Regional News

  Reuters A version of Shamoon, the destructive computer virus that four years ago crippled tens of thousands of computers at Middle Eastern energy companies, was used two weeks ago to attack computers in Saudi Arabia, according to U.S. security firms. CrowdStrike, Palo Alto Networks Inc and Symantec Corp. warned of the new attacks on Wednesday. They did not name ...

Reuters Saudi Arabia’s ACWA Power is expected to offer a hefty spread on its planned $1 billion bond offer, partly because of market volatility since the US elections and a narrowing issuance window, bankers and investors said. ACWA, in which Saudi sovereign entities hold a combined 16.3 percent stake, is set to be the first international bond from the kingdom ...

  Reuters Morocco’s Cherifien des Phosphates (OCP), one of the world’s biggest phosphate producers, plans to issue 5 billion dirhams ($495 million) of domestic perpetual bonds, the stock exchange regulator said. State run OCP, a major earner of foreign currency for Morocco, has been increasing output to help offset a slide in prices and aims to produce 47 million tonnes ...

  Bloomberg Tunisia’s prime minister said it’s time the government delivered on the long-ignored demands of protesters whose 2010 revolt swept an autocratic ruler from office and sparked the Arab Spring. Unemployment, pay and inequality were the main drivers of the Jasmine Revolution, and six years later unrest is again festering after previous administrations focused on cementing the nation’s transition ...

  Tunis / AFP Qatar and France promised more than a billion dollars in financial support for Tunisia at an investment conference on Tuesday aimed at reviving the country’s struggling economy. Nearly six years after its Arab Spring revolution, Tunisia hopes the meeting will help it confront challenges including high unemployment, low growth and a tourism sector hammered by jihadist ...

  DOHA / Reuters Qatar Navigation (Milaha) and Qatar Ports will start a joint venture to operate Qatar’s Hamad Port in Doha, Milaha’s Chairman Sheikh Ali bin Jassim bin Mohammad al-Thani said on Tuesday. The venture, QTerminals, will have a proposed 100 million riyals ($27.5 million) in capital, Qatar’s transport minister told reporters on the sidelines of a signing ceremony ...

  AFP Jordan said on Monday it had chosen five international consortiums to build the first phase of a multi-million-dollar canal linking the Red Sea to the shrinking Dead Sea. The ambitious $1.1 billion project has been in the works for more than a decade and aims to provide much-needed water to Jordan, Israel and the Palestinian territories. It moved ...

  Riyadh / AFP Arid Saudi Arabia could need more than $53 billion in water sector investment supported by private funds as demand grows, officials said on Sunday. The world’s largest oil exporter, whose petroleum revenues fell 51 percent last year on declining crude prices, is pushing to diversify its economy through greater private sector investment and development of new ...

  Tunis / AFP Tunisia will host 2,000 business and finance executives from 40 countries this week in hopes of drumming up investment to boost its struggling economy. Six years since the revolution that swept away dictator Zine El Abidine Ben Ali, the country’s fragile democratic progress has been threatened by economic stagnation that has stirred social unrest. As it ...

  AFP Kuwaitis went to the polls on Saturday for the first election contested by the opposition in nearly four years amid fresh disputes over cuts in subsidies due to falling oil revenues. Turnout was high at many of the 100 polling stations with some centres reporting 70 percent of eligible voters had cast their ballots with two hours to ...