MOSCOW Syrian President Bashar al Assad told Russian President Vladimir Putin that he was ready to observe a ceasefire agreement in Syria, the Kremlin said on Thursday. Putin and Assad spoke on the phone and agreed that the opening of Syria peace talks in Kazakhstan would be “an important step towards the ultimate resolution of the crisis,” the Kremlin said in a statement. (Reporting by Andrey Ostroukh; […]
By Tom Hals | WILMINGTON, Del. WILMINGTON, Del. Peabody Energy Corp said on Thursday the deadline for creditors to join financing deals aimed at bringing the largest U.S. coal miner out of bankruptcy had been extended after large investors sued to slow the process. Last week, Peabody unveiled its plan to eliminate more than $5 billion of debt and raise capital from creditors with a $750 million […]
The Syrian government and rebels have agreed a ceasefire brokered and guaranteed by Russia and Turkey, marking a potential breakthrough in efforts to end a near six-year conflict that has claimed more than 400,000 lives. Russian President Vladimir Putin said a truce would come into effect at midnight on Thursday, adding that Syria’s warring parties had signed documents detailing how it would be monitored and declaring their […]
Photo The body of a 15-year-old girl at a makeshift morgue on Thursday in the rebel-held town of Douma, Syria, on the outskirts of Damascus, after reports of airstrikes. Credit Abd Doumany/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images MOSCOW — The Syrian government and its most important ally, Russia, announced on Thursday that they had reached a cease-fire agreement with Syrian rebels and with Turkey — a potential turning […]
On the other were Mr. Netanyahu and Mr. Trump, firing back at what they deemed a hypocritical betrayal of America’s closest friend in the Middle East. Continue reading the main story If Mr. Obama and Mr. Kerry were playing for history, Mr. Netanyahu and Mr. Trump were playing for time. The departing administration intended for the speech to lay out a path to peace that they had […]
Saudi Arabia has announced a timeline for implementation of a tax on harmful products including soft drinks and cigarettes, and said it has completely ruled out income tax contrary to previous reports, according to an official document. The Fiscal Balance Program 2020 report, published by the Saudi government last week, said the kingdom would impose a 50 percent tax on soft drinks and a 100 percent tax […]
ABU DHABI // Five hundred taxis at Dubai airport will soon be equipped with free WiFi. Telecoms firm du has signed an agreement with Dubai Taxi Corporation of the Roads and Transport Authority to provide passengers with free internet and smart screens in the airport cab fleet. “Our cooperation with du to provide internet and smart screens across our Dubai Airport fleet embodies the Smart Dubai strategy […]
Chinese technology giant Tencent, along with Beijing-based mapping company NavInfo and Singapore state-owned investment firm GIC, announced this week the trio intended to jointly take up a 10 percent share of mapping company Here, with current owners Audi, BMW, and Daimler reducing their indirect holding by the same amount. As well as the share purchase, the companies announced the creation of a 50/50 joint venture between Here […]
Singapore Oil prices fell in early trade in Asia on Thursday following a surprise build in U.S. crude stocks shown in data published by the American Petroleum Institute (API) late on Wednesday. U.S. benchmark West Texas intermediate (WTI) CLc1 crude futures were down 31 cents or 0.57 percent to $53.75 at 0104 GMT after settling up 16 cents at $54.06 per barrel in the previous session. Brent […]
Planemaker Airbus said on Tuesday it was postponing the delivery of 12 A380 planes to Emirates Airline over the next two years, and added it would step up cost cuts to minimise the impact of these delays. Airbus, whose main rival is US group Boeing, said six deliveries of the A380 would be postponed from 2017 to 2018, with another six postponed from 2018 to 2019, following an agreement […]
If there is one thing that unites Middle Eastern leaders these days, it is concern over what Donald Trump might do in 2017. A true political outsider, Trump will arrive in the White House next month with no track record and no political markers that might give an indication. The list of policy problems is certainly long, yet his list of policy ideas, as mooted during his […]
US secretary of state John Kerry delivered a stinging rebuke of the Israeli government on Wednesday, accusing it of making the establishment of a viable Palestinian state nearly impossible through the expansion of settlements in the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem. With Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu joining forces with president-elect Donald Trump to attack the Obama administration, Mr Kerry said that the US allowed a […]
By Lesley Wroughton and Yeganeh Torbati | WASHINGTON WASHINGTON U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry warned on Wednesday that Israel’s building of settlements in occupied territory was endangering Middle East peace, expressing unusually frank frustration with the longtime American ally. In a swiftly issued statement, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu accused Kerry of showing bias. He said Israel did not need to be lectured to by foreign […]
Bishkek : 28 December 2016 His Excellency Mr. Adylbek Kasymaliev, Minister of Finance of the Kyrgyz Republic and Mr. Hisham Taleb Maarouf, Director of the Regional Office Almaty of the Islamic Development Bank Group, signed the Loan Agreement for financing of the Rural Water Supply and Sanitation Improvement Project. Total amount of the loan financing is US$ 20 million. It merits highlighting that the loan is sourced […]
By Yashaswini Swamynathan Wall Street lost ground for the first time in three days on Wednesday due to declines across sectors, slowing the Dow’s race to 20,000. The blue-chip index came within 19 points of the milestone shortly after the open, before slipping into negative territory as losses in Boeing (BA.N) offset Goldman Sach’s (GS.N) 0.86 percent gain. Boeing fell 0.8 percent to $156.26 after Delta Air […]
By Orhan Coskun and Ellen Francis | ANKARA/BEIRUT ANKARA/BEIRUT Turkey and Russia have prepared an agreement for a ceasefire in Syria, Turkey’s foreign minister said on Wednesday, adding that Ankara would not give up its opposition to President Bashar al-Assad staying on as leader. The five-year-old Syrian civil war raged on, with heavy casualties reported in the siege of a town held by Islamic State, and the […]
AMMAN Syria’s main rebel groups were discussing with Turkey a ceasefire proposal being negotiated with Russia but had rejected Moscow’s demand to exclude a rebel stronghold near the capital from any deal, a senior rebel official said on Wednesday. Munir al Sayal, the head of the political wing of Ahrar al Sham, whose group is involved in the talks with Turkey, said it was premature to talk […]
By Andrew Osborn and Orhan Coskun | MOSCOW/ANKARA MOSCOW/ANKARA Syria would be divided into informal zones of regional power influence and Bashar al-Assad would remain president for at least a few years under an outline deal between Russia, Turkey and Iran, sources say. Such a deal, which would allow regional autonomy within a federal structure controlled by Assad’s Alawite sect, is in its infancy, subject to change […]
In the latest snub of president Obama and the US State Department, on Wednesday Turkey and Russia reached an agreement for a ceasefire in Syria, Turkey’s foreign minister said, and according to Anadolu News Agency, will aim to put it into effect by midnight. Anadolu, citing sources, said the two countries have reached a consensus that will be presented to participants in the conflict on expanding the […]
By Se Young Lee and Stephen Nellis | SEJONG, South Korea/SAN FRANCISCO SEJONG, South Korea/SAN FRANCISCO South Korea’s antitrust regulator fined Qualcomm Inc (QCOM.O) 1.03 trillion won ($854 million) for what it called unfair business practices in patent licensing and modem chip sales, a decision the U.S. chipmaker said it will challenge in court. The fine, the largest ever levied in South Korea, marks the latest antitrust […]
Qualcomm has been fined 1.03 trillion won ($865 million) by the South Korean Fair Trade Commission (KFTC) over antitrust violations, with the regulator finding the chip giant’s business practices to be in violation of competition law. Qualcomm’s business model includes collecting royalty payments from clients, which are calculated on the price of the handset using the chip, rather than the price of the chipset itself, and royalties […]
(Image: Tesla) Tesla and Panasonic on Tuesday announced they will begin making photovoltaic cells and modules at a $256 million factory in upstate New York. The PV cells and modules will be used in solar panels Tesla will be manufacturing to store power in customers’ homes through Tesla’s energy storage products, the Powerwall and Powerpack. Production of the first PV modules will begin in summer 2017, and […]
After a two-year experiment with free markets, the pain of low oil prices forced the world’s biggest producers to join forces in 2016 and tackle a global supply glut. Saudi Arabia-led Opec and non-member countries, primarily Russia, agreed after months of discussion and back channel diplomacy to cut production for the first time since the global financial crisis. Prices look set to end the year in the […]
By Andrew Osborn and Tom Perry | MOSCOW/BEIRUT MOSCOW/BEIRUT Russia’s foreign minister on Tuesday said the Syrian government was consulting with the opposition ahead of possible peace talks, while a Saudi-backed opposition group said it knew nothing of the negotiations but supported a ceasefire. In an interview with Interfax news agency, Sergei Lavrov did not say where the consultations were taking place or which opposition groups were […]
