News

  Bloomberg Canada’s jobless rate unexpectedly fell in June to the lowest in a year as full-time work increased and people left the workforce. The unemployment rate fell to 6.9 percent in May from 7.1 percent in April, Statistics Canada said from Ottawa. Economists surveyed by Bloomberg predicted the rate would rise to 7.2 percent. Employers added 60,500 full-time jobs, ...

  Reuters Saudi Arabia is seeking international investors to build two solar power plants, using a deal structure that could become a model for the kingdom’s infrastructure projects as low oil prices pressure the government’s finances. State-owned utility Saudi Electricity Co (SEC) said at the weekend that it was inviting expressions of interest from companies or consortiums around the world ...

  Manama / Tribune News Service A deal has been agreed that will hopefully tackle traffic congestion that has plagued neighbours of a popular mall in Muharraq. The agreement will see costs of a new BD300,000 access road shared by government and investors at Seef Mall Muharraq. It follows a year of negotiations between mall management and the Works, Municipalities ...

  Manama / Tribune News Service Bahrain-based Gulf Petrochemical Industries Company (GPIC) remained profitable last year despite the sharp decline in global prices and other market challenges, it has emerged. The company, which is an equal stakes joint venture of Bahrain’s nogaholding, Saudi Basic Industries Corporation (Sabic) and the Petrochemical Industries Company (PIC) of Kuwait, uses locally available natural gas ...

  Beijing / Bloomberg German Chancellor Angela Merkel and Chinese Prime Minister Li Keqiang sought to limit conflict over trade during talks overshadowed by angst in Germany about a Chinese company’s 4.6 billion-euro ($5.2 billion) bid for robot maker Kuka AG. “We don’t want a trade war,” Li told reporters in Beijing on Monday after the two leaders presided over ...

  Seoul / AFP South Korean President Park Geun-Hye on Monday urged “bone-crushing” efforts to overhaul the nation’s ailing shipbuilders faced with mounting losses caused by slowing global demand and increased competition. The South’s mighty shipbuilders including Hyundai Heavy Industries and Daewoo Shipbuilding and Marine Engineering have dominated the global market for past decades. But a slump in oil prices ...

  Singapore / AFP Singapore on Monday crushed and burnt almost eight tonnes of ivory confiscated over two years to try to deter smugglers as activists called for tighter enforcement. Over 2,700 elephant tusks weighing 7.9 tonnes were fed into an industrial rock crusher before incineration. It was the fist time seized ivory had been destroyed in Singapore, the Agri-Food ...

  Islamabad / Bloomberg Pakistan is two months away from finally completing an International Monetary Fund program its government signed up to after more than 10 previous failures. Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif won the $6.6 billion loan to avert a balance-of-payments crisis soon after taking power in 2013, and has since seen the pace of economic growth increase while deficits ...

  Sydney / Bloomberg Australia’s government plans a A$1 billion ($736 million) fund to protect the Great Barrier Reef from the effects of climate change and declining water quality. Warming waters are bleaching the reef’s coral, while run-off from the land such as farm fertilizer is harming water quality, Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull said at a news conference in Queensland ...

  Bloomberg As the U.K. agonizes over its relationship with Europe, the Bank of England is readying for turmoil. With just 10 days before a referendum that could see Britain withdraw from the European Union, central bankers are putting the defenses in place to shore up market confidence and the financial system if that happens. Tuesday will see the first ...