December, 2021

• 19 December

  Dewa provides Arabic services on Amazon’s Alexa

  

    DUBAI / WAM Dubai Electricity and Water Authority (Dewa) has started providing its smart services on Amazon Alexa in Arabic, becoming the first government utility in the world to do this. Customers can now review their monthly bills in Arabic, check past statements, details of electricity and water consumption, their carbon footprint, as well as connect their Dewa account ...

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• 19 December

  Fossil fuels to drive record Australian resources revenue

  

    Bloomberg Australia has revised up its forecast for resources and energy export revenue on the back of strong coal and liquefied natural gas prices, even as the world tries to wean itself off heavy-polluting fossil fuels. Exports are expected to hit a record A$379 billion ($271 billion) in the year to June 30, 2022, revised up by 9% from ...

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• 19 December

  Global democracy is doing fine; but US is in trouble!

  

    Back in 2006, the British comedians David Mitchell and Robert Webb risked a sketch in which they played two Waffen-SS officers towards the end of World War II. Reflecting on the Totenkopf (death’s head) badges on their caps, Mitchell asked the immortal question: “Are we the baddies?” An increasing number of anxious American political commentators are asking themselves a ...

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• 19 December

  Can hiring algorithms be fixed now?

  

  Some of the US’s largest employers, including General Motors, IBM and Meta, have formed a new venture with a laudable goal: ensuring that artificial intelligence doesn’t perpetuate or worsen discrimination in hiring. The mere existence of the Data & Trust Alliance, as it is called, is good news — but it needs to be a lot better. Hiring has changed ...

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• 19 December

  FedEx finds if you pay them, they will come

  

    FedEx Corp has cracked the code on how to hire in today’s tight labour market: higher wages, better benefits and more flexibility. Who knew? After offering those three things, the company received more than 111,000 job applications, the most in history and up from 52,000 in the week of May 8, Chief Operating Officer Raj Subramaniam said after the ...

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• 19 December

  China can have cheap coal or prosperity

    Less than three months into a coal output surge ordered by Beijing to paper over the cracks in China’s electricity grid, the signs of strain are starting to show. Emergency rescue services were rushed to an illegal coal pit in Shanxi province after 22 miners were trapped underground by flooding, one of the country’s worst mine accidents in months. ...

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• 19 December

  Goldman triples its Asia ESG investments as demand grows

  

    Bloomberg Goldman Sachs Group Inc has more than tripled environmental, social and governance investments in Asia, stepping up efforts to meet a growing need from clients to limit their greenhouse gas footprints. The New York-based bank has completed nearly 15 investments based on ESG criteria in the past two years, up from just four during the previous period, people ...

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• 19 December

  Bangladesh economy set to grow 6.6% in FY22, forecasts IMF

  

    Bloomberg Bangladesh’s economic growth is expected to increase to 6.6% in the fiscal year ending June in 2022, according to the International Monetary Fund (IMF), as the coronavirus pandemic abates and policies remain accommodative. Growth may rise to 7.1% the fiscal year after that, the IMF said in a statement on its website, citing an improvement in the external ...

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• 19 December

  GoTo to hire banks for $1bn Indonesian IPO

    Bloomberg GoTo Group has hired banks to help it raise around $1 billion from an initial public offering in Indonesia, according to people familiar with the matter. The company, formed as the result of a merger by the country’s two most valuable internet startups, has picked PT Mandiri Sekuritas and PT Indo Premier Sekuritas as underwriters for a local ...

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• 19 December

  IPOs in Asia facing headwinds after record year of fundraising

  

    Bloomberg After a bumper year of stock listings, Asian companies may find it hard to repeat the success in 2022 given the prospect of rising interest rates and China’s tightening grip on Big Tech. Thanks to a blistering first half amid a global boom, initial public offerings in the region have reached $190 billion so far this year, a ...

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