Bloomberg President Barack Obama said he expects the U.K. will abide by the wishes of British voters and carry out plans to leave the European Union, and urged both sides to conduct the departure with minimal disruption. “We have to assume that a referendum having been passed with a lot of attention†and relatively high participation rate “is going ...
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WellCare, Centene offer to bid for Aetna Medicare assets
Bloomberg Health insurers including WellCare Health Plans Inc. and Centene Corp. have offered to buy assets that Aetna Inc. may have to sell to gain regulatory approval for its proposed $37 billion takeover of Humana Inc., a person familiar with the matter said. WellCare and Centene have separately bid for Aetna’s Medicare Advantage policies that are up for sale, ...
Read More »Brazil inflation slows more than forecast
Bloomberg Brazil’s consumer prices rose less than analysts forecast in June as new central bank chief Ilan Goldfajn pledges to bring inflation to the government’s target by the end of next year. The benchmark IPCA consumer price index climbed 0.35 percent after a 0.78 percent rise the previous month. That was lower than the median forecast for a 0.37 ...
Read More »HPE to consider selling some of its software assets
Bloomberg Hewlett Packard Enterprise Co. is considering a sale of some of its software assets as it continues to slim down its operations, according to people familiar with the matter. The divestitures would come from a portfolio of acquisitions made over roughly the last decade, including Autonomy, Mercury Interactive and Vertica Systems, said the people, who asked not to ...
Read More »Oi investor seeks to oust board members in bankruptcy twist
Bloomberg Oi SA, the Brazilian phone company struggling under $20 billion in debt, said one of its biggest investors called for a shareholders’ meeting to change the makeup of the board. Magnate Nelson Tanure’s Bridge Administradora de Recursos Ltda., which holds a 6.6 percent stake in Oi, said it would seek to oust directors who represent Pharol SGPS SA, ...
Read More »UK rejects 4mn petition for 2nd EU vote
London / AFP The British government on Saturday formally rejected a petition signed by more than 4.125 million people calling for a second referendum on Britain’s membership of the EU. “We the undersigned call upon HM (Her Majesty’s) government to implement a rule that if the remain or leave vote is less than 60 percent based a turnout less ...
Read More »Dubai Police conducts 198,550 transactions through ‘new’ app
DUBAI / WAM Dubai Police processed 198,550 online transactions on its smartphone app since the beginning of this year. The app “Dubai Police†has been downloaded 1,372,762 times on android and iOS-powered devices, Brigadier Khalid Al Razouki, Director of Smart-Services at Dubai Police General HQ, said. He noted that the number of downloads was rising due to the launch ...
Read More »Russian flight lands in Turkey
Istanbul / AFP The first Russian flight carrying package tourists to Turkey since a diplomatic crisis erupted eight months ago landed on Saturday in the Turkish Mediterranean resort of Antalya. The Rossiya Airlines plane touched down at Antalya’s international airport at around 0730 GMT, after President Vladimir Putin last month officially lifted restrictions on tourism to Turkey. The Boeing ...
Read More »India’s Kerala imposes ‘fat tax’ on junk food
New Delhi / AFP India’s peaceful tourist hotspot Kerala has become the first state in the country to impose a “fat tax†on junk food in a bid to counter rising obesity. The state’s finance minister Thomas Isaac announced a 14.5 percent tax on food including burgers, pizzas and sandwiches sold at restaurants and fast-food chains, as part of ...
Read More »Irish teachers head to UAE as salaries fall back at home
DUBLIN / WAM With salaries and job opportunities falling at home, dozens of Irish teachers are heading to the UAE next month to take up posts in primary and secondary schools, according to a report on Saturday in the Irish Independent newspaper. “A sense of adventure is the attraction for some, with others viewing the opportunity as a chance ...
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