News

  Geneva / AFP Switzerland said on Wednesday it had widened its probe into Malaysia’s scandal-tainted state investment fund, 1MDB, with transactions worth $800 million under scrutiny and evidence pointing to fraud through “a Ponzi scheme”. The Swiss attorney general opened an investigation into the troubled 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB) in August 2015 following allegations that some of the money ...

  Seoul / AFP Samsung’s drug-manufacturing unit plans to raise as much as $2.0 billion in November with what looks set to be South Korea’s third-largest initial public offering (IPO). Samsung Biologics, a contract manufacturer of biotech drugs for global pharmaceutical firms, had announced the IPO plan back in April — with parent Samsung Group seeking new growth engines as ...

  New Delhi / AFP On a scorching rooftop in a smart neighbourhood in the Indian capital, 40 Delhiites with an eye for a bargain peer over auction tables creaking with used, broken and half-eaten items, the front line of a thriving second-hand economy. The auctioneer’s voice rises to a frenzied pitch as the numbers soar higher, each item wielded ...

  NEW TAIPEI CITY / AP Commercial fishing boat owners in Taiwan, one of the world’s biggest seafood exporters, face strict rules and potential fines under a new law aimed at preventing overfishing and protecting migrant crewmembers who work far at sea with little oversight. The Distant Water Fisheries Act, which takes effect Jan. 15, 2017, comes amid growing pressure ...

  Birmingham / AFP Prime Minister Theresa May threw down the Brexit gauntlet to Brussels on Wednesday in a speech calling for “maximum freedom” in Europe’s single market despite a backlash against her hard line on immigration. May’s address to the Conservative party conference came as the pound plunged on currency markets and amid growing criticism of proposals to make ...

  Bloomberg Prime Minister Theresa May’s government has ruled out paying contributions to the European Union budget to allow British companies access to the single market, according to a senior aide to Brexit Secretary David Davis, who gave the most specific outline yet of the U.K.’s “red lines” in the coming negotiations to leave the EU. The government’s Brexit department, ...

  Ottawa / AFP Canadian regulators are failing to monitor the country’s nuclear power plants properly and such safety lapses are unacceptable, an official said Tuesday. Canada has four nuclear plants with a total of 19 reactors in Ontario and New Brunswick provinces. They provide about 17 percent of the nation’s electricity. Regulators have carried out inadequate and irregular inspections, ...

  Washington / AFP US online giant Amazon on Wednesday launched a new “Prime Reading” program for US members of its subscription program, allowing unlimited reading of a rotating selection of e-books. “Prime members can now enjoy unlimited reading from a rotating selection of books, magazines, comics and more — at no additional cost,” the online retail giant said in ...

  Abu Dhabi / Bloomberg Abu Dhabi National Oil Co. will combine two offshore oil and natural gas ventures operated with partners including BP Plc and ExxonMobil Corp., as the UAE producer takes measures to cope with the drop in oil prices over the past two years. Abu Dhabi Marine Operating Co., known as Adma-Opco, and Zakum Development Co., known ...

WashingtonI / AFP The IMF on Tuesday left its global economic forecasts unchanged into 2017 but called governments to take action against the threats of low growth and protectionism. Global output is expected to grow this year at a rate of 3.1 percent before rising to 3.4 percent next year, estimates that are unchanged from July, according to the International ...