A global research team has built five new synthetic yeast chromosomes, meaning that 30 percent of a key organism’s genetic material has now been swapped out for engineered replacements. This is one of several findings of a package of seven papers published March 10 as the cover story for Science. Led by NYU Langone geneticist Jef Boeke, PhD, and a team of more than 200 authors, the […]
New York and London are locked in a frantic race to be the main international listing venue for Saudi Arabia’s initial public offering of its state oil company, emerging as clear frontrunners in what is set to be the world’s biggest ever flotation. Executives from the New York Stock Exchange and London Stock Exchange have held talks with Saudi Aramco, the state group valued at as much […]
|By Matein Khalid| Janet Yellen confirmed the Wall Street consensus that the Federal Reserve will raise its overnight borrowing (Fed Funds) rate at the March FOMC. Wage growth, inflation, crude oil, asset prices, economic data momentum and Trump’s fiscal stimulus all reinforce the dual mandate logic of a rate hike. Only a really awful February non-farm payroll shock (consensus is 200,000 jobs) will avert a rate hike […]
By Susan Cornwell and Yasmeen Abutaleb | WASHINGTON WASHINGTON Republicans pushed ahead on Thursday with their plan for a massive overhaul of the U.S. healthcare system backed by President Donald Trump, despite Democratic concern that the cost of the bill and its impact on the budget remain unknown. Two House of Representatives committees debated the draft legislation late into the night on Wednesday in marathon sessions, two […]
There are efficiency gaps between the startup ecosystems in Singapore and Silicon Valley, which the former can address by introducing simpler and clearer investment terms. Doing so would, in turn, attract more mature startups to their fold and better set up founders for success, according to executives from muru-D’s Singapore outfit. The Telstra-owned accelerator had just completed its second batch of eight startups under the six-month programme, […]
By Saikat Chatterjee | HONG KONG HONG KONG Asian stocks edged lower on Wednesday after a strong start to the week due to profit-taking as investors lacked conviction to buy risky assets before a U.S. policy meeting next week that may see interest rates rising for the second time in three months. MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan eased 0.1 percent in early trade, a […]
DUBAI – March 7, 2017 Hotpack Packaging Industries, a leading producer and wholesaler of quality disposable food packaging materials in the UAE, has recently announced an investment of GBP 50 million to develop a facility in Wrexham – Wales, England. The facility will be equipped with the latest in packaging and manufacturing technologies. The announcement was made when Ms. Lesley Griffiths, Welsh Government Cabinet Secretary for Environment […]
Writing is a process – a set of predictable, repeatable steps in the journey to the finished work. While there are probably as many processes are there are writers, here are some of the identifiable steps. Explore: All good writers express a form of curiosity, a sense that something is going on out there. See your world as a storehouse of story ideas. Gather: Writers collect words, […]
The biggest impact investing deal to ever see the light of day — that is how a fascinating new hedge fund deal is being touted. Impact investing is the practice of trying to make a measurable, positive societal impact as well as making a financial return on your money. The US hedge fund Mariner Investment Group reckons it has found a way to turn an investment of about $150m into […]
Fund managers and institutional investors expect oil giant Saudi Aramco to have a market capitalisation of $1 trillion to $1.5 trillion when it sells shares to the public next year, a survey by regional investment bank EFG Hermes showed on Monday. The valuation of Aramco. the world’s biggest oil firm, has been the focus of intense speculation since the Saudi government last year announced plans to sell […]
I recently attended the DNS Privacy Workshop colocated with this year’s NDSS 2017 in San Diego, California. DNS privacy has received considerable attention from researchers and engineers since the Snowden revelations of state-backed pervasive surveillance in 2013 and the workshop covered a lot of ground. For some Internet users, anonymity is critically important and a service like ToR exists to obfuscate the location and browsing habits of […]
· Initiative co-founded by Facebook, Intel, Nokia, SK Telecom, Deutsche Telekom and others · Collaboration across the industry in driving and innovating the development of high-quality, scalable and more affordable telecom infrastructure to bridge the digital divide 06 March 2017 Barcelona, Kuwait City – During last week’s Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, Zain Group, the leading mobile telecom innovator in eight markets across the Middle East […]
· Initiative co-founded by Facebook, Intel, Nokia, SK Telecom, Deutsche Telekom and others · Collaboration across the industry in driving and innovating the development of high-quality, scalable and more affordable telecom infrastructure to bridge the digital divide 06 March 2017 Barcelona, Kuwait City – During last week’s Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, Zain Group, the leading mobile telecom innovator in eight markets across the Middle East […]
March 15 is not only the day when the FOMC is now widely expected to hike rates by another 25 bps, and when the US debt ceiling suspension expires, but just as importantly, is the date of the 2017 Dutch General Election. Here is a full preview of what to expect courtesy of RBC Capital Markets. By way of background, the Netherlands is the euro area’s 5th-largest […]
The Accion Frontier Inclusion Fund, a global fintech fund managed by venture capital firm Quona Capital, has secured $141 million in capital contributions from a consortium of institutional investors including Accion, MasterCard, and JPMorgan Chase. The Washington-based fund will invest in “inclusive fintech” startups that improve the accessibility and quality of financial services in emerging markets including sub-Saharan Africa, Latin America, and Asia, with a particular focus […]
Your daily guide to community and cultural activities across the Emirates for March 6, 2017, including performances, festivals, art exhibitions, film screenings, health and fitness events, talks, classes, workshops and family fun. Ellen Fortini rounds up 10 things to do today in the UAE. Want to see your event listed here? Email us with the details and contact information at [email protected] newslide Abu Dhabi Art exhibition But […]
By Balazs Koranyi | FRANKFURT FRANKFURT Two of the world’s biggest central banks are likely to find themselves with a bigger policy gap by the end of the coming fortnight The European Central Bank on Thursday will resist calls to start tightening policy against surging inflation but robust U.S. jobs data on Friday could seal the case for another Federal Reserve hike the week after. So, let’s […]
05 March 2017 Ras Al Khaimah, UAE – During a meeting at RAK Chamber between the chamber’s Chairman, H.E. Yousef Obaid Al Nuaimi and H.E. Robert Rostek, Ambassador of the Republic of Poland to the UAE, Al Nuaimi highlighted the importance of the development of economic relations between the Ras Al Khaimah and Poland. He underlined the chamber’s commitment to support, develop and diversify fields of economic […]
By Ernest Scheyder | HOUSTON HOUSTON The biggest names in the oil world come together this week for the largest industry gathering since the end of a two-year price war that pitted Middle East exporters against the firms that drove the shale energy revolution in the United States. When OPEC in November joined with several non-OPEC producers to agree to a historic cut in output, the group […]
By Kevin Yao and Xiaochong Zhang | BEIJING BEIJING China has cut its growth target this year as the world’s second-largest economy pushes through painful reforms to address a build-up in debt and strives to keep a lid on risks in its financial sector. China aims to expand its economy by around 6.5 percent in 2017, Premier Li Keqiang said at the opening of the annual meeting […]
Standard Life is in late-stage discussions to acquire Aberdeen Asset Management in an all-stock deal that would create the UK’s largest money manager with £660bn of assets and be worth around £11bn. The companies confirmed the talks on Saturday evening in a joint statement that said a deal would “leverage Standard Life and Aberdeen’s combined strengths to create a world class investment company”. They added that Standard Life […]
Emerging markets had a third month of strong inflows into their equities and bonds in February, in a further sign of reviving optimism over an asset class that was expected to be caught in the crosshairs of any US move to protectionism. There were cross-border flows to EM assets of more than $17bn in the month, up from just over $14bn in January, data from the Institute […]
Good morning. Here’s our morning roundup of all the media news you need to know. Want to get this briefing in your inbox every morning? Subscribe here. So what have you heard more often: “Fox & Friends” shilling for President Trump or sophisticated people confiding their real reason for reading The New Yorker is the cartoons? Ah, if only Bob Mankoff had long ago negotiated some piece […]
Investors have poured nearly $80bn into US equity funds since November’s election as optimism over the new administration’s pro-growth agenda received a boost after President Donald Trump addressed Congress this week. Funds invested in US stocks counted $6.7bn of additions in the week to March 1, lifting flows since November 8 to $79.4bn, according to data from EPFR. The inflows have partially reversed a near constant exodus […]
