Bloomberg China’s Finance Ministry has submitted a consumer tax overhaul proposal to the State Council, according to two people familiar with the matter who asked not to be identified because the discussions are private. The proposal is subject to change after other ministries and the State Council, China’s cabinet, give their input, one of the people said. Finance Ministry ...

  Ho Chi Minh City / AFP Recent Vietnamese graduate looking for an English-language teacher? There’s an app for that. Or hunting the best bowl of pho in your Hanoi neighbourhood? There’s now an app for that, too. A decade ago such technology would likely have been developed in California’s Silicon Valley. But today those apps are being churned out ...

  San Francisco / AFP South Korean consumer electronics titan LG unveiled a flagship V20 smartphone aimed at internet age “storytellers” on the eve of an Apple event expected to star a new iPhone. LG introduced the V20 in San Francisco, highlighting camera and audio capabilities aimed at bringing professional-level production quality to even casual of moments captured on smartphones. ...

  Madrid / AFP Spain’s Telefonica plans to create a platform for its clients to manage access to their personal data and possibly even block online giants like Google from using the information or make them pay, a spokesman said. The platform, which the telecoms giant plans to roll out next year, would lay out all the data that it ...

  Relaxnews One product flying high in the consumer tech market this fall is the drone, whether mini-drones for leisure flyers or veritable winged racers. A host of new products are due out from September 2016, ahead of the imminent unveiling of GoPro’s first model. Parrot has been busy releasing a selection of drones for fall 2016, with two new ...

  Ouagadougou / AFP With the logo of his internet TV station on his black T-shirt, Inoussa Maiga energetically plucks corn stalks in northern Burkina Faso for a programme on farming in Africa. Maiga, 30, launched Agribusiness TV in May in the Burkinabe capital Ouagadougou, determined to change poor opinions about agricultural work held by African youth and to help ...

  New York / DPA Ashrita Furman started out with 27,000 star jumps — an exhausting exercise used by military fitness instructors — moved on to somersaults along a 20-kilometre route, and then to underwater pogo stick jumping. Furman, now 61, has set 621 records to the standards of the Guinness World Records, and 206 of them are still standing, ...

  Dubai / WAM His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, on Tuesday toured the 15th Cityscape Global real estate exhibition which began on Tuesday at Dubai World Trade Centre and will conclude on September 8. Some 272 exhibitors from more than 30 countries (68 percent from the ...

  Dubai / WAM The US – UAE Cybersecurity Forum, which Dubai will host on Wednesday, aims to inform about public policy discussions in the UAE, drive bilateral collaboration in cybersecurity and encourage co-operation amongst industry stakeholders, the organisers said. The forum is being organised by the US Chamber of Commerce, The American Business Council in Dubai, Dubai Chamber and Dubai ...

  Abu Dhabi / WAM The Financial Services Regulatory Authority (FSRA) of Abu Dhabi Global Market, and the Guernsey Financial Services Commission, Guernsey FSC, today signed a Memorandum of Understanding to co-operate on supervisory matters, exchange of information, as well as to foster high regulatory practice in both jurisdictions. Richard Teng, Chief Executive Officer of the FSRA and William Mason, Director-General ...