News

Bloomberg Vivendi SA’s Canal+ agreed to buy pay-TV operator M7 Group for just over 1 billion euros ($1.2 billion) to expand in Europe, where it’s vying for subscribers with Netflix Inc. The purchase of M7 from private equity firm Astorg Partners SAS pushes Canal+ into seven European countries, bringing its total subscribers to almost 20 million, Paris-based Vivendi said in ...

Bloomberg The growing trade war is adding to domestic troubles for the largest Nordic economy. Gross domestic product data is expected to show Sweden’s economy grew a meager 0.2 percent in the first three months of the year, according to a survey. The annual expansion likely slowed to 1.7 percent. The export-dependent nation is feeling the weakness that’s already hit ...

Bloomberg Euro-area economic confidence unexpectedly improved in May, snapping an almost yearlong streak of declines when the region was battling through a host of struggles. The improvement was dri-ven by industry and the str-ongest increase in production expectations in more than six years. That was despite continued negativity about export orders and the business climate. A separate report added to ...

Bloomberg After seeing housing costs jump by more than 50 percent in the past five years, officials in Barcelona are moving to introduce Spain’s most aggressive rent controls. Under a decree, landlords will have to negotiate leases based on benchmark prices set for each property in those neighbourhoods tagged as most desirable. That regulation follows a national law implemented in ...

Bloomberg The European Commission is considering proposing a disciplinary procedure for Italy next week over its failure to rein in debt, which could pave the way for a 3.5 billion-euro ($4 billion) penalty, according to an official familiar with the matter. The step could come as part of the European Union’s regular budget monitoring process, most likely on June 5, ...

Bloomberg The US isn’t ready to make a trade deal with China, President Donald Trump said while on a state visit to Japan. “I think they probably wish they made the deal that they had on the table before they tried to renegotiate it,” Trump said on Monday at a joint press conference in Tokyo alongside Japanese leader Shinzo Abe. ...

DUBAI / WAM Smart Dubai unveiled a new artificial intelligence (AI) use case in the healthcare sector that allows healthcare professionals to pre-emptively predict a patient’s condition by tracking six vital signs, including blood pressure, temperature, and the pulse, among others. Nurses feed this data into the high-precision AI system, which analyses it to predict how a patient’s situation will ...

Abu Dhabi / WAM The UAE is participating in the first UN-Habitat assembly in Nairobi, Kenya, in order to advance Abu Dhabi’s agenda for the 10th edition of the World Urban Forum (WUF10), scheduled for February 2020. At the assembly, the UAE will be led by a delegation headed by Mohamed Al Khadar, Executive Director, Strategic Affairs, of the Department ...

Dubai / Emirates business Gulf Capital, one of the largest and most active alternative asset managers in the Middle East, announced on Monday that it has acquired a 70 percent stake in Medica Holding, the leading service provider of aesthetics, cosmetics and dermatology equipment and products across the Middle East. Gulf Capital is actively targeting investments in the fast-growing beauty ...

OSLO / WAM Dr Mouza Al Shehhi, Director of UN Women UAE Liaison Office for the GCC, welcomed the UAE’s donation of $10 million, to support ending of sexual and gender-based violence. The UAE announced the donation during its participation in the ‘International Conference on Ending Sexual and Gender-based Violence in Humanitarian Crises’ which was held in Oslo, Norway. Dr ...