Catherine Putz SPECIAL TO EMIRATES BUSINESS After seven months of stalled relations–barbed comments and sanctions–Russia and Turkey may be moving toward a rapprochement. On Monday, according to the Russians, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan sent a letter “in which the Turkish President expressed his desire to settle the situation concerning the downing of a Russian military aircraft.” In the letter, ...

  Tokyo / AFP Japanese industrial production dived in May for the first time in three months, official data showed on Thursday, in a worrying sign for the already fragile economy. Factory output dropped 2.3 percent in May from a month earlier, much worse than the average 0.2 percent drop expected by economists, according to Bloomberg News. The weak figures come ...

  Kuala Lumpur / AFP Malaysia Airlines, which has been struggling since twin disasters in 2014, has appointed a new CEO following the resignation of a troubleshooter brought in to turn around the ailing carrier. Peter Bellew, currently the airline’s chief operating officer and a former director of flight operations at Ryanair, will take over effective Friday. “His appointment will ensure ...

  Beijing / Bloomberg There’s about to be a flight to quality in China’s bond market. Fourteen of 22 respondents in a Bloomberg survey of investors and analysts said they are most interested in buying securities issued by the government and policy banks in the next quarter, compared with just four of 19 in a similar poll three months ago. ...

  Seoul / AP Netflix plans to expand its Asian offerings to its subscribers around the world by tapping more creators in Asia. Netflix chiefs said on Thursday that the US streaming service company is looking at many projects throughout Asia, including original series by Asian creators. Netflix invested in South Korean filmmaker Bong Joon-ho’s upcoming movie “Okja,” its first Korean ...

  New Delhi / Bloomberg The bitter fight for market share between Indian ride-hailing startup Ola and San Francisco-based Uber Technologies Inc. is taking on nationalist overtones in a battle unfolding in an Indian court. Ola’s parent ANI Technologies Ltd told a court in Bangalore this week that it is an indigenous startup whose success can be attributed not just ...

  Singapore / AFP A top Singapore bank said on Thursday it has suspended loans to anyone wanting to buy property in London, citing uncertainty from Britain’s vote to quit the EU but dealing a blow to investors looking to make the most of the weak pound. United Overseas Bank (UOB), one of the city-state’s three homegrown lenders, said it ...

  Bloomberg Washington’s Watergate office building, made famous by the political scandal that brought down President Richard M. Nixon, is under contract to be sold. New York real estate investment firm Steinbridge Group and Dallas-based Lincoln Property Co. are buying 2500 and 2600 Virginia Ave. NW, also known as Watergate East, for $107 million, according to the document by brokerage ...

  Bloomberg Cornerstone Real Estate Advisers, an asset manager owned by Massachusetts Mutual Life Insurance Co., agreed to buy ACRE Capital Holdings LLC in a bet on multifamily loans. Cornerstone agreed to pay $93 million to purchase the Plano, Texas-based lender from Ares Commercial Real Estate Corp., the buyer said on Wednesday in a statement. The deal will double Cornerstone’s ...

  Bloomberg Homebuilder Sunac China Holdings Ltd. has temporarily stopped buying land from government auctions in China because prices surged amid a housing rebound, Chairman Sun Hongbin said. “We’ve suspended all bidding recently and didn’t even sign up” for auctions by local governments, Sun said at a briefing. “I feel the risk is too high,” he said without giving a ...