Equitativa, the largest REIT (real estate investment trust) manager in the GCC, said its property operating income for the first quarter hit Dh48.6 million ($13.2 million), up 23 per cent over last year, thus reflecting its active management and selective approach to asset acquisitions.

A major player in the region, Equitativa is also the manager of Emirates REIT, the world’s largest shari’a compliant REIT and the first such reaal estate trust listed on Nasdaq Dubai.

Announcing the financial"...

More than 60 per cent of banks have implemented or are in the process of implementing technology solutions to digitalise their trade finance operations, according to a new study.

However, only 9 per cent of banks reported that the solutions implemented have so far led to a reduction of time and costs in trade finance transactions, said the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) report “Global Trade: Securing Future Growth”.

In"...

The largest Palestinian refugee camp in Syria has been destroyed and fled by its inhabitants due to fighting that has persisted more than a month, the United Nations Secretary-General’s Spokesman Stéphane Dujarric said Monday in a press briefing.

“The Yarmouk camp in Damascus lies today in ruins, with hardly a single building that has not been destroyed or damaged. The fighting has been particularly intense in the last month or"...

Dozens of strikes on medical facilities in Syria, mostly carried out by regime forces and its allies, placed the war-torn country at the top of a global ranking of attacks on hospitals and doctors.

The ranking was released as part of a report documenting over 700 attacks on hospitals, health works, patients and ambulances in 23 countries in 2017 alone. The report said more than 101 health workers and 293 patients had died as a result of the attacks.

The Syrian pavilion at the 21stSpring Trade Fair, which kicked off in Pyongyang, received a strong response from Korean citizens, guests and foreign diplomats.

The Syrian pavilion included various exhibits of fabrics, handicrafts, hand-made clothes, foodstuffs, pastries and decorative cloth posters of the Syrian heritage, which bear the culture, the history stories and the seven gates of Damascus.

The"...

Senior Russian military officials on Wednesday called for the United Nations and other international organisations to help rebuild Syrian territory recaptured by government forces, in order to consolidate the “successes” of the military campaign.

“To completely restore the areas that were damaged by military action against terrorist groups in Syria, and the economy of Syria as a whole, the help of all the international community"...

Health ministers of the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) countries called for an end to the health-related violations of the Israeli occupation in the occupied Syrian Golan.

Following a meeting held with the participation of Syria on the sidelines of the 71 World Health Assembly, the decision-making body of WHO, Health Minister Dr. Nizar Yazigi said the NAM countries’ health ministers have adopted a decision demanding member states, international"...

Russian President Vladimir Putin and his French counterpart Emmanuel Macron will discuss prospects of political settlement in Syria, Libya, Ukraine crisis and developments of Iran nuclear deal on the sidelines of the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum (SPIEF) due to be held on May 24,25, Russian President’s Assistant, Yury Ushakov told reporters on Wednesday.

Ushakov said that Putin and Macron will exchange views on current international"...

Marks & Spencer said on Wednesday it needs to modernise urgently to survive after a second straight annual profit fall and a 321 million pound charge for a store closure programme.
Shares in the 134-year-old British retailer were up 5.4 per cent at 07:20 GMT as the underlying profit figure beat analyst forecasts and it maintained its dividend, while turnover was broadly flat at 10.7 billion pounds.
M&S, one of the best known names in British retail, faces unrelenting competition from supermarkets, fashion"...

As Brent oil prices climb, money managers are feeling less and less bullish.

Hedge funds cut their net-long positions — the difference between bets on a price increase and wagers on a drop — for a fifth consecutive week, the longest stretch of declines since November 2016. The reductions came just before Brent crude oil surged above $80 a barrel this week for the first time since 2014.

“Positioning"...