The adverse conditions in the global economy and weaker stocks on Wall Street may prevent the US Federal Reserve from going for a rate hike again. Some analysts forecast four more rate hikes in 2016, while Reuters' poll indicate three times hike this year. The slump in commodities, weaker global markets, slowdown in China's economy and lower oil prices are causes of concerns for the US Fed as these are upsetting the Wall Street.
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Greatist raises $4.5 million to develop Millennial health site
Greatist has raised 4.5 million US dollar in Series A round. The company will utilize the funds to add more staffs, on the advertising department, to create additional custom programs like events and original content, according to Derek Flanzraich, CEO of Greatist.
Twitter: Australia launched a new koala emoji to celebrate Australia Day
The emoji features a koala wearing a pair of sunglasses, and will appear automatically when a user tweets using the hashtag #AustraliaDay. An event on Tuesday marks the opening of the digital celebration one week prior to the national holiday on January 26. Australian netizens are also encouraged to tweet their stories and views on the holiday.
A 10% decrease in China air pollution noted over previous year, Greenpeace reports confirmed
Amidst intense smog, China still came out with a 10% decrease in air pollution in 2015. The numbers indicate a direct fall in the consumption of coal. However, despite the small improvement, the situation is still pretty grim as the country, which is home to a host of coal power plants, has now taken the top spot for emitting greenhouse gases. The 'red-alert' situation this winter should be a wake-up call for the government to now take drastic measures to curb the sources of air pollutants.
Space Gardening: A flower blooms in International Space Station for the first time
Previously, an experiment team of a space gardening project called Veggie has also succeeded planting consumable lettuce. The flower bloom is a remarkable step forward to a more advanced technique and choice of plants to grow in space. The project was established because NASA seeks to learn how astronauts can grow their own food in space to sustain long-term space journey.
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Saudi Arabia and other Gulf nations are buying thousands of acres in the US. Recently, Fondomonte California has purchased 1,790 acres of farmland in California. Almarai bought 10,000 acres of farmland in Arizona two years back. These companies have cultivating alfalfa hay and exporting back it to feed dairy herds. Local farmers in California and Arizona are expressing concerns over drop in groundwater table.
Vodafone Group is confident that as soon as 5G wave hits the world in 2020, Australia will be among the first few countries to adopt this new-age technology. The mobile operator's priority goals include customer satisfaction and customized plans, along with 5G launch. A 5G-friendly Australia will be seen as a super-speedy service that should eliminate all video buffering and enable super-fast downloads.
Palmer Luckey, founder of Oculus Rift company have to stand in court in a lawsuit against him. The plaintiff is Total Recall Technologies that accused the 23-year old to use its data illegally.
Manny Pacquiao has decided to take the final bow after one last fight with arch rival Timothy Bradley. This much-awaited bout is all set to take place in Las Vegas on April 9, marking their trilogy. The boxing champion has decided to run for senatorship in May elections after his retirement and make a difference to his country. Given his popularity, Pacquiao even hopes to run for the presidency which is scheduled to take place in 2022.
After acquiring Lyft Inc, GM has also purchased ride hailing pioneer, Sidecar. The acquired entity has been tattering in consecutive years for ever growing competitions with rivals like Uber and Lyft. With the acquiring, GM now will be able to play a more active role in relative fields with the new two subsidiaries.
Motorola has unveiled its Moto G3 smart phone in July 2015 and now released in the market. The concept for making budget conscious smart phones has been attracted by other mobile giants including its mother concern, Lenovo. Lenovo expects to grab the budget phone market shortly with its self developed similar products.
Lower oil price, sluggish global financial markets and weaker Loonie are impacting Canadian economy and forcing central bank to lower interest rate to zero level. Canada may move to negative interest rate in the near future, forecasts Barclays Plc. Bank of Canada is forecast to cut key interest rate by 25 basis points to 0.25 percent this week.
Amazon introduced the Dash Replenishment service on selected devices. The devices powered by Amazon Dash Replenishment program could enable customers to order everyday fundamentals automatically from Amazon.
The AC power cables linked to Microsoft’s Surface Pro tablets of selective three generations pose fire risks due to overheating. Though a limited number of overheating issues have been reported, Microsoft is taking no risks and going to recall for a global voluntary replacement. Details on replacement procedure will be furnished in the Microsoft website sometimes later this week, possibly on Friday.
