Hanoi / AFP Vietnam and Iran pledged on Thursday to boost future trade to $2 billion, as Tehran seeks to jump-start its sputtering economy after crippling international sanctions were lifted this year. Iran’s moderate President Hassan Rouhani, in Vietnam on a three-country swing through Southeast Asia, has come under fire from conservative critics who say the nuclear deal signed ...

  Tokyo / AFP Shares in Japanese IT giant Fujitsu soared on Thursday on news it is considering merging its struggling personal computer division with China’s Lenovo, the world’s biggest PC maker. A deal would mark the latest move by a Japanese firm to hive off struggling divisions to repair their finances, with Toshiba and Sony among a string of ...

  Jakarta / AFP Indonesia hailed a tax amnesty as a major success after it raised more than $7 billion in its first few months, but criticism is mounting that the controversial scheme lets the super-rich off the hook. Authorities began the flagship policy with much fanfare in July, asking Indonesians to declare their hidden wealth in exchange for paying ...

  Seoul / AP Samsung said on Thursday it was buying a prominent US artificial intelligence (AI) start-up founded by the creators of Siri — the voice-based digital assistant used on the iPhones of arch-rival Apple. The South Korean giant said the acquisition of California-based Viv Labs would bolster voice-based services across the full range of its electronics products that ...

  Bloomberg If allowing your smartphone to run out of power during the day doesn’t make you feel silly enough, consider this: Every hour it’s idle in your pocket or bag, the sun is bathing the earth in enough energy to run the world economy for a year. The obvious fix here is to turn every square inch of your ...

  Chicago / AFP A US flight was evacuated prior to takeoff when a passenger’s Galaxy Note 7 — reportedly a replacement in Samsung’s global recall — caught fire, landing the company in new controversy. Samsung has been struggling with a recall of 2.5 million Galaxy Note 7 handsets due to complaints of exploding batteries, a problem the replacement phones ...

  AFP A shiny new cohort joined the workforce in Taiwan on Thursday — a troop of mini robots all going by the name “Pepper”, enlisted to entertain customers and give them the hard sell. Chinese-speaking Pepper was introduced into two banks and an insurance company in the capital Taipei, dancing to music, playing with children in lobbies and leading ...

  Bloomberg Google published research this week detailing how its software enables robots to learn from one another. To demonstrate, the company’s scientists showed videos featuring robotic arms whirling inside its labs. Google’s robotics group built those machines and wanted to sell them to manufacturers, warehouse operators and others. However, executives at Google parent Alphabet Inc. nixed the plan because ...

  Emirates Business Honda Motor Co. Africa and Middle East Office announced the official launch of the ‘2017 New Accord’ at Four Seasons Resort Jumeirah Beach, Dubai on Thursday. The New Accord gets a major facelift with sportier, more sophisticated styling. New Accord features restyled alloy wheels on the 4 cylinders and Honda SensingTM Technology on V6 grades. An additional ...

  Emirates Business The Oris Aquis Depth Gauge was hailed by the international press as one of the most innovative diving watches of the century when it was launched in 2013. It answered the challenge of how to build a depth gauge into a mechanical watch. It had a pioneering depth gauge function, developed and patented by Oris. Marking the ...