Soamahamanina / AFP The mine had not yet opened, but Madagascans were already seething with rage and the Chinese management finally quit Soamahamanina, leaving behind empty tents and cigarette butts. For months, this small city in central Madagascar was engulfed by protests targeted at a Chinese gold mining company, Jiuxing. Every Thursday, city residents would take to the streets ...
Read More »Export ban threatens copper supply from Indonesian mine
Bloomberg Exports from the world’s second-largest copper mine in Indonesia are under threat as a government ban on overseas concentrate shipments is scheduled to come into force from the middle of January. While ministers are rushing to revise the regulations so miners that have committed to build smelters can continue to export ore concentrates, an intermediate product used to ...
Read More »Tokyo regains ‘costliest city for expats’ title
Bloomberg Tokyo regained its top spot among the world’s most expensive cities for expatriates for the first time since 2012 as the yen rose. London fell out of the top 100 priciest after Brexit crushed the pound. The Japanese capital jumped up from 12th last year, while Yokohama and Osaka joined the top 10, ECA International said Wednesday in ...
Read More »Chinese app Meitu makes muted tech debut
Bloomberg Chinese beauty apps sensation Meitu Inc. clung to its offer price on its first day of trade, a less-than-stellar debut for Hong Kong’s largest technology initial public offering in almost a decade. It was also the city’s biggest coming-out party since the start of a program that made it easier for mainland Chinese investors to buy and sell ...
Read More »Thai lawmakers approve tighter control of internet
BANGKOK / AP Thailand’s military-appointed legislature approved a bill tightening the country’s already harsh Computer Crime Act, defying critics who said it infringes on the right to free expression. The National Legislative Assembly voted 168 to 0 with four abstentions to approve amending the 2007 law. Internet activists had campaigned against the amendment, which will allow the authorities to ...
Read More »Japan hospitals look to broaden their patient base
Bloomberg For more than a century, Aizawa Hospital provided medical care to the people of Japan’s mountainous prefecture of Nagano. Last year, it looked to broaden its patient base, opening a clinic in Beijing in March, and has been approached by hospitals in other cities to open more. “In the age of globalization, we want to go wherever we ...
Read More »Yahoo’s mega breach shows ‘how vulnerable data is’
NEW YORK / AP The revelation of Yahoo’s latest hack underscores what many Americans have known for years: All those emails, photos and other personal files stored online can easily be stolen, and there’s little anyone can do about it. The only saving grace is that the attackers apparently did not exploit the information for fraud. But their true ...
Read More »Survey predicts record jump in use of connected devices
Relaxnews Column inches in newspapers and on tech blogs may still outnumber the devices in the average consumer’s home but 2017 could be the year that the Internet of Things (IoT) truly becomes a thing. According to Juniper Research, by 2021, the number of connected devices, sensors and activators in use will total 46 billion, that’s a 200% jump ...
Read More »LG to launch ‘Signature’ collections for New Year
DUBAI / Emirates business LG Electronics (LG) has long been a key driver in innovation, applying analytics-driven insights to its appliances and electronics to produce a unified consumer experience that is as intuitive as it is effortless. The home appliances and home entertainment market is currently undergoing a great change where consumers are starting to shift from traditional products ...
Read More »FB rolls out tools to curb fake news after uproar
Bloomberg Facebook Inc. is changing its powerful news feed in an effort to stamp out fake stories following a firestorm around the social network’s role in spreading false information. The new features, rolled out to select US users on Thursday, add options for readers and third-party fact checkers to flag articles, tweak Facebook’s algorithm and provide more restrictions on ...
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