Hong Kong / AFP Thousands took to Hong Kong’s streets on Sunday after Beijing said it would step into an escalating row over whether two city lawmakers who advocate a split from China should be banned from taking up their seats. The protest follows an ongoing judicial review by Hong Kong authorities, who are seeking to disqualify Baggio Leung ...

  Seoul /AFP South Korean prosecutors arrested two former top presidential aides on Sunday in a snowballing influence-peddling scandal which has seen tens of thousands of people take to the streets to demand President Park Geun-Hye resign. Park’s approval ratings have hit a historic low of five percent—a record for a sitting president—over the scandal involving her close friend Choi ...

  Sofia / AFP Bulgarians voted on Sunday in a first round of presidential elections, a key test of Prime Minister Boyko Borisov’s popularity in the EU’s poorest country. If his candidate and protegee Tsetska Tsacheva fails to win the presidency, Borisov might call early elections, plunging Bulgaria into renewed political uncertainty, experts say. Opinion polls suggest that Tsacheva, currently ...

  Dubai / Emirates Business UAE food sales are projected to grow by an annual average of 7.3 percent ($16.7bn) between 2015 and 2020, according to a new BMI report commissioned by Dubai World Trade Centre (DWTC) and released in tandem with the opening of its annual trio of specialist foods shows, which run until November 9. In addition to ...

  Dubai / Emirates Business The Foreign Exchange and Remittance Group (FERG), comprising businesses engaged in money exchange and remittances, has recorded a 10-15% increase in foreign currency exchange transactions for 2016 compared to the same period last year. Data compiled by the organisation from the ledgers of member exchange houses also shows a spike in foreign exchange purchase transactions ...

  Sharjah / WAM More than 650,000 visitors have attended the first four days of this year’s Sharjah International Book Fair (SIBF) a record in its 35-year history. Data indicates that the current edition of the fair, which concludes next Saturday at Expo Centre Sharjah, will break the record for overall number of visitors at a single edition, surpassing last year’s ...

  Dubai / WAM The Department of Economic Development (DED) in Dubai, announced its support to the ‘GCC Manufacturing Excellence and Technology Summit’, which will focus on different methods to effectively manage the challenges in achieving operational efficiency and excellence in manufacturing. Saed Al Awadi, CEO of Dubai Exports, the export promotion agency of DED, and Brad Hariharan, Regional Director of ...

  Dubai / Emirates Business Dubai Electricity and Water Authority (DEWA) announced the achievements made by the Shams Dubai initiative as of October. DEWA launched the Shams Dubai in adherence with the Smart Dubai initiative, which was launched by HH Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, to make ...

  Frankfurt / AFP German prosecutors probing whether Volkswagen executives manipulated the markets in the wake of the “dieselgate” scandal have widened their investigation to include the chairman of the group’s supervisory board, the auto giant said on Sunday. “The proceedings refer to the period during which (chairman) Hans Dieter Poetsch served as the group chief financial officer,” VW said ...

  Bloomberg WeWork Cos. built its brand on the hustling energy of small startups, but the company is finding that boring corporate giants may be finally ready to embrace the idea of renting a desk next to a stranger. In the last year, WeWork has established a new team that caters to the needs of large companies. The New York ...