Pre-orders, the video game industry’s nasty push to coax you into exchanging money for products before they’re released, are awful offerings. Busted launches, abusive DRM, and general industry shenanigans have made it a foolish endeavor to give publishers money before hardware or software is thoroughly analyzed by journalists, influencers, or hardcore fan communities. Yet, I pre-ordered a Nintendo Switch without hesitation. I recognize my hypocrisy […]
Cars are on their way to becoming ‘mobile phones on wheels’ The car of the future will let you pay for petrol or parking directly from your vehicle and receive traffic alerts and restaurant recommendations from your onboard digital assistant. Connected cars—or “mobile phones on wheels”—will be able to do those things and more, including communicate with each other on the road and with the infrastructure around […]
BERLIN Continental (CONG.DE) expects a possible tie-up between PSA Peugeot Citroen (PEUP.PA) and General Motors’ (GM.N) Opel division would boost its business, its chief executive said. “Opportunities emerge because platforms will be standardized and higher and more interesting volumes will arise” for suppliers, CEO Elmar Degenhart said during a conference call after the automotive supplier published results on Thursday. Separately, Continental said it planned to raise prices […]
By Christian Shepherd | BEIJING BEIJING Chinese state media said on Thursday that a prominent Chinese rights activist had made up “fake news” of torture to grab international headlines, but his defenders said the accusations were a coordinated attempt to smear his name. State media said disbarred lawyer Jiang Tianyong, 46, was behind news reports of police torturing another detained rights activist, Xie Yang, and that Jiang […]
In 2011, the Kabul foreign press corps numbered 85, by the reckoning of Dominic Medley, who has worked here for many years as a press officer for NATO, the American military and the United Nations. The American military was surging, reaching more than 100,000 troops by 2012. The press surged as well, with regular visitors in addition to the resident press corps, plus dozens of reporters going […]
Organisers of the Middle East Film and Comic Con (MEFCC) say the sixth edition to be held in Dubai in April will be its biggest ever. The pop culture convention is returning at the Dubai World Trade Centre (DWTC) from April 6-8 with a showcase of the best regional and international talent, celebrity guests, pop culture exhibitors and activities, a statement said. Over the past five years, […]
A security officer wraps the recovered bodies of a couple who were brutally murdered by separatists in Songkhla to get their pickup truck and rig it as a car bomb. (Photo by Assawin Pakkawan) A network of Buddhists in the far South has called for a relaxation of special security laws in the insurgency-plagued region following an agreement between the government and insurgent groups to create safety […]
Mr. Masri was “jihadi royalty, meaning his death will almost certainly necessitate some form of response, whether from Syria or elsewhere in the world,” Mr. Lister said. Continue reading the main story The killing of the Qaeda leader was previously reported by CNN and The Guardian. It was confirmed by an American official who declined to be identified because he was discussing classified intelligence reports Photographs of […]
This was originally published in our weekly newsletter, Local Edition, which is a product of the Knight-Lenfest Newsroom Initiative. Subscribe here. Have you ever had a party and looked around the room at some point and thought, Wow, there are a lot of cool people here? Well, that’s how my inbox felt this week. Thanks to everyone who contributed last week by answering our first question in […]
As if Uber’s woes couldn’t get any more taxing than it currently is. The company is dealing with extremely controversial sexual harassment allegations, being sued by Google over allegedly stolen designs, and now it has to deal with another controversy altogether, this time of its CEO, Travis Kalanick, arguing — with harsh words, no less — with an Uber driver in a video caught by the car’s dashcam. Travis […]
ABU DHABI // Schools for children with learning difficulties are not fit for purpose as they do not have the expertise or resources required, a specialist teacher has said. Abu Dhabi Education Council schools have introduced resource centres for children with difficulties, but parents have complained that they “lump together” special needs pupils with those with learning difficulties. “This is a global misconception that children with learning […]
A critic once described Yasmina Khadra as “a writer who can understand man wherever he is.” This came after it had become public knowledge, in 2011, that Yasmina Khadra is actually the pen name of Algerian author Mohammed Moulessehoul. Speaking to The National from his home in France, Moulessehoul said the revelation about his true identity – a former career military man and counterterrorism officer in the […]
By Stephen Kalin | SOUTH OF MOSUL, Iraq SOUTH OF MOSUL, Iraq A few hundred men who had scurried across front lines in a refugee exodus from Mosul sat on the ground in neat rows before an Iraqi intelligence officer who scanned the crowd for hidden militants. The officer pulled a teenager onto a raised platform and asked the group if he belonged to Islamic State (IS). […]
Image by Arafat Uddin (Creative Commons) The financial services industry is undergoing digital disruption and change. Insurance, as part of that industry, also faces new opportunities and challenges. To explore these issues, I spoke with the CIO for Information at Swiss reinsurance giant, Swiss Re. Rainer Baumann handles the data and tools that experts inside the company use to understand and evaluate a broad range of insurance […]
Microsoft is finally following in the footsteps of Sony to offer gamers a subscription service for video games for its console. Microsoft announced on Tuesday the upcoming launch of Xbox Game Pass, its subscription service that allows gamers to play unlimited titles for the monthly fee of $9.99. While this is exciting for those with Xbox One, many gamers have both Microsoft’s gaming console as well as […]
Continuing the trend of ‘soft’ survey data strong performance and expectation beats, The Conference Board’s Consumer Confidence surged above the highest analyst’s expectation to 114.8 – the best print since July 2001. Consumers’ assessment of current conditions held relatively steady in February. Those saying business conditions are “good” declined slightly from 29.0 percent to 28.7 percent, while those saying business conditions are “bad” also decreased, from […]
Courts usually do not give verdicts against the family, says PPP chairman KARACHI: The nation is waiting with bated breath for a Supreme Court verdict in the Panamagate case. Imran Khan’s PTI, the main petitioner in the case, has high hopes, but the PPP chairman believes the judgment might not be unsettling for the ruling Sharif family. On Thursday, a five-judge larger bench of the apex court reserved […]
Alexa is smart, feature-rich, and pretty innovative, but it has trouble spots, particularly with differentiating different voices to respond to. That may change soon. Amazon is reportedly developing an advanced voice-recognition feature that will allow Alexa to tell different voices apart, according to sources familiar with Amazon’s Alexa strategy. Will Alexa Be Able To Tell Voices Apart Soon? The report comes from Time. Alexa, like many virtual assistant, […]
28 February 2017 Abu Dhabi City Municipality – THE Abu Dhabi City Municipality has made a remarkable increase in strategic partners’ satisfaction about the existing agreements thanks to the improvements carried out by the Municipality aimed to bolster cooperation with partners, leverage the scale of municipal services to measure up with partner’s aspirations and meet the requirements of sustainable development in Abu Dhabi. The achievement reflects the […]
The Australian government has told the Senate Economics References Committee that the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) will subject its forthcoming policy and procedural changes to an independent Privacy Impact Assessment and “broad consultation” before implementing them in response to the 2016 Census debacle. One such change, however, will not include allowing citizens to omit their names from Census forms, with the government holding firm that it […]
Light introduced through an optical fiber can determine whether a patient’s blood is coagulating by measuring the vibration of red blood cells. Credit: Andrii Pshenychnyi A University of Central Florida professor has invented a way to use light to continuously monitor a surgical patient’s blood, for the first time providing a real-time status during life-and-death operations. The technology developed by UCF scientist Aristide Dogariu uses an optical […]
It was less than a year ago that the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists and more than 100 other media partners began publishing the largest investigation in journalism history: The Panama Papers. Even here at ICIJ – where we’ve grown accustomed to our work sparking major impacts – we were surprised by the reaction. Citizens hit the streets in protest. Governments and corporations around the world opened […]
27 February 2017 Dubai, UAE: The global food industry needs to make fundamental shifts in its operations to advance food safety worldwide, the Global Halal Industry Platform held in Dubai today has heard. The Platform, organised by the Emirates Authority for Standardisation and Meteorogy (ESMA) and part of the educational programme of Gulfood, the world’s largest annual food event running at Dubai World Trade Centre (DWTC) until […]
The UAE is coming of age in the health and fitness arena and this is particularly evident in not only the types of gyms and fitness centres that are opening, but the range of classes on offer too. No longer are fitness fans limited to the below-par gym in their apartment tower or the international chain at their nearest mall. Here’s a roundup of luxurious, unique and […]
Good morning. Here’s our morning roundup of all the media news you need to know. Want to get this briefing in your inbox every morning? Subscribe here. Anti-Trump fervor is especially rampant along the Acela Corridor, and now our most famous paper surfaces with a provocative — if belated — ad campaign at a time of marketing need. On Thursday, The New York Times announced a campaign […]
Monday 08:50 GMT Overview European stock markets are making gains, tracking another set of record highs for Wall Street’s main equities gauges. The rally reaches the region even after Asia missed out, with banking and commodity stocks leading a sell-off there. Hot topic US equity futures are pointing to further gains after a late rally on Friday pushed the S&P 500 up 0.2 per cent while the […]
Submitted by Alex Gorka via The Strategic Culture Foundation, The rifts within the EU continue to widen as Poland and Hungary join together in opposition to the EU bureaucracy. Soon after Poland’s ultra-conservative Law and Justice (PiS) party came to power in October 2015, the Polish parliament passed a law allowing the government to appoint the judges of its choosing to the highest court and not recognize […]
Telstra and Ericsson have announced that they will be deploying a Cat M1 Internet of Things (IoT) network across the country, with trials already under way in Melbourne and Tasmania. The announcement, made at Mobile World Congress (MWC) in Barcelona on Sunday, is in partnership with device providers Sierra Wireless, Altair, and Bosch. One of the trials has seen them collect data from sensors at Pooley Wines […]
o Food consumption in the GCC to expand at a 4.2 per cent from 48.1 million MT in 2016 to 59.2 million MT in 2021 o Consumers spending Dh250 worth of Prestige cookware/kitchenware products is guaranteed of winning something back! 26 February 2017o Food import bill is expected to have crossed US29.17 billion in 2016 o UAE’s packaged food import bill reached US$4.3 billion in […]
Sign up to receive Authers’ Note daily by email here Despite appearances to the contrary, the Trump trade may be moving into reverse as the president’s maiden State of the Union address approaches. The overall level of the stock market is, of course, at fresh records. But the pattern within it is shifting again. The end of the week saw sharp falls for almost all equity markets […]
