Bloomberg The first increase in base wages in four months is unlikely to offer much relief to the Bank of Japan as it undertakes a review of policies meant to stoke inflation and growth. Average monthly base pay, excluding overtime and bonuses, rose 0.4 percent in July from a year earlier to 241,518 yen ($2,326), the labor ministry said ...

  Bloomberg South Korea’s financial regulator said Hanjin Shipping Co. will seek stay orders in 43 countries to protect its vessels from being seized, after its court receivership filing last week roiled companies’ supply chain before the year-end shopping season. Applications in 10 countries will be made this week and the remainder soon, the Financial Supervisory Commission said in a ...

  NEW YORK / AP It’s getting rarer for phone launches to generate excitement these days — especially in the Android world, where all models use the same underlying Google software. Every year, phones get routine refreshes such as faster processors, better cameras and longer battery life. But Android phone makers haven’t given up trying to stand out. Samsung, for ...

  Washington / AFP American researchers have created a low-cost textile made of a plastic base that could cool the body when woven into clothing. The engineers suggested in the US journal Science that the textile could become a way to keep people living in hot climates cool without using air conditioning. “If you can cool the person rather than ...

  Relaxnews Google Ara, the visually arresting phone that snaps together from discrete, swappable component units, has been put on hold, new reports suggest. Instead of continuing with Project Ara directly, it’s now considering becoming a license holder or selling the project to a manufacturer, Recode reports. Project Ara would have allowed owners to assemble their own smartphone configurations from ...

  Bloomberg HSBC will now allow customers to verify their identities when opening an account by taking a selfie, reports Business Insider. Much like apartment-sharing app Airbnb, the bank will give customers the option of taking a headshot on their phone to complete an ID security check as part of the company’s mobile banking app. The function would replace other ...

  Bloomberg Baidu Inc. has unveiled its latest plans to stake out a spot in the burgeoning field of artificial intelligence, including a partnership with Nvidia Corp. to develop driver-less cars and taxis and a home gadget akin to Amazon.com Inc.’s popular Echo. Chief Executive Officer Robin Li is banking on its growing AI expertise to jumpstart a slowing search ...

  Sirjan / AFP The recent discovery of the tomb of Suleiman the Magnificent, considered the greatest Ottoman ruler, has raised hopes of a tourism boom in one of Hungary’s most impoverished areas. From hammam baths and crumbling minarets to battle site memorials and ruins of mosques, traces of the country’s 150-year-long stretch (1541-1699) in the Ottoman Empire are not ...

  Kabul / AFP Its scarred lion Marjan was for years a symbol of Afghan survival. Now, more than a decade after his death, Afghanistan remains battered by war but Kabul zoo is buzzing again — a haven for women, children and young lovers in a capital city that has little public space for anyone but men. The carnival of ...

  SHARJAH / WAM The Sharjah Islamic Bank PJSC (SIB) successfully issued a US$500 million sukuk (Islamic finance bond) in international capital markets, eliciting an outstanding response from investors and garnering orders to the tune of US$1.6 billion, thus resulting in being 3.2 times over-subscribed. With a maturity of five years, the sukuk was priced at a spread of 185 ...