GENEVA / WAM To connect the as yet unconnected around the world to the internet is only a first step towards ensuring that all societies participate in an increasingly digital world economy. Best-connected users benefit from internet capacity that is 200 times greater than that of the worst-connected in parts of Africa and Asia. Those left behind will not benefit …

ABU DHABI / WAM As the Saudi ICT market tops SAR 127 billion ($33.87 billion) , cloud investment will fast-track Saudi Vision 2030 goals and Smart Cities growth, according to the newly-appointed MD of Saudi Arabia, SAP. Cloud investment is gathering momentum, with Saudi organisations increasing software spend by 5.5 percent, increasing the Saudi ICT market to SAR 127 billion, …

Bloomberg Canada’s purchase of Kinder Morgan Inc.’s embattled pipeline is good news for the oil patch, so long as it doesn’t become the norm. While the $3.5 billion Trans Mountain takeover keeps alive a project seen as critical to expanding markets for Canada’s crude and improving the price oil-sands producers get paid, it also reveals how key infrastructure projects can …

Bloomberg Gazprom PJSC’s profit jumped to the highest in three years as natural gas sales to Europe surged. Unexpectedly cold weather from Germany to the UK boosted Russia’s gas sales into the region by 8 percent in the first three months of the year. That along with stronger prices helped lift income for the nation’s gas-pipeline monopoly. The results may …

Bloomberg The US shale surge is crashing headlong into a barrage of bottlenecks. From West Texas pipelines to Oklahoma storage centers and Gulf Coast export terminals, the delivery system for American crude is straining to keep up with soaring production. That’s limiting the industry’s ability to take full advantage of growing worldwide demand, with US barrels forced to take an …

Bloomberg Stocks rose along with Treasury yields as investors deemed the market reaction to Italy’s political turmoil overwrought. The dollar slipped and oil rose. The S&P 500 Index headed for the first gain in four days as US 10-year yields pushed above 2.84 percent, boosting financial shares that had sold off on Tuesday as worries about Italy leaving the euro …

Bloomberg Traders in China are unwinding positions in Tencent Holdings Ltd. faster than ever, turning to other targets amid a lack of reasons to push Asia’s biggest stock any higher. Mainland investors sold a net $81 million worth of shares in the Chinese Internet giant through trading links with Hong Kong on Tuesday, according to exchange data. That’s the 12th …

Bloomberg Just when central bankers thought they were about to get out of the business of emergency economic stimulus, jittery financial markets are threatening to pull some of them back in. For the European Central Bank, the latest threat requiring vigilance is political turmoil in Italy that’s reviving memories of the debt crisis that threatened to fracture the euro area. …

Bloomberg Indonesia’s new central bank chief raised interest rates at an early policy meeting on Wednesday, moving swiftly to counter an emerging-market selloff that’s shaken the nation’s currency and bonds. Less than a week in office, Governor Perry Warjiyo led the board in increasing the seven-day reverse repurchase rate by 25 basis points to 4.75 percent, in line with almost …

Bloomberg The interest-rate cycle in India is turning. The central bank may be set to tighten policy next week to keep inflation in check and stem the declines in the rupee, if the rate-market moves are any indication. The Reserve Bank of India hasn’t tinkered with rates since August, and even cut inflation projections last month, raising expectations that borrowing …