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  Dubai / Emirates Business Marka PJSC (DFM: MARKA), the first public joint stock retail operator in the UAE, is expanding its hospitality portfolio in partnership with Hearst Magazines International, with a second launch of the popular Harper’s BAZAAR Café located at CITY WALK Dubai. Elegant in concept, Harper’s BAZAAR Café is at the heart of Marka’s hospitality expansion plans. ...

  Rome / AFP Hard on the heels of stoking anger over plans to open a restaurant in the Vatican, McDonald’s has filed a $20-million lawsuit against Florence for blocking a proposed outlet in the city’s most revered square. The US fast-food chain said it was claiming 17.8 million euros ($19.65 million) in damages after the city rejected an application ...

  Bloomberg India plans to sell as much as 50 billion rupees ($750 million) of offshore rupee bonds in London and Singapore and use the proceeds to accelerate construction of roads and ports in Asia’s third-largest economy. State-owned National Highways Authority of India will raise the funds, Transport Minister Nitin Gadkari said, adding that the masala bonds are expected to ...

  Beijing / AFP Chinese exports sank for a seventh consecutive month in October, data showed on Tuesday, as weak global demand dealt a blow to the world’s number two economy following recent signs of stability. The result, which missed forecasts, comes as the country’s export-oriented companies see their margins squeezed by rising labour costs and increasing competition from southeastern ...

Bloomberg India will abolish the country’s largest currency notes in a fight against unaccounted wealth and corruption, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said in an unscheduled address to the nation. The government will scrap 500 rupee and 1,000 rupee notes from Wednesday. The notes in circulation will have to be deposited in banks by end of December, he said in a ...

  Bloomberg Toyota Motor Corp. raised its full-year profit forecast as the yen’s rally stopped short of levels the automaker predicted, providing some respite from a sales slowdown that’s threatening its position as the world’s top seller. Operating profit will probably be 1.7 trillion yen ($16.3 billion) for the year ending in March 2017, compared with the 1.6 trillion-yen forecast ...

  Bloomberg Elevated gold prices and India’s push for more transparency on purchases and income disclosure will cut the nation’s demand for bullion in 2016 to its lowest in seven years, before consumption recovers in 2017, according to the World Gold Council. The WGC trimmed its demand estimate for a second time this year to between 650 and 750 metric ...

  Coca / DPA In earlier times, the water here used to sing. “Not anymore,” says Silvia Shiguangi from Ecuador’s Huaorani tribe. Bananas and cassava no longer grow well and the fish catch has sunk dramatically. “We used to live from what the forest gave us,” says the young mother, who left her village in the Yasuni National Park, home ...

  Freiburg / DPA Gardeners love to try out plants far from their native range, but can you believe that someone wants to grow tea near the Alps? “We’re having a tinker,” say farmer Erwin Wagner and gardener Werner Hanser. It’s three years since they began their experiment, and as the winter approaches, they’re bringing the Chinese tea plants, all ...

  AFP The OPEC cartel warned on Tuesday that the oil industry needs to step up investments to guarantee sufficient supply as low prices stimulate demand. “Given the demand and supply outlook, there is a need for significant investments across the entire industry,” the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries said in its annual report on the sector. The 14-nation ...