BlackRock and Pimco are refusing to take part in the first bond sale by a Portuguese bank in more than a year, because of a legal battle with the country’s central bank over losses sustained in 2015. Caixa Geral de Depósitos, the state-owned Portuguese bank, is this week courting investors in London and Paris, as it seeks to sell a €500m subordinated bond, in what would be […]
Predicting and acting upon financial fraud is one of the prime areas of application of advanced big data techniques like machine learning (ML). Earlier this week, a case of money laundering known as the Laundromat was uncovered by the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP) involving a number of global banks active in the UK. Could ML help prevent such incidents? What progress is there on […]
Instagram is already doing a lot to spot and censor posts that violate its community guidelines, like outright porn, but now it’s also taking steps to block out potentially sensitive material that might not technically run afoul of its rules. The social network is adding a blurred screen with a “Sensitive Content” warning on top of posts that fit this description, which basically means posts that have […]
The company committed to deliver more than 45,000 training hours for Ghanaian personnel over the next five years, as it seeks to build a world-class team locally TAKORADI, Ghana, March 22, 2017/ — Takoradi service facility underlines GE’s commitment to bring global expertise and build local capabilities in Africa. Investment to include training of Ghanaian workforce and partnerships with educational institutions. New facility will directly support Eni’s […]
To vote, or not to vote, that is the only question on the minds of Trump’s White House and House Republicans this morning. If everything proceeds as planned, the Obamacare vote is currently scheduled for 7pm tonight. That said, the further we press into today without confirmation that Republicans have narrowed the opposition votes from their own party down to 22 or less (as of last night […]
Last week, a colleague received the printer’s proofs for an article that she submitted two years ago. You read that correctly. In the time that it takes to earn a master’s degree, she managed to navigate the labyrinth of academic peer review in order to publish one essay. It’s a success story, if you can maintain your sense of humor. Journal publishing in the humanities […]
The optimistic but eerie calm that had settled over the US stock market since the US election ended abruptly this week, as the longest streak of trading days without a 1 per cent decline in more than two decades finally snapped. Equities clawed back some of their losses on Wednesday but investors remain on edge. The post-election stock market rally has been largely powered by hopes the […]
BEIRUT The Syrian army and rebels, including jihadist groups, fought in the capital Damascus and north of Hama on Thursday after the insurgents’ biggest offensive for months, underscoring the bleak prospects for peace talks which resume later in the day. The offensive seems unlikely to reverse 18 months of steady military gains by the government, culminating in December’s capture of the rebel enclave in Aleppo, but it […]
Rumors suggest that the Moto G5 handset could possibly get a new hue, which may excite smartphone lovers. Lenovo-owned Motorola launched its flagship smartphones Moto G5 and Moto G5 Plus at the Mobile World Congress (MWC) in February this year. The two smartphones were launched in two colors, namely Lunar Gray and Fine Gold. Moto G5: New Color Coming? The Moto G5 is possibly gearing up to add a blue shade to […]
“The fighting is raging on as I speak and is expected to last several weeks until the dam, airfield and city are free from ISIS control,” said Col. Joseph E. Scrocca, a spokesman for the American-led command in Baghdad. Continue reading the main story As the operation unfolded, Syrian state television and local residents asserted that at least 30 Syrian civilians were killed in an airstrike that […]
By Nick Kounis of ABN Amro Euro Rates Watch – Will the TLTRO spark carry trades? The last of the ECB’s TLTRO-II operations is expected to have a big take up, with the market expecting EUR 125bn, and some forecasts as high as EUR 300bn From a rates perspective, what matters is whether these funds will trigger flows into the bond or swap markets as banks set […]
By Nichola Saminather | SINGAPORE SINGAPORE Asian stocks, taking some cues from a steady Wall Street, edged up on Thursday while the path for the dollar, which crawled up from a four-month low, remained clouded by concerns about the prospects for U.S. President Donald Trump’s pro-growth agenda. Sterling GBP=D3 was steady at $1.2483 following a decline of as much as 0.4 percent on Wednesday, after an attack […]
For those feeling a bit hopeless because their Switch units are constantly having connectivity issues, fret no more. Not only is Nintendo offering a simple fix to get the affected controller in top shape again, it has also reassured that units moving forward will not hold the same woe. Nintendo Switch Left Joy-Con Connectivity Issues While it didn’t admit that the Switch’s Joy-Con has a core design […]
Two-and-a-half years ago, Nathan Law took to the streets of Hong Kong with tens of thousands of fellow students, demanding Beijing give them the right to vote for the leader of their own city government. This Sunday Mr Law will have that opportunity — but not in the way he envisaged during the “Umbrella Revolution” protests. When he was voted on to the city’s Legislative Council in […]
The company committed to deliver more than 45,000 training hours for Ghanaian personnel over the next five years, as it seeks to build a world-class team locally TAKORADI, Ghana, March 22, 2017/ — Takoradi service facility underlines GE’s commitment to bring global expertise and build local capabilities in Africa. Investment to include training of Ghanaian workforce and partnerships with educational institutions. New facility will directly support Eni’s […]
In the wake of the terror attacks in England, France, Germany and elsewhere, can we finally admit that the war on terror is an utter and complete failure? 10 Ways to Reduce Terrorism So if the war on terror has failed, what should we do to stop terrorists? I. Stop Overthrowing the Moderates and Arming Crazies We know it’s a difficult concept to grasp, but if we […]
By Andrea Hopkins | OTTAWA OTTAWA Canada’s Liberal government unveiled a stay-the-course budget on Wednesday that targeted export growth and some measure of tax reform but did little to whittle away at deficits even as it backed off from an explicit pledge to improve the debt outlook. Finance Minister Bill Morneau’s second budget contained few surprises, in line with expectations that Ottawa wants to wait to see […]
By Chine Labbé and Adrian Croft | PARIS PARIS Militants are increasingly turning to vehicle-ramming attacks, like the one staged near Britain’s parliament on Wednesday, because they are cheap, easy to organise and hard to prevent. Experts say the tactic of mowing people down avoids the need to obtain any explosives or weapons and can be carried out by a “lone-wolf” attacker without using a network of […]
Brent crude oil fell below $50 a barrel for the first time this year after US crude inventories climbed to a fresh record, raising fears that Opec’s attempts to tighten the market are falling short. US crude inventories rose by 5m barrels in the week ended March 17, the US Energy Information Administration reported on Wednesday, triggering an immediate bout of selling that pushed Brent below $50 […]
Press reports are circulating that the terrorist responsible for the attack on Westminster Bridge in London, has been named as Abu Izzadeen, born Trevor Brooks from Clapton in Hackney, an infamous UK-born hate-preacher amd Islamic extremist who had been convicted for raising funds for terrorism. Suspected attacker Abu Izzadeen, here heckling John Reid at an event in Leyton. https://t.co/g1vLdbLT8F — Tom Peck (@tompeck) March 22, 2017 Suspected […]
New revelations reported Wednesday further intensify the spotlight on Paul Manafort, President Donald Trump’s former campaign chair and a longtime friend, who allegedly worked for years to advance the interests of Russian President Vladimir Putin in Ukraine and elsewhere. An Associated Press report says Manafort forged closer ties to the Kremlin and the formerly pro-Russian government in Ukraine than he had previously disclosed, casting another cloud over the […]
Rex Tillerson says he did not seek to be US secretary of state but was persuaded to take the job by his wife, who told him “God’s not through with you”. “I was supposed to retire in March, this month. I was going to go to the ranch to be with my grandkids,” the 64-year-old former oil executive told the Independent Journal Review in his first full-length […]
MOSUL Islamic State militants shelled areas recaptured by Iraqi forces in western Mosul, hitting civilians fleeing the fighting early on Wednesday as troops edged their way through the narrow, dangerous streets of the Old City. Heavy mortar fire killed at least five civilians and wounded more than 20 in Mosul Jadida and Rifak districts – areas that the militants had recently lost to Federal Police and Rapid […]
Elementary and secondary school students who later want to become scientists and engineers often get hands-on inspiration by using off-the-shelf kits to build and program robots. But so far it’s been difficult to create robotic projects to foster interest in the “wet” sciences – biology, chemistry and medicine – so called because experiments in these field often involve fluids. Now, Stanford bioengineers have shown how an off-the […]
