Manama / TNS Around 200 small businesses are facing major financial difficulties that could force them to close down and let go of thousands of employees. Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs), which have been struggling to stay afloat since last year, have called for urgent measures to be taken, including new legislation, to protect them from going bankrupt. The SMEs ...

  REUTERS Saudi Arabian Mining Co (Ma’aden), the Gulf’s largest miner, beat analysts’ forecasts despite posting a 50.95 percent fall in second-quarter net profit on Monday, as sales revenues declined on low commodity prices. The firm made a net profit of 132.5 million riyals ($35.3 million) in the three months to June 30, it said in a bourse statement. This ...

  REUTERS Al Rajhi Bank, Saudi Arabia’s second-largest lender by assets, reported a 5.7 percent rise in its second-quarter net profit on Monday, broadly in line with analyst forecasts. The bank made 2.05 billion riyals ($546.7 million) in the three months to June 30, up from 1.94 billion riyals in the same period a year earlier, it said in a ...

  REUTERS Masraf Al Rayan, Qatar’s second-largest bank by market value, reported a 5.4 percent increase in second-quarter net profit on Monday, according to Reuters calculations, broadly in line with analysts’ expectations. Net profit for the three months to June 30 was 514 million riyals ($141.2 million) compared to 487.6 million riyals in the same period a year ago, Reuters ...

  REUTERS Egyptian dairy company Arabian Food Industries Co (Domty) is planning to invest 240 million Egyptian pounds ($27 million) in 2016-17 to fund expansion and increase production capacity, Vice-Chairman Mohamed Damaty told Reuters on Monday. Domty, which raised a combined 1.13 billion pounds in private and public share offerings in March, has two factories in the 6th of October ...

  Riyadh / TNS The Colors of Saudi Arabia Forum, the largest event in the Kingdom for photography, short films in tourism, culture and heritage to encourage professional and amateur photographers, will witness in its fifth edition this year, greater diversity. Started in 2012, the forum is annually organized under the patronage of the Saudi Commission for Tourism and National Heritage ...

Given his fearsome rhetoric and blunt speaking it is not surprising that many fear that the new populist president of the Philippines could have a destabilizing impact on the region. Some worry his “Dirty Harry” persona could tip the republic into conflict with China and, through the Philippines’ alliance with the United States, drag the region into a major conflagration. ...

  Adam Minter The skylines of some of China’s biggest cities sprout from land that was farmed less than a generation ago. For the government, they’re a soaring testament to the country’s transformation into an urbanized superpower. And despite China’s economic slump, there are plenty of bureaucrats who’d like to see the process continue. According to a report last week, ...

  Mark Gilbert The Bundesbank dropped something of a bombshell this week. The eurozone’s most influential central bank and the guardian of all things sacred to monetarists, suggested that sovereign bonds should contain clauses that would automatically delay repayment to investors for countries in financial difficulty. Not paying on schedule may not be the same as default, but it won’t ...

  Tokyo / AFP SoftBank plunged more than 10 percent on Tuesday as investors gave the thumbs down to the Japanese mobile giant’s whopping $32 billion purchase of British iPhone chip designer ARM Holdings. The sharp drop bucked an upward trend in the broader market after a public holiday, with the benchmark index rising for the sixth straight session. SoftBank ...