NowMyNews

A Kuwaiti sheikh is suing UBS AG ( id="symbol_UBSN.VX_0"> UBSN.VX ) for $21.4 million, alleging the Swiss bank failed to pay him for helping it become lead arranger on a $9 billion asset sale by the Kuwaiti telecommunications operator Zain, a Dubai court heard on Sunday. The case highlights the complexity of doing business in the Gulf, where personal connections to high-ranking officials or executives are often valued in deal-making.   Sheikh Meshal Jarah al-Sabah, a member of Kuwait's ruling family, says UBS recruited him with a verbal contract in July 2009 to help scupper the French media conglomerate Vivendi's ( id="symbol_VIV.PA_1"> VIV.PA ) bid to acquire Zain's ( id="symbol_ZAIN.KW_2"> ZAIN.KW ) operations in about 15 African countries. UBS denies the allegation. Vivendi called off the talks later that month. India's Bharti Airtel ( id="symbol_BRTI.NS_3"> BRTI.NS ) subsequently bought Zain's African asse

Indian tycoon Mukesh Ambani hopes his multi-billion dollar bet on cheap high-speed wireless broadband could change the way nearly a billion of his countrymen use mobile devices from the way they do banking to watching cricket. In a country where most people own a mobile phone yet lack basic Internet access, it is a risky gamble even for India's richest man. He is counting on an unproven strategy and still-developing technology in a market with very little pricing power. Three years ago energy conglomerate Reliance Industries Ltd (RIL) ( id="symbol_RELI.NS_0"> RELI.NS ) won an exclusive nationwide licence to roll out 4G across India, giving it a foothold to tap a potentially lucrative market in phones, tablets, computers and television. The data-focused service could start to roll-out in New Delhi and Mumbai by the end of the year, sources familiar with the matter, who asked not be named, told Reuters. Eventually, the plan is to run it across hundreds of cities. Am

In a country synonymous with larger-than-life mining tycoons and Outback heroes, the geeks are quietly inheriting the earth. As coal magnate Nathan Tinkler, the poster boy for Australia's fading 10-year minerals boom, publicly battles against bankruptcy, software entrepreneurs Mike Cannon-Brookes and Scott Farquhar are riding high.   The former college buddies behind fast-growing software firm Atlassian unceremoniously bumped Tinkler off the top of Australia's "young rich list", leading a charge in the country's blooming technology industries. The tech start-up and biotech sectors are at the forefront of a push to transform Australia from an exporter of iron ore to an exporter of ideas. "It's a pretty primitive economy," said internet entrepreneur Matt Barrie. "We basically dig stuff up out of the ground, put it on a boat and ship it." As part of ambitious plans to change that, the government has announced millions of dollars in new

British finance minister George Osborne completed talks on Sunday with government departments aimed at securing spending cuts worth 11.5 billion pounds ($17.70 billion)in 2015-16 to help reduce the country's budget deficit, the Treasury said. The finance ministry said it had reached agreement with all departments, three days before Osborne is due to publish details of their spending limits on June 26.   The talks to find spending cuts starting in 2015 - when voters go to the polls - posed a political headache for Osborne, particularly over the sensitive defense budget and a business department under pressure to do more to revive the economy. Osborne, who announced the end of the talks on Twitter, will now seek to persuade voters that he has a credible plan to build on recent signs that the economy is gaining strength after two years of stagnation. He is expected to give more details on Wednesday of billions of pounds of infrastructure spending designed to bolster the recover

A jump in tensions with North Korea has fed a tenfold surge in overseas commercial property spending by investors south of one of the world's most heavily armed borders, making South Korea the largest property investor so far in 2013. South Korean investors bought about $5 billion in the first five months, a huge increase on the first half of 2012, real estate consultant Jones Lang LaSalle ( id="symbol_JLL.N_0"> JLL.N ) said.   "This allocation to commercial property over such a short period of time is unprecedented for the South Koreans," JLL said. "Tensions with the North Koreans have certainly aided the capital flight." Its global buying spree, which puts it ahead of Canada and Singapore, is due to reach $10 billion this year, JLL said. Tensions on the peninsula reached their peak in February when North Korea threatened nuclear and missile strikes against South Korea and the United States after U.N.-imposed sanctions for a nuclear weapons

Australian gaming firm Echo Entertainment ( id="symbol_EGP.AX_0"> EGP.AX ) has submitted plans for a $1 billion expansion of its Star casino in Sydney, including an option that would allow rival Crown Ltd ( id="symbol_CWN.AX CWN.AX ) to open a VIP-only casino. _0"> Echo, which holds the sole licence to operate a casino in Sydney until 2019, has been lobbying to extend this right in an attempt to block Crown's plans to add to its Melbourne casino.   _1"> Crown, controlled by billionaire James Packer, has said it wants to open a VIP casino in Sydney as part of a A$1 billion six-star hotel and residential waterfront development, boosting its share of the lucrative Asian gambling market. The New South Wales government has said it will approve only one project, meaning either Crown builds a second casino or Echo expands is business and remains the sole gambling operator. Echo said in a statement it would invest more than A$1.1 billion ($1.0 billio

U.S. banks have given a proposal to federal regulators on how to pay for restructuring the country's too-big-to-fail institutions in the event of a future crisis, the Wall Street Journal reported, citing people familiar with the conversations. _0"> The Journal said the proposal, given to the U.S. Federal Reserve at a private meeting on May 22, is an effort by banks to pre-empt tougher rules from officials, who believe banks still could pose a threat to financial stability in a crisis.   According to the plan, the largest financial services holding companies would maintain a certain amount of debt and equity that would be used to prop up any failed bank subsidiary seized by regulators. Some banks might even be forced to issue expensive long-term debt, according to the newspaper. In the presentation, the banks said they each would agree to hold combined debt and equity equal to 14 percent of their risk-weighted assets, the Journal said. For the six biggest U.S. banks t