From robots to sniffer drones, Saudi Aramco has ramped up spending on technological innovation while its rivals cut back amid soft oil prices, but the energy giant risks losing its edge after its much-anticipated IPO.

Dubai construction and hospitality giant Emaar Properties on Sunday reported a rise in interim profit results, posting higher sales despite an economic downturn that has depressed the property industry.

Saudi Aramco said it would start taking bids from investors on November 17 in a highly anticipated stock offering, as it released a prospectus that did not disclose the size of the sale or the pricing range.

Iran has discovered a new oil field containing 53 billion barrels of crude, President Hassan Rouhani said Sunday, a find that would increase Iran's proven reserves by over a third.

The EU removed the Central American country of Belize from its blacklist of tax havens on Friday, a statement said.

French luxury giant LVMH has not ruled out raising its initial $14.5-billion offer to take over U.S. jewelers Tiffany, sources close to the deal told AFP on Friday.

The United States could postpone tariffs on Chinese goods that are scheduled to take effect in December, President Donald Trump's chief trade adviser said Friday, in a sign of a potential progress in fraught negotiations.

The outgoing president of the European Commission Jean-Claude Juncker said Friday he believes the US will not impose new tariffs on imported European cars in the coming days.

President Donald Trump's administration has been threatening since last year to impose tariffs on auto imports to defend the US automaking sector, a symbol of American manufacturing.

China and the United States have agreed a plan to remove tariffs imposed on two-way goods in stages, the commerce ministry said Thursday, as negotiators try to hammer out a trade deal.

"In the past two weeks, the negotiation leaders of the two sides have held serious and constructive discussions on properly resolving their core concerns and agreed to roll back the additional tariffs in stages, as progress is made towards a (final) agreement," ministry spokesman Gao Feng said at a press conference.

The shoes are coming off again in Iraq.

In years past, Iraqis have beaten their shoes against portraits of Saddam Hussein in a sign of anger and insult. In 2008, an Iraqi journalist threw his shoes at a ducking President George W. Bush during a news conference to vent his outrage at the U.S.-led invasion.