Abu Dhabi / Emirates Business More than 300 high-level government representatives from 96 countries — the highest number of countries ever represented at a Council — gathered in Abu Dhabi to attend the eleventh meeting of the Council of the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA). At the outset of the meeting, the Council elected HE Kenred Dorsett, Minister of ...

  Dubai / Emirates Business A delegation from Dubai Properties (DP) visited ‘The Sustainable City’ (TSC) — the region’s first fully integrated and operational sustainable community — in Dubai this week. Mohammed Al Habbai, Chief Executive Officer for Urban Planning and Infrastructure of Dubai Properties, led the DP party in their visit that focused primarily on strengthening partnership ties between ...

  Bloomberg Doha Bank QSC plans to expand its foreign operations to compensate for slower growth in Qatar, where a drop in oil prices is causing liquidity to dry up, according to Chief Executive Officer Raghavan Seetharaman. “We have scope for expansion,” he said in an interview at the bank’s headquarters in Doha last week. “It’s not like everything is ...

  Emirates Business Four films supported by the Doha Film Institute have won top honours in key sections of the 69th Cannes Film Festival, including the Best Screenplay and Best Actor awards for The Salesman, co-financed by the Institute, in the Festival’s official competition. DFI grantee film Divines, the debut feature by Houda Benyamina scooped the coveted Camera d’Or prize ...

  Frankfurt / AFP Investor confidence in Germany fell unexpectedly in May as uncertainty over a possible exit by Britain from the European Union overshadowed strong growth data, a leading survey showed on Tuesday. While official data earlier showed that Europe’s biggest economy grew by 0.7 percent in the first three months —double the growth rate of the preceding quarter — ...

  Bloomberg Every oil refinery in France was suffering disruptions or outright shutdowns amid a worsening labor dispute that already caused fuel shortages across the country. All eight of the nation’s refineries were affected by strikes as workers at Exxon Mobil Corp.’s Gravenchon plant in northern France began taking steps to shut down, following similar action by staff at Total ...

  Bloomberg Bank of England Governor Mark Carney once again defended his obligation to assess economic risks related to Britain’s upcoming referendum on EU membership. The BOE has “a responsibility under our remit to report not just the current trade-off that may hold in terms of returning inflation to target in a sustainable manner, but the risks, the principle risks ...

  Bloomberg Britons risk pushing up the cost of their vacations if they vote to leave the European Union, Prime Minister David Cameron said in his third warning in three days on how a so-called Brexit would hurt ordinary people in their pockets. An average eight-night, four-person trip to an EU destination would cost an extra 230 pounds ($330), based ...

ALGIERS / Reuters Officials from Algeria, the European Union and energy firms meet in Algiers on Tuesday in an attempt to get their energy cooperation back on track and find ways to pump more gas north again after years of dwindling exports. Algeria is seen as a natural partner for the European Union as it looks to diversify energy supplies ...

  Bloomberg Latin America’s post-populist shift is persuading the world’s biggest emerging-market bond investors to put more money in the region, and there are signs that eastern Europe is paying the price. Franklin Templeton’s $51 billion Global Bond fund nearly doubled holdings in Brazil, Mexico and Colombia to more than 30 percent in the six months to March 31, according ...