News

  Bloomberg The yuan took on the mantle of a global reserve currency Saturday, a milestone that is seen breathing life into China’s bond markets by prompting estimated inflows of as much as $1 trillion over the next five years. The currency’s entry into the International Monetary Fund’s Special Drawing Rights — alongside the dollar, euro, pound and the yen ...

  Bloomberg China’s official factory gauge steadied at the highest level in almost two years while services picked up, suggesting that the economy’s stabilization continued last month and reducing prospects for additional policy easing. The data add to evidence of improvement as government fiscal support and a soaring property market help underpin growth. Fresh signs of stability may lead policy ...

  Hanoi / AFP Thousands of Vietnamese protesters surrounded a Taiwanese steel plant on Sunday, some scaling walls and holding signs demanding its closure, as anger flares against the firm for dumping toxic waste into the ocean killing tonnes of fish. Huge crowds on motorbike and foot gathered at the Formosa plant in central Ha Tinh province, with some holding ...

  Reuters Saudi Arabia’s Kingdom Holding , the investment firm owned by billionaire Prince Alwaleed bin Talal, said on Sunday it had sold the Four Seasons Hotel Toronto for a gross price of 225 million Canadian dollars ($171.8 million). The property was sold to family investment vehicles related to Shahid Khan, Pakistani-American founder of automobile parts maker Flex-N-Gate Group and ...

  Reuters Saudi Arabian Mining Co (Ma’aden) said on Sunday that a subsidiary had started commercial production at a new bauxite mine and alumina refinery which could begin exporting some of its output in coming months. Production will reach maximum annual capacity of 1.8 million tonnes of alumina by early 2017, meeting Ma’aden’s domestic requirement of 1.4 million tonnes for ...

  Reuters Saudi Arabia’s securities regulator has suspended trade in the shares of the kingdom’s listed telecommunications operators after the government decided to extend their licences, the Capital Market Authority (CMA) said. The CMA said it was acting after the government decided to extend the licence of Zain Saudi Arabia for 15 years, and also allow other telecommunications firms to ...

  Dubai / Emirates Business The Middle East market for security, safety, and fire protection is on track for double digit growth over the next four years, as regional governments and the private sector look for improved technologies to better protect assets, people, businesses, and borders. Led by the Gulf nations of Saudi Arabia and the UAE, regional countries are ...

  Sharjah / Emirates Business Officials from the UAE Board on Books for Young People (UAEBBY), the national branch of the International Board on Books for Young People (IBBY), recently visited the UAE Red Crescent Authority moderated Emirati-Jordanian refugee camp at the Mrajeeb Al Fhood in Jordan. Representatives from Knowledge without Borders (KwB) accompanied the officials, with the delegation’s visit ...

  Dubai / Emirates Business With over a third of the world’s population projected to own a smartphone by next year — an estimated 2.6 billion smartphone users in the world — it is likely that almost all Middle East-based consumers own — or will own — at least one smartphone. So it’s great news that GITEX Shopper 2016, the ...

  Dubai / Emirates Business Azizi Developments, a leading UAE-based real estate developer with global reach into international markets, completed the official handover to owners of its Dubai-based property development — Azizi Feirouz Residence — a residential G+11 building with 99 one to three-bedroom units located in the new urban development of Al Furjan. Since then, tenants have begun to ...