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Bloomberg The US and Taliban will sign a peace deal at the end of February, more than a year after negotiations started, paving the way for broader talks between the Afghan government and the extremist group on the country’s post-war future. The peace agreement will be signed during a ceremony, according to the group’s spokesman Zabihullah Mujahed, as well as ...

DUBAI / WAM His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, attended the opening session of Global Women’s Forum Dubai (GWFD 2020), which kicked-off on Sunday in the emirate. He was accompanied at the event by HH Sheikh Hamdan bin Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Crown Prince of ...

DUBAI / WAM HH Sheikh Hamdan bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Deputy Ruler of Dubai and UAE Minister of Finance, on Sunday opened 25th edition of Gulfood 2020, the annual food and beverage (F&B), trade show at Dubai World Trade Centre (DWTC). An open invitation for F&B producers to demonstrate how they are ‘Rethinking Food’ to serve a global population that ...

DUBAI / WAM Abdullah Al-Maeeni, Director-General of Emirates Authority for Standardisation and Metrology (ESMA) announced that the Islamic spending on food and beverages has grown by 1.6 percent, and is expected to reach $9.1 trillion in the next three years, reflecting a very important opportunity for investment and creating global halal food brands. The volume of investment opportunities in the ...

SHARJAH / WAM The Arab Children’s Parliament held its third session where members discussed the right of the Arab child to education, including: child participation in developing education, curricula and textbooks, improving the quality of education, children without schools, talents and children, and the role of education in empowering the child to participate in achieving the sustainable development goals. The ...

Bloomberg Boris Johnson’s regime change at the Treasury could herald yet more tweaks to the rules that keep Britain’s budgets in check. The shock resignation of Sajid Javid as chancellor of the exchequer last week robbed the new Conservative government of a fiscal hawk who moderated the big spending ambitions of the most powerful prime minister since Tony Blair. His ...

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 ...