DHAHRAN, Saudi Arabia: Saudi Aramco announced yesterday its long-awaited stock market debut in what could be the world’s biggest IPO, underpinning Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman’s ambitions to overhaul the kingdom’s oil-reliant economy. After years of delay, Aramco said it plans to sell an unspecified number of shares on the
BANGKOK: Chinese phone giant Huawei said yesterday it was ready to roll out 5G infrastructure across Southeast Asia, dismissing US warnings its tech could be used to hoover up data for Beijing. The firm has emerged as a key protagonist in the wider US-China trade war that has seen tit-for-tat
BEIJING: China has launched an ambitious effort to challenge the US dominance in blockchain technology, which it could use for everything from issuing digital money, to streamlining a raft of government services and tracking Communist Party loyalty. The technology received a crucial endorsement from President Xi Jinping recently, a signal
Should healthy people take aspirin to ward off heart disease? The notion has been controversial, and the medical advice mixed. But a review of scientific data on the topic showed that any benefits are slight, and are counterbalanced by a matching rise in bleeding risks. Aspirin is a blood thinner
For just the second time ever an HIV patient is in sustained remission from the virus in what was hailed by experts as proof that the AIDS-causing condition could one day be curable. Ten years almost to the day since the first confirmed case of an HIV-infected person being rid
PARIS: Egypt’s Nour El Sherbini celebrated her 24th birthday on Friday by capturing her fourth world squash championship title, defeating compatriot and world number one Raneem El Welily 11-4, 9-11, 11-5, 11-6 in the final played in the shadow of the Great Pyramid of Giza. El Sherbini, who is the
WASHINGTON:The US government has opened a national security investigation into the Chinese-owned video app TikTok, the New York Times reported Friday. The report, citing anonymous sources, said the review by an intergovernmental panel may be looking into whether the app, popular for its music videos, was sending data to China.
BEIJING: Chinese conglomerate Fosun has snapped up the Thomas Cook brand for £11 million, weeks after the renowned British travel group went bust and left hundreds of thousands of holidaymakers stranded abroad. Thomas Cook’s demise in September sparked 22,000 job losses worldwide and triggered Britain’s biggest repatriation since World War
BEIJING: China warned yesterday it would not tolerate any challenge to Hong Kong’s governing system, as it laid out plans to boost patriotism in the city and change how its leader is chosen or removed after months of pro-democracy protests. Beijing also said it would brook no foreign interference in
MANILA: Nineteen farmers were killed in the mountainous northern Philippines when a truck carrying them and sacks of rice seeds plunged backwards down a deep ravine, police said yesterday. The victims were on their way home from collecting government subsidised seeds late Thursday in the town of Conner when the
