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Bloomberg A possible US-Kenya free-trade agreement could undermine an existing continent-wide commerce pact and limit Africa’s power to negotiate with the US. Washington announced on February 7 that it intended to start trade negotiations with Kenya. President Donald Trump’s administration doesn’t favour renewing the Africa Growth Opportunity Act, a trade deal under which 39 sub-Saharan African countries have duty-free access ...

Bloomberg China pledged to roll out more effective stimulus despite a widening fiscal gap as the novel coronavirus hits an already slowing economy, highlighting the challenges the epidemic is imposing as the death toll stacks up and thousands of new cases are reported each day. The nation will further perfect and implement measures this year to reduce corporate taxes and ...

Bloomberg Singapore is set to deliver a strong budget this week to offset the damage to the economy from the coronavirus, with analysts predicting the biggest deficit in almost two decades. The fiscal gap may widen to 1.5% of gross domestic product in the year beginning April 1, the highest since the 1.7% shortfall recorded in the 2001 financial year, ...

Bloomberg Scarce components have pushed the manufacturing costs for Sony Corp’s next PlayStation to around $450 per unit, forcing a difficult price-setting decision in its battle with Microsoft Corp, according to people with knowledge of the matter. The Japanese conglomerate is preparing to gradually replace the six-year-old PS4 console, releasing its PlayStation 5 the same holiday season its archrival debuts ...

Bloomberg Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said he’s committed to ending the conflict with Russia, after the appointment of a new Kremlin envoy signalled a possible opening for peace efforts. “On the first day of my presidency, I said openly: we didn’t start this war, but we have to end it,” Zelenskiy, elected in a landslide election last year on a ...

ABU DHABI / WAM An initiative designed to support the Union of the Comoros in its efforts to safeguard its living heritage has been completed successfully with the support of the Department of Culture and Tourism – Abu Dhabi, DCT Abu Dhabi. The ‘Capacity building project for the safeguarding of Comoros’ intangible cultural heritage for sustainable development’, which was carried ...

DUBAI / WAM Dubai’s Roads and Transport Authority (RTA), on Saturday opened the last two phases of roads leading to Expo 2020 site. Construction work under these two phases included a flyover linking Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Road and Expo Road as well as two flyovers on Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Road to ensure a smooth traffic flow to and ...

SHARJAH / WAM The Sharjah Economic Development Department (SEDD) in a strategic partnership with the Ministry of Energy and Industry (MOEI) will host the UAE-Russian Business Forum, on February 19, 2020. The Forum aims to enhance and strengthen ties of trade, economic and investment cooperation between UAE, in general, and Sharjah, in particular, and the Federal Republic of Russia, and ...

DUBAI / WAM Dubai Police, in cooperation with Etisalat, has officially unveiled the first 5G-enabled smart patrol in the Middle East and North Africa region. The smart police patrol is equipped with Artificial Intelligence (AI) technologies and high-tech cameras connected directly to the Control and Command room via 5G network. Brigadier Khaled Nasser Al-Razooqi, Director of the General Department of ...

Bloomberg US Secretary of Defense Mark Esper warned that China is moving further outside the international order as the world’s second largest economy pursues aggressive economic and military policies at the expense of other nations. Under the leadership of Xi Jinping, China “is heading even faster and further in the wrong direction — more internal repression, more predatory economic practices, ...