News

DUBAI / WAM Expo 2020 Dubai’s ambition to draw 25 million visits through its gates is on track after more than 1,000 Authorised Ticket Resellers (ATRs), signed up in key markets around the world. The global network, which includes online travel agents, tour operators, hotel groups and airlines, is crucial to Expo 2020 achieving its goal to welcome 70 percent ...

DUBAI / WAM The 4th edition of The Global Franchise Market, (TGFM), the official franchising event in Dubai, begins on Tuesday at the Dubai International Convention and Exhibition Centre. This annual premier franchise event, which is held under the patronage of Dubai Economy, aims to highlight Dubai’s preeminent status as a leading franchise destination and help facilitate new franchise opportunities ...

Bloomberg Angela Merkel’s visit to a revamped Volkswagen AG electric-car plant in Zwickau is a stark reminder of what’s at stake both for the German chancellor and VW boss Herbert Diess. Merkel — who critics say has long been soft on the auto industry — has come under fire for failing to make more progress in curbing greenhouse-gas emissions, while ...

Bloomberg Sila Nanotechnologies, a San Francisco Bay-area battery startup, is getting an additional $45 million in funding and has hired two new executives, including a former Tesla Inc manager who helped build the electric-car company’s relationship with battery-cell makers. Bill Mulligan, a former vice president at solar-panel maker SunPower Corp, joins Sila as its first chief operating office, the Alameda, ...

Bloomberg European companies are upping the pressure on China to go beyond rhetoric at this year’s China International Import Expo, asking for “more tangible outcomes” than at the launch in 2018. “We expect this year’s event to be supplemented by concrete measures to facilitate further market opening and increase foreign investment, not by empty promises that we have heard many ...

Bloomberg Euro-zone manufacturing remained near the weakest in seven years last month, a poor start to the final quarter that raises pressure on the region’s governments to add fiscal stimulus to insulate the region from a worsening global slowdown. Factories from China to the US are suffering from flagging demand. While a Purchasing Managers’ Index for the 19-nation euro region ...

Bloomberg UK construction extended its longest contraction since 2013 in October as domestic political turmoil and a weak economic backdrop weighed on demand. IHS Markit’s index of building activity rose to 44.2, from 43.3 in September, but remained below the 50 threshold that indicates expansion for a sixth month. Civil engineering led the drop, with residential home building also losing ...

Bloomberg Fitbit Inc, soon to be acquired by Google, says it’s shifting manufacturing operations out of China for its health trackers and smart watches to avoid US tariffs. But until then, it wants relief from President Donald Trump’s duties. The smart watch maker has filed a request for an exclusion on the 15% duty that took effect from September 1 ...

Bloomberg US Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross met with Chinese Premier Li Keqiang at a regional summit in Bangkok, a person familiar with the discussion said. The meeting came hours after Ross told a morning business forum that the US was “very far along” with “Phase One” of a trade deal with China. President Donald Trump told reporters at the White ...

Bloomberg Jay Piramal said he plans to resign as chairman of Shriram Capital Ltd, the Indian non-bank finance company backed by South Africa’s Sanlam Group, as he works to sell his stake in Shriram’s parent group. “I will step down in due course as I do not have much role in Shriram Capital,” Piramal said in a recent interview in ...