SpaceX Jan 9 launch puts Iridium’s future up in the air

  Bloomberg Iridium Communications Inc. needs SpaceX to get it right this time. Elon Musk’s Space Exploration Technologies Corp. is set to launch 10 Iridium communications satellites from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California on Monday, marking the company’s first return to flight since a Falcon 9 rocket blew up on a Florida launch pad in September. The satellites are ...

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A game to diagnose dementia!

  DPA A mobile game, of all things, is providing dementia researchers with huge amounts of data. Called Sea Hero Quest, it’s helping them understand how our brains navigate space and is being used to create a benchmark for early detection of dementia, one of the first symptoms of which is the loss of navigational skills. Participants in the project ...

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‘Good science can be done in African countries’

  DPA Derek Ndinteh may be sitting in a windowless tiny office at one of South Africa’s less-well-known universities writing out an application for research funding, but this brilliant 40-year-old from Cameroon is confident. “I will be the first black Nobel laureate in chemistry,” says the researcher at the University of Johannesburg – “UJ” to its students. The role of ...

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Lebanon plans to restart oil, gas licensing round after 3-year delay

  BEIRUT / Reuters Lebanon intends to restart its first oil and gas licensing round after a three-year delay, the energy minister said, hoping to kick-start the development of a hydrocarbon industry stalled by national political paralysis. In its first sitting since being formed in December, Lebanon’s new cabinet passed two decrees defining the blocks and specifying conditions for production ...

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Iran capitalises on OPEC oil cut to sell millions of barrels

  Reuters Iran has sold more than 13 million barrels of oil that it had long held on tankers at sea, capitalising on an OPEC output cut deal from which it is exempted to regain market share and court new buyers, according to industry sources and data. In the past three months, Tehran has sold almost half the oil it ...

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North Asia’s winter blast to raise January coal, LNG consumption

  Reuters Winter temperatures in North Asia will swing to unusually cold from relatively mild in the coming weeks, lifting the demand for liquefied natural gas (LNG) and thermal coal as regional power stations ramp up to meet the increased heating needs. January tends to be the coldest month of the year in the northern hemisphere, and a drop to ...

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Israel harnesses sunshine with world’s tallest solar tower

  AP In sunny Israel, solar energy supplies only a small percentage of the nation’s power needs, leaving it far behind countries with cloudier and colder climates. Now the fledgling solar industry is trying to make a leap forward with a large-scale project boasting the world’s tallest solar tower, as a symbol of Israel’s renewal energy ambitions. With Israel traditionally ...

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Saudi body rules on insider trading in Mobily shares

  Reuters A special Saudi Arabia committee has found a number of individuals guilty of providing insider information and insider trading in shares of telecoms operator Mobily, leaving them facing potential jail terms of between one and two years, the kingdom’s Capital Market Authority (CMA) said. The findings of Saudi Arabia’s Committee for the Resolution of Securities Disputes (CRSD) are ...

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Samsung business sound despite Galaxy Note 7 fiasco

  Bloomberg Samsung Electronics Co. underscored the resilience of its business when it reported its best operating profit in three years, weathering the death of its fire-prone Galaxy Note 7 with the help of its workmanlike chip and display divisions and cheaper smartphones. The world’s largest maker of mobile devices posted a 50 percent surge in quarterly operating profit after ...

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‘Hong Kong property prices will rising amid curbs’

  Bloomberg Hong Kong’s richest man Li Ka-shing expects property prices in the city will rise “a little bit” this year, even as the government takes steps to cool the world’s costliest real estate market. The government in November increased the stamp duty to 15 percent for all residential purchases, excluding first-time buyers who are permanent residents. The curbs initially ...

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