‘Super rate hike’ seen in Egypt as devaluation looms

  Bloomberg Egypt’s central bank, which unexpectedly left borrowing costs unchanged last week, is keeping its powder dry for what one economist called a “super” rate increase. Five out of 8 economists in a Bloomberg survey had expected the Monetary Policy Committee to raise its key rate on Thursday to curb accelerating inflation and lay the ground for a widely ...

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IFC and Canadian govt finance Jordan’s latest solar farm

  Bloomberg Saudi Telecom Co. is exploring options for its indirect stake in billionaire T. Ananda Krishnan’s Maxis Bhd., the second-largest Malaysian wireless carrier by market value, people with knowledge of the matter said. The Gulf kingdom’s biggest telecommunications operator is gauging interest in its 25 percent holding in Binariang GSM Sdn., which is the controlling shareholder of Maxis, according ...

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Marriott to nearly double workforce in Mideast, Africa over next three years

  Bloomberg Marriott International Inc., which became the world’s largest hotel operator with its $14 billion purchase of Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide Inc., plans to almost double its workforce in the Middle East and Africa over the next three years. The company expects to add 30,000 more people to its regional workforce of 41,000 as new properties are opened, ...

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Twitter bidders vying for data would inherit the doldrums too

  Bloomberg Salesforce.com Inc. and other companies eyeing Twitter Inc. may pay more than $16 billion to get their hands on the social-media company’s valuable data. But they’ll also inherit challenges, including management turmoil, lackluster growth and an unsolved identity crisis. While it remains a destination for conversation among influential people, Twitter would be tough to digest. Chief Executive Officer ...

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Luxury carmakers’ HERE Map service taps sensors for traffic data

  Relaxnews The digital mapmaker acquired by BMW AG, Audi AG and Daimler AG is rolling out a real-time traffic service that warns of road hazards and helps find parking spaces by utilizing the sensors and cameras mounted on board the luxury models of its owners. The service that will debut early next year is the first use of automotive ...

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Orange to trial premium virtual reality content

  Relaxnews Telecoms provider Orange is testing the waters of mass-market VR with an experimental OCS VR channel for the Samsung Gear VR and PlayStation VR. The Paris, France headquartered telco is teaming up with Californian startup Wevr to offer premium video content in “an immersive VR environment customized to look like a private theatre” from October 12, 2016. From ...

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Samsung expands early-stage tech funds to ‘leapfrog’ rivals

  Bloomberg Samsung Electronics Co. opened a branch of its early-stage technology investment program in Tel Aviv to better tap into the innovative engineering for which Israel is known. Investment in individual companies will typically be about $1 million with no limit on the number of beneficiaries or the funding amount, Eyal Miller, Samsung Next Tel Aviv’s general manager and ...

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Researchers restore first ever computer music recording

  Wellington / AFP New Zealand researchers said Monday they have restored the first recording of computer-generated music, created in 1951 on a gigantic contraption built by British genius Alan Turing. The aural artefact, which paved the way for everything from synthesizers to modern electronica, opens with a staunchly conservative tune —the British national anthem “God Save the King”. Researchers at ...

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A peek at world’s biggest sailboat

  Kiel / DPA If the only thing putting you off yachting is the discomfort, Sailing Yacht A, the world’s biggest motor-assisted superyacht, might just be the answer. But you’ll need to be a billionaire to afford it. Work on building A began four years ago in Germany and it is not quite ready yet. According to the magazine Boat International, ...

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Melting ice threatens to expose Cold War waste

  Copenhagen / AFP A snow-covered former US army base in Greenland — dubbed “a city under ice” — could leak pollutants into the environment as the climate changes, raising difficult questions over who is responsible for a clean-up. In 1959, US army engineers began constructing a futuristic project in northwestern Greenland that might as well have been lifted from ...

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