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Deloitte has announced that it has acquired Strut Digital, a Sydney-based professional and managed services firm, to fill the DevOps gap in its cloud implementation service. Kevin Russo, lead partner in Deloitte’s Technology, Strategy, and Architecture division, told ZDNet that Strut was the next logical acquisition for Deloitte, complementing the purchases of Plenary Networks, Sixtree, and Cloud Solutions Group over the last couple of years. He added […]

By Tom Hals and Diane Bartz | WILMINGTON, Del./WASHINGTON WILMINGTON, Del./WASHINGTON Health insurer Anthem Inc (ANTM.N) asked a Delaware judge on Monday to give it more time to try to win approval for a merger with rival Cigna Corp (CI.N), which is seeking to end the deal and collect a $1.85 billion break-up fee. Anthem asked Vice Chancellor Travis Laster of Delaware’s Court of Chancery to grant […]

When it comes to international news, The New York Times doesn’t want to be BuzzFeed, HuffPost or The Guardian. It wants to be, well, The New York Times. Whereas other publishers are looking to lure massive new audiences with editions published in various languages, The New York Times is being deliberately conservative with its foreign-language offerings. It has Spanish- and Chinese- language homepages but isn’t planning to […]

Cofco, China’s powerful state-controlled grains company, is set to appoint the former chief executive and deputy chair of agricultural trader Louis Dreyfus Company as a non-executive director for its international agricultural trading arm. Serge Schoen, who resigned from the LDC board last year, is poised to become one of Cofco International’s four non-executive directors on the company’s 10-person board. His appointment comes as questions have been raised […]

08 May 2017 Qatar Islamic Bank (QIB), Qatar’s leading Islamic Bank, signs a US$ 925 million (QR 3.4 billion) structured Shari’a compliant financing facility with Gulf Drilling International Limited QSC (GDI). This new facility will be used to re-organize the company’s debt and further enhance its operational and financial performance. QIB successfully originated, structured and executed the transaction which used an innovative financing structure to meet the […]

Emmanuel Macron has swept to emphatic victory in France’s presidential election, clinching 66 per cent of the vote to beat far-right candidate Marine Le Pen. The National Front candidate’s 34 per cent share fell well short of the most optimistic projections for Ms Le Pen, which had suggested she could win as much as 45 per cent of the vote in the second round. Mr Macron’s victory […]

The market reaction to Emmanuel Macron’s victory in the French presidential election has been muted so far, with investors having to a large extent anticipated the result. “The euro went up a bit, down a bit and ended pretty much where it was last week. Damp squib would be an overstatement,” as Kit Juckes at Société Générale put it. At pixel time, the euro was trading at […]

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By Noah Barkin and Leigh Thomas | BERLIN/PARIS BERLIN/PARIS After a decade of slow growth, rising unemployment and dwindling competitiveness, France elected a president on Sunday who says he has a plan to pull the country out of its economic malaise.     Emmanuel Macron, a former investment banker who quit the government of Francois Hollande twice out of frustration with the slow pace of reforms, is promising […]

Oman’s tourism development company, Omran, has announced the appointment of Peter Walichnowski as its new CEO. Effective immediately, he will lead the company on its state-level mandate as the sultanate’s master developer of tourism destinations and urban communities, a statement said. Walichnowski joins Omran with more than 35 years of experience in tourism, real estate and mixed-use developments including stints at Dubai shopping mall operator Majid Al […]

The Federal Reserve risks political interference and losing its independence if it maintains a large balance sheet in the longer term, former Fed officials have claimed, as debate over the central bank’s strategy for unwinding its interventions in financial markets intensifies. Kevin Warsh, a visiting fellow at the Hoover Institution at Stanford University and former Fed governor, said permanently holding vast quantities of assets like treasuries was […]

Government agencies want their own backdoor into communications. Image: iStockphoto More details of how the UK’s new surveillance law will operate have been revealed, in details about the use of encryption. Under draft regulations to support the new Investigatory Powers Act, the government will be able to issue ‘technical capability notices’ to companies with more than 10,000 UK users to make it easier for police, spy agencies […]

A corner of Wall Street has been gripped by the unknown identity of a trader that has been buying up Vix call options priced at 50 cents each, swelling to account for nearly 10 per cent of the listed market. The FT has now reported that bankers with knowledge of the trades say the so-called “50 Cent” – a reference to the American rapper known for his […]

A new method combining tumor suppressor protein p53 and biomineralization peptide BMPep successfully created hexagonal silver nanoplates, suggesting an efficient strategy for controlling the nanostructure of inorganic materials. (via WSJ)

Many corporate leaders love BYOD, telling employees “Bring Your Own Device” to work, and with good reason. When employees use the device they’re most comfortable with to get their work done, they get more done faster. They will work from home, during their commute, and most any time they feel the need to. Beyond getting more and better work from their employees, employers eliminate investments in computing […]

By Jonathan Landay and Warren Strobel | WASHINGTON WASHINGTON A draft of President Donald Trump’s new counterterrorism strategy demands that U.S. allies shoulder more of the burden in combating Islamist militants, while acknowledging that the threat of terrorism will never be totally eliminated. The 11-page draft, seen on Friday by Reuters, said the United States should avoid costly, “open-ended” military commitments. “We need to intensify operations against […]

By Dominique Vidalon | PARIS PARIS The shareholders of AccorHotels (ACCP.PA) on Friday granted former French President Nicolas Sarkozy a seat on the board of Europe’s largest hotel group, and rejected a bid to block long-term shareholders from getting more double voting rights. Chairman and CEO Sebastien Bazin reiterated at the annual shareholders meeting that double voting rights were a good way to foster loyalty and stability […]

WOLFSBURG, Germany Volkswagen (VOWG_p.DE) is targeting fixed productivity gains at its troubled core division through 2020 by pushing cost savings, stemming overseas losses and launching more higher-margin cars as the carmaker battles to overcome its emissions scandal. Positive development at Volkswagen’s namesake VW brand may continue throughout 2017, the carmaker said on Friday, building on a strong rebound in the first quarter when cost cuts helped operating […]

“Something is off,” warns RBC’s head of cross-asset strategy Charlie McElligott in the introduction to his latest market noting that the swing in US fiscal policy optimism is coming at a critical time as the China’s liquidity tightening is spooking the reflation story. SUMMARY: Movement on US fiscal policy is currently driving US rates and equities higher, counteracting the tremendous negative implications of this ‘Chinese tightening / […]

Amaysim has said it is committed to introducing National Broadband Network (NBN) services with faster speeds than its current maximum 100/40Mbps tier once it is “economically viable”. “We will definitely be coming out with higher-speed plans as they become commercially viable in the market … 1Gbps is an option that’s on the table and being looked at but not guaranteed at this stage,” Rob Appel, Amaysim’s commercial […]

Bahrain-based Ibdar Bank has announced the appointment of Ayman Sejiny as its new CEO. The Islamic investment bank said in a statement Sejiny has previously held roles at Barclays, Citi Bank and ABN Amro. Previous to his appointment with Ibdar, Sejiny was the Group CEO of Bahrain-based Bank Alkhair, which has a presence in Saudi Arabia, UAE, Turkey and Malaysia. Ibdar chairman Tareq Sadeq said: “Ibdar is […]

Authored by 720Global’s Michael Lebowitz via RealInvestmentAdvice.com, “History has not dealt kindly with the aftermath of protracted periods of low risk premiums” – Alan Greenspan The ability to see beyond the observable and the probable is the most important and under-appreciated characteristic of successful investors. For example, visualize a single domino standing upright. With this limited perspective, one can establish what the domino is doing in the […]

One of the EU’s most senior officials has called for a ceasefire in the verbal hostilities over Brexit with Theresa May, warning that looming talks could become “impossible” if calm is not restored. The intervention by Donald Tusk, European Council president, marks a concerted effort to defuse escalating tension between Brussels and London after the UK prime minister accused EU officials of trying to sabotage her election […]

About 1.2 million people is estimated to be infected with HIV in the United States. The infection is fatal for those who eventually develop AIDS. An existing medical technology though potentially offers a cure. In a new study published in the journal Molecular Therapy, researchers have made important strides towards finding a treatment for HIV, one that can eliminate and not just suppress the virus, using the controversial […]

How do best performing companies and leaders deliver value with a vision and foundation for success? SAP works with some of the best companies and CEOs across the region in helping them achieve transformation through innovation and technology. This new CEO Innovation Series, supported by SAP will share and tell the best stories of achievement and feature top leaders on how they continue to lead by example. […]

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