Friday 17 March 2017

Saudi king postpones trip to Maldives over Swine flu outbreak

Saudi king postpones trip to Maldives over Swine flu outbreak:

"Saudi Arabia’s King Salman bin Abdulaziz has postponed an official visit to the Maldives amid a storm of protest over the oil-rich kingdom’s plans for investment in the Indian Ocean state. The Maldives government blamed the postponement on an outbreak of swine flu, which has seen 105 people contract the disease, two of them fatally, since January. But the opposition pointed to disquiet over alleged plans by Abdulla Yameen, the Maldives’ president, to sell off a chain of islands and lagoons to the powerful son of King Salman, Mohammed bin Salman, Saudi Arabia’s defence minister and deputy crown prince."



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‘This is 100 per cent not going to help the Dubai property recovery’ | The National

‘This is 100 per cent not going to help the Dubai property recovery’ | The National:

"Property buyers in the UAE will end up paying more for their purchases as a rise in US interest rates threatens to delay a housing market rebound. The Central Bank of the UAE swiftly raised its interest rates because of its currency peg with the US dollar after the move by the Fed to hike interest rates by 0.25 per cent late on Wednesday. It could drive up monthly payments by as much as Dh500 a month on a mid-range villa in Dubai."



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Bob Diamond Starts U.K. Comeback With Panmure Gordon Takeover - Bloomberg

Bob Diamond Starts U.K. Comeback With Panmure Gordon Takeover - Bloomberg:

"Bob Diamond is returning to London’s financial center with a takeover of brokerage Panmure Gordon & Co. to build a boutique investment bank. The former Barclays Plc chief executive’s Atlas Merchant Capital and Qatari investment bank QInvest LLC agreed to take the 141-year-old stockbroker private for 15.5 million pounds ($19 million) in an all cash deal, according to a statement on Friday. QInvest already is Panmure’s biggest shareholder."



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Saudi Arabia Says Oil-Supply Cuts May Be Extended If Needed - Bloomberg

Saudi Arabia Says Oil-Supply Cuts May Be Extended If Needed - Bloomberg:

"OPEC and its allies may prolong production cuts after they expire in June if the world’s crude inventories remain excessive, Saudi Arabia’s Energy Minister said.

The curbs will be sustained if stockpiles are “still above the five-year average, if the markets are still not confident in the outlook, if we don’t see companies and investors feel good about the health of the global oil industry,” Khalid Al-Falih said in a Bloomberg television interview in Washington. “We want to signal to them that we’re going to do what it takes to bring the industry back to a healthy situation.”

The Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries will meet on May 25 to decide whether to continue its production cuts, aimed at ending a slump that battered the economies of energy exporters around the world. The strategy is moving global markets in the “right direction” and fundamentals have improved considerably, Al-Falih said."



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