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Sharjah / WAM The Sharjah Book Authority (SBA) announced that the entirety of the 14,625 square metre exhibitor space at the Sharjah Expo Centre has been sold out, with thousands of purchases by publishers from across the world for the 2020 edition of the Sharjah International Book Fair (SIBF) which is scheduled for November. For industry professionals worldwide, SIBF is ...

Bloomberg China’s state-owned oil refining giants are in discussions to form a purchasing group to buy crude together, increasing their bargaining power and avoiding bidding wars. Senior executives from China Petroleum & Chemical Corp, PetroChina Co, Cnooc Ltd and Sinochem Group Co are in advanced talks to iron out details of the plan, said people familiar with the initiative, who ...

Bloomberg India banned ByteDance Ltd’s viral short-video service TikTok and 58 other Chinese apps, citing threats to its sovereignty and security as relations between the world’s two largest populations worsened. The unprecedented moratorium, announced days after border tensions in the Himalayas left 20 Indian soldiers dead, deals a blow to the most prominent names in Chinese technology. The banned services ...

Bloomberg Vietnam’s economy unexpectedly grew in the second quarter, though at the slowest pace in at least a decade, as exports slumped because of the coronavirus pandemic. Gross domestic product rose 0.36% from a year earlier, compared with a revised 3.68% in the first quarter, the General Statistics Office said on Monday in Hanoi. The median estimate in a Bloomberg ...

Bloomberg A fresh swarm of desert locusts has entered Uttar Pradesh, India’s biggest sugarcane grower, via capital city Delhi and the northern state of Haryana, according to the federal farm ministry. Operations to control the grasshoppers are in full swing in the states of Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Haryana, Gujarat, Punjab and Maharashtra, the ministry said in a statement. ...

Bloomberg Alibaba Group Holding Ltd has appointed a longtime veteran to replace Pierre Poignant as Lazada Group CEO, the latest top-level reshuffle at the Chinese e-commerce titan’s Southeast Asian operation. Chun Li, who currently runs Lazada’s Indonesian business, will take the reins from July, Lazada said in a statement. Li served as chief technology officer for Alibaba’s business-to-business division between ...

Bloomberg China’s top legislative body approved a landmark national security law for Hong Kong, a sweeping attempt to quell dissent that drew fresh US retaliation and could endanger the city’s appeal as a financial hub. The National People’s Congress Standing Committee voted unanimously to approve the law on the former British colony as a three-day meeting began to wrap up ...

Dubai / WAM His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President, Prime Minister and Ruler of Dubai, on Monday commended talented Emirati youth and the determination of the UAE society for the nation’s optimistic and positive outlook for the near future which will focus on designing integrated and future-oriented strategies, anticipating changes and ensuring readiness to achieve tangible ...

ABU DHABI / WAM Development aid provided to the remote Yemeni governorate of Socotra by the UAE has made a major impact in terms of improving the life of the local population, according to a report made available to the Emirates News Agency (WAM). The report provides an overview of assistance co-ordinated by the Abu Dhabi-based Sheikh Khalifa Humanitarian Foundation, ...

DUBAI / WAM Emirates continues to add travel options for customers with the announcement that it will re-start passenger flights to Cairo (from July 1), Tunis (from July 1), Glasgow (from July 15) and Malé (from July 16). This will bring Emirates’ network to 52 destinations in July, offering travellers convenient connections between the Middle East, Africa, Asia Pacific, Europe ...