Riyadh / AFP Their heads bowed, young Saudi men concentrate on exam papers in a workshop filled with industrial machines that will help them earn a living. The students at the Higher Institute for Plastics Fabrication (HIPF) learn to manufacture plastic bags, pipes, bottles and other products, skills they immediately put to work in what the government says is a ...

  Bloomberg The Reserve Bank of India is bracing for a fight on proposed changes to the global regulatory framework that would hit the country’s lenders with higher capital charges for the mountain of government debt on their books. Tighter rules would bite India’s banks, already struggling with surging bad loans and higher provisions. With nearly 30 percent of their ...

  Bloomberg Indian oil producers Oil and Natural Gas Corp and Oil India Ltd gained as the government was said to have allowed refiners to raise the price of kerosene each month for 10 months, reducing the burden of subsidies. ONGC rose as much as 6 percent to 241.55 rupees, the highest on an intraday basis in six months, and ...

  Bloomberg Japan cut its forecasts for growth and inflation as two key advisers to Prime Minister Shinzo Abe urged coordinated stimulus from the government and the central bank to support the ailing economy. Current thinking in the government is for a fiscal package of about 10 trillion yen ($96 billion), according to people familiar with the discussions. Koichi Hamada ...

  Bloomberg The offshore yuan pared gains as a slide in imports prompted speculation that China’s central bank will ease monetary policy to boost consumer demand. A third monthly decline in exports also damped sentiment, showing the limitations of China’s strategy of boosting shipments by weakening the yuan against the exchange rates of its trade partners. The yuan earlier surged ...

  Bloomberg  The operator of Tokyo Disneyland expects overseas visitors to more than double by 2020 to around 4 million as Walt Disney Co’s first resort outside the US rides on publicity generated by Shanghai’s new theme park and a government plan to draw more tourists to Japan. Oriental Land Co which is licensed to operate the Tokyo resort consisting ...

  Bloomberg Spanish banks such as Banco Popular Espanol SA surged after an aide to the European Union’s top court said they may avoid having to refund billions of euros to customers who paid too much interest on home loans before a 2013 ruling on so-called mortgage floors. Spain is entitled to apply the time limit due to the “macroeconomic ...

  Bloomberg After weeks of political turmoil, a semblance of stability is returning to U.K. politics, and the pound is feeling the benefit. Sterling is headed for its longest winning streak in two months before Theresa May took over as prime minister on Wednesday, ending a period of political instability that has lasted since the U.K. voted to leave the ...

  Bloomberg Romanian consumers, the driving force behind one of Europe’s fastest-growing economies, must step aside under a new growth plan that will funnel €17bn into manufacturing and production, according to Deputy Prime Minister Costin Borc. The strategy — drawn up with the central bank and President Klaus Iohannis — runs to 2020 and envisages gross domestic product jumping by ...

AFP Eurozone industrial production fell back 1.2 percent month on month in May, reversing a revised 1.4 percent rise for April, Eurostat data showed on Wednesday, raising concerns of sluggish growth. Explaining the fall, the European statistics body cited production of energy falling by 4.3 percent, capital goods by 2.3 percent and durable consumer goods by 1.4 percent. A Capital ...