Almaty / AFP Major Russian mobile operator Mobile TeleSystems (MTS) has abandoned its stake in a lucrative joint venture in Uzbekistan, the Central Asian country’s communications ministry said late on Friday. The ministry’s announcement, which the company also confirmed later, said the state-owned Center of Radio Communication, Broadcasting and Television had become “sole owner” of the pair’s joint venture ...

  Bloomberg Indonesia’s second-quarter growth beat expectations as President Joko Widodo’s government embarked on a spending spree to boost an economy grappling with a slowdown in China and low commodity prices. Gross domestic product increased 5.18 percent from a year earlier, compared with a revised 4.91 percent in the first three months, the statistics bureau said in Jakarta on Friday. ...

  Bloomberg Japan’s biggest steelmaker is top of the pile no more, as a resurgent yen hands a competitive advantage to overseas rivals amid an unprecedented global glut. Nippon Steel & Sumitomo Metal Corp. has been overtaken as the world’s most valuable producer by Europe’s ArcelorMittal and is neck and neck with a revitalized Posco in South Korea for second ...

  Bloomberg Duke Energy Corp. has invited Canada’s Brookfield Asset Management Inc. and French utility Engie SA to submit binding bids for its Latin American power assets, people with knowledge of the matter said. State-owned electricity generator China Three Gorges Corp. was also chosen to proceed to the next round, according to the people, who asked not to be identified ...

  New York / AFP Bitcoin, a Florida judge says, is not real money. Ironically, that could provide a boost to use of the crypto-currency which has remained in the shadows of the financial system. The July 22 ruling by Miami-Dade Circuit Judge Teresa Pooler means that no specific license is needed to buy and sell bitcoins. The judge dismissed ...

Washington / AFP The US trade deficit grew more than expected in June as imports jumped and the gap with China continued to widen, government data released showed. The country’s trade deficit with the rest of the world climbed 8.7 percent in June to a seasonally adjusted $44.5 billion. Analysts had only expected a 3.9 percent increase. The figures mark ...

Washington / Bloomberg Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway Inc. said second-quarter profit rose 25 percent as results improved at insurance units. Net income climbed to $5 billion from $4.01 billion a year earlier, the Omaha, Nebraska-based company said in a statement. Operating earnings, which exclude some investment results, were $2,803 a share, missing the average $2,911 estimate of three analysts surveyed ...

  La Paz / Bloomberg Ready or not, here comes Rio de Janeiro. The Olympic games opened on Friday with last-minute funding and an interim head of state, underscoring the economic and political turmoil gripping host country Brazil. Ceremony organizers had to make do with a budget that’s a fraction of the amount spent by 2012 Olympics host London. It ...

  Dubai / WAM The 18th Water, Energy, Technology, and Environment Exhibition (WETEX 2016), organised will showcase the ‘Dubai Green Zone’ project to encourage established and start-up companies, to set up their presence in the emirate and provide them with an ideal business environment to develop and market their green, sustainable technologies. WETEX 2016 is organised in line with directives from ...

  RIO DE JANEIRO / WAM The UAE sports delegation participated in the opening ceremony of the XXXI 2016 Summer Olympics held on Friday at Maracana Stadium in Copacabana area, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. The UAE Parade was led by the Emirati talented swimmer Nada Al Badwawi who had the honour of hoisting the UAE’s flag at this mega event. The ...