Bloomberg BMW AG plans to boost its investments in startups, as competition intensifies with new rivals including Tesla Motors Inc. over technologies that make cars smarter and more energy efficient. The luxury-vehicle maker will invest as much as 500 million euros ($533 million) through its iVentures capital fund over 10 years, Munich-based BMW said Monday in a statement. The ...

  DUBAI / WAM Dubai-based flydubai officially launched its Bangkok service, marking the start of its first double daily route outside of the GCC. The inaugural flight from Dubai International Terminal 2 landed at Bangkok International Airport on Tuesday, providing connecting routes for travel through Dubai. Commenting on the launch of the new route, Ghaith Al Ghaith, CEO at flydubai, ...

  AJMAN / WAM HH Sheikh Humaid bin Rashid Al Nuaimi, Supreme Council Member and Ruler of Ajman, received on Tuesday Igor Mirovic, President of the Provincial Government of Vojvodina, Serbia, and explored prospects to establish joint trade, and economic and investment projects. Mirovic is leading a high-level delegation on a visit to the UAE. The Ajman Ruler called on ...

  ABU DHABI / WAM President His Highness Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan ordered the release of 1,102 prisoners on the occasion of the UAE’s 45th National Day. The move comes as part of President Khalifa’s keenness to give pardoned inmates an opportunity to start a new life and ease the suffering of their families. Commenting on the occasion, ...

  New York / AFP Donald Trump stepped up his search on Tuesday for a secretary of state with loyalists at loggerheads over prospective candidates: erstwhile critic Mitt Romney, scandal-clad general David Petraeus and Senator Bob Corker. Trump’s quest for America’s next top diplomat, the most prestigious position in the cabinet and the statesman who will have to grapple with ...

  Manila / AFP The Philippines criticised on Tuesday as “irresponsible and alarming” a UN envoy’s warning that life sentences meted out to two ex-Khmer Rouge leaders should serve as a warning to Manila over human rights abuses. Last week, a United Nations-backed court in Cambodia upheld life sentences for crimes against humanity for two senior leaders of the Khmer ...

  Manila / AFP Seven military bodyguards of President Rodrigo Duterte and two other soldiers were wounded on Tuesday in an ambush by suspected militants on the eve of his planned visit to the southern Philippines, the military and president said. Military spokesmen said a bomb hit the soldiers’ convoy as it drove on a road in a southern region ...

  Yangon / AFP Myanmar’s Rohingya may be victims of crimes against humanity, the UN’s rights agency said Tuesday, as former UN chief Kofi Annan arrived in the country for a visit that will include a trip to northern Rakhine. The army has carried out a bloody crackdown in Rakhine, and thousands of the Muslim minority have flooded over the ...

  Kuala Lumpur / AFP Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak will take part in a rare rally to protest a bloody crackdown on Rohingya Muslims in Myanmar, an official from his office said on Tuesday. The gathering, which will take place in an yet-to-be announced location on Sunday, will involve politicians, NGOs and “all concerned with the issue” the official ...

  Banjul / AFP Gambia’s president once said he would govern the country for a billion years if God willed it. But voters may deliver an upset on Thursday after years of economic hardship that have pushed thousands of young people to attempt the perilous Mediterranean crossing to Europe. Yahya Jammeh will face the biggest challenge to his 22-year rule ...