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  BANGKOK / AP Japan’s foreign minister announced a multibillion-dollar initiative on Monday to promote development in Southeast Asia’s Mekong region, which encompasses parts of Vietnam, Laos and Thailand through which the river flows. In a speech at Chulalongkorn University in Bangkok, Fumio Kishida affirmed the importance of Southeast Asia’s economic prosperity to Japan. He pledged 750 billion yen ($7 ...

  Bloomberg When European Central Bank policy makers discuss the fate of the €500-note this week, they may want to consider the case of Fabio Rizzi. After the local politician in the Italian region of Lombardy was arrested on corruption charges in February, police found more than €17,000 including €500- and €200-bank notes stashed in his home, according to the ...

  Bloomberg President Dilma Rousseff promised increased spending on her party’s most popular social program and took other measures aimed at her electoral base, less than two weeks before Brazil’s Senate is expected to vote in favor of the impeachment process she calls a coup d’etat. At a rally of labour unions and Workers’ Party faithful in Sao Paulo on ...

  Geneva / AFP Fresh air strikes pummelled the Syrian city of Aleppo on Monday as US Secretary of State John Kerry made a desperate bid to salvage a two-month ceasefire in the war-torn country. The top US diplomat gave some of his most downbeat comments yet after meeting the UN peace envoy on Syria, saying the conflict was “in ...

  Ritika Sharma / Emirates Business From China to Poland and from Italy to Kuwait, the world literature has come on one common platform at 26th edition of Abu Dhabi International Book Fair (ADIBF), which enters its last day on Tuesday. With 63 countries participating, the event brings together a unique experience for literature lovers from all walks and ages. ...

  Dubai / WAM Sultan bin Saeed Al Mansouri, Minister of Economy, and Dashgin Shikarov, Ambassador of the Republic of Azerbaijan to the UAE, on Sunday discussed the means to develop and strengthen economic and development ties between the two countries. Al Mansouri received the Ambassador of Azerbaijan at the ministry’s headquarters in Dubai, in the presence of Abdullah bin Ahmed ...

  Abu Dhabi / WAM Borouge, a leading petrochemical company that provides innovative, value creating plastics solutions, reinforced its position as the plastics industry’s provider of choice at the recently held Chinaplas 2016, Asia’s largest plastics trade fair, in Shanghai, China. Visitors to Borouge booth learned about the company’s newest creative plastics solutions that demonstrate Borouge’s commitment to support the Chinese ...

  Dubai / Emirates Business GITEX Technology Week will launch and host GITEX Startup Movement, one of the most global startup gatherings in the world with over 30 countries represented, as it brings together entrepreneurs, innovators, investors, mentors and buyers for the first time in Dubai. The GITEX Startup Movement will convene over 400 startups and more than 1,000 entrepreneurs, ...

  RITIKA SHARMA / Emirates Business Social media has penetrated into our daily life in a big way. Especially in the UAE, aided by high rates of smart phone access, social media has become an inseparable part of our personalities. Giving social media the much deserved attention, hospitality industry in UAE is exploring the innovative side of this technology to enhance ...

  Sydney / AFP Australia’s conservative government is pledging to drive economic and jobs growth when it hands down its budget on Tuesday, with an eye firmly on upcoming national elections that are shaping up to be a tight race. The budget is seen as a key test for Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull, a former investment banker who ousted his ...