Nam-Russia pact

HANOI: Vietnam and Russia have agreed in principle to establish a $500 million fund to invest in Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia, the state Vietnam News Agency reported on Wednesday. The agreement between the Bank of Investment and Development of Vietnam and Russian state banking giant VTB will form the basis for further negotiations towards signing a contract, the report said.

Rules eased

SYDNEY: Australia will relax some foreign ownership rules for national airline Qantas, the government said on Wednesday, easing the way for the “Flying Kangaroo” to form an alliance with an overseas carrier. Qantas will remain majority 51 per cent Australian-owned — a condition considered in the national interest — but rules capping foreign individual ownership at 25 per cent and overseas airline stakes at 35 per cent will go. In a paper to guide the aviation industry for the next two decades, the government also eased rules for hand luggage — with tweezers, knitting needles and nail files no longer banned on flights and metal cutlery

reintroduced.

Dell layoffs

KUALA LUMPUR: US computer giant Dell will cut 700 jobs in Malaysia as it looks to slash costs, newspaper reports said on Wednesday. The company said the affected workers from its plant in northern Penang state would leave Dell between January and June next year, through a voluntary separation scheme (VSS), the Star and New Straits Times reported. The move will see Dell’s workforce in Malaysia reduced to 3,800. The company has another support centre in Cyberjaya, a high-tech hub south of Kuala Lumpur.