ABU DHABI / WAM Private-sector employers must commit to ensuring employee wages are safeguarded and paid on time via the Wages Protection System, said the Ministry of Human Resources and Emiratisation (MoHRE). In a statement, the UAE ministry noted that employers must adhere to Ministerial Decree No. 739 of 2016 concerning the protection of wages, as well as employment contracts ...

Abu Dhabi / WAM The Ministry of Education launched the “Sanadcom” initiative for children of the medical, administrative, and nursing staff working in the country, and who are the first line of defence against Covid-19, to promote their academic progress and meet all their technical and psychological requirements, as their parents are busy fighting the pandemic. This initiative, in cooperation ...

DUBAI / WAM The Zayed Higher Organisation for People of Determination (ZHO) on Thursday signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Microsoft to enhance its remote learning initiative and ensure continuity in education, the development of skills and social empowerment of people with disabilities. The MoU was signed between Abdullah Al Humaidan, General-Secretary at ZHO, and Sayed Hashish, General Manager ...

Bloomberg New leadership at Petroleos de Venezuela SA is considering a major overhaul that could see the company streamlining its oil business and even forsaking decades of state monopoly, according to people familiar with the matter. The proposal, outlined in a document seen by Bloomberg and dated March 2020, was devised by newly appointed PDVSA head Asdrubal Chavez, who is ...

Bloomberg South Africa said it will proceed with a court case to invalidate the sale in 2015 of its strategic oil stocks, despite crude prices recently dropping below what traders paid at the time. The $280 million deal for 10 million barrels of South Africa’s reserves, criticised as a rip off when oil prices were in a slump, was sold ...

Bloomberg Four years after devastating wildfires burned down sections of Fort McMurray, the city in the heart of Canada’s oil sands is now grappling with two new emergencies at the same time: the coronavirus pandemic and flooding. Just as people were sheltering at home to avoid the virus, a 25-kilometre (16-mile) natural dam created by melting ice on the Athabasca ...

Bloomberg Continental Resources Inc is being sued by a closely held oil driller that accused the shale giant of walking away from a $200 million deal following an historic collapse in crude prices. Casillas Petroleum Resource Partners and Continental signed a so-called purchase and sale agreement on March 6, according to the lawsuit, one trading session before crude tumbled about ...

Bloomberg Norway, western Europe’s biggest oil producer, joined international efforts to curb supply for the first time in almost two decades after prices plumbed new depths. The Nordic country will cut production by 250,000 barrels a day in June and 134,000 barrels in the second half of the year, the Petroleum and Energy Ministry said. That’s based on a reference ...

Bloomberg The French and Spanish economies plunged into record contractions and German unemployment climbed more than expected amid virus shutdowns that are pushing Europe into its deepest recession of the post-war era. France shrank 5.8%, the most since 1949, with Spain suffering a 5.2% drop in GDP. The figures highlight the dramatic effect of government-ordered shutdowns as just two weeks ...

Bloomberg UK homebuilders are starting to pull out of deals to buy land as they brace for a hit to demand. Inland Homes Plc, a firm that specialises in getting urban sites ready for construction, said on Thursday that three deals with large publicly traded homebuilders had been aborted because of the coronavirus pandemic. The cancelled deals show how developers ...