When President Barack Obama came into office, the fact that Russia sold the U.S. the rocket engines it needed for launches was a feature of U.S. foreign policy, not a bug. Obama was trying to reset the U.S. relationship with Moscow, and that meant finding areas where the two former Cold War rivals could cooperate. If the U.S. would rely …

  Bloomberg Consumer sentiment returned to the highest this year in Canada as Quebec residents felt better off financially and more people bet the country’s housing boom would continue. The Bloomberg Nanos Canadian Consumer Confidence Index rose to 57.8 in the week ended June 3, from 57.5 previously, according to telephone polling of 1,000 respondents. Quebec’s pocketbook measure — based …

  Bloomberg Donald Trump sold two apartments on Manhattan’s Central Park South to his son Eric for about $700,000, well below market rate. The presumed Republican nominee in this year’s presidential race sold the 500-square-foot (46.5 square meter) units on the two highest floors of 100 Central Park South for $350,000 each, on April 26, according to New York City …

  Bloomberg Billionaire investor Bill Gates and Saudi Prince Alwaleed bin Talal Al Saud are seeking to sell Toronto’s landmark Four Seasons hotel for almost C$1 million ($780,000) a room in what would be the highest price for a hotel in Canada, according to people familiar with the matter. Kingdom Holding Co., owned by the Saudi prince, and Cascade Investment, …

  DURHAM /Tribune News Service A few weeks before Christmas in 1977 and nearly a year before he would go on to lose his heavyweight title to Leon Spinks, Durham got an early Christmas present when Muhammad Ali came to town to help dedicate a new junior college gymnasium named in his honor. Located off Fayetteville Street near the intersection …

  Jeddah / AFP Saudi officials have finalised a detailed plan to diversify the kingdom’s economy away from oil and have sent it for cabinet approval, official media said on Monday. The National Transformation Programme (NTP) will elaborate upon Vision 2030, an 84-page document released in April by Deputy Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, 30, who is leading the reform charge. …

  London / AFP British trade unions representing six million workers on Monday urged their members to vote to stay in the European Union, warning that a Brexit would threaten workers’ rights. The general secretaries of Unite, Unison and the GMB were among 10 union leaders who wrote a letter to the Guardian newspaper claiming that parental leave and holiday …

  ABU DHABI / WAM His Highness Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi and Deputy Supreme Commander of the UAE Armed Forces, exchanged greetings with the Qatari Emir, Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al-Thani, on the occasion of the Holy Month of Ramadan. During a telephone call, His Highness Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan and …

  BLOOMBERG Indian engineering and construction giant, Larsen & Toubro, won the country’s first contract to build a venue for the 2022 World Cup in Qatar. Along with local contractor, Al Balagh, Larsen & Toubro (L&T) will build Al-Rayyan Stadium, a 40,000-seater venue to the west of the capital Doha, Qatar’s Supreme Committee for Delivery and Legacy announced. Jens Huckfeldt, …

  DUBAI / WAM The Roads and Transport Authority (RTA), is launching a series of Ramadan events as part its social responsibility and keenness to cement communication links as well as the sense of compassion between all community members. “RTA is keen to hold several prominent events marking the advent of the Holy Month of Ramadan in a bid to …