Lifestyle Netflix drops Meghan Markle’s animated series Streaming platform Netflix Inc said on Sunday it had decided to stop work on Meghan Markle’s family series “Pearl” as it reviewed animated content. Dropping several projects, including Markle’s, was part of strategic decisions on production of animated series, the company said in a statement, without providing further details on its decision. Archewell Productions, the […] May 6, 2022
Banking and Finance Buffett says inflation an issue for Berkshire, it ‘swindles almost everybody’ Warren Buffett said on Saturday that inflation “swindles almost everybody” and that it was “extraordinary” how much inflation had been seen in Berkshire Hathaway Inc’s own businesses. Inflation has surged in the United States, hitting a new 40-year annualized high of 6.6% in March, and U.S. Federal Reserve policymakers appear set to deliver a series […] May 6, 2022
Media & Advertising Prince Alwaleed confirms $1.9bn stake in Elon Musk’s ‘new’ Twitter Saudi Arabian investor Prince Alwaleed bin Talal said on Thursday billionaire entrepreneur Elon Musk will be an “excellent leader” for Twitter, as he agreed to roll his $1.89 billion stake into the deal rather than cashing out. Prince Alwaleed had on April 14 opposed the buyout bid, saying the price offered by Elon Musk, the […] May 6, 2022
Sustainability Heavy rain and floods in Afghanistan kill 22 Heavy rain and flooding has killed 22 people, destroyed hundreds of homes and damaged crops in Afghanistan, which is already facing a humanitarian crisis, a disaster management official said today. The Taliban government, struggling to cope with the disaster that has affected more than a third of its provinces, will approach international relief organisations for […] May 5, 2022
Analysis Business of Sport Qatar scores as World Cup host but may not net long-term goals Tucked behind Doha’s $300-million Lusail Boulevard, where construction workers are toiling to transform desert into a Champs-Elysees-inspired commercial thoroughfare before the 2022 soccer World Cup, sits a sole convenience store. With the main stadium, four skyscrapers and apartments designed for some 200,000 people all in Lusail, its manager Younes waits somewhat anxiously behind his till, […] May 5, 2022
Aviation Lufthansa sees return to profit as air travel rebounds Germany’s Lufthansa is looking to return to an operating profit this quarter as demand for travel rises with the easing of coronavirus curbs and the airline raises ticket prices to offset higher costs. The group, which owns the German airlines Lufthansa and Eurowings as well as Swiss, Austrian and Brussels Airlines, doubled sales in the […] May 5, 2022
Tourism Cruise giant blames slow summer demand on Ukraine crisis Royal Caribbean Group on Thursday flagged slow summer demand for European cruises due to the Ukraine crisis, after a dull first quarter as it reeled under a resurgence in coronavirus infections in some parts of the world. Shares of the cruise operator fell about 5 percent to $73.87 after Royal Caribbean Group said higher fuel […] May 5, 2022
Cisco unveils technology to predict network issues Cisco Systems Inc on Wednesday unveiled a technology that it says can predict issues on enterprise networks before they happen to help prevent problems and increase reliability. The predictive software engine will gather data from various sources within a company’s network, learn the patterns and help engineers find hardware issues, bandwidth spikes and app configuration […] May 4, 2022
Real Estate Oman’s wealth fund splits assets into two portfolios The Oman Investment Authority has split its assets into local and foreign portfolios, the state news agency said on Sunday. Abdulsalam al-Murshidi, head of the Omani Investment Authority, said the “Generation Portfolio”, which consists of foreign assets and some local assets in various instruments including public and private markets, in addition to realestate, aims at […] May 4, 2022
Banking and Finance Citi to sell Bahrain consumer business Citigroup Inc agreed to sell its consumer banking business in Bahrain to Ahli United Bank (AUB) for an undisclosed sum, the US bank said, as it exits retail operations in 13 markets across the globe. The deal includes Citi’s retail banking, credit card and unsecured lending businesses in Bahrain but excludes institutional businesses. Citi said […] May 4, 2022
Tourism Airlines forecast higher fares after energy price spike Airlines will pass on rising oil prices to passengers through higher fares relatively quickly, but the spike in energy costs will worsen the industry’s overall outlook in 2022, according to the head of the International Air Transport Association. Speaking after JetBlue launched a counter-bid for US budget carrier Spirit Airlines, director general Willie Walsh also […] May 4, 2022
Banking and Finance Egypt’s urban inflation accelerates to 10.5% Egypt’s annual urban consumer price inflation accelerated in March to 10.5 percent, its highest in nearly three years and faster than analysts had expected, data from the state statistics agency CAPMAS showed on Sunday. The inflation figure, up from 8.8 percent in February, was greater than a median forecast of 10 percent in a Reuters […] May 4, 2022
BBVA exceeds 50% in Garanti after raising offer for bank Spain’s BBVA said on Monday it had already secured more than 50 percent of Garanti after raising its bid for the rest of the Turkish bank it does not own, takingadvantage of a slide in the lira with a 1.985 billion euro ($2.1 billion) offer to increase its emerging market exposure. BBVA had said earlier it had upped […] May 4, 2022
Banking and Finance Egypt gets Gulf aid as eyes turn to currency flexibility The central bank allowed Egypt’s pound, which had been stable since November 2020, to drop by 14 percent against the dollar on March 21 after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine prompted investors to withdraw billions of dollars from Egyptian treasury markets. Last week Saudi Arabia said it had deposited $5 billion with Egypt’s central bank and […] May 4, 2022
Real Estate UAE’s Aldar Properties reports 26.5% Q1 jump UAE-based developer Aldar Properties on Wednesday reported a 26.5 percent increase in first-quarter profit driven by record quarterly sales and the inclusion of the financial results of Egypt developer SODIC, in which it co-owns a majority share. The company made AED 688 million ($187 million) in the quarter, up from 544 million a year earlier, […] May 4, 2022
Binance registers with France crypto regulator, advances European plans Cryptocurrency exchange Binance has registered with France’s market regulator, Chief Executive Officer Changpeng Zhao said in a tweet, advancing the company’s plan to make Paris its European base. “It’s a real stamp of quality,” said Binance France’s General Manager David Prinçay, referring to the registration with the regulator, AMF. “The perception is changing. It allows […] May 3, 2022
Microsoft partners with Epic Games to bring ‘Fortnite’ to Xbox Cloud Gaming Microsoft Corp is partnering with Epic Games to make “Fortnite” available with Xbox Cloud Gaming, Chief Executive Officer Satya Nadella said in a tweet on Thursday. The software behemoth has been looking to bolster its firepower in the booming videogaming market and earlier this year unveiled a $68.7 billion takeover of “Call of Duty” maker […] May 3, 2022
Retail Moncler bets on store expansion, footwear to drive growth Italian luxury group Moncler said on Thursday it would open, refurbish or relocate 200 stores in the next three years, mostly in Asia, and diversify into shoes and clothes for warmer weather. The group, which in 2020 acquired streetwear brand Stone Island, also said it expected to beat analyst forecasts for annual sales of 2.43 […] May 3, 2022
Analysis Russia-Ukraine fallout puts fragile ‘frontier’ economies in MENA at risk The fallout of the Russia-Ukraine war has just helped tip two of world’s poorest countries, Pakistan and Sri Lanka, into full-blown crises, and the list of those at risk – and the queue at the International Monetary Fund’s door – will only get longer from here. Countries such as Turkey, Tunisia and Egypt are at […] May 3, 2022
Analysis Industry In Syria, business hub hopes to drive recovery from war In an industrial zone in northern Syria’s rebel-held city of Al-Bab, Abu Omar al-Shihabi’s smelter churns out iron bars he says can compete with any produced in Syria and beyond. The industrial zone is an unlikely business hub. It is located on the edge of a city which was once occupied by Islamic State and […] May 3, 2022
Analysis Energy Saudi Arabia leads OPEC move to drop energy watchdog’s data A decision driven by Saudi Arabia that OPEC+ should stop using oil data from the West’s energy watchdog reflected concern about US influence on the figures, said sources, adding to strain on ties between Riyadh and Washington. The Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and allies including Russia, a group referred to as OPEC+, has […] May 3, 2022
Facebook-owner opens access to AI large language model Facebook-owner Meta Platforms Inc is opening up access to a large language model for artificial intelligence research, the social media company said on Tuesday. Meta said its model was the first 175-billion-parameter language model to be made available to the broader AI research community. “Large language models” are natural language processing systems which are trained […] May 3, 2022
