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  Bloomberg Volkswagen AG’s former chief executive officer, Martin Winterkorn, approved a plan to disclose only partial information on the carmaker’s software rigging to U.S. authorities seven weeks before the scandal broke last year, Bild newspaper reported, citing newly uncovered documents. On July 28, 2015, Winterkorn signed off on talking points prepared ahead of an informal meeting with regulators in …

  Wayang Windu / AFP Columns of steam shoot from the ground at an Indonesian power plant sitting in the shadow of an active volcano, as energy is tapped from the red-hot underbelly of the archipelago. Pipes zig-zag up rugged mountainsides covered in tea plantations, carrying steam from the Earth’s core to power enormous, electricity-generating turbines at the Wayang Windu …

  Havana / AFP Chinese Premier Li Keqiang said it was time for a new direction in relations with Cuba, during a landmark visit to the Americas’ lone communist-ruled state. During the first visit by a Chinese premier since the two countries established diplomatic relations 56 years ago Li pledged to “inject a new dynamic in (bilateral) relations,” Cuban state …

  Beijing / AFP The world’s largest radio telescope began operating in southwestern China on Sunday, a project Beijing says will help humanity search for alien life. The Five-hundred-metre Aperture Spherical Radio Telescope (FAST), nestled between hills in the mountainous region of Guizhou, began working around noon, the official Xinhua news agency reported. Built at a cost of 1.2 billion …

  DUBAI / Emirates Business The leadership of small and medium enterprises (SME) across organizations in Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA) are keen to integrate digital and mobile technologies into the workplace, but over half of the same organisations do not have a strategy in place to achieve this, new research suggests. Aruba, a Hewlett Packard Enterprise company, conducted …

  Dubai / Emirates Business Unilever, in collaboration with the Dubai Chamber’s Sustainability Network, has hosted a multi-sectoral collaboration event to galvanise support for United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) as well as the goals espoused by the UAE Vision 2021. The event was held on Sunday on the Dubai Chamber premises in Deira. The multi-sectoral event, held under the …

  DUBAI / Emirates Business The recent Middle East Job Index survey, compiled by the Middle East’s leading job site, Bayt.com, and research and consulting group, YouGov, has revealed that the majority of employers across the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) intend to hire soon, with 65% of those in the GCC planning to hire in the next three …

  KUWAIT / Reuters Kuwait Projects Co (KIPCO), the Gulf state’s largest investment company, said on Sunday construction had begun on its $2.0-$2.5 billion real estate project in Kuwait, which has been downsized by around half from its original estimated cost. The mixed-use project, which had previously been valued at $5 billion, was scaled down after an earlier estimate did …

  ABU DHABI / WAM The Tourism Development & Investment Company (TDIC), the master developer of major tourism, cultural and residential destinations in Abu Dhabi, announced on Saturday its opening of a new and dedicated Lagoons Sales Centre, located at the Saadiyat Lagoons District construction site. The Sales Centre’s convenient location next to New York University Abu Dhabi offers potential …

  ABU DHABI / WAM Aldar Properties on Saturday announced that public sales for the third phase of Yas Acres, Aldar’s AED 6 billion flagship golf and waterfront villa development on Yas Island, will commence on October 4 at the Aldar Sales Centre on Yas Island. This phase, consisting of 260 homes will include, for the first time, 2 bedroom …