News

  TNS Bracing up to ensure a peaceful and smooth Haj this year, the Ministry of Health has designed several methods such as e-applications and awareness booklets to benefit pilgrims during Haj. This is besides the regular arrangements like wearing bracelets etc. for their location and safe return. Haj preparatory committees held their 22nd meeting in the ministry’s bureau in ...

  REUTERS Gulf Bank, Kuwait’s fourth-largest lender by assets, reported a 34.4 percent rise in second-quarter net profit on Sunday, as income from fees and investments edged higher. Net profit for the three months to June 30 was 11.93 million dinars, compared to 8.88 million dinars in the year-earlier period, a bourse filing said.Arqaam Capital had forecast Gulf Bank would ...

  Bloomberg Iran is in talks with Mitsui & Co. Ltd. and Total SA as part of its push to attract $60 billion in foreign investment to more than double the country’s capacity to produce petrochemicals over the next decade. State-run National Petrochemical Co. plans to increase output capacity to 150 million metric tons a year by 2026, Managing Director ...

  London / Reuters Iraq’s oil exports are set to rise in July, according to loading data and an industry source, putting supply growth from OPEC’s second-largest producer back on track after two months of declines. Iraq in 2015 provided OPEC’s biggest rise in supply. The growth has slowed this year due to maintenance and technical problems, and Iraqi officials ...

  Bloomberg The Group of 20 economies reiterated a pledge to use all policy tools to help boost confidence and growth, while stepping up an emphasis on fiscal and structural measures rather than pumping additional monetary stimulus. “The global economic recovery continues but remains weaker than desirable,” finance ministers and central bank governors from the world’s top developed and emerging ...

  Bloomberg Vedanta Ltd sweetened the deal for Cairn India Ltd shareholders by increasing the number of preference shares four times to salvage a deal which would help create a natural-resources group to compete with BHP Billiton Ltd. and Vale SA. Vedanta will offer minority shareholders of Cairn India one equity share and four redeemable-preference shares with a face value ...

  Bloomberg Flooding in China’s northern Hebei province has killed 105 people and led to direct losses of 15.4 billion yuan (US$2.3 billion) to the economy, the local government said on Saturday. About 307,300 people were evacuated and 104 are missing, according to a statement from Hebei’s government. Water supply in the provincial capital Shijiazhuang has been disrupted due to ...

  Bloomberg The yen fell, headed for a second weekly decline, amid speculation that further monetary stimulus to boost Japan’s struggling economy is now inevitable — whether or not it comes at next week central-bank meeting. The Bank of Japan’s next monetary policy statement is due July 29, though Mizuho Bank Ltd says officials may well refrain from cutting their ...

  AFP China said on Sunday it has started imposing anti-dumping tariffs on certain steel imports from the European Union, Japan and South Korea, as Beijing itself comes under fire for similar trade practices. Duties on the materials, used in power transformers and electric motors, will range from around 37 to as high as 46.3 percent, the commerce ministry said ...

  SHARJAH / WAM Sharjah Investment and Development Authority (Shurooq) participated in the second edition of the GCC-British Economic Forum, which took place on July 21. Organised by the Arab British Chamber of Commerce and hosted in London, the forum saw the attendance of senior Emirati and British officials, executives, decision-makers, investors and businesspersons. Held under the banner: ‘Vision, Challenges ...