Business

29 Apr 2021; MEMO: Dubai International Airport received 5.75 million passengers in the first quarter of 2021, down 67.8 per cent compared to the same period last year due to the spread of the coronavirus, the facility operator, Dubai Airports, announced yesterday.

29 Apr 2021; MEMO: Egypt's state budget incurred losses of 370 billion Egyptian pounds ($23.6 billion) in 2020 due to the repercussions of the coronavirus outbreak, the finance minister announced yesterday.

Mohamed Maait told Al-Arabiya that the most affected sectors had included "civil aviation, tourism and construction."

28 Apr 2021; MEMO: Turkey signed an agreement to receive 50 million doses of the Russian Sputnik V vaccine over six months starting in May, the country's health minister said Wednesday, Anadolu reports.

Fahrettin Koca told a press conference that the vaccine supply was getting harder to reach out to for the next two months but that they expect an abundance of vaccines afterward.

28 Apr 2021; MEMO: Major Chinese investors are in talks to buy a stake in Saudi Aramco, several sources told Reuters on Wednesday, as Saudi Arabia's state oil firm prepares to sell another slice of its business to international investors, Reuters reports.

28 Apr 2021; MEMO: Saudi Arabia plans to sell a one per cent stake in state-owned oil giant Saudi Aramco to a "leading global energy company" within the context of its Vision 2030 plan to diversify the kingdom's economy, Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman announced in an interview yesterday.

28 Apr 2021; MEMO: U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Turkey and all U.S. allies on Wednesday should refrain from making further purchases of Russian weaponry, threatening the possibility of more sanctions, Reuters reports.

28 Apr 2021; MEMO: As allegations of cronyism continue to bog down the ruling Conservative party, it's now emerged that a co-investors in the Saudi-led consortium behind last year's failed takeover bid of Newcastle United Football Club is a major Tory donor and a friend of Prime Minister Boris Johnson.

New Delhi, Apr 28 (PTI) Serum Institute of India (SII) -- the maker of the most used COVID-19 vaccine in the country -- on Wednesday announced a cut in price of the jab it plans to sell to states to Rs 300 per dose from the earlier Rs 400.

This follows widespread criticism of its pricing policy as it had sold the initial doses of Covishield to the central government at Rs 150 per dose.

SII's CEO Adar Poonawalla took to Twitter to announce the "philanthropic" gesture.

TOKYO, April 28 (Xinhua) -- Japan's upper house of parliament on Wednesday approved the world's largest free trade deal, which comprises 15 Asia-Pacific countries and the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN).

The House of Representatives, the lower house of the parliament, gave its approval earlier this month.

The Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) will create a massive free trade zone which will cover roughly 30 percent of the world's gross domestic product, trade and population.

28 Apr 2021; MEMO: The Israeli authorities have drawn a new map for its maritime border with Lebanon based on the latter's expansion of the area disputed between the two countries, RT reported on Tuesday.