Dubai / WAM Expo 2020 Dubai’s unique visitor experience will be enhanced, thanks to a new premier partnership with Mastercard that includes exploring the use of payment technologies from virtual reality to biometrics and voice shopping. The company was on Wednesday revealed as Expo 2020’s Official Payment Technology Partner at Mastercard’s ‘Connecting Tomorrow’ Forum in Barcelona, Spain. The partnership includes ...

Bloomberg Arguments over Brexit, the rise of nationalism and how to deal with Russia are consuming Europe, but there’s one dispute that’s been edging towards a resolution — and it’s in a region where there’s much at stake for the world order. The Republic of Macedonia will hold a referendum on September 30 on changing the former Yugoslav state’s name ...

Bloomberg President Donald Trump said Wednesday he’d prefer to resolve the Israeli-Palestinian conflict by creating two separate states, re-aligning himself with the traditional US position on an eventual peace deal. Trump also said his administration would produce its long-awaited attempt at a new Mideast peace plan within about four months. “I like two-state solution,” Trump said at a meeting with ...

Bloomberg Angela Merkel’s first foray into politics after the fall of the Berlin Wall was as spokeswoman for an East German party called Democratic Awakening. The last act of her political career may also be marked by a drive for a new beginning—this time from within her own parliamentary bloc. The defeat of Merkel’s candidate for caucus leader, Volker Kauder, ...

Bloomberg Theresa May ruled out a return to the ballot box to settle the UK’s political stalemate over Brexit and hunkered down on her plans for leaving the European Union. “It would not be in the national interest to have an election” before the scheduled Brexit date in March 2019, the prime minister told reporters en route to New York. ...

Bloomberg When President Donald Trump said a year ago that the US was considering a “military option” for Venezuela, hardly anyone in Washington thought it was a good idea. Today, as Venezuela slides towards dictatorship and collapse, triggering a millions-strong migration crisis, support for such a move is being discussed openly. The notion of using force to topple the government ...

Bloomberg India’s top court has refused to scrap the world’s largest biometric database, upholding the validity of the sprawling digital-identity program but imposing restrictions on its use — including preventing the government from sharing citizens’ data with private companies. Four out of five Supreme Court judges said the program is constitutionally sound for the distribution of state-sponsored welfare subsidies in ...

Bloomberg Singapore Press Holdings (SPH) and an arm of Keppel Corp. are considering making a general offer for the shares they don’t already own in the city-state’s smallest wireless operator, M1 Ltd., people with knowledge of the matter said. The pair has approached M1’s biggest shareholder, Malaysian carrier Axiata Group Bhd., about the potential transaction, the people said, asking not ...

Bloomberg China will cut import tariffs on goods including machinery, paper, textiles and construction materials from November 1, in a move that would lower costs for consumers and companies as a trade war with the US deepens. The decision will lower tariffs for 1,585 products, state radio reported, citing a meeting of the State Council. The combination of these and ...

Bloomberg Lupin Ltd. has started a strategic review of its Japanese operations, people with knowledge of the matter said, as the Indian pharmaceutical company seeks to focus on higher-growth areas. The Mumbai-based drugmaker is working with advisers as it explores options for the Japan business, according to the people, who asked not to be identified because the information is private. ...