Bloomberg Industrywide demand for passenger vehicles in India will be depressed for a few months after Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s unprecedented cash clampdown, according to senior executives at Tata Motors Ltd. and Honda Motor Co. The cash crunch, following the withdrawal of high-denomination banknotes, has hurt consumer sentiment and is expected to continue through March, Mayank Pareek, president of passenger …

  Bloomberg China will raise the sales tax on small cars to 7.5 percent, curbing an incentive that has propped up the auto industry, which is heading for its 26th consecutive annual expansion, according to people familiar with the matter. The tax rate is less than the 10 percent originally scheduled to take effect from January. However, it is an …

  Cleveland / AFP At a photography studio in Cleveland, instructor Nicole Follen is trying to convince her students to step back in time and technology —to the age of the humble Polaroid. She wants the students to create something they can touch and feel —perhaps even something that – gasp —isn’t perfect. So, she guides her class in how …

  Relaxnews It’s the one safe zone where people are exempt from having to listen in on personal phone calls and family dramas. But a loophole in air travel regulations could allow fliers to place in-flight phone calls as long as travelers are notified of the service before their ticket purchase. In a bid to pre-emptively address concerns about voice …

  Relaxnews In spite of meager sales figures, BlackBerry could soon release a new smartphone, once again running Google’s Android OS and with a physical keyboard. The firm has also developed an innovative Internet of Things security solution for business. Pictures of what could be a BlackBerry DTEK 70, due for release in 2017, have leaked on social media. However, …

  Bloomberg Google parent company Alphabet Inc. is separating its self-driving car project into a new business called Waymo, seeking to sharpen its focus on changing the transportation industry. John Krafcik, chief executive officer of Waymo, announced the move on Tuesday at an event in San Francisco. The company has been developing autonomous vehicle technology for more than six years, …

  ABU DHABI / WAM His Highness Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi and Deputy Supreme Commander of the UAE Armed Forces, on Tuesday offered his condolences to Sheikh Rashid bin Hamdan Al Nahyan on the death of his son Sheikh Hamdan. HH Sheikh Tahnoun bin Mohammed Al Nahyan, Abu Dhabi Ruler`s Representative in the …

  DUBAI / WAM Vice President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, on Tuesday met the key Arab social media influencers on the sidelines of the Arab Social Media Influencers Summit (ASMIS) being held at the Dubai World Trade Centre. He was accompanied by HH Sheikh Hamdan bin …

  DUBAI / WAM Under the patronage and presence of HH Sheikh Ahmed bin Saeed Al Maktoum, Chairman of the Dubai Airport Freezone Authority (DAFZA), the authority on Tuesday signed multilateral Memorandums of Understanding (MoUs) with several major entities under the Dubai Government. This is in line with the inauguration of the ‘Development of Governmental Services’ Innovation Ecosystem’ initiative which …

  DUBAI / WAM Noor Bank has been named as winner of the ‘Critics’ Choice Best Islamic Retail Banking Brand Award 2016,’ at the World Islamic Retail Banking Conference (WIRBC) Awards 2016, hosted by UK-based Cambridge Analytica. Chirodip Basu Roy, Head of Marketing Operations, Noor Bank, collected the award on behalf of the bank at an impressive gathering, which was …