Business/Business News

BRUSSELS: Euro zone finance ministers scrapped plans to meet on Monday as talks on a deal to restructure Greece’s massive debt dragged on, but could gather later next week if agreement is reached. “There will be no Eurogroup meeting on Monday,�...

  Rolled steel coils at the POSCO plant in Pohang. POSCO, backed by billionaire investor Warren Buffett, reported a smaller-than-expected 33 percent gain in quarterly profit, the latest steelmaker to post disappointing results as the slowing glob...

BRUSSELS/LONDON: Squeezed supply of Russian gas to some EU countries fell further yesterday, the European Union’s executive said, but added the situation had not reached emergency levels despite freezing temperatures gripping much of Europe.    ...

COLOMBO: Sri Lanka’s central bank yesterday raised its key interest rate for the first time in five years and asked commercial banks to reduce lending in the face of a trade deficit. The Central Bank of Sri Lanka hiked its benchmark lending rate b...

  WASHINGTON: The US economy created jobs at the fastest pace in nine months in January and the unemployment rate dropped to a near three-year low of 8.3 percent, providing some measure of comfort for President Barack Obama who faces re-election in...

KHARTOUM: Global oil traders are nervously watching a dragging dispute over compensation between Sudan and breakaway South Sudan, whose impact reaches beyond major buyer China, analysts say. The South announced last Sunday it had nearly completed a ...

  A Boeing 737-600 plane of the Hungarian Airlines Malev on the runway of  the Liszt Ferenc International Airport in Budapest yesterday. BUDAPEST: Hungary’s national airline Malev, which has been making losses for years, was grounded yesterda...

ATHENS: Greece’s government struggled yesterday to agree tough labour reform that appeases both wary political leaders and irate lenders faced with a rising bill to save the country from bankruptcy.     Prime Minister Lucas Papademos is under p...

beijing: China’s Premier Wen Jiabao said yesterday the Asian giant had neither the ability nor the intention to “buy Europe”, amid concerns over growing Chinese investment in debt-stricken eurozone economies. China is “willing to cooperate w...

  Job seekers crowd to visit booths of companies at a job fair in Weifang, Shandong province, China, yesterday. Different from their parents, who after working in cities would return home to rural China with their savings, the new generation of m...

  TOKYO: Standard & Poor’s yesterday downgraded the credit rating of Japanese electronics maker Sharp, which has announced an expected full-year net loss of $3.8bn. The agency said it had lowered the company’s long-term corporate credit and se...

TOKYO: Japan’s Panasonic yesterday warned it would see its worst-ever net loss of 780bn yen ($10.2bn) for the year to March, blaming the strong yen, flooding in Thailand, and acquisition costs. The electronics giant said the huge net loss — whic...

By Satish Kanady DOHA: Qatar’s intention to reduce its fiscal dependency on the hydrocarbon sector  will take  considerable amount of time. The recent increases in its current expenditures and the large public sector salary and pension increase ...

DUBAI: The central banks of UAE and Qatar have told lenders to stop financing trade with Iran, bankers said yesterday, cutting another source of credit for a country struggling under Western economic sanctions imposed over its nuclear programme. The...

  A Facebook sign is seen at the main entrance of Facebook’s new headquarters in Menlo Park, California. Facebook filed paperwork to go public, seeking to raise $5bn on Wall Street in the largest flotation ever by an Internet company.

Doha: Qatar Exchange pursued its upward trend yesterday adding 65.96 points or 0.77 percent to 8,636.37 points from 8,570.41 on Thursday. Top gainers were Qatar National Bank which was up 0.76 percent to QR133, Industries Qatar was up by 1.51 percent...

DUBAI: The Dubai government has walked away from talks about a $10bn debt restructuring of Dubai Group, leaving the firm, part of the ruler of the emirate’s personal empire, to deal directly with creditors and dashing hopes of a state-backed rescue...

LONDON: British gas prices are likely to become more volatile and prone to spikes over the next few years after the UK has moved from self-sufficiency to increasing dependence on imports of liquefied natural gas (LNG) from Qatar. The latest UK gover...

Doha: Qatar General Insurance and Reinsurance Company disclosed the financial statements for the year ended December 31, 2011. The financials revealed a net profit of QR170.1m in 2011 compared with QR119.5m in 2010. The earnings per share (EPS) amoun...

  LONDON:  Energy giant Royal Dutch Shell said yesterday that 2011 net profit jumped 54 percent to $30.92bn on higher oil prices, but also revealed a drop in fourth-quarter earnings. The profit after tax figure compared with net income of $20.4...

  From left: Nigel Blackaby, Glenn Ensor, Abdulsattar Al Rasheed, Hamad Faleh Al Hajri, and Rashid Nasser Al Hajre during the press conference yesterday.  Abdul Basit BY MOHAMMAD SHOEB DOHA: The water sector in the GCC region is expected to r...

  Mohammed Esmael Al Emadi, Chairman of Gulf Warehousing Company, addressing the company’s general assembly meeting yesterday. Abdul Basit DOHA: The Gulf Warehousing Company’s (GWC) ordinary general assembly meeting has approved the company...

DOHA: Doha is gearing up to host the annual Meed Qatar Projects Conference. The year 2012 event will be held this year under the patronage of H E Dr Mohammed bin Saleh Al Sada, the Minister of Energy and Industry and Chairman and Managing Director of...

ATHENS: Greece’s prime minister is seeking backing from the country’s political leaders for more austerity measures, with the International Monetary Fund warning that long-term commitment to reforms is key to securing a new bailout. Athens must ...

Doha: Qatar Exchange kept its upward trend yesterday adding 2.18 points or 0.03 percent to close at 8,570.41 points from 8,568.23 on Tuesday.  Top gainers were Industries Qatar which was up 1.53 percent to QR132.60, Masraf Al Rayan by 1.95 percent t...

  LONDON: European stock markets closed sharply higher yesterday as positive Chinese manufacturing helped to offset concerns over dragging talks on a crucial Greek debt write-down deal. Dealers said hopes especially of a soft landing for the Chi...

FRANKFURT:  The EU Commission vetoed yesterday a transatlantic tie-up of the Frankfurt and New York stock exchanges, a decision slammed here as “out of touch with reality” and marking a “dark day” for Europe. “Deutsche Boerse and NYSE Eur...

  DOHA: Business and community leaders in Qatar joined ExxonMobil in welcoming Barton  P Cahir (pictured) as the new President and General Manager of ExxonMobil Qatar Inc. at a reception  on Tuesday. In attendance were Sheikh Khalid bin Khalifa A...

  Sony Corporation Chief Executive Officer Howard Stringer and President of Consumer Products & Device Group Kazuo Hirai laugh in Tokyo in this November 2009 file photo. Sony Corp named Vice President Hirai as president and CEO yesterday. TOKYO:...

TEHRAN:  President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad predicted yesterday that Iran’s economy would grow eight percent over the next 12 months despite severe Western sanctions, as he presented his government’s annual budget to parliament. Gross domestic produ...