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Bloomberg The co-founder and former chief executive officer of Devon Energy Corp. has signed on to shape energy policy for Florida Senator Marco Rubio, who is running for the Republican presidential nomination. Larry Nichols will lead Rubio’s energy steering committee. Nichols, who cut a $50,000 check to the super PAC supporting Rubio in December, also will host a Feb. 26 ...

Washington / AFP Tens of millions of additional cars in the US alone could be recalled over Takata’s potentially defective airbags, which have been linked to several deaths, the US auto safety regulator said on Monday. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration said in a statement that it continues to investigate the dangers in Takata’s airbags equipped with ammonium nitrate-based ...

Bloomberg Jamaica is showing signs of revival after a lost decade of economic contraction and increase in poverty rates. In an election on Thursday, voters must decide whether they can stand several more years of the austerity the government says has underpinned the country’s recent turnaround. Since restructuring $9 billion of debt in 2013, the administration of Prime Minister Portia ...

Rio De Janeiro / Bloomberg Brazil’s economy faces a prolonged rout with no recovery in sight, as political uncertainty weighs on investor confidence and structural reforms show no sign of gaining traction, according to fund manager and former central bank chief Arminio Fraga. Even if President Dilma Rousseff survives attempts to remove her from office, she will be too weak ...

Bloomberg Egypt’s central bank will consider floating the country’s currency when foreign reserves are almost double their current level, the bank’s governor said in a televised interview. Tarek Amer’s comments on al-Qahira Wel-Nas were his clearest signal yet that the central bank has no intention of devaluing the Egyptian pound at present, despite growing analyst predictions that such a move ...

Bloomberg The People’s Bank of China should have explained the change in its reporting of foreign-exchange holdings to avoid market speculation on its motives, according to Mizuho Securities Asia Ltd. “The PBOC changed the category of the position of forex purchases in its monthly report in January,” a move that “immediately raised market concerns about possible concealment or manipulation of ...

London / AFP Global banking giant HSBC announced on Monday its results for 2015 which fell below analysts’ expectations after what it called “seismic shifts” in the world economy. The bank said net profit dropped 1.2 percent to $13.52 billion from the previous year. Group chairman Douglas Flint described the performance as “broadly satisfactory” in a statement, although the bank’s ...

Bloomberg Wheelock Properties Ltd. sold a luxury home in Hong Kong’s exclusive Peak neighbourhood to an unidentified buyer for a lower-than-expected price tag of HK$830 million ($107 million). While it took Wheelock just three hours to sell the home, the transaction works out to HK$87,784 per square foot, more than 25 percent lower than estimates by some analysts. The sale ...

Bloomberg Home Retail Group Plcshares rose in early trading after a takeover of the Argos stores owner turned into a 1.4 billion-pound ($2 billion) contest. Steinhoff International Holdings Ltd., the owner of Conforama furniture stores in France and Bensons Beds in the U.K., said late Friday it plans to make a 175 pence-a-share cash offer for the British retailer, topping ...

Barcelona / Bloomberg The Majestic, a luxury hotel in downtown Barcelona, is bumping up room prices by two thirds as delegates including Facebook Inc. founder Mark Zuckerberg troop into Spain’s second city for the annual Mobile World Congress (MWC). “This is the biggest week of the year for hoteliers,” said Santiago Martin, communications manager for the Majestic Hotel Group. The ...