Emirates Steel increased its finished products production by 17.5 per cent in 2010 over the previous year.

Standard & Poor's Ratings Services has placed its 'BBB-/A-3' long- and short-term corporate credit ratings on France-based building materials group Lafarge S.A. on CreditWatch with negative implications.

Standard & Poor's Ratings Services lowered its long-term sovereign credit rating on the Socialist People's Libyan Arab Jamahiriya (Libya) to 'BBB+' from 'A-'.

A meeting held by the Minister of Trade and Industry, Dr. Samiha Fawzy, and the Federation of Egyptian Industries (FEI), which represents all the industrial sectors in Egypt, agreed to a number of guarantees for  Egyptian workers in the industrial sector.

Standard & Poor's Ratings Services lowered its long- and short-term sovereign credit ratings on the Kingdom of Bahrain (Bahrain or the Kingdom) to 'A-/A-2' from 'A/A-1' and placed them on CreditWatch with negative implications.