EQUATE ‘plans’ $3b bond issue

Newswatch

KUWAIT CITY, Sept 28: Bloomberg news announced that EQUATE Petrochemicals Co has hired four financial institutions for a potential bond issue of $3 billion, reports Al-Anba daily.

Banks, including NBK Capital, HSB Holdings, and J.P Morgan Chase & Co, and City Group Inc have been mandated to arrange the sale of dollar denominated securities in the course of the year, sources indicated.

BRUSSELS:

The European Union’s counter-terrorism coordinator fears that foreign fighters could launch attacks in Europe with chemical

weapons, using techniques learned in Syria and Iraq.

Gilles de Kerchove said Wednesday that “I hope that no one will come back from Syria with the knowledge of how to weaponize chemical stuff and ... car bombs. They have learned how to do it in Syria and Iraq.”(AP)

VIENNA:

A landmark nuclear accord sealed last year between Iran and six world powers will not be in danger if Donald Trumps wins the US presidential election in November, the head of Iran’s Atomic Energy Organisation said on Wednesday.

Republican presidential candidate Trump has called the accord “the worst deal ever negotiated” and said it could even lead to “nuclear holocaust”, although he has also conceded it would be hard to rip up a deal enshrined in a UN resolution. (RTRS)

TEHRAN:

An Italian frigate has held manoeuvres with two Iranian warships in the Strait of Hormuz after making a rare Western port call in the Islamic Republic, an Iranian commander said Wednesday.

The joint manoeuvres in the strategic waterway between the Gulf and the Sea of Oman come after a series of incidents between Iranian vessels and US warships in the area in recent months. (AFP)

RIYADH:

Woes deepened on Wednesday for employees of troubled conglomerate Saudi Oger which laid off more than 1,300 staff at a printing plant for the Koran, a newspaper reported.

The once-mighty firm led by Lebanon’s billionaire former prime minister Saad Hariri has been hit by a drop in income from its core construction business after Saudi Arabia delayed or cancelled projects in the face of plummeting oil revenues. (AFP)

DUBAI:

Dubai International Airport, the world’s busiest airport for international travel, closed its airspace for almost 30 minutes on Wednesday morning due to unauthorised drone activity, causing flights to be disrupted for nearly an hour.

It is at least the second time in recent months that the airport’s airspace was closed because of nearby drone activity. (RTRS)