Masonry Layout

  Ulan Bator / AFP US Secretary of State John Kerry on Sunday warned Beijing against setting up an air defence identification zone (ADIZ) over the disputed South China Sea during a visit to Mongolia. Washington would consider the establishment of such a zone—which would require civilian aircraft to identify themselves to military controllers—”a provocative and destabilising act,” Kerry said in ...

  Dubai / Emirates Business The upturn in the UAE’s non-oil private sector regained some momentum midway through the second quarter, thanks mainly to a sharp expansion of output. Activity increased at the fastest pace in eight months during May, helped by a pick-up in new business growth. However, data pointed to areas of underlying fragility, as both employment and ...

  ALKESH SHARMA / Emirates Business Financial dynamics are continuously transforming for good reasons in the UAE, which boasts of a much denser concentration of credit cards when compared with other countries in the Middle East. Plastic money has taken the society with a storm and has become regular norm of the daily life. However, economists believe that plastic money ...

  Hanoi / AFP Dozens of activists were detained in Vietnam’s two biggest cities on Sunday as they tried to hold protests calling for greater government transparency over a recent spate of mass fish deaths. Tonnes of dead fish and other marine life began washing up on central Vietnamese shores two months ago and continued to appear for two to ...

  Bloomberg The Swiss probably rejected two popular initiatives that constituted the latest threat to the country’s business-friendly environment. Voters dismissed a measure that would have reduced the pay of Swisscom AG’s chief executive officer by three quarters and also shot down a proposal to establish a universal basic income, according to projections broadcast on Swiss television SRF on Sunday. ...

  Vienna / AFP OPEC looks to be in a happier place with oil prices recovering, but its inability to agree an output ceiling to restrain the flow of crude betrays lingering divisions that could spell trouble ahead, analysts warn. Meeting in Vienna on Thursday, the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries expressed confidence that the crisis of the past ...

  Bloomberg Policy makers should move beyond short-term budget and inflation targets that leave their economies exposed to longer-term debt bubbles like the ones hindering growth since the 2008 financial crisis, Bank of Canada Governor Stephen Poloz said. Central banks with inflation targets like Canada’s are finding that the benefits gained from short-term stability can create dangers in the background ...

  Bloomberg Brazil’s market for distressed consumer and small-business debt will increase about 9 percent this year as the nation’s worst recession in a century drives banks to sell assets, according to estimates by one of the biggest investors in the securities. Banks will unload portfolios of non-performing loans with a face value of about 25 billion reais ($7 billion) ...

  BAGHDAD/ AP In March, a senior commander with the IS group was driving through northern Syria on orders to lead militants in the fighting there when a drone blasted his vehicle to oblivion. The killing of Abu Hayjaa Al Tunsi, a Tunisian extremist, sparked a panicked hunt within the group’s ranks for spies who could have tipped off the ...

  Sharjah / WAM Since its establishment of American University of Sharjah (AUS) has been envisaged as an institution of excellence designed to meet the present and future needs of society, said His Highness Sheikh Dr Sultan bin Muhammad Al Qasimi, Supreme Council Member, Ruler of Sharjah, and President of AUS, at the AUS Spring 2016 graduation ceremony held on Saturday ...