News

Bloomberg Nintendo Co. beat its own forecast for sales of the Switch console in the last fiscal year, reflecting surging demand for games and other entertainment as people spend more time at home amid the Covid-19 pandemic. Nintendo sold 21 million units of the Switch in the year ended in March, ahead of its estimate of 19.5 million. The Kyoto-based ...

Bloomberg AT&T Inc.’s obsession with paying down debt has led to some financial creativity. Right before the end of 2019, AT&T took a collection of cell-tower rent payments that it will receive in the future, rolled them into a subsidiary, then sold shares of the unit to investors for $6 billion. The new entity is called AT&T Investment & Tower ...

ABU DHABI / WAM The UAE’s Federal National Council (FNC) is setting the standard in the parliamentary sector, embracing advanced videoconferencing technology to hold all of its sessions uninterrupted during the current crisis, said Dr Abdul Rahman bin Mohammad bin Nasser Al Owais, Minister of State for Federal National Council Affairs. Al Owais said – as the council held the ...

DUBAI / WAM Dubai’s economy remains resilient to global economic headwinds caused by the negative impact of the Covid-19 outbreak. The city’s external trade in the first quarter of 2020 reached AED323 billion. Exports grew 2 percent to AED43 billion compared to the corresponding quarter last year. Imports accounted for AED189 billion while re-exports touched AED92 billion. The volume of ...

ABU DHABI / WAM The UAE on Wednesday sent an aid plane containing medical supplies to Ethiopia to bolster the country’s efforts to curb the spread of Covid-19 and assist medical professionals as they work to combat the virus. Commenting on aid delivery, Mohamed Salem Ahmed Al Rashedi, UAE Ambassador to Ethiopia, stated: “It is our honor to deliver another ...

Bloomberg Oil’s rally resumed — after prices doubled over five days — amid optimism that output cuts are easing a huge supply glut and demand losses have bottomed. Futures in New York rose above $25 a barrel after earlier breaking above their 50-day moving average for the first time since January. Russian oil production was down 16% in the first ...

Bloomberg China’s leaders are considering the option of not setting a numerical target for economic growth this year given the uncertainty caused by the global coronavirus pandemic. What may instead be unveiled at upcoming National People’s Congress later this month is a description of goal for gross domestic product growth, one of the people said. Last year target was a ...

DUBAI / WAM Emirates SkyCargo, the freight division of Emirates Airline, ramped up its operations to offer 10 weekly cargo flights to facilitate the flow of goods into Bahrain, replenishing supplies and maintaining vital trade links during this critical time. Starting this month, the carrier noted in a statement, that its operations will see 10 weekly cargo flights on its ...

SHARJAH / WAM The Environment and Protected Areas Authority (EPAA) in Sharjah has issued several fines against individuals visiting desert and mountain areas within the emirate. According to the EPAA, as many as 1,225 violations were registered during the first quarter of 2020, as a result of individuals littering and throwing waste in wilderness areas. The authority also listed the ...

FUJAIRAH / WAM The volume of oil products held in storage at Fujairah jumped to the highest level on record earlier this week as tumbling regional demand from the coronavirus pandemic drives more supplies into the eastern UAE port. Stocks rose 6.3 percent last week to 26.192 million barrels, with the greatest build seen in middle distillates, including jet fuel, ...