Saudi, Iraq ministers agree to stronger oil-cuts commitment

Bloomberg OPEC’s two biggest producers agreed to strengthen their commitment to production cuts and maintain balance in world crude markets, Saudi Energy Minister Khalid Al-Falih said after talks with his Iraqi counterpart Jabbar al-Luaibi, according to the kingdom’s state news agency SPA. The two ministers also agreed to ensure coordination of their nations’ oil policies, Saudi Press Agency reported, citing ...

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‘Saudi favours New York for Aramco listing despite risks’

RIYADH / Reuters Saudi Arabia favours New York for the main foreign listing of state oil giant Aramco, even though some financial and legal advisers have recommended London as a less problematic and risky option, people familiar with the matter told Reuters. A final decision on where to stage what could be the world’s largest initial public offering will be ...

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India pledges to meet budget deficit, but fiscal outlook clouded

Bloomberg India warned that fiscal slippages could be a drag on Asia’s third-largest economy in the year to March 2018, but pledged to meet its budget deficit targets as it sought to reassure investors and global rating companies. The mid-year survey of the economy released by Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s chief economic adviser, Arvind Subramanian, also called for interest rates ...

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Facebook quietly launches app in China

Bloomberg Facebook Inc. has found a new way to enter China: secretly launching an app under a different name. The photo-sharing app, called Colorful Balloons, was released in May to help Facebook enter a market that it’s been blocked from since 2009, according to a person familiar with the matter. Facebook has said its goal of connecting the world wouldn’t ...

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Singapore GDP growth beats forecasts on trade

Bloomberg Singapore’s economy posted faster growth in the second quarter than previously estimated by the government as a recovery in global trade helped to buoy manufacturing. Highlights of GDP report Gross domestic product rose a seasonally-adjusted and annualised 2.2 percent in the second quarter from the previous three months, the Ministry of Trade and Industry said. As one of Asia’s ...

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Tata Steel inches closer to Europe JV

Bloomberg Tata Steel Ltd. and the trustee of the British Steel Pension Scheme have agreed to terms to separate the plan from the Indian steelmaker’s UK unit, eliminating the last hurdle for it to proceed with a strategy to place European operations into a joint venture. The Mumbai-based company has signed the regulated apportionment arrangement with the pension trustee and ...

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China’s Xi seeks to calm US-N Korea tensions

Bloomberg China’s President Xi Jinping moved to calm growing tensions over North Korea, telling US leader Donald Trump in a phone call that all sides should maintain restraint and avoid inflammatory comments. Xi’s comments, reported by China’s CCTV, came shortly after Trump added to his recent aggressive tweets by saying that US military options were “locked and loaded” if North ...

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Hezbollah steers Lebanon closer to Syria

BEIRUT / Reuters Hezbollah and its allies are pressing the Lebanese state to normalise relations with President Bashar al-Assad’s government in Syria, testing Lebanon’s policy of “dissociation” from the Syrian conflict and igniting a political row. Calls for closer ties with the Syrian government, including on refugee returns and military operations on the Lebanon-Syria border, come as Assad regains control ...

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Trump to send Kushner to ME for Israel-Palestine talks

Bloomberg President Donald Trump is dispatching a team led by his son-in-law and senior adviser Jared Kushner to Israel in pursuit of a Middle East peace deal. Trump’s sending the delegation to try to take advantage of a period of relative calm following violent clashes last month over Israeli security arrangements at the Jerusalem shrine known to Jews as Temple ...

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Nairobi maintains uneasy calm after poll protests

Bloomberg After a night of protests against a disputed election, an uneasy calm prevailed across most of the Kenyan capital on Saturday, as residents stayed home, shops and markets remained shut and the police and paramilitary forces maintained a heavy presence. President Uhuru Kenyatta was declared the winner of an Aug 8 vote the electoral commission said was free and ...

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