Dubai / Emirates Business Global food and beverage companies based in the GCC — General Mills, Kellogg Company, Mars, Mondelēz International, Nestlé Middle East, PepsiCo, The Coca-Cola Company and Unilever — have launched an enhanced version of their existing GCC Pledge on Responsible Food and Beverage Marketing to Children. Initially signed in 2010, the GCC Pledge is a voluntary commitment ...

Bahrain / Emirates Business CFA Society Bahrain and CFA Institute, the global association of investment professionals, are to host the seventh annual Middle East Investment Conference 2016 (MEIC) on April 13 for the second time in Bahrain. The event is open to all CFA charterholders and investment professionals from across the Middle East region and will be held at the ...

Brussels / Bloomberg With some 50,000 movies made every year across the world, how can Arab filmmakers find their footing in the international market? This was one of the key topics discussed at the second edition of Qumra, the annual industry event by the Doha Film Institute designed to nurture talents of emerging filmmakers. Through a series of one-on-one meetings, ...

Washington / AFP Voters in four US states headed to the polls on Tuesday to confirm or rein in Donald Trump’s status as clear Republican frontrunner in primary contests that Democrat Hillary Clinton hopes will further solidify her lead over Bernie Sanders. As the race for the White House heats up, the spotlight shifts to Michigan and Mississippi, where both ...

JERUSALEM / AP Israel on Tuesday refuted a White House claim that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu “surprised” the Obama administration by cancelling a planned visit to Washington, saying that the White House knew Netanyahu was considering not coming. Netanyahu had been expected to visit later in March on a trip coinciding with a major pro-Israel group’s annual summit, but his ...

CANBERRA/ AP The US Air Force will continue to fly daily missions over the South China Sea despite a buildup of Chinese surface-to-air missiles and fighter jets in the contested region, with both nations’ militaries in discussions to avoid any miscalculations, a top US general said on Tuesday. Gen. Lori Robinson, the commander of the Pacific Air Forces, also urged ...

Tehran / AFP Iran conducted multiple ballistic missile tests on Tuesday in an exercise to demonstrate “deterrent power,” a move that comes in defiance of US sanctions imposed over its missile programme in January. The announcement by the official IRNA said the tests showed the country’s “all-out readiness to confront threats” against its territorial integrity. State television a short time ...

Kuala Lumpur / AFP Investigators probing what happened to flight MH370 said Tuesday the cause of the plane’s disappearance remained a mystery as the second anniversary passed with devastated next-of-kin still grasping for answers. The Malaysia-led international team of aviation experts set up to investigate issued an annual progress report but the brief statement had no new insights on what ...

BLOOMBERG Global stocks dropped as a slump in Chinese exports dragged metals lower and brought equities’ five-day winning streak to a halt. Japanese government bonds surged in a haven-asset rally that also lifted the yen, gold and Treasuries. The Stoxx Europe 600 Index extended its decline from a five-week high as investors sold equities that had led the recent rebound, ...

ABU DHABI / EMIRATES BUSINESS The Emirates Securities Market Index has increased by 0.24% to close at 4574.07 points. Accordingly the Market Capitalization has gained AED 1.75 billion attaining AED 741.97billion. A total of 0.94 Billion Shares were traded with a total value of AED 1.15 billion during the trading session of 08-03-2016 through 11363 transactions. The number of companies which has ...