Bloomberg US retail sales rose less than forecast in September, as a broad-based increase was overshadowed by a drop in restaurant receipts that may reflect the impact of Hurricane Florence. The value of overall sales rose 0.1 percent for a second month, compared with the median forecast of economists for a 0.6 percent gain, Commerce Department figures showed. So-called retail …

Bloomberg Someday soon you may not have to show a driver’s license or passport at the airport security lane in the US. The Transportation Security Administration unveiled a multistep plan to make increased use of facial recognition and other biometric identification tools to improve accuracy and speed wait times. TSA, which has tested biometric systems in Los Angeles and Atlanta, …

ABU DHABI / Emirates Business The value of Mergers and Acquisitions (M&A), transactions with any Middle Eastern & North African (Mena) involvement rea-ched $45.1 billion during the first nine months of 2018, according to Refinitiv, formally Financial & Risk business division of Thomson Reuters. The amount is 65% more than the value recorded during same period in 2017 and an …

Bloomberg Abu Dhabi shelved plans for an initial public offering of a 25 percent stake in Spanish oil refiner Cepsa. “Recent international economic developments have created uncertainty in international capital markets,” said Cepsa, which is controlled by Abu Dhabi’s state-owned Mubadala Investment Co. The offering would have valued Spain-based Cepsa at between 7 billion euros ($8.1 billion) and 8.1 billion …

DUBAI / WAM Arab Health, an exhibition for healthcare and trade professionals in the Mena region, has outlined the role of tech start-ups in playing a more vital role in the healthcare industry in areas such as personalised medicine and more efficient technology-enabled care models. The report, titled ‘Technology: Accelerating Innovation Across Healthcare’, revealed that digital health start-ups are said …

CAIRO / WAM Noura bint Mohammed Al Kaabi, Minister of Culture and Knowledge Development, announced that the UAE will host the 22nd Conference of Arab Culture Ministers in 2020, which coincides with the 50th anniversary of the Arab League Educational, Cultural and Scientific Organisation (Alecso), and the UAE’s hosting of the world’s arts and culture at Expo 2020 in Dubai. …

Bloomberg Steel pipe makers are set to become beneficiaries of India’s $10 billion push to expand its natural gas network to more of its urban masses and cut pollution. India has just completed its biggest city gas distribution auction that would extend coverage to more than half of its 1.3 billion people across a third of the nation’s area. This …

Bloomberg Royal Dutch Shell Plc and Equinor ASA said they’re committed to a project that will allow the export of natural gas from Tanzania. Proposals to build a $30 billion liquefied-natural-gas plant (LNG), in gestation since 2014, have been clouded by policy uncertainty in Tanzania’s extractives industry. Investor sentiment toward the East African nation has been soured by the government’s …

Bloomberg Zimbabwe’s government warned fuel suppliers who demand payment in foreign exchange that their licences to trade will be withdrawn. “All those caught selling fuel at prices not approved by Zimbabwe Energy Regulatory Authority and those service stations either demanding payment in hard currency or engaging in other untoward trading will have their licences revoked,” Vice President Kembo Mohadi said. …

Bloomberg A natural gas pipeline rupture in British Columbia forced refineries in Washington to cut output, pushing gasoline prices higher in the Pacific Northwest. Enbridge Inc.’s WestCoast Mainline ruptured near Prince George. The fire has been extinguished, Michael Barnes, a company spokesman, said. The line, along with an adjacent one, has been depressurized, and he said the company “cannot speculate …