From jumping bail and fleeing to Lebanon to be met with an arrest notice from Interpol, Carlos Ghosn's escape from Japan has been worthy of a Hollywood plot. Here's what we know about the former Renault-Nissan boss's flight: The exact circumstances of his departure from Japan, where he was under house arrest pending trial, are still shrouded in mystery. On Thursday, Kyodo News quoted an associ...

A Chinese official says Beijing wants a prompt settlement of its trade war with Washington. A deputy commerce minister said Monday that Beijing wants "satisfactory results as soon as possible.'' The official gave no details of talks on a "Phase 1" deal announced by President Donald Trump in October. Another US tariff hike on $160 billion of Chinese imports is due to take effect Sunday. China an...

Air New Zealand has dethroned Singapore Airlines to reclaim the title of world’s best airline for the sixth time. AirlineRatings.com released the latest edition of its annual ranking, which is based on 12 criteria including fleet age, passenger reviews, profitability, investment rating, product offerings and staff relations. This year, the flagship carrier of New Zealand took top honors, nud...

BEIJING (AFP) -- China will require telecom operators to collect face scans when registering new phone users at offline outlets starting Sunday, according to the country's information technology authority, as Beijing continues to tighten cyberspace controls. In September, China's industry and information technology ministry issued a notice on "safeguarding the legitimate rights and interests of ...

The Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba has raised at least $11 billion in a share offering in Hong Kong, netting the city's biggest offering since 2010 despite recent political turmoil. Alibaba said Wednesday that it has set the price for the offering at 176 Hong Kong dollars ($22.50) per share. The price is a 2.9% discount for the closing price for its shares traded in New York. It's also below t...

According to Euromonitor International, global luxury goods sales reached $954 billion in 2017 and the global market grew 5 percent in 2018 across most segments. Luxury cars sales accounted for almost 53 percent of all global luxury goods sales. This proportion grew over the reviewed period, and is expected to continue increasing to 2022.

In finance, as in comedy, timing is everything. Get it right and you have investors (or the audience) in the palm of your hand. Get it wrong and the ensuing silence is painful. Saudi Arabia has stepped on stage finally to launch the initial public offering of its oil monopoly Saudi Aramco. By a strange quirk of the calendar, the price of the shares will be set on the same day OPEC meets to decid...

China now has more privately held startups valued by investors at over $1 billion than the US, a report said. There were 206 Chinese firms out of a global total of 494 ultravaluable startups - known as unicorns - in June 2019, according to the research firm Hurun Report. This makes China the country with the largest number of unicorns in the world, with the US coming in second with 203 such ...

It may sound like science fiction, but in a few short years the family dinner table may be laden with steak from a printer and other proteins produced from air, methane or volcanic microbes. With the explosive success of vegan beef and burger substitutes developed by Beyond Meat and Impossible Foods, the alternative protein sector just keeps growing. According to investment bank Barclays,...

Euro zone business activity grew more than initially thought last month but remained close to stagnation, according to a survey whose forward-looking indicators suggest the existing growth might dissipate. Wednesday‘s survey of businesses comes soon after the European Central Bank resumed its 2.6 trillion-euro bond-buying program to try and stimulate inflation and growth.The former head of the ...

RIYADH (AFP) -- Saudi regulators on Sunday approved state energy giant Aramco's request to make its stock market debut, firing the starting gun on the highly anticipated offering which could be the world's largest. The Capital Markets Authority did not give any details of the Initial Public Offering but it is expected to begin trading in mid-December. The markets regulator "has issued its resol...

The number of rich Chinese has surpassed the count of wealthy Americans for the first time as both countries keep churning out millionaires, a study by Credit Suisse showed. The Swiss bank’s annual wealth survey found 100 million Chinese ranked in the global top 10 percent as of the middle of this year versus 99 million in the United States. The ranks of the world’s millionaires have risen b...

NEW YORK (AFP) -- LVMH, which owns Louis Vuitton, Dior and the champagne brands Veuve Clicquot and Moet, has made a bid for American jeweller Tiffany, known for its engagement rings and diamonds. The French luxury giant made an offer for the US company at the start of the month, a source told AFP late on Saturday. Tiffany, whose flagship New York store is next to Trump Tower on 5th avenue, has ...

SoftBank Group Corp. offered to take a majority stake in WeWork, one of two rescue packages that the board of the troubled company is weighing, according to people familiar with the matter. The deal from SoftBank is currently in the lead among some directors, according to a person familiar with the board’s thinking. A decision is likely to be made Monday night, though the process is fluid, said ...

NEW YORK (AFP) -- Japan's SoftBank Group has prepared a financing plan that would give it control of WeWork as the office sharing startup seeks badly- needed financing, sources told AFP Monday. The plan would give SoftBank, which is controled by billionaire Masayoshi Son, more than 50 percent of WeWork and further limit the influence of former chief executive and co-founder Adam Neumann, said so...