March, 2017

• 22 March

  Canada seeks to avoid Brexit cliff-edge with trade talks

    Bloomberg Canada wants to avoid a Brexit cliff-edge too. The government is pushing for its trade deal with Europe to be ratified by Britain before it leaves the European Union to secure the crucial agreement. It also has its eye on deeper relations with the UK once Brexit is complete. Canada wants to preserve any preferential access that businesses ...

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• 22 March

  Alexa-Siri fight moves to Marriott hotel rooms

  

    Bloomberg Amazon.com Inc.’s battle with Apple Inc. over digital assistants is moving to a new venue: hotel rooms, where Alexa and Siri are both vying to be the voice-controlled platform of choice for travellers. Marriott International Inc., the world’s biggest lodging company, is testing devices from the two tech giants at its Aloft hotel in Boston’s Seaport district to ...

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• 22 March

  Google opens ‘shortcuts’ to info, tools on phones

  

    AP Google wants to make it easier for you to find answers and recommendations on smartphones without having to think about what to ask its search engine. Its new feature, called “shortcuts ,” will appear as a row of icons below the Google search box. Instead of having to ponder and then speak or type a request, the shortcuts ...

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• 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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