March, 2017

• 22 March

  Apple Pay gets crushed in China’s mobile-payments market

  

    Bloomberg Dong Ximiao was buying a meal at KFC in Hangzhou on a recent Sunday and pulled out his phone to pay, like everyone does in China, when the cashier asked: “Alipay or WeChat Pay?” The problem was, Dong wanted to use Apple Pay for the 36 yuan ($5.20) bill, but the cashier told him she had never handled ...

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• 22 March

  Curry turning sour!

  

    BOSTON / AP Mohammed-Faizul Haque makes it all look so easy. To a pan full of sizzling chicken he adds a ladle of orangey base sauce and then lemon, sending flames shooting up. He reaches to a line of vessels for pinches of cumin, coriander, salt, chili and garlic, the feel of the ingredients between his fingers as his ...

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• 21 March

  UAE margin trading finance hits all-time high of AED31 billion

    ABU DHABI / WAM The value of margin trading finance on Abu Dhabi and Dubai Security Exchange Markets hit AED31 billion in January and February 2017, an all-time-high since the inception of margin trading in 2008. The growth in the service’s financial value during the two months account for 37.3% of the total facilitations provided by licensed brokerage companies ...

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• 21 March

  Dubai economy remains buoyant despite challenges

  

    DUBAI / WAM The Emirate of Dubai continues to show growing levels of buoyancy in different business sectors, boasting growing demand and increasing returns thanks to its highly sophisticated industrial base and rising foreign investment quotas for its property and financial markets. The impressive economic success story, according to recent business reports, is attributed to a number of factors, ...

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• 21 March

  Nakheel awards AED184mn contract for Ibn Battuta hotel

  

    DUBAI / WAM Nakheel Properties awarded a construction contract worth AED184.5 million for a second hotel at the Ibn Battuta Mall in Dubai. Dubai-based Parkway International Contracting has been appointed to build the 375-room hotel, which has a total project value of AED240 million. It forms part of Nakheel’s AED3 billion hospitality expansion under which the developer is bringing ...

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• 21 March

  FBI chief confirms Russia inquiry, rejects Trump wiretap claims

  

    Bloomberg FBI Director James Comey confirmed the bureau is probing potential ties between President Donald Trump’s associates and Russia during the 2016 campaign and said there’s no evidence to support the president’s allegation that his predecessor “wiretapped” Trump Tower last year. “I have no information that supports those tweets and we have looked carefully inside the FBI,” Comey told ...

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• 21 March

  Taliban attack kills 6 Afghan intelligence forces

    KABUL / AP A suicide car bomb targeted a checkpoint in Afghanistan’s southern Helmand province, killing at least six members of an intelligence unit, an Afghan official said on Tuesday. Hayatullah Hayat, the governor of the province, said seven other members of the service were wounded in the attack, which took place late Monday near the provincial capital, Lashkar ...

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• 21 March

  Prosecutors grill Park over corruption allegations

    SEOUL / AP South Korean prosecutors grilled the country’s just-ousted president on Tuesday in a long-awaited investigation of corruption allegations that ended her rule and now threaten to put her in jail. The questioning of Park Geun-hye came 11 days after the Constitutional Court unanimously ruled to dismiss her over suspicions she colluded with a confidante to extort money ...

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• 21 March

  A strong dollar isn’t that great for America

  

    Perhaps no other piece of economics jargon has caused as much confusion as the term “strong dollar.” The phrase suggests patriotic strength, of the USA riding roughshod over its economic rivals. In reality, dollar strength just means purchasing power — a stronger dollar lets US residents and businesses buy more things from overseas, while a weaker dollar helps them ...

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• 21 March

  Vodafone’s Indian escape act is heavy on the contortions

  

    Vodafone CEO Vittorio Colao has negotiated a partial retreat from a tough situation in India on reasonable terms. Given a bloody price war brought on by a new rival, the deal to join forces with Idea Cellular Ltd is smart even though Colao has ceded control without getting a premium. Vodafone Group Plc and Idea said on Monday that ...

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