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  Beijing / AFP Chemical accidents have killed nearly 200 people in China so far this year, environmental group Greenpeace said Wednesday, calling on Beijing to overhaul the “appallingly under-regulated” industry. Industrial accidents are common in China, where work safety regulations are often flouted. In the first eight months of the year, China saw 232 chemical accidents which killed 199 ...

  Beijing / AP Liu Jingtang was a Samsung loyalist. The Shanghai technology consultant traded up steadily through its smartphones to the new Note 7. But Liu’s devotion was shaken by the Korean tech giant’s confusing response to its latest product safety scare. Liu, 32, said Samsung Electronics quickly confirmed his Note 7 wasn’t covered by a recall announced last ...

  Frankfurt / AFP Volkswagen investors have filed 1,400 lawsuits seeking 8.2 billion euros in compensation from the car giant over its emissions cheating scandal, a German court said Wednesday, adding to a long list of legal woes for the embattled firm. Investors say the automaker failed to disclose details of the case in a timely way, leading them to ...

  Brussels / AFP The EU on Wednesday scrapped a controversial plan to limit its landmark free mobile phone roaming policy to 90 days a year, after an outcry from angry consumer groups. While doing away with time limits for roaming across the currently 28-nation bloc, the European Commission said it will instead impose checks to curb abuse of the ...

  London / AFP The ‘passport’ rights allowing 5,500 British-based financial firms to operate freely across the European single market are at stake, the country’s financial watchdog has revealed in highlighting potential fallout from Brexit. Some 8,000 financial firms based elsewhere in the European Union also do business in Britain via passporting, and their rights are likewise threatened, data from ...

  Bloomberg The real strengthened as traders kept close watch on the U.S. Federal Reserve for signs regarding the timing and pace of interest rate hikes that could reduce the appetite for Brazil’s world-beating carry trade. The currency appreciated 0.5 percent to 3.2431 per dollar at 9:31 a.m. in Sao Paulo. One-month implied volatility on the real dropped for the ...

  Copenhagen / AFP After a lacklustre recovery from the 2008 financial crisis, Denmark’s central bank has warned that the labour market faces a squeeze as unemployment falls, the population ages and young people shun vocational jobs. At Technical Education Copenhagen, traineeships for another 20 to 30 lorry drivers could probably have been found if only people were interested in ...

  Emirates Business Held under the patronage of Her Highness Sheikha Latifa bint Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, in strategic partnership with the Dubai Design District (d3) and supported by the Dubai Culture and Arts Authority, Downtown Design will return this October 25-28 for its fourth edition as the commercial centrepiece of Dubai Design Week. Hosted in d3, the creative ...

  Ajman / Emirates Business Tourists from the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries including staycationers from the UAE were the top visitors of Ajman during Eid Al Adha holiday, according to Ajman Tourism Development Department (ATDD). Nationals from Egypt, Jordan, Kuwait, KSA, Bahrain and UAE were majority of the guests who stayed in Ajman’s hotels and hotel apartments, followed by ...

  DUBAI / Emirates Business GCC Financial Technology (FinTech) startups are cashing in on the always-connected banking habits of Millennials, say industry experts ahead of GITEX 2016. There is a surge in growth of “moneyhawks” — the high-income, and under-35-year-old customers who want constant mobile access to their banking and finance accounts. Banks often struggle to profit from their customers. ...