Media reports on Sunday reveal Iran's plans to buy up to 300 units of Boeing and Airbus planes to replace its antiquated fleet by purchasing at least 90 planes annually. An official of Iran's civil aviation agency projected that Iran would need between 400 and 500 planes in the next ten years.
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Orange CEO Stephane Richard announced expansion plans in North Africa. The French mobile company has recently launched 4G service in Jordan while its representative expressed willingness to end ties with Israel.
Middle East fund managers have on balance become bearish on the region's biggest stock market, Saudi Arabia, after oil's rally ran out of steam and the kingdom confirmed strict rules on foreign investment, a monthly Reuters survey shows.
Oil prices slipped on Friday as worries over the impact of war in the Middle East on crude supplies were outweighed by reports of profit-taking ahead of a long weekend.
Oil prices rose on Monday after Islamic State militants said they had seized control of the key city of Ramadi in western Iraq, raising fears of deeper turmoil in the oil-producing country.
China overtook the United States as the world's top importer of crude oil for the first time in April, and its purchases are expected to remain strong despite a slowing economy, with far-reaching consequences for global oil and commodities markets.
The World Bank is seeking to finance development projects in areas in Iraq that the government has recaptured from Islamic State militants, its regional vice president said.
Crude prices rose as much as 6 percent on Thursday after Saudi Arabia and its allies launched air strikes on Yemen, pushing shares lower in Europe, the Middle East and Asia and lifting oil producers' currencies.
Brent crude fell towards $58 a barrel on Tuesday as the dollar scaled multi-year highs, but data showing a recovery in China's annual consumer inflation checked losses.
Brent crude oil fell toward $59 a barrel on Monday as the dollar strengthened and a supply glut pushed global oil inventories to record highs.
Saudi Arabia overtook India to become the world's biggest weapons importer in 2014, a year when global defense trade rose for the sixth straight year to a record $64.4 billion, research company IHS said on Sunday.
Outgunned by Chinese and Middle Eastern competitors and lacking the breadth of service of their U.S. rivals, European private equity firms are focusing on specific industries to compete on their home turf.
Federal Reserve policymakers expressed concern last month that raising interest rates too soon could pour cold water on the U.S. economic recovery, and fretted over the impact of dropping "patient" from the central bank's rate guidance.
Oil rose to $62 a barrel on Tuesday, close to its 2015 high, supported by threats to Middle East supplies and expectations lower prices may prompt a slowdown in U.S. output.
Standard Chartered Plc (STAN.L) will shift its retail banking focus to affluent clients from ordinary customers and urge them to bank online as part of a broader restructuring led by embattled CEO Peter Sands, a senior executive told Reuters.
