|By Arabian Post Staff| Reporters have faced consequences both in nations where media crackdowns are common and also in nations with reputations for high levels of press freedom In late July, Moussa Aksar, the director of Niger’s L’Évènement newspaper, answered his phone and heard a familiar voice warning him that he was, once again, in danger. “Be careful,” a friendly source told Aksar. “Look out for yourself and be careful […]
Russian President Vladmir Putin played a crucial role in helping OPEC rivals Iran and Saudi Arabia set aside differences to forge the cartel’s first deal with non-OPEC Russia in 15 years. Interventions ahead of Wednesday’s OPEC meeting came at key moments from Putin, Saudi Deputy Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman and Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and President Hassan Rouhani, OPEC and non-OPEC sources said. Putin’s […]
In a sign that investor enthusiasm about the Apple “rebound” may have been premature, Digitimes reports that Apple has begun to reduce orders for iPhone 7s as initial “sales momentum has started fading”, according to sources from Taiwan’s handset supply chain. The Digitimes sources said that initial shipment momentum of the iPhone 7 was in part driven by strong demand for the jet black iPhone 7 models […]
Yang Liwei, China’s first astronaut, has revealed that he heard a mysterious knock while alone in a tiny spacecraft during his maiden flight in space. Mysterious Knocking Sound In an interview, Yang said that he recalled hearing something like somebody knocking on the body of the spaceship during his first flight in space in 2003. He compared this sound to somebody knocking on an iron bucket using […]
BEIJING China might further relax, or even scrap, restrictions on childbirth to avoid a “low birthrate trap”, an influential government think-tank has said, as the country debates how to avert a demographic timebomb. China’s birth rate, one of the world’s lowest, is fast becoming a worry for authorities, rather than the achievement it was considered at a time when the government feared over-population. Beijing formally allowed all […]
Gold has suffered its worst month since mid-2013, as the election of Donald Trump, the rising dollar and increased expectations of a US rate rise combined to send prices down 8.1 per cent in November. The fall to $1,173.20 per troy ounce marked the steepest monthly sell-off since June 2013, when the precious metal lost 11 per cent in the wake of the so-called taper tantrum. November’s […]
By Saikat Chatterjee | HONG KONG HONG KONG China’s factories notched their strongest growth in activity in two years and Japanese firms’ order books rose in November, masking concern about the protectionist leanings of U.S. President-elect Donald Trump and an OPEC-induced oil price rally. Factory surveys produced stronger purchasing manager index (PMI) numbers in China, Taiwan and Vietnam, and while activity in Japan’s factories was still growing […]
It’s a new world: Donald Trump’s world. As 2017 hits, we’re going to see the US government’s attitude towards a range of technologies change, whether it be about a lighter touch on regulation or a harsher look at companies that import heavily from China. I hate making stock predictions. I’m going to try to stick to what I think you should expect and do, as […]
By Michelle Nichols | UNITED NATIONS UNITED NATIONS The U.N. Security Council imposed new sanctions on North Korea on Wednesday aimed at cutting the Asian country’s annual export revenue by a quarter in response to Pyongyang’s fifth and largest nuclear test in September. The 15-member council unanimously adopted a resolution to slash North Korea’s biggest export, coal, by about 60 percent with an annual sales cap of […]
Submitted by Federico Pieraccini via Strategic-Culture.org, Looking at US history over a fairly long period of time, it is easy to see the destructive path that has accompanied the expansion of the American empire over the last seventy years. While World War II was still raging, US strategists were already planning their next steps in the international arena. The new target was immediately identified in the assault […]
Thursday 06:00 GMT Overview Markets across Asia saw a day of solid gains as oil continued to trade higher following Opec’s decision to cut output for the first time since the financial crisis and as Japanese stocks benefited from recent weakness in the yen. European bourses are expected to open little changed, with spreadbetters predicting the UK’s FTSE 100 will add 2 points to 6,785 and Germany’s […]
NEW DELHI–When top American naval engineers recently inspected India’s first locally made aircraft carrier they expected to find a near battle-ready ship set to help counter China’s growing sway in the Indian Ocean. Instead, they discovered the carrier wouldn’t be operational for up to a decade and other shortcomings: no small missile system to defend itself, a limited ability to launch sorties and no defined strategy for […]
The early idealism of the Internet was imagined as some great network that would somehow free the world’s oppressed people and lead to a grand utopian future. All the world’s information would be available at the touch of a button, greater participation in government by the people would be easy, and so on. None of this has happened or will happen. Instead, the American public […]
DAYING COUNTY, China You too may soon be able to feel what it was like to hit an iceberg on the Titanic. Construction of a life-size replica of the doomed passenger ship began in China’s southwestern Sichuan province on Wednesday with a keel-laying ceremony and fireworks to mark the occasion. It is part of Star Energy Investment Group’s plans for a tourist resort along the Qijiang River […]
30 November 2016 Dubai: Emirates NBD, a leading bank in the region, was named ‘Banking and Finance Company of the Year’ at the prestigious Arabian Business Achievement Awards held yesterday (Monday, November 28, 2016). The bank was recognised for its pioneering efforts toward the digitisation of banking as well as its resilient performance in the past year. The Arabian Business Achievement Awards are adjudicated by an independent judging […]
WASHINGTON President-elect Donald Trump’s pick for U.S. Treasury secretary, Steven Mnuchin, said on Wednesday the administration would target tax reform and trade pact overhauls as top priorities as they seek to achieve 3 percent to 4 percent economic growth. Mnuchin and Wilbur Ross, Trump’s nominee for commerce secretary, outlined their agenda, including what Mnuchin called the largest tax overhaul since the Ronald Reagan administration, in an interview […]
Toyota wants to release a new version of its hydrogen-powered Mirai in time for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, underscoring its commitment to fuel-cell vehicles despite joining the global market for battery-powered cars. “The 2020 Olympics could be the venue to showcase [the new Mirai] to the world,” Kiyotaka Ise, head of advanced research and development at Toyota, told the Financial Times. The world’s top selling carmaker this […]
ICANN became independent on October 1, 2016 after the expiration of an 18-year contract to manage the technical functions of the internet address system which ensure that users arrive at certain websites The internet address system gatekeeper, independent after a split from the US government, is now in a phase where “the grassroots are in charge,” its top executive said Tuesday. Goran Marby, president and chief executive […]
5791 25 by Shannon K. O’Neil October 21, 2016 Brazil’s President Michel Temer, Russian President Vladimir Putin, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Chinese President Xi Jinping and South African President Jacob Zuma pose for a group picture during BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa) Summit in Benaulim, in the western state of Goa, India, October 16, 2016 (Reuters/Danish Siddiqui). BRICS Fund InfrastructureAs commodity prices have […]
BEIJING China called on Wednesday on Taiwan to stay out of Hong Kong’s affairs, saying self-ruled Taiwan was “talking nonsense” about the former British colony and warning it not to damage Hong Kong’s stability. Chinese leaders are concerned about a fledgling independence movement in Hong Kong, which returned to mainland rule in 1997 with a promise of autonomy, and recent protests in the city. Beijing staged a […]
TAIPEI/BEIJING Taiwan has expressed its “stern opposition” to Malaysia’s deportation of 21 Taiwanese suspected of multi-million dollar telecoms fraud to China, the latest example of a problem that has strained cross-Strait ties. China’s official Xinhua news agency said the 21 Taiwanese were among 74 fraud suspects who were escorted from Malaysia by Chinese police and arrived in Wuhan in central China late on Tuesday. The other 53 […]
BEIJING Foreign non-governmental organisations (NGOs) in China must provide details of where their funding comes from and show that their chief representative has no criminal record, the government said of new rules due to come into effect next year. Western governments have lambasted the foreign NGO law passed in April, saying it treats the groups as a criminal threat and would effectively force many out of the […]
November 30, 2016 by: FT Confidential Research The FTCR China Business Activity Index, a composite reading of the month-on-month change in activity in the real estate, export and freight sectors, fell to a 10-month low in November. The index dropped to 47.8 from 50 in October, below last November’s 48.6. Our BAI readings have always fallen sequentially in November but this is the weakest reading for the […]
Beijing is launching an investigation into alleged corrupt dealings by the spouses and children of officials in the city’s municipal government, in a pointed reminder to more powerful residents of the city to rein in their relatives’ behaviour. An audit of their assets would take place next year and on a rotating basis in subsequent years, the official Xinhua news agency said on Monday night. Like London […]
