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RITIKA SHARMA / EMIRATES BUSINESS Dip in oil prices may have affected most of the global industries in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) region, in one or the other way, but it has made little difference to the UAE’s luxury shopping sector. However the slowdown has rephrased the way customers spend. In a recently-held GCC-centric survey, it has been found that, ...

BEIJING / AP China has banned most imports of North Korean coal and iron ore, the country’s main exports, in a significant increase in pressure on the North under UN sanctions against its nuclear and missile tests. China buys an estimated two-thirds of impoverished North Korea’s exports, making Beijing’s cooperation essential for trade penalties approved by the UN Security Council ...

Bloomberg US brokers managing retirement accounts must adhere to tough new standards under an Obama administration rule released on Wednesday that aims to protect millions of savers from conflicted investment advice. The Labour Department regulation, which gave the industry some concessions from an earlier proposal, puts a capstone on President Barack Obama’s efforts to rein in Wall Street and level ...

Tripoli / AFP Libya’s UN-backed unity government moved to cement control over the country’s finances and institutions on Wednesday after the rival administration in Tripoli ceded power in a boost to efforts to end years of chaos. The concession late Tuesday by the militia-backed administration that had controlled Tripoli since 2014 was a major about-turn for a body that had ...

Matagis / AFP Azerbaijani and Armenian forces on Wednesday said they were largely observing a truce that halted four days of clashes which claimed scores of lives in the worst outbreak of violence in decades over the disputed NagornyKarabakh region. “The ceasefire was largely observed overnight along the Karabakh frontline,” the Armenia-backed separatist defence ministry in Karabakh said in a ...

Tokyo / AFP US military bases remain essential to Japan’s security, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said in an interview on Wednesday, as he brushed off comments by Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump that Tokyo should be left to defend itself. Japan’s alliance with Washington has been the bedrock of its defence since the end of World War II, and the ...

DUBAI / WAM As per the directives of Vice President and Prime Minister and Ruler of Dubai, His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, the 5th World Government Summit will be held from February 12 to 14, 2017. The Summit will expand its agenda and session topics to include economy and finance as well as health, education and government ...

RITIKA SHARMA / Emirates Business Market disruption in financial sectors, branch transformation,enhanced user experience and digitalisation of banking services are some of the main challenges haunting Middle East retail bankers. One of the key questions that remains unanswered about next generation of bank consumers in the region is — will it be mobile, online or branches? This and many other ...

Iraq / AP Fighting between Iraqi forces and militants affiliated with the IS group close to Mosul, Iraq’s second largest city, has displaced over 2,000 people in the past week. On one recent night, around a hundred people arrived on the outskirts of the town of Makhmour, in Iraq’s semi-autonomous northern Kurdish region, having fled violence. The journey ended in ...

RITIKA SHARMA / Emirates Business If you think of socialising in UAE, a nearby mall would be the first option to come to your mind. Malls are not just places of shopping in UAE, they are rather the lifeline of the country and imagining a life without access to malls is nearly impossible. Over the years, many factors have led ...