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Abu Dhabi / EMIRATES BUSINESS Under the patronage of HH Sheikh Hamdan bin Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Crown Prince of Dubai and President of Hamdan Bin Mohammed Smart University (HBMSU), the much awaited Innovation Arabia 9 (IA9) Congress is set to kick off in March, under the theme ‘Accelerating Innovation towards Sustainable Economy.’ A select group of regional and ...

Dubai / Emirates Business There is an alarming disparity between people’s desired retirement lifestyle and the amount they are currently saving, according to a survey by the Dubai-based financial planning company Guardian Wealth Management (GWM). GWM conducted a survey of its 3,000 Gulf-based clients asking them about the type of lifestyle they hope to lead upon retirement and the percentage ...

Beijing / Bloomberg China is stepping up support for the economy by ramping up spending and considering new measures to boost bank lending. The nation’s chief planning agency is making more money available to local governments to fund new infrastructure projects, according to people familiar with the matter. Meantime, China’s cabinet has discussed lowering the minimum ratio of provisions that ...

New Delhi / AFP A little-known Indian company has launched a smartphone believed to be the cheapest in the world, targeting a market already dominated by low-cost handsets. Set to be priced at under 500 rupees ($7.30), domestic handset maker Ringing Bells’ Freedom 251 smartphone is about one percent of the price of the latest Apple iPhone. Ringing Bells was ...

Yangon / AFP Japanese auto giant Nissan will start assembling cars in Myanmar for the first time this year, the company said on Wednesday, as it expands its presence in one of Asia’s final economic frontiers. Foreign companies have piled into the Southeast Asian nation since reforms began in 2011, eager to tap into a 51.5 million-strong pool of potential ...

Tokyo / Bloomberg With Japan’s economy shrinking, the stock market in turmoil, and a stronger yen threatening export earnings, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’scalculus on whether to call a snap general election this summer has suddenly grown more complicated. Another win in the lower chamber along with an expected victory in the upper house vote set for the summer could allow ...

ABU DHABI / EMIRATES BUSINESS The Emirates Securities Market Index has increased by 0.16% to close at 4168.24 points. Accordingly the Market Capitalization has gained AED1.09 Billion attaining AED 676.14 Billion. A total of 454.37 Million Shares were traded with a total value of AED0.52 Billion during the trading session of 17-02-2016 through 5465 transactions. The number of companies which has been ...

Hong Kong / AFP Most Asia stock markets went into reverse on Wednesday after a recent rally, with energy firms down and oil unable to hold early gains after an output freeze by top producers Saudi Arabia and Russia left investors disappointed. The commodity had enjoyed a surge from Friday to early Tuesday as Moscow and Riyadh — the world’s ...

New York / AFP Beaten-down technology and banking shares jumped Tuesday as US stocks shrugged off a drop in oil prices to move firmly higher. The Dow Jones Industrial rose 222.57 points (1.39 percent) to 16,196.41. The broad-based S&P 500 climbed 30.80 (1.65 percent) to 1,895.58, while the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index jumped 98.44 (2.27 percent) to 4,435.96. Apple and ...

LONDON / Bloomberg Roll your dice. Pass “Go.” Collect $200. Buy a railway station. In reality, investing in commercial real estate has never been as simple as Monopoly makes it seem. Individuals generally can’t buy directly into commercial property development deals at all. But now U.K. startup BrickVest is seeking to do something vaguely reminiscent — it’s bringing big-time commercial ...