DUBAI / Reuters Generally positive first-quarter results from Gulf banks helped lift financial stocks on Wednesday, while Saudi Arabia’s third-largest telecoms operator jumped by its daily limit after reporting its first ever quarterly net profit. Shares in Qatar National Bank, the largest lender by assets in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC), rose 1 percent after it announced net profit …

  HONG KONG / AP Stock markets were subdued and the price of oil and gold rose Wednesday as geopolitical risks kept investors on edge ahead of a long weekend. In Europe, France’s CAC 40 gained 0.2 percent to 5,113 and Germany’s DAX added 0.1 percent to 12,150. Britain’s FTSE 100 fell 0.1 percent to 7,357. US indexes were poised …

  Bloomberg Middle Eastern carriers seized on the social media storm surrounding the forced removal of a passenger from a United Airlines flight to hit back at one of the arch-critics of their breakneck expansion. Dubai-based Emirates mocked United’s best-known advertising slogan on its Twitter account, urging passengers to “fly the friendly skies with a real airline.” Royal Jordanian Airlines …