Bloomberg Sony Corp. and Line Corp., Japan’s most popular messaging service, are considering joining forces to develop devices powered by artificial intelligence. The companies are exploring opportunities around digital personal assistant technology to co-create a new communication experience, Sony said in a statement at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona. Sony unveiled concept earphones powered by Xperia Agent, a ...

  Bloomberg Huawei Technologies Co. and LG Electronics Inc. are angling to steal the show at this year’s Mobile World Congress, ushering in new smartphones that each hopes will fill a void created by the absence of a new handset from the usually dominant Samsung Electronics Co. A day before the industry’s biggest conference gets going in Barcelona, LG hosted ...

  Bloomberg H&R Block is out to wrest back market share from its online tax-prep rivals with such aggressive measures as free services and interest-free advances on refunds—oh, and plunking a supercomputing Jeopardy star down on the desks of its 70,000 tax preparers. For this tax season, H&R Block has put an additional computer screen on each preparer’s desk, facing ...

  AP A Palestinian guesthouse packed with artwork of the elusive British graffiti artist Banksy unveiled itself in the West Bank city of Bethlehem, with a sneak peek of what the owner sarcastically called the ‘hotel with the worst view in the world.’ Wisam Salsaa, 42, said the nine-room establishment named ‘The Walled Off Hotel’ will officially open on March ...

  ALBUQUERQUE, NM / AP Mexican-American photographer Maria Varela was present at some of the most dramatic moments of the Civil Rights Movement, capturing images of voting rights demonstrations in Alabama and efforts to create Head Start programs in poor, rural areas. As one of the few Latinas involved in the black Civil Rights Movement, historians say, her work has ...

  DUBAI / WAM The Ministry of Finance (MoF) held the first meeting of the Government Financial Policy Coordination Council for 2017 in its premises in Dubai. The meeting was headed by Younis Haji Al Khoori, Under-Secretary of MoF and Chairman of the Government Financial Policy Coordination Council; in the presence of Saeed Rashid Al Yateem, Assistant Under-Secretary of Resources ...

  DUBAI / WAM Vice President and Prime Minister of UAE and Ruler of Dubai, His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, has announced the release of his new book, titled ‘Ta’mulat fi Asa’adah Wl Ejabia’ (Reflections on Happiness and Positivity). Making the announcement, he said, “The book includes lessons, examples and stories based on a different life philosophy: ...

  DUBAI / Emirates Business Dubai Exports, the export promotion agency of the Department of Economic Development (DED), is all set to take major strides in connecting Dubai trade to new markets across Africa, Central Asia, Europe and South America in 2017 after achieving outstanding success in its market outreach and capability building programmes in 2016. In 2016, Dubai Exports ...

  MADRID / WAM The Global Manufacturing and Industrialisation Summit (GMIS) and the Spanish Confederation of Employers’ Organisations (CEOE) signed a strategic Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) at a high-level meeting at CEOE’s headquarters in the Spanish capital, Madrid. The agreement will see the two partners collaborate on promoting environments that are more conducive and supportive of innovation and disruption, in ...

  DUBAI / WAM Dubai Electricity and Water Authority (DEWA) won four awards at Gulf Sustainability and CSR (Corporate Social Responsibility) Awards. This new achievement demonstrates that DEWA is socially-responsible and uses world-class methods to preserve natural resources, to achieve sustainable devel- opment. DEWA got awards in the categories of Best sustainability and Education programme for its Asher initiative, Best ...