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  Dubai / Emirates Business The 12th annual World Takaful Conference (WTC) will be convened by leading financial intelligence platform, Middle East Global Advisors, in strategic partnership with the Dubai International Financial Centre (DIFC). To be held under the theme of ‘Stability, Authenticity & Technological Transformation’, WTC 2017 will build on its long-standing reputation for nurturing the development of the ...

  DUBAI / Emirates Business The first standalone edition of MEDLAB Exhibition & Congress, the world’s largest laboratory event, was officially inaugurated on Monday by His Excellency Humaid Mohammed Obaid Al Qatami, Chairman of the Board and Director General of the Dubai Health Authority. Following 15 years of success alongside the region’s flagship healthcare event, Arab Health, the laboratory show ...

  DUBAI / Emirates Business Dubai Culture & Arts Authority (Dubai Culture), the Emirate’s dedicated entity for culture, arts and heritage, announced the launch of its Cultural Tour Guide programme in partnership with Yas Consulting and Training Company. The announcement follows success with the first group of 11 employees trained in the initiative, who were drawn from across the Authority’s ...

  Bloomberg A merger under discussion between Vodafone Group Plc.’s India unit and Idea Cellular Ltd. would create a new leader in one of the world’s most competitive mobile-phone markets. For rivals, there’s a silver lining: bandwidth on the cheap. That’s because a transaction may compel the carriers to shed some spectrum and subscribers to ensure regulatory approval under India’s ...

  Bloomberg Indonesia’s economy expanded less than forecast in the fourth quarter as government spending was curbed by a legal cap on the fiscal deficit. Gross domestic product rose 4.94 percent in the fourth quarter from a year earlier, the statistics bureau said in Jakarta on Monday. Median estimate of economists was for 5 percent growth GDP declined 1.77 percent ...

  Bloomberg The wallets of Japan’s workers ended up a bit fatter, with total earnings rising the most since 2010. Total pay rose 0.5 percent from the previous year to an average 3.78 million yen ($33,673), while the number of hours worked dropped. Regular workers saw an increase in pay, while part-timers, who are an increasingly large sector of the ...

  TOKYO / AP Toyota Motor Corp. said on Monday that its profit fell 23 percent in the October-December quarter from a year earlier as its sales fell and a stronger yen squeezed its overseas earnings. The company, which recently relinquished the crown of world’s biggest automaker to German rival Volkswagen, reported its fiscal third quarter profit was 486.5 billion ...

  With an asperity born of exasperation, Justice Antonin Scalia once wrote, “If you want aspirations, you can read the Declaration of Independence,” but “there is no such philosophizing in our Constitution,” which is “a practical and pragmatic charter of government.” Scalia was wrong, and much depends on Neil Gorsuch not resembling Scalia in this regard. Gorsuch can endorse Scalia’s ...

  The going-concern issue is becoming a problem in Singapore. Ezra Holdings Ltd., an oil-services company, was the latest to indicate it faces debt hurdles that require a restructuring. Under Singapore law, as in the US, that could mean a stay on interest payments until creditors and shareholders agree on a balance sheet that allows the company to keep operating ...

  Marine Le Pen could be France’s next president. Sure, her lead in some polls exaggerates her strength before the field narrows to two candidates — but voters’ discontent with normal politics isn’t subsiding. Failing to take the anti-immigrant, populist insurgent seriously would be a huge mistake. For France’s sake, and Europe’s, Le Pen must be defeated. Her party’s blend ...