Iraqi and coalition forces launched the operation to liberate western Mosul, the most populated urban areas, from IS extremists on February 19. Since then the Iraqi forces have wrested back a series of neighbourhoods. Troops have also retaken the city’s airport, a sprawling military complex, the main government compound. The offensive is being waged from three directions advancing along ...

  The Socialist candidate for the French presidency, Benoit Hamon, says he doesn’t believe in the ‘myth’ and “quasi-religion” of growth– it’s part of the “consumerist, productivist and materialist model” of development, he argues. That’s outside the economic mainstream, and many see those views as a symptom of the meltdown of the global left. But the just-released Global Happiness Report ...

  The global smartphone market has seen better days, yet the industry underpins the hottest stocks in Asia’s best-performing sector this year. The MSCI Asia Pacific Infotech index is up almost 16 percent in 2017, outgunning the runner up (industrials) by just shy of 7 percentage points. And leading that sub-index, in dollar terms, are smartphone suppliers. What’s interesting is ...

  Markets are never perfect in their predictive abilities but they tend to be forward-looking in how they trade to anticipate what will happen next. Take last week’s interest-rate increase by the Federal Reserve, its third since December 2015, and the bond market. Bond yields have been rising for some time. In what some investors are calling a generational bottom ...

  DUBAI / Emirates Business Dubai Islamic Bank (DIB), the largest Islamic bank in the UAE, celebrated the launch of Panin Dubai Syariah Bank in Indonesia, in the presence of DIB Group CEO Dr Adnan Chilwan, key local officials including Muliaman D. Hadad, Chief Commissioner OJK, Dr KH Ma’ruf Amin, Chief of the Indonesia Ulama Council, Hamlim Alamsyah, Chief Commissioner ...

  DUBAI / FRANKFURT / Reuters Deutsche Bank is to stop clearing cheques denominated in euros for some banks in the Middle East, according to sources familiar with the matter, joining other big banks that cut services in the region. Cheque usage globally has been on the wane as consumers and businesses turn to faster, digital payment alternatives and in ...

  Bloomberg Ghana’s central bank cut its benchmark interest rate for a second time in four months as the cedi recovered from record lows and inflation slowed to the lowest rate in more than three years. The Bank of Ghana cut the rate to 23.5 percent from 25.5 percent, Governor Abdul Nashiru Issahaku told reporters on Monday in the capital, ...

  Dubai / WAM His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, approved the award of two contracts for constructing the 7th Interchange on Sheikh Zayed Road, as well as Al Yalayis and Al Asayel Roads, at a cost of AED 1.2 billion. The two projects will enhance the ...

  Abu Dhabi / WAM The UAE announced on Monday a contribution of AED 197 million (EUR 50 million) to the INTERPOL Foundation for a Safer World to support seven INTERPOL projects designed to combat global crime and terrorism ahead of the first Unity for Security Forum in Abu Dhabi. Held under the patronage of His Highness Sheikh Khalifa bin ...

  Abu Dhabi / WAM The Inaugural edition of the Global Manufacturing and Industrialisation Summit (GMIS) was officially opened on Monday evening in the presence of His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President and Prime Minister of the UAE, and Ruler of Dubai. The Summit is being held under the patronage of His Highness Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed ...