PARIS / AP I am, therefore I’m paid. The radical notion that governments should hand out free money to everyone — rich and poor, those who work and those who don’t — is slowly but surely gaining ground in Europe. Yes, you read that right: a guaranteed monthly living allowance, no strings attached. In France, two of the seven ...

  Bloomberg European car sales rose 6.5 percent to a nine-year high in 2016, propelled by pent-up demand amid a recovering economy, as French manufacturer Renault SA took advantage of market leader Volkswagen AG’s diesel-emissions scandal to leap from third place to second. Registrations increased to 15.1 million vehicles last year from 14.2 million in 2015, the Brussels-based European Automobile ...

  Bloomberg General Motors Co. is set to announce a $1 billion US investment plan, joining Hyundai Motor Co. and Kia Motors Corp. among the latest automakers to outline their spending amid pressure from President-elect Donald Trump to create jobs. The largest US automaker plans to say on Tuesday it will invest in US plants over several years, and expects ...

  Bloomberg Zhou Shuoji is not a bitcoin believer. He says the cryptocurrency will never replace its traditional forebears, and he calls most of its proponents fanatics. But for Zhou, a 35-year-old high-speed trader in Beijing, bitcoin is also too good to resist. His computers trade it 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Using lightning quick orders, they ...

  Dubai / Emirates Business LG Electronics (LG) and Dolby Laboratories, Inc. (NYSE: DLB) announced the LG UP970 Ultra HD Blu-ray player, LG’s first 4K Blu-ray player which will support Dolby Vision high-dynamic -range (HDR) imaging. LG’s UP970 Ultra HD Blu-ray player delivers a more immersive and vivid viewing experience than ever before. Leveraging the HDR technology that powers Dolby’s ...

  Bloomberg Baidu Inc. has appointed former Microsoft Corp. executive Qi Lu its group president and chief oper- ating officer, granting the software industry veteran oversight over all aspects of the Chinese search giant’s business from sales to technology development. Lu, an architect of Chief Executive Officer Satya Nadella’s strategy for artificial intelligence and bots at Microsoft, will take up ...

  ABU DHABI / Reuters Saudi Arabia will launch a renewable energy programme in coming weeks that is expected to involve investment of between $30 billion and $50 billion by 2023, Energy Minister Khalid al-Falih said on Monday. Falih, speaking at an energy industry event in Abu Dhabi, said Riyadh would start the first round of bidding within weeks for ...

  ABU DHABI / WAM The National Media Council will start work on the design and installation of the UAE pavilion in February at the EXPO 2017 Astana, in Kazakhstan, after it received the site from the organising committee. The expo, themed ‘Future Energy’ will be held from June 10 to September 11 in the capital city of Astana. The ...

  ABU DHABI / Emirates Business As part of its efforts to reinforce safety practices in workplace, Abu Dhabi Ports, the master developer, operator and manager of the Emirate’s commercial and community ports as well as Khalifa Industrial Zone, has launched a health, safety and environment (HSE) award. Aimed at recognising the contributions of individuals, government and private entities and ...

  DUBAI / WAM The Dubai Financial Services Authority (DFSA) published a Trade Finance Report detailing key findings of a review of trade finance activities carried out in and from Dubai International Financial Centre (DIFC). The review assessed the quality of systems and controls, in particular measures to mitigate trade-based money laundering risks, at banks and other financial service providers ...