News

  Seoul / AFP South Korea’s most powerful tycoons, including de facto Samsung chief Lee Jae-Yong, stammered and squirmed on Tuesday under a verbal assault from a parliamentary committee probing a corruption scandal that has riveted the nation. Millions watched in astonishment as the televised hearing showed the heads of the country’s eight largest conglomerates being publicly chastised over donations ...

  Bloomberg Cyrus Mistry, the ousted chairman of Tata Group, accused its biggest shareholders of eroding governance at India’s largest business empire and portrayed himself as a defender of independent decision-making in a letter to investors in Tata companies. The conglomerate refuted his allegations. Mistry made his appeal on Monday before a series of extraordinary general meetings from Dec. 13 ...

  Bloomberg The death knell sounding for a US-led Pacific trade pact creates a vacuum that a separate Asia deal being championed by China should quickly fill, according to the Asian Development Bank. Negotiators at the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership meeting this week in Indonesia would normally hold talks without much public scrutiny. But the latest round comes after U.S. ...

  Bloomberg Investors and companies are getting a preview of how the Taiwan government’s plan to become “Asia’s Silicon Valley” might fare. Uber Technologies Inc., one of Silicon Valley’s most disruptive companies and valued at more than $60 billion, launched services in Taiwan in 2013. The app has been downloaded by more than a million people in four cities and ...

  Bloomberg Japan’s aging and shrinking population is causing labor shortages that should be helping workers win higher pay. But it’s not working out that way, in part because of low productivity in the areas of the greatest shortage, according to economists including Hideo Kumano at Dai-ichi Life Research Institute in Tokyo. Labor intensive sectors like hotels, restaurants and elderly ...

  Dubai / WAM The Roads and Transport Authority (RTA) in Dubai has signed two Memoranda of Understanding (MoUs) with Khalifa University and the University of Dubai, calling for stepping up cooperation in the field of robots and drones. The step is part of RTA endeavours to keep pace with the latest technological trends, share expertise with the academic institutions ...

  ABU DHABI / WAM Ways of strengthening relations between the UAE and China were discussed on Sunday by Pilot Staff-Brigadier Sheikh Ahmed bin Tahnoun bin Mohammed Al Nahyan, Chairman of the UAE National and Reserve Service Authority, and Ni Jian, Ambassador of China to the UAE. A number of topics of common concern were also discussed by the duo ...

  DUBAI / WAM Emirates Global Aluminium has received four awards at the 2016 Quality Group Continual Improvement and Innovation Symposium, cementing its reputation as an innovative UAE industrial champion. EGA swept the ‘Kaizen’ category, named after the Japanese practice of continual improvement in business, winning gold, silver and bronze awards for its unique process innovations and contributions to the ...

  Dubai / WAM The Real Estate Regulatory Agency, the regulatory arm of Dubai Land Department, affirmed that a Real Estate Marketing Agreement is mandatory between owners and real estate brokers which will result in the issuance of permits through its e-service system. There must be a written agreement in which property owners authorise real estate brokers to carry out ...

  ABU DHABI / WAM More than 300 exhibitors from around the globe are expected to participate in the 4th International Franchise Conference and Exhibition 2016, to be held on December 14, in Abu Dhabi, organisers said on Sunday. The two-day event seeks to enhance the contribution of the private sector to economic growth and diversification in the UAE and ...