Bloomberg Societe Generale SA reported fourth-quarter profit that exceeded estimates, helped by a surprise jump in earnings from French consumer banking. The lender announced plans for an initial public offering of its car-leasing business. Net income was 390 million euros ($417 million), down 41 percent from a year earlier but above the 315 million-euro average estimate of seven analysts ...

  Bloomberg When our robot overlords arrive, will they decide to kill us or cooperate with us? New research from DeepMind, Alphabet Inc.’s London-based artificial intelligence unit could ultimately shed light on this fundamental question. They have been investigating the conditions in which reward-optimizing beings, whether human or robot, would chose to cooperate, rather than compete. The answer could have ...

  Bloomberg Microsoft Corp. will help cloud customers fend off patent lawsuits and expand coverage of related litigation costs, seeking to distinguish its services from rivals in the fast-growing market for internet-based computing. As more companies host their applications and services on Microsoft’s Azure and other cloud providers, they are increasingly becoming the target of lawsuits from companies seeking to ...

  Bloomberg BlackBerry Ltd. is opening up some of its secure messaging and file sharing technology for developers to use in building apps, creating a new revenue stream for the company as it works to boost sales. The Waterloo, Ontario-based company said the software development kit is releasing this month will include tools for building chat apps, video and voice ...

  Bloomberg Venture investors are clamoring to back cybersecurity startups after record hacking last year and calls by US President Donald Trump and other global leaders to do more to protect against digital attacks. VC firms invested $3.1 billion in a record 279 cybersecurity startups in 2016, according to research firm CB Insights. That compares to $3.7 billion in 272 ...

  Bloomberg From oozing blisters and wheezing to rashes, itchy eyes, and sore throats, numerous American Airlines Group Inc. flight attendants say their new work uniforms are making them sick. But after a battery of tests and a tense back-and-forth among their union, the airline, and the uniform supplier, it’s still not clear what exactly is behind the rise in ...

  AL-KHARQANIYAH / AP There is an unlikely industry thriving in a village north of Cairo: The making of mannequins. The use of mannequins in Egypt dates back to the early years of the last century, when department stores imported them to display Western attire sold to expatriates and wealthy Egyptians. Soon afterward, Egyptians took up the manufacturing of mannequins. The ...

  ABU DHABI / WAM Dr Amal Abdullah Al Qubaisi, Speaker of the Federal National Council (FNC) and Faisal Al-Fayez, Jordan’s Senate President (Majlis Al-Aayan), met for an official discussion at the FNC headquarters in Abu Dhabi. The session focussed on strong historical relations between the UAE and Jordan and their people, as well as strengthening the parliamentary, economic, cultural ...

  ABU DHABI / WAM According to official figures from the Abu Dhabi and Dubai Securities Exchange, the value of margin trading finance reached AED85.7 billion in 2016, an increase of 12.7 percent from AED76 billion in 2015. An analysis by Emirates News Agency, WAM, showed that the value of the margin trading finance, presented by brokerage companies to their ...

  Dubai / Emirates Business The Smart Dubai Office and ENOC signed an MOU to increase coordination between ENOC and Smart Dubai on the city’s smart transformation objectives. It will promote cooperation, effective communication and reciprocal facilitation between the parties in alignment with goal of Smart Dubai initiative, to promote seamless and efficient city experiences in all aspects of city ...