August, 2016

• 21 August

  Baghdad authorities clear site of deadly mall bombing

  

    Baghdad / AP Traffic began to file through central Baghdad’s busy Karradah street on Sunday for the first time in nearly two months. After the July 3 attack that killed close to 300 people, the street was sealed off and within days the shells of the charred buildings around the scene of the blast were covered in death notices. For ...

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• 21 August

  Afghan forces retake district from Taliban

    Kunduz / AFP Afghan forces have recaptured a district that had fallen briefly to the Taliban, officials and residents said on Sunday, after thousands of people fled their homes in Afghanistan’s northeastern Kunduz province. Khan Abad district, which is around 30 kilometres east of Kunduz city—the provincial capital where militants last year scored their biggest ever victory—had fallen to ...

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• 21 August

  Iraq hangs 36 over 2014 massacre of recruits

  

    Nasiriyah / AFP Iraq on Sunday hanged 36 men convicted over the 2014 massacre by extremists and allied militants of hundreds of military recruits, officials said. They had been found guilty of involvement in the “Speicher” massacre, named after a base near Tikrit where up to 1,700 recruits were kidnapped before being executed in a massacre claimed by the ...

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• 21 August

  Iran releases images of new missile defence system

  Tehran / AFP Iran released images of its first domestically built long-range missile defence system on Sunday, a project started when the country was under international sanctions. Images on multiple state news agencies showed President Hassan Rouhani and Minister of Defence Hossein Dehghan standing in front of the new Bavar 373 missile defence system. The system was designed to intercept ...

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• 21 August

  BEA profit drops 38% as China drags on lending

  

    Bloomberg Bank of East Asia Ltd., (BEA) the Hong Kong lender facing pressure from Paul Singer’s Elliott Management, said first-half profit dropped 38 percent as China’s slowing economy dragged on lending and caused loan impairments to surge. The shares fell the most in two weeks. Net income fell to HK$2.1 billion ($270 million) for the six months ended June ...

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• 21 August

  Rabobank first-half profit drops 39%

  

    Singapore / Bloomberg Rabobank Groep, the second-largest Dutch bank by assets, said first-half profit fell 39 percent, hurt by legal costs and restructuring expenses. Net income dropped to 924 million euros ($1 billion) from 1.5 billion euros a year earlier, the closely held bank said in a statement on Thursday. The lender increased provisions by 514 million euros to ...

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• 21 August

  Santander taps Credit Suisse for Citigroup Brazil bid

    Bloomberg Banco Santander SA, Spain’s biggest bank, hired Credit Suisse Group AG to advise on its negotiations to buy Citigroup Inc.’s retail assets in Brazil, people with knowledge of the matter said. Santander, whose Brazil unit generates about 19 percent of the Madrid-based company’s revenue, also hired a Lazard Ltd. venture in Argentina to advise on its proposal to ...

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• 21 August

  Singapore asks banks to switch to digital payments

    Bloomberg Singapore plans to reduce the role of cash and checks in its economy by encouraging banks to switch to digital payments, according to the head of the country’s central bank. “For consumers, the use of cash for daily payments is high,” Ravi Menon, managing director of the Monetary Authority of Singapore, said at a financial technology conference. “For ...

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• 21 August

  Idle credit cards in Asians’ wallets prompt Citi, HSBC overhaul

  

    Hong Kong / Bloomberg Free rice cookers and suitcases were among the special deals that tempted Chiu Wing-suet into accumulating her 20 credit cards, many of which are crammed into her wallet. She’s unlikely to accept any more such offers. “I’ve come to realize that most of my cards are useless,” said the 30-year-old Hong Kong nurse. “I basically ...

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• 21 August

  Lenovo posts quarterly revenue of US$10.1bn

  

    Emirates Business Lenovo Group (HKSE: 992) (ADR: LNVGY) on Sunday announced results for its first fiscal quarter ended June 30. Quarterly revenue was US$10.1 billion, a six percent decrease year-over-year (or four percent decrease in constant currency). Quarter-to-quarter, this represented a 10 percent increase. First quarter pre-tax income increases 297 percent year-over-year to US$206 million. Net income increases 64 ...

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