DPA Derek Ndinteh may be sitting in a windowless tiny office at one of South Africa’s less-well-known universities writing out an application for research funding, but this brilliant 40-year-old from Cameroon is confident. “I will be the first black Nobel laureate in chemistry,” says the researcher at the University of Johannesburg – “UJ” to its students. The role of ...

  BEIRUT / Reuters Lebanon intends to restart its first oil and gas licensing round after a three-year delay, the energy minister said, hoping to kick-start the development of a hydrocarbon industry stalled by national political paralysis. In its first sitting since being formed in December, Lebanon’s new cabinet passed two decrees defining the blocks and specifying conditions for production ...

  Reuters Iran has sold more than 13 million barrels of oil that it had long held on tankers at sea, capitalising on an OPEC output cut deal from which it is exempted to regain market share and court new buyers, according to industry sources and data. In the past three months, Tehran has sold almost half the oil it ...

  Reuters Winter temperatures in North Asia will swing to unusually cold from relatively mild in the coming weeks, lifting the demand for liquefied natural gas (LNG) and thermal coal as regional power stations ramp up to meet the increased heating needs. January tends to be the coldest month of the year in the northern hemisphere, and a drop to ...

  AP In sunny Israel, solar energy supplies only a small percentage of the nation’s power needs, leaving it far behind countries with cloudier and colder climates. Now the fledgling solar industry is trying to make a leap forward with a large-scale project boasting the world’s tallest solar tower, as a symbol of Israel’s renewal energy ambitions. With Israel traditionally ...

  Reuters A special Saudi Arabia committee has found a number of individuals guilty of providing insider information and insider trading in shares of telecoms operator Mobily, leaving them facing potential jail terms of between one and two years, the kingdom’s Capital Market Authority (CMA) said. The findings of Saudi Arabia’s Committee for the Resolution of Securities Disputes (CRSD) are ...

  Bloomberg Samsung Electronics Co. underscored the resilience of its business when it reported its best operating profit in three years, weathering the death of its fire-prone Galaxy Note 7 with the help of its workmanlike chip and display divisions and cheaper smartphones. The world’s largest maker of mobile devices posted a 50 percent surge in quarterly operating profit after ...

  Bloomberg Hong Kong’s richest man Li Ka-shing expects property prices in the city will rise “a little bit” this year, even as the government takes steps to cool the world’s costliest real estate market. The government in November increased the stamp duty to 15 percent for all residential purchases, excluding first-time buyers who are permanent residents. The curbs initially ...

  Bloomberg Australia recorded its first trade surplus in almost three years as Chinese demand stoked prices for its two biggest exports, iron ore and coal. First trade surplus since March 2014. Exports climbed 8% from month earlier; imports were little changed. Most iron ore exports since August 2014 in local currency terms; most coal exports since January 2012 October ...

  Bloomberg Tata Sons Ltd., the holding company of India’s largest conglomerate, has called for an extraordinary general meeting on February 6 to oust former Chairman Cyrus Mistry from the board of the closely held firm, according to a company spokesman. Mistry, whose family owns 18.5 percent of Tata Sons, resigned as director from all Tata Group companies and filed ...