Bloomberg Louis Vuitton is bringing in some robotic help for the holidays. The maker of $1,370 canvas duffle bags and $575 monogram belts has launched a “virtual adviser” on Facebook Messenger for US clients, Palo Alto, California-based AI startup Mode.ai said in a statement. The chatbot will answer queries for all things Louis Vuitton: searching the brand’s online catalog, pulling ...

Bloomberg Brick-and-mortar retailers hoping to fend off Amazon.com Inc. need to deploy the one weapon that could set them apart: top-notch customer service, provided by actual humans. But making that goal a reality relies on something they’ve not really invested in—well-trained employees with the kinds of wages and regular hours that make them want to stick around. This illustrates traditional ...

Bloomberg Abu Dhabi National Oil Co. plans to raise as much as AED3.31 billion ($902 million) from the initial public offering (IPO) of its fuel-retailing unit after lowering the top end of the offer price and deciding to only sell a 10 percent stake. The crude producer reduced the price range to AED2.35 dirhams to AED2.65 for the shares of ...

Abu Dhabi / WAM UAE stock markets closed on a high note Wednesday, defying a winning streak on profit booking by a number of investors, with the market value of trading companies posting decent gains of AED4.4 billion by the end of sessions. The realty, banking and investment sectors were the main driver for the positive sentiments, with investment firms ...

DUBAI / WAM According to the 2017 Global Investment Report published by the United Nation’s Council on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), the UAE is the 11th largest FDI recipient in Asia. Its main investors are the UK, Japan and Hong Kong. In 2016, the UAE attracted $8.9 billion, a 1.7 percent increase on 2015, with the political and economic stability ...

ABU DHABI / WAM UAE companies are using best-in-class technologies, and they have a very good presence in the US market, buying gas, producing petrochemicals and creating job opportunities, said Suhail bin Mohammed Faraj Faris Al Mazrouei, Minister of Energy and Industry. The minister made the statements in a joint news conference Wednesday with US Secretary of Energy Rick Perry ...

Bloomberg Prime Minister Theresa May is facing a revolt from inside her Cabinet over her plan to keep UK regulations aligned with the European Union after Brexit, a split that threatens to undermine her chances of breaking the deadlock in negotiations. Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson and Environment Secretary Michael Gove, who together led the Brexit campaign in last year’s referendum, ...

Bloomberg The citizenship fiasco that’s gripped Australia’s parliament for the past five months and cost Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull’s government its majority is widening, with two lawmakers from the main opposition Labor party asking the High Court to decide whether they breached the constitution. Katy Gallagher, 47, told the upper house on Wednesday that while she believed she had taken ...

Bloomberg Rafael Ramirez, Venezuela’s ambassador to the United Nations since 2014 and former Petroleos de Venezuela head, resigned from his post amid a string of arrests at the oil giant he used to run, he said in a tweet. “This was a very hard decision to make,” he wrote in attached photos of a letter addressed to Jorge Arreaza, Venezuela’s ...

Bloomberg President Donald Trump said his plan to recognize Jerusalem as Israel’s capital and move the US embassy there is overdue while world leaders from the Vatican to Tehran denounced his stance as risking fresh violence in the region. “It’s long overdue,” Trump told reporters during a Cabinet meeting at the White House Wednesday. “Many presidents have said they want ...