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  Sunaina Rana / Emirates Business As digitalisation penetrates into almost every sector around the globe, companies in the MENA region are leaving no stone unturned to grab their space in the online world. Google Analytic estimates that MENA consumers are now relying more on their brands’ digital messages than before, to guide them through a purchase journey. It points ...

  DUBAI / Emirates Business Emirates Green Building Council (EmiratesGBC), an independent forum aimed at conserving the environment by strengthening and promoting green building practices, underlined the measures that can be adopted to improve air quality and the role of Volatile Organic Compounds (VOCs) in adversely impacting green building design at its recent Networking Seminar. The discussion on ‘What’s in ...

  Beijing / AFP China’s total borrowings were more than double its gross domestic product (GDP) last year, a government economist said, warning that debt linkages between the state and industry could be “fatal” for the world’s second largest economy. The country’s debt has ballooned as Beijing has made getting credit cheap and easy in an effort to stimulate slowing growth, ...

  ST. PETERSBURG / AP EU Commission head Jean-Claude Juncker warned Russia on Thursday that the 28-nation bloc will only lift its sanctions if the Kremlin fully implements a Ukraine peace deal. “The next step is clear, full implementation of the agreement—no more, no less,” Juncker told Russia’s main economic forum in Saint Petersburg ahead of a meeting with President ...

  Dubai / WAM The UAE’s solar power programme, the UAE Solar Programme of Activities (PoA), has been approved by the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) Executive Board. The PoA was initiated by Dubai Electricity and Water Authority (DEWA) in collaboration with Dubai Carbon Centre of Excellence, Dubai Carbon, to promote the development of solar power in the ...

  Bloomberg Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen seems to be coming around to what her one-time rival, Lawrence Summers, has been arguing for a while: Some of the forces holding down interest rates may be long-lasting and secular. That’s reflected in a marked downgrade in rate projections released by policy makers after their meeting on Wednesday. Six of 17 now ...

  Bloomberg Mark Carney hit back against critics who accused him of supporting the U.K.’s membership in the European Union as a new poll showed the Leave campaign holding its lead ahead of next week’s referendum. The Bank of England has “a duty” to report its “evidence-based judgment” to parliament and the public, the institution’s governor wrote in a letter ...

  Bloomberg The world’s biggest natural gas exporter isn’t too concerned about a global glut that will probably last another five years. Gazprom PJSC is counting on falling European output to boost flows to a record and cement its 30 percent market share, Deputy Chief Executive Officer Alexander Medvedev, 60, said in an interview. After crude’s 35 percent slide last ...

  Fallujah / AFP The IS group battled Iraqi forces and held civilians hostage on Wednesday to defend its bastion of Fallujah, where three weeks of fighting has forced tens of thousands from their homes. Security forces have retaken significant parts of southern Fallujah over the past two weeks and are now attacking the extremists in the Jbeil neighbourhood, officers said. ...

  Norway / ap US Secretary of State John Kerry met his Iranian counterpart in Norway on Wednesday to once again discuss Iran’s complaints that it’s not getting the sanctions relief it deserves under last year’s landmark nuclear deal. Kerry also raised the importance of Iran using its influence with Syria’s government to ensure humanitarian aid deliveries and respect a ...