News

Bloomberg Bangkok, the metropolis of gastronomic delights, infamous nightlife and swarming tourists, now has another sobriquet: it’s one of Asia’s most polluted cities, at least in the past couple of weeks. Concentrations of tiny, airborne PM2.5 particles that damage health on some days topped levels in New Delhi and Beijing, the more traditional poster-cities for the perils of smog. The ...

Bloomberg Indian online shopping site Paytm Mall is opening a New Delhi store, taking a page out of backer Alibaba’s playbook in exploring ways to use physical retail to boost its online business. The country’s newest online retailer, owned by Paytm Ecommerce Pvt and backed by Alibaba Group Holding Ltd., is introducing a brick-and-mortar store co-branded with Red Tape shoes. ...

Bloomberg The US sounds confident that proposed tariffs on steel and aluminum won’t break global trade rules, despite warnings from other countries that such a move could trigger a flurry of retaliation. It’s up to the president to decide if that’s a risk he’s willing to take. The Commerce Department laid out a range of options for President Donald Trump ...

Bloomberg Coca-Cola Co.’s push to diversify its drinks and spin off company-owned bottlers is bearing fruit. The company posted sales that beat analysts’ estimates in the fourth quarter, helped by its growing beverage portfolio and reformulations. Profit also topped projections. Coke’s results validate its strategy of become a marketing and drink-formulation company — rather than a bottler. The Atlanta-based company ...

Bloomberg The US Justice Department is fighting AT&T Inc.’s search for evidence that President Donald Trump is behind the agency’s antitrust challenge to the takeover of Time Warner Inc. Trump’s criticism of Time Warner’s CNN doesn’t justify AT&T’s “fishing expedition” for communications between the White House and the Justice Department, government lawyer Craig Conrath told US District Court Judge Richard ...

Bloomberg Airbnb Inc. cafeteria workers are joining the United Auto Workers, a new twist in the home-rental company’s troubled relationship with organised labour. The United Auto Workers won a union contract covering nearly 150 cafeteria workers at four Airbnb facilities. It’s the latest development in a unionization trend among tech companies’ sub-contracted staff. “Every worker should be treated with dignity ...

Bloomberg Get ready for what could be another record year for corporate borrowing. The US tax overhaul is freeing up cash for companies and the Federal Reserve is hiking rates, but chief financial officers are still eager to borrow, UBS strategists wrote. The Swiss bank and Wells Fargo both expect businesses to sell as much US investment-grade and junk bond ...

KUWAIT / WAM Dr Anwar bin Mohammed Gargash, Minister of State for Foreign Affairs, announced the UAE’s offer to provide deve- lopment aid worth $500 million, to assist international efforts to reconstruct Iraq. During his speech as head of the UAE delegation at the ‘Kuwait International Conference for the Reconstruction of Iraq,’ he explained that the support includes $250 million ...

Abu Dhabi / WAM Abu Dhabi National Exhibitions Company (Adnec) on Wednesday announced that the value of its direct and indirect contribution to Abu Dhabi’s economy has increased by 26.66 percent in 2017 to reach AED3.89 billion, compared to AED3 billion in 2016. The company shared its 2017 results at a press conference at the Abu Dhabi National Exhibition Centre, ...

DUBAI / WAM Construction is underway on The St. Regis Beach Club on Dubai’s Palm Jumeirah, confirming yet another top-flight dining and leisure destination for the world-famous island, master developer Nakheel announced. The company has awarded a contract worth AED79.7 million to Ghantoot Gulf Contracting to build the exclusive beachfront facility, which will offer unrivalled restaurants, lifestyle and fitness venues ...