The cashless society is catching up to all of us. As SHTFPlan.com’s Mac Slavo notes, Most of Europe has shifted that way, and now India is forcing the issue. In the United States, people are being acclimated to it, and may soon find that no other option is practical in the highly-digitized online world. Once that takes hold, the banksters, bureaucrats and hackers will have total […]
Every morning in the Philippines, a handful of bodies are found littering the streets. Their faces are often covered in black plastic tape. Sometimes there are signs of torture. Usually, they have been shot in the head. Few bother police – they are usually suspected of being responsible. No one, frankly, should be surprised that it is happening. The country’s democratically elected leader, after all, was elected […]
Two days after Donald Trump created a diplomatic dispute with China over Taiwan, the president-elect took to Twitter on Sunday evening to criticise Beijing and defend his decision to speak with the Taiwanese president. China issued a protest on Saturday after Mr Trump spoke on the phone with Tsai Ing-wen, the first such contact with a Taiwanese leader since the US severed diplomatic ties in 1979. Although […]
GENEVA Europe’s trade negotiator blamed China on Sunday for scuppering a global environmental trade deal by submitting impossible late demands at World Trade Organization talks aimed at scrapping import tariffs on exports worth more than $1 trillion. “China came in with their list, bringing in totally new elements of perspective, which was very late in the process,” European Trade Commissioner Cecilia Malmstrom told Reuters. The change of […]
New energy vehicles (NEVs) at Beijing Institute of Technology’s campus. Credit: Yu Hao Many Chinese cities are suffering from deteriorating environmental quality—particularly due to air pollution that contributes to fog and haze. Air pollutant levels now far exceed “safe” limits established by the European Union, and one of the main culprits behind it is the rapid increase in automobile ownership and usage. These rising environmental concerns are […]
By Roberta Rampton | WASHINGTON WASHINGTON U.S. Vice President-elect Mike Pence on Sunday downplayed the significance of a phone conversation between Donald Trump and Taiwan’s president, describing it as a “courtesy call” that was not intended to show a shift in U.S. foreign policy. Trump’s call with Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen on Friday was the first by a U.S. president-elect or president with a Taiwanese leader since […]
WASHINGTON U.S. President-elect Donald Trump’s phone conversation with Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen on Friday, which prompted a diplomatic protest from China, was simply a “courtesy call,” Vice President-elect Mike Pence said on NBC on Sunday. Asked whether any shift in policy should be read into the call, Pence said: “I don’t think so.” The call with Tsai was the first by a U.S. president-elect or president with […]
Philippine Vice-President Leni Robredo said she will resign as housing secretary on Monday after President Rodrigo Duterte ordered her to stop attending Cabinet meetings, a development that could galvanise opposition to Duterte. Robredo said she received a text message from Cabinet Secretary Jun Evasco relaying the president’s instruction. Not attending the cabinet meetings would make it impossible for her to perform her duties as head of the […]
Meetings held with Ministry of Trade, Industry & Energy and Korea Diamond Exchange 04 December 2016 Dubai, UAE: As part of the ongoing efforts of the UAE Kimberley Process Chair (KP Chair), Ahmed Bin Sulayem, to engage countries across the diamond supply chain, he has held meetings with senior government and industry representatives in South Korea. The aim of these discussions was to deliberate ways to bolster […]
China’s state broadcaster CCTV, better known as a conduit for Beijing’s propaganda efforts, is growing an international network beaming soap operas and news to audiences as far afield as Africa, the Middle East and the US. China International Communications Co (CICC), the commercial arm of China Central TV, streams Chinese content from CCTV and provincial broadcasters to overseas Chinese audiences — and is now setting its sights […]
Beijing’s infamous smog spiked on Sunday despite draconian measures in surrounding cities to reduce persistent pollution during the winter in northern China. The thick layer of haze has become a political liability for the ruling Communist party and has driven China’s participation in the Paris climate accord to limit emissions of carbon and other greenhouse gases. An air monitor index released by the US embassy in Beijing breached 600 […]
SHANGHAI/BEIJING (Reuters) – China’s wealthiest shoppers are spending at home again, roused from a three-year slumber by a weaker yuan, lower prices and a crackdown on overseas sales agents – a welcome boost for the world’s luxury brands. Reuters
Every year, Brazilian venture capital firm Monashees takes entrepreneurs from its portfolio companies on an overseas discovery tour. This year, instead of Silicon Valley, the firm headed to the Yangtze Valley, in a clear sign of a new front opening for Chinese investment in Latin America. China is seeking to expand lending and investment in Brazil and elsewhere on the continent, as it shifts from its traditional […]
Apple iPhone 5s (Image: File photo) Taiwanese prosecutors on Friday indicted a former senior level Foxconn manager for allegedly stealing and selling 5,700 iPhone handsets in China, to pocket around $1.56 million, according to AsiaOne. Thousands of iPhone handsets were smuggled out of the factory, prosecutors said, at the direction of a Taiwanese manager name “Tsai” working in Foxconn’s handset testing area. The iPhone handsets stolen by […]
BEIJING The death toll from a northern Chinese coal mine disaster rose to 32 on Sunday, state media reported, the latest accident in a country with a poor record of industrial safety. The blast took place on Saturday in a small mine in the Inner Mongolia region, next to Mongolia, Xinhua news agency said. A total of 181 workers were initially trapped underground and 149 of them […]
BEIJING China’s armed forces must be smaller but more capable, and if reforms are not properly carried out the military risks falling behind, affecting its ability to wage war, Chinese state media on Saturday cited President Xi Jinping as saying. Xi unexpectedly announced in September last year that he would cut troop numbers by 300,000, or some 13 percent of the world’s biggest military, currently 2.3-million strong. […]
In June, speaking at a former steelworks in western Pennsylvania that now processes scrap aluminium, Donald Trump promised a bright future for US steel if he became president. “It will be American steel that will fortify American’s crumbling bridges. It will be American steel that sends our skyscrapers soaring into the sky,” he said. “We are going to put American-produced steel back into the backbone of our […]
03 December 2016 Gulf Navigation announces the initiation of studies for large expansion of its operations in the northern region of the United Arab Emirates consisting of a set of comprehensive maritime activities, (the GNH Northern Project), including ship building, ship repair and offshore platforms, equipment and services, logistics, marine specialized operations and global mobile ship repair and services including a float and during voyage. The eastern […]
It’s becoming an increasingly difficult chore trying to scour the App Store for decent apps given its very saturated library. A plethora of excellent apps intermingle with shovelware, and it’s often a tall order to sort the ones worthy of downloading from the ones that aren’t. A tall order, sure, but not impossible. Here’s a chief list of the best iPhone apps for 2016. Evernote Evernote has struggled […]
Dubai-based air services provider dnata has reached an agreement with Canada’s GTA Aviation to purchase a 50 percent stake in its cargo and ground handling operations at Toronto Pearson International Airport. The unit of Emirates Group said the investment marks dnata’s first step into the Canadian market and is a “significant development in the company’s expansion into the Americas”, less than a year after announcing investments in […]
FRANKFURT German semiconductor equipment maker Aixtron will explore with its Chinese suitor what can be salvaged of the planned takeover after a U.S. presidential order ruled the deal posed a national security risk, the company said on Saturday. U.S. President Barack Obama blocked China’s Fujian Grand Chip Investment Fund (FGC) from acquiring Aixtron’s U.S. business, the Treasury Department said on Friday. “The bidder and Aixtron are evaluating […]
SIMI VALLEY, Calif. The United States should focus on larger strategic interests in the Asia-Pacific region, including expanding trade ties, the defense minister of Singapore said on Saturday, when asked about the controversy sparked by U.S. President-elect Donald Trump’s phone call with the president of Taiwan. Ng Eng Hen said it was not Singapore’s place to comment on Trump’s phone calls, but welcomed comments by his aides […]
newslide Jolie and Pitt could lose adopted sons Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt’s troubles just got worse. According to radaronline.com, their adopted sons Pax and Maddox could be taken away from them. Pax’s birth mum, Pham Thu Dung, is set to be released from prison soon and when she is, she says she wants her son back. Jolie adopted 13-year-old Pax when he was three years old. […]
03 December 2016 Abu Dhabi: The food production sector in the Abu Dhabi has enjoyed continued growth in recent years, due to flourishing internal markets and growing export markets. The Emirate’s ability to produce high-quality, competitive and value-added goods, accompanied by a strong logistics network and its strategic geographic location has seen it emerge as one of the most important regional food production and processing centres. As […]
