ISRAEL
FLOWS
DO YOU KNOW
“Any attempt to turn off the flows of capital and people around the world will be like trying to divert a river into lakes and creeks.”— XI JINPING, President of China
Switzerland has the world’s most expensive Big Macs. In Switzerland a Big Mac costs $6.35, in Norway $5.67 and in Sweden $5.26
Oracle Launches Startup Cloud Accelerator With the hope of identifying innovators who can advance next-generation cloud capabilities, multinational computing giant Oracle launched its Startup Cloud Accelerator program in Israel. The kickoff of the six-month acceleration program, which will be facilitated by technical and business experts from Oracle and the industry, took place at the company’s research and development offices in Petah Tikva. The launch in Israel is the second of its kind, with the first inaugurated in Bangalore, India last year. The California-based corporation hopes to find budding entrepreneurs in Israel that will help Oracle
CYPRUS
Company Registrations Rise 20% In 2016
REGGIE BRADFORD, Oracle’s senior vice president
become the leading cloud company in the world. Cloud computing is the practice of using a network of remote Internet servers, rather than physical infrastructure, to store and process data.
The number of new company registrations rose 20 per cent last year to 13,616, the highest post-crisis figure, the Cyprus Department of Company Registrar and Official Receiver said. In December, the number of new company registrations rose an annual 4.1 per cent to 1,335.The total number of companies registered dropped last year 8.1 per cent to 210,677, which is the lowest after 2008, as the number of companies struck off exceeded new registrations.
MEXICO
BMW Committed To New Factory In Mexico
BMW is sticking with plans to open a new factory in Mexico in 2019 despite warnings from Presidentelect Donald Trump that he will slap a border tax on cars imported from the country. The German automaker’s head of sales and marketing, Ian Robertson said that BMW is committed to the factory in Mexico.
Robertson explained that the company needs to expand manufacturing beyond its U.S. factory in Spartanburg, South Carolina, already the biggest BMW plant in the world. “We need additional capacity, so we have chosen to build a plant in Mexico,” he said. The Spartanburg plant produces up to 450,000 cars per year”, he said. BMW has already started work on the new factory in San Luis Potosi, Mexico. The facility will open in 2019 and produce the BMW 3 Series Sedan, creating at least 1,500 new jobs. “The cars which will be produced in Mexico are for the global market, not only North America,” the company said.
Last year, applications for company names rose 11 per cent to 27,031 after dropping in December an annual 6.6 per cent to 2,149, the company registrar said. The number of certified copies rose in 2016 and December 10 per cent and 6.2 per cent to 311,110 and 28,367 respectively, the department said. The number of other documents submitted dropped 12 per cent to 131,296 in 2016 after rising 12 percent to 13,623.
INDONESIA
Telkom To Launch $199.7mln Satellite After a delay last year, the country’s largest telecommunication firm, PT Telekomunikasi Indonesia (Telkom), plans to launch a new satellite worth $199.7 million this month. Called Telkom-3S, the new satellite will be launched from French Guiana in the northern mainland of South America, Telkom chief technology officer Abdus Somad Arief said. “This satellite will be our third and it will support our voice and data services,” he said during the 2017 Internet Retailing Expo Jakarta. Beginning in July 2014, the construction of the satellite was handled by French company Thales Alenia Space.
The launch will be carried out by Arianespace, a French contracting firm. Abdus further said to
support Telkom’s future services, it also planned to launch a fourth satellite in June 2018.
FEBRUARY
|
148
| 39