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Woolworths sees over 20% drop in annual earningsSouth African retailer Woolworths said it expected annual earnings to be more than 20% lower than the prior year, partly impacted by the sale of its David Jones business and consumers cutting down on discretionary spending.Retailers such as Woolworths have been grappling with challenging trading conditions at a time cash-strapped customers rein in spending amid high interest rates and living costs.Woolworths, which also operates in Australia, said trading conditions in the second half to date have been tougher than expected for its apparel businesses.The food, fashion and beauty products retailer said its Country Road Group business in Australia was being further impacted by inflated import costs due to a weaker currency, coupled with higher fixed costs.The company, however, said its food business continued to prove its resilience, with strong trade and market share gains.-REUTERS- AWS, Orange to offer cloud computing in Morocco, SenegalAmazon Web Services (AWS) plans to offer cloud computing in Morocco and Senegal using its AWS Wavelength platform in partnership with Orange, the firms said on Wednesday.This will be the first time the services will be available in any country without physical AWS infrastructure such as data centres, with Orange set to house the services in its data centres.Increased demand for faster computing from banks, telecom firms and healthcare firms is attracting cloud operators to Africa, where the cloud market is expected to grow by 15% on a yearly basis to reach $18 billion in 2028, according, opens new tab to data platform Statista.Data consumption is also rising, boosting the need for secure local data hosting.The AWS infrastructure allows customers across regulated industries that require data to remain local, such as the telecom, finance, public and healthcare sectors, to deploy and run applications locally."Customers of all sizes and all industries in Morocco and Senegal will be able to access local AWS compute and storage for data residency, low latency, and security needs for applications," AWS Vice president Jan Hofmeyr said.Google to invest US$2 billion in Malaysian data center and cloud hubGoogle plans to invest $2 billion in Malaysia, developing its first data center and a Google Cloud hub in the latest big foray by a U.S. tech giant in the Southeast Asian country.The news follows Microsoft’s recent announcement that it would put US$2.2 billion over the next four years into building Malaysia’s new cloud and artificial intelligence infrastructure.Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim hailed Google’s investment as a sign of faith in Malaysia’s governance and economy. Anwar said Thursday that the investment is expected to add $US3.2 billion to the economy and create 26 500 jobs by 2030. The investments are a coup for Anwar as he seeks to consolidate his strength against a strong Islamic opposition.Google said in a statement that the new hubs will be developed at a business park in central Malaysia’s Selangor state, to meet growing demand for cloud services and for artificial intelligence literacy programs for Malaysian students and educators.-ASSOCIATED FREE PRESS-

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