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  Ras Al Khaimah / Emirates Business Ras Al Khaimah, the UAE’s northern-most emirate, is readying this month to host its biggest ever Awafi Festival – the 14th in the annual series. The three-week festival, a defining event in the emirate’s tourism calendar, yearly attracts visitors from all over the GCC, who descend on the mountain-desert-beach destination to celebrate its ...

  Paris / AFP A pact by leading producers to cut output could quickly begin sopping up the glut on the oil market that has weighed on prices, the IEA said on Tuesday as it also hiked its demand forecast. The agreements, if implemented, would “hasten the market’s return to balance by working off the inventory overhang,” said the International Energy ...

  Bloomberg Saudi Arabia has hired consultants to advise on plans to create top global companies in industries from petrochemicals to telecommunications as it seeks to bolster its economy and reputation, according to people with knowledge of the matter. The kingdom has identified about five companies — including Saudi Arabian Oil Co., Saudi Basic Industries Corp. and Saudi Telecom Co. ...

  Tehran / AFP Iran’s President Hassan Rouhani on Tuesday ordered the country’s scientists to start work on nuclear-powered ships in response to the expected renewal of sanctions by the United States. In letters read out on state television, Rouhani criticised the US move as a breach of last year’s nuclear accord and told Iran’s Atomic Energy Organisation to start work ...

  Tehran / AFP Iran signed preliminary agreements with Russia’s Gazprom on Tuesday to develop two major oil fields in the latest of a flurry of deals with foreign firms, local media reported. The deals open the way for Gazprom to carry out studies at the Cheshmekosh and Changouleh fields near the border with Iraq, according to the Shana news agency, ...

  Bloomberg India’s biggest gas utility is seeking a price cut and other changes to a 20-year liquefied natural gas supply contract from Gazprom PJSC, the latest in a series of concessions sought by buyers amid a global gas glut. GAIL India Ltd. is pushing to overhaul the 2.5 million ton a year contract with the Russian gas giant that ...

  Bloomberg The year 2017 will mark the 10th anniversary of Apple’s iPhone, the device that revolutionized mobile telephony and gave rise to the phenomenal success of the smartphone. With Gartner predicting worldwide annual sales of more than 1.5 billion units, here a few ways that smartphone devices could evolve in the coming years. When Steve Jobs unveiled the first ...

  Relaxnews As we head to the end of the year, the strains of work and modern life could be taking a toll on your sleep schedule. With the importance of a good night’s sleep at the forefront of health this year, here are some of the ways in which the latest technology releases can help, not hinder, your shut-eye, ...

  NEW YORK / AP Don’t count on smartphone health apps in an emergency: A review shows many don’t warn when you’re in danger. The study published in the journal Health Affairs found problems even with apps considered to be among the highest-quality offerings on the market. There’s been a proliferation of health apps for mobile phones. According to the ...

  Bloomberg Davis, a marketing and management consultant to other small business owners, was so immersed in emails, texts and social media that she was getting only four or five hours of sleep a night and her husband said he felt invisible. It also hurt her productivity — she’d get distracted reading people’s posts and realize she’d lost two hours ...