Regional News

BLLOMBERG Iranian Oil Minister Bijan Namdar Zanganeh said he’s optimistic that OPEC members will agree to proposed production cuts at a meeting in Vienna later this month. Zanganeh met the group’s secretary-general, Mohammed Barkindo, in Tehran on Saturday to discuss an accord that seeks to reduce output by as much as 1.3 million barrels a day. He described as “promising” …

  MADRID / Reuters A Spanish consortium which is building a high-speed rail link between Mecca and Medina has reached a preliminary deal with Saudi Arabia to finalise the works after a series of delays and setbacks, Spain’s public works ministry said. The Al Shoula consortium comprising 12 Spanish companies including OHL and Indra as well as two Saudi firms …

  Reuters Iran aims to ramp up wheat exports to clear a hefty surplus supported by a government self-sufficiency drive, but may continue to import some wheat to meet the quality requirements of local millers, an industry group said. The government has prioritised wheat — a heavily consumed staple in Iran — in domestic grain production in the face of …

  AFP Fatima was already struggling to find cancer drugs for her father when a devaluation of the Egyptian pound this month caused the imported medicine to disappear altogether. “Before, I could still find it if I searched in several pharmacies. Today I can’t,” said the 34-year old teacher, who asked not to be named in full. A dollar crunch …

  Bloomberg Siemens AG Chief Executive Officer Joe Kaeser said he expects revenue from Saudi Arabia to reach $5 billion by 2020 as Europe’s biggest engineering company focuses on energy projects and emerging markets. The first orders from Saudi Arabia are expected in the 2017 fiscal year, bolstered by spending on alternative energy sources like wind farms, Kaeser said in …

Bloomberg In Ocean’s Eleven, George Clooney’s gang inserts a recording into a casino security camera system so the guard sees only a video loop from the day before, camouflaging a heist from the safe. In a 2015 cyber attack on a Ukraine power plant, hackers did much the same, playing around for months with the electricity company’s network, disconnecting emergency …

  Bloomberg Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund is considering selling stakes in local companies to raise funds for international expansion, according to five people with knowledge of the matter. The Public Investment Fund — with about $100 billion worth of shares in listed local companies including Saudi Basic Industries Corp. and Saudi Telecom Co. — is reviewing the stakes as …

  Bloomberg Saudi Oger Ltd. reached a preliminary agreement to sell its 20 percent stake in Jordan’s Arab Bank Plc to Fawaz Al Hokair Group for about $1.1 billion, according to people familiar with the matter. The two family-owned companies plan to make a formal announcement after receiving regulatory approval, the people said, asking not to be identified as the …

  Bloomberg Egypt made an official trade agency responsible for inspecting imported wheat, a step that could end disruptions in the purchases of world’s biggest wheat buyer by replacing quarantine officials who rejected several shipments this year for containing the ergot fungus. The General Organization for Export and Import Control, or GOEIC, will be the sole state body authorized to …

  AFP Tehran officials shut schools on Monday as the first of the wint- er’s heavy pollution hit the Iran- ian capital. A blanket of choking brown-white smog descended on the city on Sunday, blocking out the view of the mountains that line its northern edge and leading many of its 14 million residents to retreat indoors or don face …