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  Bloomberg Egypt made an official trade agency responsible for inspecting imported wheat, a step that could end disruptions in the purchases of world’s biggest wheat buyer by replacing quarantine officials who rejected several shipments this year for containing the ergot fungus. The General Organization for Export and Import Control, or GOEIC, will be the sole state body authorized to ...

  Reuters Saudi Arabia’s main sovereign wealth fund, Public Investment Fund (PIF), is considering buying a stake in Riyadh-based ACWA Power, which operates power and water plants around the world, sources familiar with the matter said. PIF, which already owns a 13.7 percent stake in ACWA indirectly through a subsidiary, invited investment banks last month to pitch for the role ...

  AFP Israel will on Tuesday launch a bidding process for oil-and-gas exploration licences off its coast in the Mediterranean, the first such offers in four years. The government has high hopes for the new blocks being offered following the discoveries of the Tamar and Leviathan natural gas fields off its coast since 2009. Israel hopes the Leviathan field will ...

  AFP Tehran officials shut schools on Monday as the first of the wint- er’s heavy pollution hit the Iran- ian capital. A blanket of choking brown-white smog descended on the city on Sunday, blocking out the view of the mountains that line its northern edge and leading many of its 14 million residents to retreat indoors or don face ...

  Bloomberg A Vietnamese village has become “a supermarket for illegal wildlife trafficking” raking in millions of dollars, a special hearing was told on Monday. The two-day public hearing in The Hague is laying out the findings of a year-long undercover investigation by the new Wildlife Justice Commission. The probe has provided “clear and irrefutable evidence of an industrial-scale crime ...

  Bloomberg China National Petroleum Corp. plans to spin off most non-energy assets — a portfolio comprising roughly 10 percent of its workforce — as low oil prices force the state-run behemoth to streamline, according to people with knowledge of the matter. Under a plan detailed at an internal meeting in Beijing last month, CNPC would bundle businesses employing about ...

  Bloomberg China’s largest theater operator said a slump in box-office sales nation- wide leaves the company, which has bucked the trend at its own cinemas, in position to buy rivals at cheaper valuations. Wanda Cinema Line Co., the film exhibitor arm of billionaire Wang Jianlin’s Wanda Group, is maintaining its target to use acquisitions and organic growth to add ...

  Bloomberg Japan’s economy grew more than forecast in the three months through September, as a rebound in exports compensated for continued weak spending at home by people and companies. Gross domestic product expanded by an annualized 2.2 percent, according to data released by the Cabinet Office on Monday (median estimate of economists +0.8 percent). Private consumption rose 0.1 percent ...

  Reuters Profit-taking hit stocks in Egypt and Saudi Arabia on Monday following strong rallies in both markets, while general weakness in emerging markets dragged down the United Arab Emirates and Qatar. Cairo’s blue chip index, which had soared 28.1 percent since the Egyptian pound was floated on Nov. 3, fell 2.0 percent ending 12 consecutive sessions of gains. The ...

  London / AFP European stock markets rallied on Monday and the dollar surged to multi-month highs, with traders shrugging off concerns over the Trump presidency and weak Chinese economic data. In foreign exchange, the euro struck a ten-month low at $1.0728, while the dollar reached also a five-month peak versus the yen. “European shares are trading higher… despite disappointing ...