Cairo / Reuters Egypt’s urban consumer inflation jumped for a third straight month in June as consumer demand spiked during Ramadan, official data showed on Sunday. Food demand normally surges during the Muslim holy month because of heavy consumption following the dawn-to-dusk fasting period. Ramadan this year began on June 6 and ended on July 5. Urban consumer inflation ...

  Riyadh / TNS Saudi markets imported pearls and precious stones worth SR21.8 billion in 2015, compared to SR19.2 billion in 2014, or an increase of 13 percent, local media said. Imports of pearls and precious stones represented 3.3 percent of the Kingdom’s total imports, which stood at SR655 billion in 2015, compared to 2.9 percent in 2014, with its total ...

  Jeddah / TNS Car rental offices witnessed a surge in rentals during the Eid by up to 80 percent, compared to other vacation days, which contributed to the rise in rental prices of up to 60 percent. Workers in the sector in Jeddah and Makkah said some offices began to provide more vehicles, either by repairing those vehicles with problems, ...

  BLOOMBERG When Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi turned a standard speech on electricity supplies into an unexpected appeal for peace between Israel and the Palestinians, one man who wasn’t surprised was Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. The televised address in May capped months of backstage diplomacy by a group including former British premier Tony Blair. Nearly four decades after their ...

  Bloomberg China has intensified the drumbeat of its opposition to an international tribunal’s ruling expected on Tuesday that could threaten its expansive claims in the South China Sea. How Beijing responds to the ruling in the case filed by US ally the Philippines could chart the course of global power relations in an increasingly dangerous hotspot. It comes as ...

  AP  India has triggered the escape clause on dozens of bilateral investment treaties, aiming to renegotiate toward securing better protection from foreign litigation. The notifications, issued earlier this year, effectively let governments know they have 12 months to broker new treaties before the old ones expire. The changes India seeks could make it harder for foreign investors to legally ...

  Bloomberg Russia’s concern about water rights is holding up a $1 billion loan package Mongolia is seeking from China to build a hydroelectric dam that would help the landlocked central Asian nation ensure independent supplies of energy. The Kremlin said in June the project to build the Egiin Gol Hydro Power Plant on the Eg River in northern Mongolia ...

  Frankfurt / AFP The Frankfurt stock exchange said on Monday that it is examining whether to lower a key hurdle for its planned merger with the London Stock Exchange (LSE) to go ahead. The shareholders of German stock market operator Deutsche Boerse have until Tuesday to decide whether to swap their shares for shares in the new merged company. ...

  Bloomberg French Finance Minister Michel Sapin said on Monday that Portugal does not deserve EU penalties for government budgetary overruns. “Portugal has made enormous efforts in the past years. It does not deserve excessive discipline,” said Sapin in Paris, speaking on his way to a meeting of European finance ministers. The ministers are meeting in Brussels and are mulling ...

  Bloomberg Nine of the world’s biggest offshore wind farm developers joined with the Scottish government to fund a 7.9 million-pound ($10.3 million) study aimed at curbing the costs of the expensive renewable energy technology. Companies including Dong Energy A/S, EON SE, Iberdrola SA and RWE AG, will together invest at least 6.4 million pounds over the next four years ...