News

Bloomberg First-quarter profit at Saudi Basic Industries Corp., the Middle East’s biggest petrochemicals producer, rose on higher prices and sales volumes, in spite of a 1.1 billion Saudi riyal ($290 million) charge for restructuring. Net income increased 5.4 percent to 5.51 billion riyals compared with the same quarter a year earlier, the Riyadh-based company said in a statement to the ...

Bloomberg Inside the largest refiner merger of all time is a hidden pipeline grab. Andeavor purchased a 25 percent stake last week in Phillips 66 Partners LP’s Gray Oak pipeline, which will haul Permian shale oil to the US Gulf Coast starting in the end of next year. The integrated refining company also owns oil gathering assets in the world’s ...

NEW YORK / WAM Zaki Nusseibeh, Minister of State, has urged UN agencies and member states to take collective action to identify countries that support and finance terrorism, and hold them accountable, reaffirming the UAE commitment to peacebuilding in the Middle East and beyond. The minister made the remarks on the sidelines of his participation in the two-day United Nations’ ...

Bloomberg The European Union warned about the costs of a trans-Atlantic trade war while bracing for one to erupt after the US signalled it will reject the bloc’s dem-and for an unconditional waiver from metals-import tariffs. “A trade war is a losing game for everybody,” Belgian Finance Minister Johan Van Overtveldt told reporters in Sofia. “We should stay cool when ...

Hassan Soukar Over the past few years there has been a remarkable surge in demand for second citizenships among high-net-worth expatriates living in the UAE. But the spike in interest for acquiring second passports has been all-time high in the first three months of 2018. The whole industry is coming of age. The second passports are not only seen just ...

Bloomberg Amazon.com Inc. has partnered with General Motors Co. and Volvo Cars to deliver packages to car trunks in 37 US cities, as the e-commerce giant seeks new delivery methods for customers who may be wary of leaving packages outside or allowing couriers into their homes. The app-based service, which lets car owners provide delivery agents with keyless access to ...

Bloomberg Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. is getting its digital assistant into Mercedes-Benzes, Audis and Volvos in China, enlisting a clutch of global automakers in an effort to popularise the year-old technology for everything from shopping to home security. Daimler AG, Volkswagen AG and Zhejiang Geely Holding Group Co.’s Volvo join some 100 brands Alibaba says it’s partnered with. The Chinese ...

Bloomberg International Business Machines Corp., a group of four gold and diamond industry companies and an independent laboratory are developing a blockchain network for tracing the provenance of finished pieces of jewelry from mine to store. The TrustChain Initiative, which will run on IBM’s technology, includes precious-metals refiner Asahi Refining, US jewellery retailer Helzberg Diamonds, precious-metals supplier LeachGarner, jewellery-maker the ...

MEXICO CITY / WAM The UAE Ambassador to Mexico Ahmed Hatem Al Menhali met with Mexico’s Secretary of Tourism Enrique de la Madrid Cordero in the country’s Ministry for Tourism located in Mexico City, to discuss a number of issues of common interest. The two sides reviewed ways to enhance relations, namely boosting bilateral tourism between the UAE and Mexico ...

Dubai / Emirates Business Muslim travellers will spend $157 billion by 2020, driven by millennial travellers and the top outbound market remains Saudi Arabia, which will grow 17 percent over the next three years alone, to reach $27.9 billion. The figures were released during Arabian Travel Market’s Global Halal Tourism Summit 2018, which was held at the Dubai World Trade ...