Abu Dhabi / Emirates Business Groundwork for the second edition of Mother of the Nation Festival commences on Sunday on Abu Dhabi Corniche ahead of the Festival’s official opening on March 26, the organising committee at Abu Dhabi Tourism and Culture Authority announced on Sunday. Preparations for the festival have commenced on-schedule as more than one kilometre of Abu ...

  Bloomberg US environmental chief Scott Pruitt unveiled plans to roll back at least three Obama-era rules at the EPA while vowing to give businesses “regulatory certainty.” Those policy reversals, set to start next week, will empower the Environmental Protection Agency to focus on its core mission of protecting the air and water, Pruitt said in a speech and question-and-answer ...

  Bloomberg Carlos Ghosn handed over the day-to-day running of Nissan Motor Co. to Hiroto Saikawa, who will take the mantle of president and chief executive officer while his long-time boss focuses on revamping struggling affiliate Mitsubishi Motors Corp. Ghosn, 62, will remain chairman of Nissan, a title he also holds at alliance partners Renault SA and Mitsubishi Motors. He’ll ...

  Bloomberg Santander Consumer USA Holdings Inc., one of the country’s biggest subprime auto lenders, has decided not to use GPS-tracking and ignition kill swi- tch technology as regulators clamp down on the devices, an executive said. Car lenders use the devices to help them find and repossess cars when borrowers default on loans, which is becoming increasingly common amid ...

  Bloomberg Aston Martin’s bet on a new $215,000 luxury coupe is paying off as surging demand for the DB11 has the carmaker projecting a revenue bump of as much as 37% this year ahead of a potential initial public offering. Orders for the DB11, which debuted a year ago at the Geneva motor show, paced a 48% jump to ...

  KUALA LUMPUR / AP Malaysia’s health minister said on Sunday that the dose of nerve agent given to North Korean ruler Kim Jong Un’s exiled half brother was so high that it killed him within 20 minutes and caused “very serious paralysis.” Kim Jong Nam died February 13 at Kuala Lumpur’s airport in what Malaysian police say was a well-planned ...

  RIYADH / AP Saudi King Salman has arrived in Malaysia to kick off a multi-nation tour aimed at boosting economic ties with Asia.The official Saudi Press Agency reported on Sunday that the monarch’s tour will also take in Indonesia, Brunei, Japan, China and the Maldives. Salman will also visit Saudi Arabia’s neighbor Jordan before returning home. OPEC kingpin Saudi Arabia ...

  TEHRAN / AP Iran’s navy began an annual drill on Sunday near the strategic Strait of Hormuz, its first major exercise since the inauguration of US President Donald Trump, state television reported. The TV report quoted navy chief Adm. Habibollah Sayyari as saying the two-day maneuver will cover an area of 2 million square kilometers (772,000 square miles) in the ...

  KABUL / AP Springtime in Afghanistan usually brings a spike in violence as the Taliban takes advantage of the thaw to launch a wave of fresh attacks. But the Taliban’s leader has just issued a statement calling on Afghans to plant more trees. In a public letter issued on Sunday in four languages, including English, Mullah Haibatullah Akhundzada says that, ...

  BAGHDAD / AP Iraqi militarized police captured two neighborhoods on the western side of Mosul on Sunday amid fierce clashes with IS militants, as thousands of people continued to flee the battle to government-controlled areas, security officials said. Iraqi forces, backed by aerial support by the US-led international coalition, launched a new push last week to drive IS militants from ...