But let’s not forget, the official death toll given by the Ministry of Health, is deaths accounted in morgues and in hospitals, so in official facilities,” World Health Organization spokesman Christian Lindmeier said Tuesday.
“As people go back to their houses, as they will start looking for their loved ones under the rubble, this casualty figure is expected to increase,” he added.
More than 376,000 return to north Gaza since Monday: UN
- OCHA: Over 376,000 people are estimated to have returned to their places of origin in northern Gaza
- “This is our homeland and we have to go back,” said one displaced woman, Ola Saleh
UNITED NATIONS: More than 376,000 Palestinians displaced by the war between Israel and Hamas have returned to northern Gaza, the UN’s humanitarian body OCHA said Tuesday.
“Over 376,000 people are estimated to have returned to their places of origin in northern Gaza, following the withdrawal of Israeli forces from the two main roads along the Netzarim corridor” that leads into the north, OCHA said in a humanitarian update.
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Many Palestinians said they were happy to return, even though their homes in northern Gaza are likely damaged or destroyed. Others said the feeling was bittersweet, as nearly everyone has friends or relatives killed by Israel during the 15-month war against Hamas.
“This is our homeland and we have to go back,” said one displaced woman, Ola Saleh.
The ceasefire is aimed at ending the war and releasing dozens of hostages and hundreds of Palestinians imprisoned or detained by Israel.
Paramilitary attacks displace thousands in North Darfur
PORT SUDAN: Thousands of families fled their homes in Sudan’s North Darfur state over two days, the UN’s migration agency said on Tuesday, amid intensified attacks by paramilitary forces.
“Between 25 and 27 January 2025, an estimated 3,960 households were displaced from various villages across El-Fasher locality,” the International Organization for Migration said.
The paramilitary Rapid Support Forces — at war with the army since April 2023 — have captured every state capital in the vast western region of Darfur except for North Darfur capital El-Fasher, which they have besieged since May.
In its latest attempt to capture the city, the RSF last week issued an ultimatum demanding that army forces and their allies leave the city.
The IOM said the displacement occurred due to RSF attacks, which included reported incidents of “looting and burning of personal property.”
Army and allied forces have repeatedly repelled attacks by the paramilitary forces, who local activists said launched intense artillery shelling on residential neighborhoods in the city.
On Friday, a drone attack on the city’s only functioning hospital, which local monitors blamed on the RSF, killed 70 people, drawing condemnation from the UN.
Nearly 1.7 million people are displaced in North Darfur state alone, according to the UN, with an estimated two million experiencing extreme food insecurity and 320,000 in famine.
In the area around El-Fasher, famine has already taken hold in three displacement camps — Zamzam, Abu Shouk and Al-Salam — and is expected to expand to five more areas including the city itself by May, according to a UN-backed assessment.
Protests in Libya disrupt oil loadings at 2 ports
BENGHAZI: Local protesters blocked crude oil loadings at the Es Sider and Ras Lanuf ports in Libya on Tuesday, five engineers said, putting about 450,000 barrels per day of exports at risk.
Laer, Libya’s National Oil Corporation said operations at all oil terminals were continuing normally after communication with protesters.
In a statement to the NOC dated Jan. 5, the protesters demanded the relocation of several oil company headquarters to the Oil Crescent region, calling for fair development of their coastal area to improve living conditions.
Ports in Libya’s hydrocarbon-rich Oil Crescent include Es Sider, Brega, Zueitina and Ras Lanuf, accounting for about half of the total exports from the country, while several oil companies are based in the capital Tripoli.
“All we want is equality,” one of the protesters Houssam El Khodor said. “The oil is produced in our regions and all we get from it is the toxic fumes.”
The disruption came as the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries, of which Libya is a member, is due to discuss its policy of gradually increasing oil output after US President Donald Trump’s calls for OPEC to lower oil prices.
NOC said on its official X account that its crude production had reached more than 1.4 million bpd, about 200,000 bpd short of its pre-civil war high. It was not immediately clear if the blockade had affected production so far.
A loading program showed that Es Sider was on track to export about 340,000 bpd of crude in January, with another 110,000 bpd slated to ship from Ras Lanuf.
