October, 2016

• 18 October

  AIG to sell Chile, Turkey units to Watsa

    Bloomberg American International Group Inc. agreed to sell commercial and consumer units in nations including Argentina and Turkey to Prem Watsa’s Fairfax Financial Holdings Ltd. for $240 million as Chief Executive Officer Peter Hancock narrows his company’s focus. Fairfax will also acquire renewal rights on the portfolio of business written by AIG’s Central and Eastern European operations in countries ...

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• 18 October

  Disney drops Twitter pursuit over ‘image’

    Bloomberg Walt Disney Co. decided not to pursue a bid for Twitter Inc. partly out of concern that bullying and other uncivil forms of communication on the social media site might soil the company’s wholesome family image, according to people familiar with management’s thinking. The producer of family fare like “Finding Dory” had gone so far as to hire ...

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• 18 October

  China’s ‘musical’ social network gains traction

  

    Bloomberg Bridget Kelly learned about Musical.ly at a sleepover and was hooked. Before long, the 12-year-old Moraga, California, resident and her friends were using the app to make 15-second music videos showing off their acapella or lip-syncing skills. After school, they choreographed moves for their next music video and performed “duets” with favorite celebrities. Kelly is one of more ...

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• 18 October

  Driverless taxi hits lorry in S’pore trial

  

    Singapore / AFP A car taking part in the world’s first public trial of driverless taxis was slightly damaged on Tuesday when it collided with a lorry in Singapore, its operator said. No one was hurt in the accident in One North, a suburban research campus where the vehicle has been on a limited run since August, US software ...

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• 18 October

  Sony brings ‘Ghostbusters’ to virtual reality

  

    Relaxnews Sony has released a new interactive virtual reality game, based on the supernatural blockbuster film “Ghostbusters.” The game, titled “Ghostbusters VR – Now Hiring”, is available for purchase as an app on iOS and Android mobile platforms, with a price tag of $4.99 and also comes as a free addition with purchases of the 4K Blu-ray editions of ...

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• 18 October

  Samsung to compensate crisis-hit suppliers

    Seoul / AFP Samsung Electronics said on Tuesday it would compensate suppliers hit by the decision to scrap its Galaxy Note 7 smartphones because of safety fears with exploding batteries. The South Korean electronics giant announced a week ago that it was discontinuing the Note 7 after a chaotic recall that saw replacement phones also catching fire. Samsung said ...

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• 18 October

  Biodiversity boost!

  

    Amsterdam / AFP Seals peep from Amsterdam’s famous canals, while rare bats huddle in the eaves of houses, next to nesting birds. Wildlife — of the animal kind — is on the rise in the teeming Dutch capital. More than 10,000 different animal species roam the city’s nooks and crannies, sharing space already packed with around 800,000 Amsterdamers and ...

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• 18 October

  The secrets of amber fossils preserved in time

  

    Frankfurt / DPA With the help of a CT scan, Monica Solorzano Kraemer has discovered an ancient fly encased in a piece of amber from France. “Some ambers are too cloudy for a microscope,” says the scientist from Germany’s Senckenberg Society for Natural History. “With a CT scan I can look right through the stone.” A 3D computer programme ...

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• 17 October

  Emirates NBD posts AED5.4bn net profit

    DUBAI / EMIRATES BUSINESS Emirates NBD, the UAE’s largest lender, delivered a solid set of financial results with net profit up 8% to AED 5.4 billion for the first nine months of 2016. The operating performance was helped by higher recoveries and a modest increase in total income, driven by higher core fee income and asset growth which offset ...

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• 17 October

  Abu Dhabi Chamber, Russian envoy discuss coop

    ABU DHABI / WAM Mohammed Thani Murshid Al Rumaithi, Chairman of the Federation of the UAE Chambers of Commerce and Industry and Chairman of Abu Dhabi Chamber, has with Alexander Efimov, Ambassador of the Russian Federation to the UAE, and discussed boosting cooperation between the Emirate of Abu Dhabi and Russia. Al Rumaithi said that in order to improve ...

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