A retired Navy admiral charged along with eight military officers with corruption in the “Fat Leonard” bribery case hosted and paid for a lavish sex party in the MacArthur Suite of the Manila Hotel in the Philippines – and used “historical memorabilia” in the room during sex acts, according to a 78-page federal indictment. Rear Adm. Bruce Loveless, while on a port visit on USS Blue Ridge […]
By John Davison | MOSUL AIRPORT, Iraq MOSUL AIRPORT, Iraq Outside a mosque on the edge of Mosul airport’s ripped up runway, Iraqis made homeless by war sit on suitcases, taking a brief rest before beginning their onward journey, on foot or in buses. Men push wheelchairs carrying elderly relatives or carts loaded with small children over dusty and uneven ground, part of an exodus of people […]
Residents and office workers were evacuated from a high-rise building in Dubai Media City on Wednesday after a fire broke out. Reports on social media said that the fire, which started on the ninth floor of the Business Central Tower A in Dubai Media City, was minor and was put out by Dubai Civil Defence. A Dubai Civil Defence spokesperson was quoted by local media as saying […]
BEIRUT Two suicide bomb attacks killed at least 31 people and wounded dozens more in Damascus on Wednesday, state media reported, in the second such spate of bombings in the Syrian capital in five days. The first suicide bomber targeted the Palace of Justice, the main courthouse in central Damascus near the Old City. Justice Minister Najem al-Ahmad told reporters the initial death toll was 31, mostly […]
By Philip Pullella | VATICAN CITY VATICAN CITY Managers who close businesses, shut factories or restructure firms without fully considering the impact on workers and their families are committing a “very grave sin”, Pope Francis said on Wednesday. Addressing tens of thousands of people in St Peter’s Square for his weekly audience, Francis strayed from his text after mentioning he was worried about how families might be […]
In this Monday, March 13, 2017 photo, a Uniti employee works on prototype steering controls, at the startup’s temporary production facility in Lund, Sweden. A group of Swedish students that raised 1.2 million euros in crowdfunding for their startup to build electric cars has caught the attention of German industrial heavyweight Siemens. The two sides said Wednesday that they were starting a partnership that will see them […]
DUBAI // Three men who fed a cat to hungry dogs and filmed the horrific killing on video will clean Dubai Zoo for the next three months. Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid, the Prime Minister and Ruler of Dubai, ordered the punishment be handed down to the men under new community service laws. The video, which has been widely shared on social media, shows a white cat being […]
Eon, the German utility, recorded a net loss of €16bn for 2016 — the largest in his history — and unveiled ambitious measures to reduce debt by €7bn through asset sales and cutting 1,300 jobs. The loss reflected impairments on Uniper, the new fossil fuel power company spun out of Eon last year, as well as payments Eon is having to make into a new state fund to cover the […]
SEOUL Chinese authorities have arrested two South Korean Christian pastors, accusing them of helping to smuggle North Korean defectors out of China, the Yonhap news agency said on Wednesday. The arrests come amid tension between South Korea and China over the latter’s vociferous objections to the deployment in South Korea of a U.S. missile defense system that China says will destabilise the balance of security in the […]
Ride-sharing operator Grab has unveiled two new research facilities in Bangalore and Ho Chi Minh City, as well as plans to add more than 800 jobs across six of such centres worldwide over two years. The new hires would support four other R&D sites including Singapore, Beijing, Jakarta, and Seattle, the company said in a statement Wednesday. Its research efforts would focus on building out Grab’s transport […]
DHAKA Police in Bangladesh fired teargas and water cannon on Wednesday to disperse hundreds of demonstrators trying to besiege the energy ministry in a protest against an increase in gas prices. Starting from this month, gas prices are to be raised by an average of 22.7 percent in two phases. It is the second such hike within two years, despite objections from political parties and industry, including […]
Mahmoud Said was born into high society. His family were rich landowners from Alexandria in Egypt and his father, Mohammed Said Pasha, served as Egyptian prime minister from 1910 to 1914, and again briefly in 1919. His sister’s daughter, Safinaz Zulficar, became Queen Farida of Egypt, and her reign lasted almost 11 years. Even then, in the early 20th century, as Said simultaneously worked as a top […]
Shares in Cathay Pacific fell as much as 6.9 per cent on Wednesday after the Hong Kong flag carrier swung to its first annual loss since 2008. The airline reported a net loss of HK$575m ($74m) for 2016 in the face of increased competition from mainland Chinese airlines and falling demand for its premium class seats. The net loss compares with a HK$6bn profit reported in 2015, […]
By Andrew Osborn | MOSCOW MOSCOW First, armed police seized some of its books. Next, its director was put on trial accused of stirring up ethnic hatred. And now, quietly, its shelves have been emptied and its volumes packed up, ready to be merged into another library’s collection. A year and a half after Russia’s only state-run Ukrainian language library, Moscow’s Library of Ukrainian Literature, was dragged […]
15 March 2017 Dubai, UAE – Al Shafar General Contracting Company (ASGC), a leading and award-winning UAE construction group, was the recipient of the Roads and Transport Authority’s Best Mega Construction Projects Contractor Award. The award was presented by Mohammed Obaid Al Mulla, Board Member of the RTA’s Board of Directors, and received by Abdul Aziz Mohamed Bin Shafar, Vice President and Executive Director of ASGC, during […]
Machine learning is one of the biggest buzzwords in cybersecurity in 2017. But a sufficiently smart adversary can exploit what the machine learning algorithm does, and reduce the quality of decision-making. special feature Cyberwar and the Future of Cybersecurity Today’s security threats have expanded in scope and seriousness. There can now be millions — or even billions — of dollars at risk when information security isn’t handled […]
ABU DHABI // Farmers and members of the Federal National Council called for more measures to protect local food prices from competition with cheap imports. Experts, however, said that such restrictions, proposed at the FNC meeting on Tuesday, could drastically raise food prices and would not solve the problem of water scarcity. FNC members had raised complaints from local farmers, who say their products are getting drowned […]
NEW YORK — Millions of records from a commercial corporate database have been leaked. The database, about 52 gigabytes in size, contains just under 33.7 million unique email addresses and other contact information from employees of thousands of companies, representing a large portion of the US corporate population. Dun & Bradstreet, a business services giant, confirmed that it owns the database, which it acquired as part of […]
Toyota Motor Corp signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) on Tuesday with a Saudi Arabian government agency to conduct a feasibility study into producing vehicles and parts in the Middle Eastern nation. The move, if firmed up, would be a big step for the Saudi economy as the government tries to diversify beyond oil exports and create jobs as part of the kingdom’s 2030 Vision. So far, […]
Your daily guide to community and cultural activities across the Emirates for March 15, 2017, including performances, festivals, art exhibitions, film creenings, health and fitness events, talks, classes, workshops and family fun. Aarti Jhurani rounds up 10 things to do today in the UAE. Want to see your event listed here? Email us with the details and contact information at [email protected] newslide Abu Dhabi Film screening Book […]
Photo Mahmoud Abbas, right, the president of the Palestinian Authority, met with Jason Greenblatt, President Trump’s envoy to the Middle East, in the West Bank on Tuesday. Credit Mohamad Torokman/Reuters JERUSALEM — President Trump’s new envoy to the Middle East met on Tuesday with Mahmoud Abbas, the president of the Palestinian Authority, striving in the administration’s first diplomatic undertaking here to maintain a public evenhandedness amid the […]
Authored by Charles Hugh-Smith via OfTwoMinds blog, Those urban regions that pursue decentralized, networked, localized solutions will likely prosper as the adaptive advantages of these principles pay self-reinforcing dividends. In yesterday’s entry, I suggested that rather than bemoan the inevitable failure of centralized “fixes,” let’s turn our efforts to the real solutions: decentralized, networked, localized. To commentators such as Richard Florida, decentralized, networked, localized describes cities. He […]
Senior Officials Attend Opening Ceremony at MENA Headquarters in Dubai Internet City DUBAI, United Arab Emirates – 14 March 2017 SAP SE today announced a five-year USD 200 million investment in the UAE, underpinning objectives outlined by the UAE Vision 2021 plan to create economic diversity and jobs for youth. Senior officials participated in the official ribbon-cutting VIP ceremony and inaugurated the new SAP MENA headquarters in […]
By Simon Carraud and Brian Love | PARIS PARIS Francois Fillon’s troubled election campaign suffered yet another blow on Tuesday when magistrates put him under formal investigation on suspicion of embezzling state funds, a first for a presidential candidate in France. Election graphic – here With less than six weeks to go until the first round of voting, Fillon has been unable to draw a line under […]
