News

Bloomberg A handful of executives at SoftBank Group Corp are weighing the idea of an initial public offering for its Vision Fund, the $100 billion behemoth that has invested in technology companies ranging from Uber Technologies Inc to WeWork Cos. The idea is early stage, said a person familiar with the situation who asked not to be identified because it ...

Bloomberg About 10 million North Koreans — 40 percent of the population — are in urgent need of food assistance after heat and drought crippled last year’s harvest, according to the UN. The country collected about 4.9 million tonnes of food crops last year, the least in a decade, after a prolonged dry spell and limited agricultural inputs cut yields, ...

Bloomberg In the Philippines — where 76 million internet users stay online the longest in the world — just a handful of people spend a few hours each day to fight fake news about the upcoming midterm elections. The Commission on Elections has formed a team of 10 government workers to spot and report misleading online posts to Facebook, with ...

Bloomberg Sinclair Broadcast Group Inc. will buy 21 Fox regional sports networks from Walt Disney Co. for $9.6 billion, a bet that the local-TV company can become a cable-sports powerhouse. Sinclair will acquire the business via a new subsidiary called Diamond Sports Group, the company said. Byron Allen, the former comedian who founded Entertainment Studios and owns the Weather Channel, ...

Bloomberg Odds that Latin America’s largest economy contracted in the first quarter increased after March industrial production fell by more than double analysts’ expectations. Brazil’s output tumbled 1.3 percent in March, its worst reading in six months, the national statistics bureau reported. In the 12 months through March, industrial production contracted for the first time since 2017. The Brazilian economy ...

Bloomberg British people need to fly less, drive electric cars, eat little meat and turn their home thermostats down to 19 degrees Celsius (66 Fahrenheit) in order to rein in greenhouse gases damaging the planet. Those are the recommendations from the government’s official adviser on climate change and sketch out the toughest measures anywhere in the industrial world to rein ...

ABU DHABI / WAM The United Arab Emirates, in April, witnessed various events and activities that consolidated the process of transforming “Tolerance” from a societal value to sustainable institutional action, according to clear mechanisms and strategies. The hosting of the conference on ‘Tolerance in the Context of Legislative and Judicial Systems’, the opening of the ‘Tolerance Neighbourhood Pro-ject’ in Umm ...

ABU DHABI / WAM Abu Dhabi Commercial Bank (ADCB) has merged with Union National Bank (UNB) and the combined entity has acquired Al Hilal Bank, legally completing a landmark transaction in the UAE, forming the ADCB Group with effect from on Wednesday. The ADCB Group, serving more than one million customers, has AED423 billion in assets, is the third-largest financial ...

ABU DHABI / WAM The Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (Adnoc) announced on Wednesday — as part of Abu Dhabi’s block licensing strategy and on behalf of the Supreme Petroleum Council (SPC) — the details of the second round of five new geographical oil and gas blocks open for bidding for both conventional and unconventional resources. The successful bidders will ...

Dubai / Emirates Business Amazon and Souq announced the launch of Amazon.ae, a new local shopping experience for customers in the UAE. Amazon.ae features over 30 million products from local and international businesses, including products previously available on Souq and five million products from Amazon US. Customers shopping on Amazon.ae will enjoy the same commitment to great prices as on ...