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RIYADH / Reuters Saudi Arabia removed its ban on internet phone calls, a government spokesman said, in a bid to stimulate online business as the kingdom looks to boost non-oil revenue. All online voice and video call services such as Microsoft’s Skype and Facebook’s WhatsApp that satisfy regulatory requirements will become accessible at midnight (2100 GMT), Adel Abu Hameed, spokesman ...

Dubai / Emirates Business Qarar, the region’s leading decision analytics company, appointed Nico van der Westhuizen as its new Chief Operating Officer (COO). Based in Dubai, he will be responsible for driving strategic development, delivery excellence and partnerships for Qarar. With increasing demand for software and advisory services in the advanced analytics space, Qarar has increased its commitment and focus ...

Bloomberg SoftBank Group Corp., the majority owner of Sprint Corp., is willing to accept a stock-for-stock merger with T-Mobile US that values Sprint at or near its current market price, according to people familiar with the matter. While the two sides haven’t agreed on an exact value, SoftBank doesn’t expect to receive much of a premium to Sprint’s current share ...

Bloomberg Amazon.com Inc. is set to buy a 5 percent stake in Indian retailer Shoppers Stop Ltd., as the US company steps up efforts to gain ground in the fast-growing consumer market. Shoppers Stop’s board approved the issuance of 4.4 million shares to a unit of Amazon for 407.78 rupees ($6.28) each, the Mumbai-based company said in an emailed statement. ...

Bloomberg CapitaLand Commercial Trust, Singapore’s biggest office landlord, agreed to buy BlackRock Inc.’s Asia Square Tower 2 for $1.5 billion in the city’s second-largest ever sale of an office building. The transaction will be partially funded by a rights issue of about S$700 million and bank borrowings of about S$1.12 billion, CapitaLand Commercial Trust said in a statement. The company ...

Bloomberg Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said India needs to find a balance between fiscal prudence and spending, and there’s no need to panic, as he tries to dig the economy out of its deepest slump in three years. Speaking at the Bloomberg Economic Forum in Mumbai, Jaitley called for more private investment from local companies and said the banking system ...

Bloomberg ­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­ UK Prime Minister Theresa May continued a charm offensive to ease European worries about Brexit by writing an opinion column in France to say Britain will be reasonable about the conditions of its departure and wants to remain the nation’s closest ally after it exits. “My message to the citizens of France is clear: In the years to ...

Bloomberg Uber Technologies Inc. collected more than 500,000 signatures in less than 24 hours on a petition to protest London’s decision to not renew the company’s taxi license, a setback in one of its most lucrative markets. The campaign on the website Change.org asks London Mayor Sadiq Khan to reverse Transport for London’s decision, and is being promoted on the ...

Bloomberg Walt Disney Co. is warning New York-area customers of Altice USA cable systems that they will lose ESPN, ABC and the Disney Channel if the companies fail to reach a new programming agreement. The world’s largest entertainment company plans to air warnings and run messages across viewers’ screens in the affected markets. Altice, which took over pay-TV systems owned ...

Bloomberg More home buyers are resorting to mortgages to purchase London’s most expensive houses and apartments as rising prices drag them into higher tax brackets. Seventy-four percent of homes costing 1 million pounds ($1.4 million) or more in the UK capital were bought with a mortgage in the three months through July, up from 65 percent a year earlier, according ...