Israel’s prime minister vowed Tuesday to “act aggressively” against the decision by Ben & Jerry’s to stop selling its ice cream in Israeli-occupied territories, as the country’s ambassador to the U.S. urged dozens of state governors to punish the company under anti-boycott laws, the Associated Press reported. The strong reaction reflected concerns in Israel that the ice cream maker’s decision could lead other companies to follow suit. It also appeared to set the stage for a protracted public relations and legal battle.
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Ben & Jerry’s said Monday it was going to stop selling its ice cream in the Israeli-occupied West Bank and contested east Jerusalem, saying the sales in the territories sought by the Palestinians are “inconsistent with our values,” The Washington Post reported. The announcement was one of the strongest and highest-profile rebukes by a well-known company of Israel’s policy of settling its citizens on war-won lands. The settlements are widely seen by the international community as illegal and obstacles to peace.
After more than 12 years of back and forth between the Algosaibi family’s conglomerate AHAB and its creditors, one of Saudi Arabia’s largest debt disputes is set to finally reach a resolution, Reuters reported. A debt restructuring proposal was submitted to the Dammam commercial court this week after approval from a creditor committee, Simon Charlton, chief restructuring officer and acting chief executive of AHAB told Reuters on Thursday.
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Lebanon’s caretaker prime minister warned Tuesday that the country is hurtling toward a “social explosion” and appealed on the international community for assistance to prevent the demise of the nation facing multiple crises, the Associated Press reported. Hassan Diab’s plea came as he spoke to diplomats in Lebanon, where politicians have failed to agree on forming a new government, nearly a year after Diab’s Cabinet resigned.
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OPEC+ ministers called off oil output talks on Monday after clashing last week when the United Arab Emirates rejected a proposed eight-month extension to output curbs, meaning no deal to boost production has been agreed, Reuters reported. Saudi energy minister Prince Abdulaziz bin Salman had called for "compromise and rationality" to secure a deal after two days of failed discussions last week. But four OPEC+ sources said there had been no progress.
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Global M&A activity broke records for a second consecutive quarter this year as companies continued to borrow cheaply and spend their cash reserves on transformative deals to reposition themselves for the post-COVID world, Reuters reported. Deals worth $1.5 trillion were announced in the three months to June 30, more than any second quarter on record and up 13% from the record first quarter of the year despite activity among blank-check firms slowed down.
The state energy company of Qatar wrapped up the biggest emerging-market bond sale this year, selling $12.5 billion of dollar bonds as it seeks to raise output of liquefied natural gas and cement its domination of the market, Bloomberg reported. The producer sold a four-part deal with tranches maturing in five, 10, 20 and 30 years, with the longest portion yielding 3.3%. The company’s last dollar sale was in 2006, when it raised $650 million. Investors placed around $40 billion of orders.
A representative for the owners and insurers of a giant cargo ship that blocked the Suez Canal in March on Wednesday said that an agreement in principle had been reached in a compensation dispute with the canal authority, Reuters reported. Work was under way to finalise a signed settlement agreement as soon as possible and arrangements for the release of the Ever Given vessel would be made after formalities had been dealt with, Faz Peermohamed of Stann Marine said in a statement.
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Construction giant Arabtec Holding on Monday said that a Dubai court has accepted its petition to open bankruptcy proceedings and had also appointed a trustee for each of its entities, the Khaleej Times reported. The court ordered each appointed trustee to publish the bankruptcy decision of each entity, review its debts, deposit a record of its creditors, and conduct all the procedures stipulated under the bankruptcy law within 35 days. The court also instructed each trustee to prepare an initial separate report on the assets of each entity and its rights with third parties.
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An Egyptian court on Sunday adjourned until July 4 the case of a hulking cargo vessel that blocked the Suez Canal for nearly a week earlier this year, the Associated Press reported. The decision came after both legal teams of the Suez Canal and the vessel’s owners asked for more time for negotiations that aim at resolving their financial dispute. The dispute centers on the compensation amount the Suez Canal Authority is claiming for the salvage of the vessel Ever Given, which ran aground in March, blocking the crucial waterway for six days.
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