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Dubai / WAM The Department of Economic Development (DED), in Dubai issued 4,763 new licenses for various professional, commercial, industrial and tourism activities in October. This comes in line with the continuing investor confidence in Dubai and new opportunities arising across diverse economic sectors. According to the Business Registration and Licensing (BRL), sector in DED 68.1 percent of the new ...

Bloomberg Prime minister Narendra Modi is finally attempting to overhaul India’s most controversial labour laws to attract investment and make it easier to do business in a country where changing archaic rules is a challenge for any government. After a long struggle, his government will push a crucial industrial relations bill allowing companies to hire workers on fixed-term contracts of ...

Bloomberg Troubled Singapore water treatment firm Hyflux Ltd has entered a restructuring deal with Middle Eastern utility Utico FZC. Under the agreement, Hyflux will get investment totalling S$400 million ($293 million) from Utico, according to an exchange filing. The pact caps drawn out negotiations between the two companies. Hyflux, Singapore’s highest profile debt restructuring, had been looking for a white ...

Bloomberg About 2,000 demonstrators marched to Thailand’s Government House to demand a delay in a ban due from December 1 on three pesticides, as a dispute over the plan escalates. The protesters submitted a letter to prime minister Prayuth Chan-Ocha asking for time to assess scientific evidence, the economic impact and whether alternatives are available. Outlawing the chemicals will hurt ...

Bloomberg China and the US “reached consensus on properly resolving relevant issues” and agreed to stay in contact on the remaining points for a “phase one” trade deal during a phone call, the Ministry of Commerce said in a statement. Chinese Vice Premier Liu He, US Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer and US Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin discussed core concerns, according ...

Bloomberg Hong Kong’s exports declined for a 12th straight month in October with the financial hub mired in recession under the ongoing US-China trade war and pro-democracy protests. Exports contracted to HK$348.5 billion ($44.5 billion), a 9.2% drop from a year ago, according to a government release. The median forecast was for a 8.4% retreat, according to economists surveyed by ...

Bloomberg Google fired four employees for what the technology giant said were violations of its data-security policies, escalating tension between management and activist workers at a company once revered for its open corporate culture. Alphabet Inc’s Google sent an email describing the decision, titled “Securing our data,” to all employees, according to a copy of the document obtained by Bloomberg ...

Bloomberg Workers are receiving lay-off notices and chemical companies face shutdowns as the effects of Canada’s largest rail strike in a decade ripples through the economy. The strike by about 3,200 conductors and railyard operators at Canadian National Railway Co (CN) is entering its seventh day, disrupting cargoes of everything from wheat to propane. In Halifax, Nova Scotia, on Canada’s ...

Bloomberg Thieves made off with jewellery and artifacts worth a reported $1.1 billion after an early-morning burglary at a German museum. The robbers stole three sets of jewellery from Dresden’s Grunes Gewolbe — or Green Vault — after entering through a window just before 5 am local time on November 25, Joerg Kubiessa, the head of Dresden’s police, told reporters. ...

Bloomberg Britain’s dominant phone company is looking for a new broadband equipment supplier to reduce its reliance on China’s Huawei Technologies Co as it prepares to connect millions of homes to optic fibre. BT Group Plc’s infrastructure division Openreach has started an evaluation process to seek a third strategic vendor alongside Huawei and Finland’s Nokia Oyj for the full-fibre roll-out, ...