News

  Seoul / AFP Tens of thousands of North Koreans, brandishing red flags and chanting slogans, paraded in Pyongyang to celebrate the start of the Stalinist regime’s latest five-year economic plan, state media reported on Thursday. The “mass mobilization” took place on Wednesday in the sprawling Kim Il Sung square in the North Korean capital. It marked the beginning of a ...

  Vienna / AFP Austrian steelmaker Voestalpine said on Thursday it had pulled off a slight increase in full-year profits despite a “negative” international economic climate that has hampered steel and oil prices. Investors cheered the results which beat analysts’ forecasts. Shares in Voestalpine, which specialises in steel used in the rail, automobile, aviation, home appliances and oil and gas ...

  Tokyo / AFP Japan has temporarily suspended live cattle imports from Australia after “some” cows were found to have a gastrointestinal disease, the agriculture ministry said on Thursday. The infected animals arrived in Japan by air and tested positive for Johne’s disease, also known as paratuberculosis, while in quarantine, a ministry official said. Tokyo imposed a temporary ban on ...

  New Delhi / Tribune News Service Indian companies’ earnings growth is recovering and they are all set to post a double-digit profit growth for the fiscal years to come, after seeing flattish to weak growth for a few years now, according to analysts. To be sure, this growth comes on a low base. Kotak Insititutional Equities, an arm of ...

  Beijing / Bloomberg China sent shares of renewable-energy companies higher by forcing grid operators to buy wind and solar power in regions where network congestion has idled plants. Grid companies will have to buy sufficient power that ensures wind farms across nine regions including Xinjiang and Gansu can operate at least 1,800 hours a year, according to a statement ...

  DUBAI / WAM Emirates NBD has announced that it will invest AED 500 million over the next three years towards digital innovation and multichannel transformation of its processes, products and services. The bank also revealed plans to launch the UAE’s first digital bank targeted at millennials. A first-of-its-kind ‘by the customer, for the customer’ initiative using digitisation and social ...

  Dubai / WAM Emirates NBD announced that it will invest AED 500 million over the next three years towards digital innovation and multichannel transformation of its processes, products and services. The bank also revealed plans to launch the UAE’s first digital bank targeted at millennials. A first-of-its-kind ‘by the customer, for the customer’ initiative using digitisation and social input as ...

  Abu Dhabi / WAM Abu Dhabi General Services Company, Musanada, has completed 83 percent of the new Abu Dhabi-Dubai highway, while work is progressing as planned in accordance with the highest standards to deliver the project by the end of this year. The execution of the new highway has followed a detailed study of the conditions and volume of daily ...

  Vienna / WAM Abu Dhabi’s state-owned oil and gas investment company, International Petroleum Investment Company (IPIC) and the Austrian state holding company, Osterreichische Bundes- und Industriebeteiligungen GmbH (OBIB) on Wednesday agreed to extend their cooperation as the two core shareholders of the Austrian oil and gas company, OMV Aktiengesellschaft (“OMV”). The announcement comes after the conclusion of successful talks in ...

  Dubai / WAM The UAE’s General Civil Aviation Authority (GCAA) and the Democratic Republic of the Congo have signed and initiated an agreement on air transport services. The agreement was signed by Omar bin Ghalib, Deputy Director General of the GCAA, while the advisor of Minister of Transport and Channels of Communication of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, signed ...