Zurich Switzerland-based reinsurance giant Swiss Re said on Tuesday its chief executive was retiring, and posted a 31-percent hike in net profit in 2015 as the costs linked to natural disasters slid. Swiss Re said its chief executive Michel Lies, 62, was set to retire after 35 years in the company and would be replaced on July 1 by the ...
Read More »German outlook dims as business confidence hits 14-month low
Frankfurt Clouds loomed over the German economy on Tuesday as business confidence in Europe’s economic powerhouse fell to its lowest level in over a year. According to the closely-watched business climate index calculated every month by the Ifo economic institute, business sentiment slumped to its lowest level since December 2014 in February. The index fell to 105.7 points in the ...
Read More »EU to launch action plan to develop 5G mobile network
Barcelona The European Union said on Tuesday it will launch an action plan to develop 5G mobile networks which will massively speed up Internet connections, in an effort to avoid falling behind other regions. “The Commission will work together with the industry to prepare a coordinated 5G action plan for the Europe,” EU Digital Commissioner Gunther Oettinger said at the ...
Read More »Internet by light promises to leave Wi-Fi eating dust
Barcelona / AFP Connecting your smartphone to the web with just a lamp — that is the promise of Li-Fi, featuring Internet access 100 times faster than Wi-Fi with revolutionary wireless technology. French start-up Oledcomm demonstrated the technology at the Mobile World Congress, the world’s biggest mobile fair, in Barcelona. As soon as a smartphone was placed under an office ...
Read More »Indonesia’s geothermal policy, a panacea!
The Indonesian government is to issue the details of a new regulation that will allow foreign investors to hold 100 per cent ownership of geothermal power plants with a capacity of 10 MW or more. For plants with a capacity of less than 10 MW, foreign investment will be capped at 67 per cent. While it represents Indonesia’s efforts to ...
Read More »Remembering ‘People Power’
In recent years, the “Occupy†movements and “Arab Spring†came to symbolize popular actions for social change across the world. In Southeast Asia, the massive gathering of citizens against an unjust political order is more widely known as an expression and legacy of “People Power.†The idea of People Power became a potent political force when it led to the ...
Read More »Protectionism is killing Taiwan’s competitiveness
Tom Pu-chih Hsieh Le Cordon Bleu and Taiwan’s National Kaohsiung University of Hospitality and Tourism (NKUHT) have been trying to set up a branch of the famous French cooking school in Taiwan since 2011. However, due to protectionism sentiment and bureaucracy on the island, the French chefs cannot show Taiwanese students how to cook and instead can only teach the ...
Read More »Asian share rally runs out of steam as oil falls again
Hong Kong / AFP Asia’s share rally stalled on Tuesday with markets battling a fresh fall in the price of oil and fears for the Chinese economy. Japanese stocks fell as a stronger yen hit exporters while Shanghai also closed down, after the first indicators for Asia’s biggest economy this month showed private gauges of manufacturing and services falling to ...
Read More »Emirates Securities Market Index up by 0.41 percent
ABU DHABI / EMIRATES BUSINESS The Emirates Securities Market Index has increased by 0.41% to close at 4301.75 points. Accordingly the Market Capitalization has gained AED 2.88 Billion attaining AED 697.8 Billion. A total of 0.89 Billion Shares were traded with a total value of 0.96 Billion AED during the trading session of 23-02-2016 through 10255 transactions. The number of companies which ...
Read More »Tokyo shares close down as Takata dives
Tokyo / BLOOMBERG Tokyo stocks fell on Tuesday as a stronger yen hit exporters and auto parts giant Takata dived on news it could be hit with tens of millions more recalls linked to a deadly airbag scandal. The market got off to a strong start, tracking a rally on world bourses as oil prices picked up. But those gains ...
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