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  Des Moines / AFP Hillary Clinton embarks this weekend on the frenetic final 10 days of her White House campaign, determined to shake off renewed controversy over the FBI probe into her private emails. The 69-year-old Democrat—vying to become America’s first female president—is still the frontrunner to win the November 8 election over her Republican rival Donald Trump. Clinton has ...

  Al Qayyarah / AFP Iraqi paramilitary forces launched an operation on Saturday to retake Tal Afar from the IS group, opening a new front in the nearly two-week-old offensive to recapture extremist-held Mosul. Forces from the Hashed Al-Shaabi, a paramilitary umbrella organisation dominated by Iran-backed Shiite militias, have largely been on the sidelines since the launch of the Mosul operation. ...

  Brussels / AFP Belgium on Saturday officially signed the landmark EU-Canada trade accord after a drama that saw Belgian regions threaten to torpedo years of negotiations. “Nothing is simple in Belgium but few things are impossible,” tweeted Belgian Foreign Minister Didier Reynders after signing the pact on behalf of his country. EU Trade Commissioner Cecilia Malstrom, who negotiated the ...

  Bloomberg Volkswagen AG’s worker representatives will block investment decisions unless the German carmaker’s management commits to production programs that secure jobs, top labor leader Bernd Osterloh said in an interview. The hard-line stance sets up tense negotiations in the coming weeks over the so-called Future Pact. The labor agreement at Volkswagen’s namesake brand is aimed at cutting costs to ...

  Bloomberg PetroChina Co. posted a 77 percent decline in third-quarter profit as a suppressed international oil market and lower domestic natural gas prices eroded earnings at the country’s biggest producer. Net income fell to 1.2 billion yuan ($177 million) in the July-September period, the Beijing-based company said in a statement to the Hong Kong stock exchange on Friday. Higher ...

  Reuters Freed from a layer of fusty bureaucracy, India’s state refiners are helping the country evolve an oil market that reflects its status as both the world’s fastest growing major economy and oil consumer. Changes to import rules mean officials from India’s state-owned oil refiners no longer have to stand in the corridors of the Oil Ministry waiting for ...

  ABU DHABI / WAM The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority (ADIA) on Thursday announced the opening of an office in Hong Kong, marking its first on-the-ground presence in the territory. It also announced the appointment of Dong-Sinh Ngo as Chief Representative, Asia Pacific, based in Hong Kong. ADIA Hong Kong will act as a platform for ADIA to broaden and ...

  Dubai / Emirates Business As travellers around the globe look to escape the winter cold for sun-filled holidays, Dubai Cruise Tourism has this month announced the official start of the 2016/2017 season. Following a successful 2015/2016 run, which saw passenger numbers grow by 19 per cent and ship calls increase by 24 per cent compared to the previous year, ...

  Dubai / Emirates Business Trade ties between the UAE and China received a significant boost today with the signing of a landmark cooperation agreement between two of the countries’ key commercial courts. The Shanghai High People’s Court, the foremost business court in the commercial and financial centre of mainland China, and the DIFC Courts have agreed to work together ...

  Abu Dhabi / Emirates Business Etihad Airways on Thursday announced the expansion of scheduled services between Abu Dhabi and India as strategic partner Jet Airways unveiled new routes and additional frequencies to further strengthen their partnership in one of the world’s fastest growing aviation markets. From early 2017, the two airlines will expand their services between the United Arab ...