Author: Arabian Media staff

Unlock the Editor’s Digest for freeRoula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter.Ministers are being urged to “get on” with plans to force developers to join a customer redress scheme, with a consumer group warning that people are left with more rights when buying a toaster than a house.The appeal comes from the HomeOwners Alliance, the voice of the consumer, as the number of complaints about new homes made to a voluntary ombudsman service has more than doubled to 100 a month compared with a year ago.The New Homes Ombudsman Scheme (NHOS), which launched…

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Unlock the Editor’s Digest for freeRoula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter.The Swiss National Bank has cut interest rates to zero but did not go so far as negative rates, as it battles to restrain its currency, which has surged on global trade tensions. The quarter-point reduction on Thursday by the central bank’s governing board was anticipated by economists. It is the first time that the Alpine country, which is one of the few globally to experiment with negative rates, has gone to an interest rate of zero as it tackles lagging inflation and…

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Vladimir Putin has failed to attract western companies to an economic conference in St Petersburg this week. Even Russia’s allies sent lower-ranking officials and businessmen, with the exception of Indonesia, whose president is in attendance. Several close relatives of top Kremlin officials are among the participants at the flagship event this week. The conference comes after years of conflict and harsh western sanctions have hit Russia’s economic outlook.“Nobody’s talking about any investment, because how are you supposed to invest in Russia in this climate — war, sanctions, slowing growth and persistent inflation?” said Alexandra Prokopenko, a fellow at the Carnegie…

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Unlock the Editor’s Digest for freeRoula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter.Prices of palm oil and soyabean oil have surged after the conflict between Israel and Iran pushed up energy costs and the Trump administration proposed increasing the amount of biofuels mixed into diesel and petrol.Soyabean oil has jumped 11 per cent since Thursday, hitting its highest level since October 2023 at more than 55 cents a pound. Palm oil, which had been falling this year due to a supply glut, has gained more than 6 per cent to almost 4,100 ringgit a…

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Unlock the Editor’s Digest for freeRoula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter.Prices to charter large oil tankers sailing through the critical Strait of Hormuz have more than doubled since Israel launched an attack on Iran last week, amid shipowners’ reluctance to risk using the waterway.The price to charter a very large crude carrier — capable of carrying 2mn barrels of oil — from the Gulf to China leapt from $19,998 a day last Wednesday, two days before Israel’s attack, to $47,609 on Wednesday this week, according to figures from Clarksons Research.The rise on…

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