Thailand's biggest shopping mall owner, the Central Group, will pour USD 200 million into the Singapore ride-hailing and food delivery firm Grab, the companies said Thursday, as they look to reel in customers now buying everything from food to holidays online.
The investment means Central, which is also a major hotelier and supermarket chain whose business interests stretch into Europe, will acquire a non-controlling stake in Grab's Thai entity.
Tos Chirathivat, CEO of Central Group and scion of the kingdom's second richest family with a fortune estimated by Forbes of USD 21 billion, said the big buy-in will give his company's stores and hotels access to customers wherever they are.
"It (Grab) has built a new platform which consists of food delivery, payment and other services," he said.
"So we can link with it. They can sell or buy products at our malls and get them delivered home."
He did not reveal how much of Grab's Thai unit he bought with the USD 200 million.
Grab is a market ...

Thai retailer Central puts USD 200 million into ride-hailing app Grab

PTI Automatic

Britain, France and Germany will launch a special payment mechanism Thursday that the EU hopes will help save the Iran nuclear deal by bypassing US sanctions, European sources told AFP.
The entity, to be registered in France with German governance and finance from all three countries, will allow Iran to trade with EU companies despite Washington reimposing sanctions after President Donald Trump pulled out of the 2015 accord.
The three countries -- the European signatories to the landmark deal that curbed Tehran's nuclear ambitions in return for sanctions relief -- are expected to issue a joint communique launching the project, which has been in preparation for months.
While the new institution, called INSTEX -- short for Instrument in Support of Trade Exchanges -- is a project of the three governments, it will receive the formal endorsement of all 28 EU members.
The announcement may come on the sidelines of a meeting of EU foreign ministers in Bucharest.
Washington has warned the EU ..

Europe launches sanctions-busting Iran payment vehicle

Carlos Ghosn, the former head of Renault and Nissan, said Thursday that internal opposition to greater integration of the two car giants was behind his arrest in Japan.
"There was opposition and anxiety on the project of bringing the two companies together," Ghosn told AFP and a French daily from his Tokyo detention centre where he is fighting charges of financial misconduct.

Ghosn: Resistance to Renault-Nissan integration behind arrest

Former Nissan boss Carlos Ghosn said Thursday that his ongoing detention would "not be normal in any other democracy of the world" as he insisted he was a victim of "betrayal" by his former firm.
In his first interview with foreign media since his arrest on November 19, Ghosn told AFP and a French daily he was being "punished before being found guilty" and that he was up against "an army at Nissan" that was trying to "destroy" his reputation.

Ghosn: Bail refusal 'would not be normal in any other democracy'

The authority that oversees Australia's largest river system was accused of "maladministration", "gross negligence" and ignoring climate science Thursday, as its waterways were carpeted with hundreds of thousands of dead fish.
A Royal Commission report into the Murray-Darling Basin Authority - which happened to coincide with a series of mass fish kills - was scathing in its assessment, accusing the body of illegality.
The Murray-Darling Basin is a river network sprawling for one million square kilometres (400,000 square miles), about twice the size of Spain.
It affects the livelihood of millions of people, but it had been over-exploited for years and seriously depleted by drought.
A South Australian inquest said the authority acted unlawfully in setting water levels while it "completely ignored" climate change projections.
"Politics rather than science ultimately drove the setting" of limits on the amount of water that could be taken out of the river, the report said.
The commission ..

Australia river agency pilloried amid mass fish deaths

Samsung Electronics, the world's biggest smartphone and memory chip maker, reported a slump in fourth-quarter net profits on Thursday, blaming a drop in demand for its key products.
Net profits in the October-December period were 8.46 trillion won (USD 7.6 billion), it said, down 31 per cent year-on-year.
The firm is the flagship subsidiary of the giant Samsung Group, by far the biggest of the family-controlled conglomerates that dominate business in the world's 11th-largest economy, and it is crucial to South Korea's economic health.
It has enjoyed record profits in recent years despite a series of setbacks, including a humiliating recall and the jailing of its de facto chief.
But now the picture is changing, with chip prices falling as global supply increases and demand weakens.
It also has to contend with increasingly tough competition in the smartphone market from Chinese rivals like Huawei - which surpassed Apple to take second place last year - offering quality devices at lower .

Samsung Electronics Q4 profits slump along with global demand

A brutal cold wave has hit the American Midwest, bringing temperatures lower than those in Antarctica, grounding flights, closing schools and businesses - and raising fears of hypothermia.
Mail deliveries were suspended and people encouraged to stay home in nearly a dozen US states where the mercury plunged into the negative double digits, the worst freeze to grip the region in a generation.
US media attributed at least five deaths since the weekend to the freezing conditions and a major snowstorm that preceded the blast of Arctic air gripping the region.
The phenomenon caused surreal scenes throughout the region, such as steam rising off the waters of Lake Michigan, parts of Niagara Falls solidified into frozen stillness, and blocks of ice covering the river winding through downtown Chicago.
America's third city was in the direct path of the harsh weather and experienced its second-coldest day ever. Chicago was on track to break new records overnight when temperatures were forecast ..

Arctic air sends temperatures well below zero in midwest US

With tinted windows and their militia name emblazoned on the side of their Ford truck, "Pan Say" fighters cruise the sleazy streets of Muse, Myanmar's main gateway to China and awash with weapons and cash from casinos, drugs and sex.
Ten armed groups run the Shan State border town of Muse, which is separated by a shallow river from the gleaming towers of its Chinese counterpart, Ruili.
All are under the tutelage of the same patron: Myanmar's army.
China and Myanmar have an agreement not to station troops along their border.
Instead, Myanmar's army uses the militias as proxies in a long-running conflict between the central state and ethnic rebel groups who operate in the area, including the Kachin Independence Army (KIA) and Taaung National Liberation Army (TNLA).
A fiendishly complicated, decades-old struggle for money, trade, resources and ethnic identity is playing out in Muse.
The Pan Say militia gave AFP a rare snapshot of the shifting alliances and rivalries which have defined ...

Muse: Myanmar's militia-run, billion-dollar gateway to China

The Kabul government is steadily losing its grip over parts of Afghanistan even as American forces intensify their air campaign against insurgent groups, a US government watchdog said Thursday.
The latest grim assessment of Afghanistan's security situation comes as the US pursues talks with the Taliban and urgently seeks a way out of the 17-year war.
Numbers provided by Resolute Support, the US-led NATO mission in Afghanistan, show that as of October 31, only 63.5 per cent of Afghans are living in areas controlled or influenced by the Kabul government -- down from 65.2 per cent the previous quarter.
According to the US Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction (SIGAR), which compiled the data, the decrease came as Kabul's control or influence over Afghan districts dropped.
SIGAR said just 53.8 per cent of Afghanistan's 407 districts are in government hands, and experts on Afghanistan say the number is lower still.
Instead of looking at population metrics, the Pentagon ..

Kabul control slips in Afghanistan amid US talks with Taliban

Pope Francis said he was looking to write a new page in the history of relations between religions with his visit to the United Arab Emirates from Sunday.
"I am happy ... to write on your dear land a new page in the relations between religions, confirming that we are brothers although different," he said in a video message to the Emirati people released Thursday.
In the message, in Italian but also dubbed into Arabic, the pope thanked Abu Dhabi Crown Prince Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al-Nahyan for his invitation to participate in an interfaith meeting on "human fraternity" from February 3 to 5.
He said the visit would give him the opportunity to again see "friend and dear brother" Sheikh Ahmed al-Tayeb, the head of Egypt's top Sunni Muslim authority, whom he met on a visit in 2017.
Francis has made boosting ties between Christianity and Islam a cornerstone of his papacy.
The pope said he believes the interfaith meeting reflects "the courage and willingness to affirm that faith in God ..

Pope says 'happy to write new page in history' with UAE visit

Venezuelan authorities have detained five foreign journalists covering the standoff with opposition forces seeking the ouster of President Nicolas Maduro.
Two others, from Chile, were deported as the crisis spilled over to hit journalists covering the oil-rich but economically crippled nation's latest taste of crisis.
Two of the detained are from France, two from Colombia and one from Spain.
The latter three worked for the Spanish national news agency Efe and had all come from Colombia to cover the growing turmoil.
Their detention was reported by the Efe bureau chief in Venezuela, Nelida Fernandez.
Two French journalists working for a TV program called Quotidien were detained Tuesday while filming outside the presidential palace, diplomatic sources said.
A local producer working with them was also detained.
Two Chilean TV journalists were detained Tuesday night near the presidential palace and held for 14 hours before being expelled from the country, Chilean Foreign Minister Roberto ..

Five foreign journalists arrested in Venezuela

Malaysia on Thursday installed a new king, Sultan Abdullah Sultan Ahmad Shah, after the last monarch abdicated in a historic first following his reported marriage to a Russian ex-beauty queen.
In a ceremony steeped in pomp and centuries of tradition, the sports-loving sultan, dressed in aqua blue formal wear, took the oath of office at the national palace in Kuala Lumpur.
The ceremony was televised nationally and attended by Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad and hundreds of guests decked out in Islamic finery.
Before being sworn in at the palace, the 59-year-old, who is also the ceremonial ruler of central Pahang state, was given a welcome at the national parliament and inspected a guard of honour.
His predecessor, Sultan Muhammad V, stepped aside this month following just two years on the throne after he went on medical leave. Reports then surfaced he had married a former Miss Moscow.
No official reason was given for his abdication, but it was the first time a king had stepped aside ...

Malaysia enthrones new king after historic abdication

Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador declared the country's war on drugs over Wednesday, saying his government would no longer prioritise using the army to capture cartel kingpins.
However, critics questioned the announcement, pointing out that the leftist president has not taken the army off the streets as he pledged during his campaign, and is proposing the creation of a national guard that opponents say would permanently militarise the country.
Mexico has deployed its army since 2006 to fight its powerful drug cartels.
But the strategy has been widely criticised. Although it has led to the capture of a string of high-profile kingpins, it has also been accompanied by a tidal wave of violence, as the fragmented cartels wage war on each other and the army.
Asked in his daily press briefing if his government had taken down any kingpins since he took office in December, Lopez Obrador said that was no longer the strategy.
"There's no war. There is officially no more war. We want 

Mexican president declares 'drug war' over

Asian equities rallied and the dollar extended losses after the Federal Reserve signalled it would slow down its pace of interest rate hikes, providing some much-needed respite to investors fretting over the cost of borrowing.
Dealers are also keeping an eye on top-level talks between China and the United States aimed at resolving their long-running trade war, which kicked off on Wednesday.
The US central bank sparked a flurry of equity buying after chairman Jerome Powell said the case for lifting rates had "weakened somewhat" as the global economy stutters.
"In this environment, we believe we can best support the economy by being patient in evaluating the outlook before making any future adjustment to policy," he said.
The Fed also said it could slow down the reduction of its securities holdings, which would also help keep rates lower.
"Wow -- Powell to markets -- we hear you and we have adjusted policy accordingly," Chris Rupkey, chief financial economist at MUFG Union Bank, ...

Asian markets rally, dollar down as Fed signals slower rate hikes

Saudi Arabia’s crown prince

The crackdown on graft launched in 2017 saw hundreds of elite princes, ministers and businessmen held at the luxury Ritz-Carlton hotel in the Saudi capital Riyadh

Saudi Arabia raises $106 bn from 'anti-corruption' drive, dozens detained

Press Trust of India

Liverpool wasted a chance to take complete control of the Premier League title race as Leicester earned a 1-1 draw against the leaders, while Chelsea's bid for a top-four finish was rocked by a humiliating 4-0 thrashing at Bournemouth.
After second-placed Manchester City lost at Newcastle on Tuesday, Jurgen Klopp's side would have moved seven points clear at the top with a win over Leicester.
But Liverpool, chasing a first English title since 1990, had to settle for a frustrating draw on Wednesday that left them five points ahead of champions City.
"We put Leicester under pressure but we were unlucky with the goal in the last second before half-time. You have to take it how it is," Klopp said.
Following a warm-weather training break in Dubai, Liverpool were ahead in the third minute at snowy Anfield.
Senegal winger Sadio Mane wriggled through the Leicester defence and slotted a clinical finish into the far corner for his 11th goal of the season.
Liverpool's quickest league goal since .

Liverpool held in title blow, Chelsea humiliated

Four-time defending champions Juventus crashed out of the Coppa Italia with a 3-0 quarter-final defeat by Atalanta, as AS Roma suffered a humiliating 7-1 thrashing at the hands of Fiorentina.
Juventus had been bidding for a fifth consecutive league and Cup double this season.
But a Duvan Zapata brace after Timothy Castagne's opener on Wednesday put the side from Bergamo through to a semi-final meeting with Fiorentina.
Cristiano Ronaldo's Juventus won their first trophy of the season in the Italian Super Cup this month.
But they suffered their first defeat in a domestic competition this season, as they ride high and unbeaten in Serie A.
Massimiliano Allegri's side had come from behind against Lazio in league action at the weekend with Ronaldo snatching a 2-1 win in Rome.
The Portuguese superstar could not find a way through for a first Cup goal in Italy with Juventus also hit by defender Giorgio Chiellini going off injured in the first half-hour.
Castagne opened the scoring after 37 ...

Holders Juventus out of Coppa Italia, Roma humiliated by Fiorentina

While Japan have the Asian Cup pedigree, Qatar's over-achieving players might just feel that their name is on the trophy after a record-breaking run to their first-ever final.
Against the backdrop of simmering political tension, the Qatari players were pelted with plastic bottles -- and even shoes -- by furious local fans in a 4-0 semi-final thrashing of the United Arab Emirates in Abu Dhabi.
After surviving that ordeal, the 2022 World Cup hosts believe they have nothing to fear from Japan.
"We have already realised a dream that the whole country had," said striker Almoez Ali, who equalled Ali Daei's record of eight goals in a single Asian Cup against the hosts on Tuesday.
"We will need patience in the final but if we are patient, we have a chance of being champions." Japan, who captured the last of their record four Asian titles in 2011, upset tournament favourites Iran 3-0 in Monday's first semi-final and appear to be peaking at just the right time.
After threatening to bore crowds .

Sole survivors: Qatar plot Japan ambush in Asian final

Democratic presidential hopeful Senator Elizabeth Warren proposed legislation Wednesday that would bar the US government from using nuclear weapons first in a conflict.
Warren, together with House legislator Adam Smith, submitted the No First Use Act to codify what they said most Americans support, that the United States should never initiate a nuclear conflict.
"Our current nuclear strategy is not just outdated -- it is dangerous, Warren and Smith said in a statement.
"By making clear that deterrence is the sole purpose of our arsenal, this bill would reduce the chances of a nuclear miscalculation and help us maintain our moral and diplomatic leadership in the world."
In the divided Congress, passing the law, which would be seen by conservatives as tying the US military's hands on battle strategy, would be difficult.
And President Trump would likely veto it.
Trump has showed a determination to maintain US military advantage over its rivals, including in the nuclear sphere.
Last year, 

Democratic White House hopeful Warren offers law barring first use of nukes

President Donald Trump on Wednesday reiterated strong US support for Venezuela's opposition and said protesters demanding the ouster of President Nicolas Maduro were fighting for freedom.
"Large protests all across Venezuela today against Maduro. The fight for freedom has begun!" Trump tweeted.
Trump said that earlier he had spoken by phone with self-declared acting president Juan Guaido, who has been recognized by Washington, to reinforce "strong United States support for Venezuela's fight to regain its democracy."
Washington has thrown its full backing behind Guaido's claim to lead Venezuela, but hard-left leader Maduro, who still controls the military and police, says Guaido is part of a US-led coup plot.
The country's pro-government top court has barred Guaido, who is calling for large anti-Maduro street protests this week, from leaving the country.
On Wednesday, people took to the streets in the capital Caracas and various other cities, banging pots, blowing whistles and horns, ..

Venezuela protests a 'fight for freedom': Trump

US lawmakers on both sides of the political aisle said Wednesday they have nominated jailed Uighur scholar Ilham Tohti -- sentenced to life in prison for "separatism" -- for the Nobel peace prize.
Senators Marco Rubio, a Republican, and Bernie Sanders, an independent who caucuses with Democrats, both signed the nomination letter, which came from the bipartisan Congressional-Executive Commission on China.
"We believe there is no one more deserving of the Committee's recognition in 2019 than Professor Tohti, who embodies the peaceful struggle for peace and human rights in China," the lawmakers wrote to the president of the Nobel Peace Prize Committee, Berit Reiss-Andersen, and its other members Tuesday.
Tohti, 49, was sentenced to life in prison in September 2014 over comments he made in class, in interviews and on a website he ran that were critical of official policies directed at China's mainly Muslim Uighur minority in the restive far-west Xinjiang region.
The region has seen a ...

AFP

AFP

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