Do you work in an open office environment? If so, you might have to work a little harder to stay healthy. From the frequent interruptions and the constant hum of conversation to the easy spread of germs and infections in close quarters, open office environments may do more than just promote collaboration. They may also cause an increase in illness. In fact, a 2011 study showed that people in open offices use more sick time than people who work in regular office settings.
Updated 6 Years ago

As Mark Twain famously wrote, "I didn't have time to write a short letter, so I wrote a long one instead." His point? Strong writing is lean writing. When you want to make your writing more powerful, cut out words you don't need--such as the 10 included in this post:
Updated 6 Years ago

JSE-listed aluminium products maker, Hulamin, on Friday said it expects to post higher profits for the six months to June this year. Hulamin said normalised earnings a share are likely to be about 40 percent higher than in the corresponding reporting period of the previous year. Headline earnings a share and basic earnings a share are expected to be about 95 percent higher.
Updated 6 Years ago

Canadian smartphone maker, BlackBerry Limited continues its resurgence as a global leader in mobile communications, as it earned three acclaimed Red Dot Awards for the high design quality of its BlackBerry® Q10, BlackBerry® Q5 and BlackBerry® Z30 smartphones. “The BlackBerry Design Team is honoured to accept the prestigious Red Dot Product Design Award for the Q10, Q5 and Z30,” said Alison Phillips, Managing Director of Industrial Design at BlackBerry.
Updated 6 Years ago

An Iraqi court has dismissed a $4.5 billion lawsuit against Zain Iraq and the country’s top telecom operator will now seek to get a freeze on some of its earnings removed, its Kuwaiti parent Zain said on Thursday. In April, Zain revealed its Iraqi unit was being sued over the $1.2 billion acquisition of rival operator Iraqna from Egypt’s Orascom Telecom in 2007.
Updated 6 Years ago

Last month, it was the purchase of a historic landmark building in Madrid; now it is waterfront property in Chicago. As part of a recent property-buying spree, Beijing-based Dalian Wanda Group Corp said it is acquiring a 90 percent stake in a project for high-end residential, commercial and hotel units in what its chairman says is the first of several planned moves in the United States. "Investing in Chicago property is Wanda's first move into the US real estate market," Wang Jianlin, the billionaire chairman of Wanda, said in a statement about the investment that was announced on Wednesday. He said that within a year, his company will invest in other five-star hotel projects in major US cities such as New York, Los Angeles and San Francisco.
Updated 6 Years ago

China will reduce its intervention in the foreign exchange market through a step-by-step process as it gradually pushes for foreign exchange reform, said central bank chief Zhou Xiaochuan. "The direction is clear for China's foreign exchange market reform. We'll keep the yuan's exchange rate at a reasonable and balanced level and let the market decide the rate," Zhou said on the sidelines of the China-US Strategic and Economic Dialogue in Beijing on Thursday.
Updated 6 Years ago

US stocks dropped today as concerns about the financial health of Portugal's top listed bank gave investors a reason to cash in recent gains. With the Dow and the S&P 500 near record highs, the slide in Europe triggered by financial shares quickly translated into broad selling on Wall Street. The S&P 500 briefly lost 1 percent earlier, a daily drop the benchmark has not seen since April 10.
Updated 6 Years ago

The global PC market has improved substantially in Q2, coming in ahead of expectations, while PC shipments to Latin America continued to decline sharply in the quarter. IT market analyst IDC reported that global PC shipments fell by just 1.7% in Q2 to 74.4mn, considerably better than the expected decline of around 7% in the quarter.
Updated 6 Years ago

Peru's metals posted declines in export revenue in May on lower volumes and prices, with silver and molybdenum the exceptions, the government said Total metals export revenue in May slumped 30.2% year-on-year to US$1.44bn, helping widen Peru's trade deficit to US$746mn from US$272mn a year earlier as total exports dropped 22% to US$2.75bn, the country'scentral bank said in a statement on its website.
Updated 6 Years ago