The former IRA commander turned Northern Ireland peace negotiator Martin McGuinness, has died at the age of 66. McGuinness had been in declining health for months and decided not to stand for re-election in last month’s Northern Ireland election, citing his worsening illness. Sinn Fein. the Irish republican party, said in a statement on Tuesday: “It is with deep regret and sadness that we have learnt of […]
The two defectors, who live in an undisclosed location abroad, made their case on Monday to small group of human rights experts and reporters in a private meeting at the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, and in a brief interview afterward. Neither photographs nor recordings of the session were allowed, to help protect their identity. They and their extended family are presumed to be at risk from […]
Authored by Melkulangara Bhadrakumar via The Strategic Culture Foundation, The common thread running through the two major ‘hot spots’ in the Middle East today – the conflicts in Syria and Libya – is undoubtedly the threat to international security from the extremist groups operating in these theatres. Therefore, Syria and Libya become test cases of the efficacy of the international community – Russia and the United States […]
Chinese networking giant Huawei will be constructing and opening a datacentre in New Zealand within two years as well as expanding its research centre in Wellington and opening another one in Christchurch, it has been reported. According to a report by Stuff NZ, Huawei will be spending around NZ$400 million over the next five years in an effort to source products and services in addition to opening […]
By Henning Gloystein | SINGAPORE SINGAPORE Oil prices rose early on Tuesday on expectations that an OPEC-led production cut to prop up the market could be extended, and as strong demand was seen to slowly erode a global fuel supply overhang. Prices for front-month Brent crude futures, the international benchmark for oil, were at $51.76 per barrel at 0043 GMT, up 14 cents, or 0.3 percent, from […]
The UAE has pledged US$15 million (Dh55m) to a historic alliance to protect cultural heritage sites threatened by war and extremism. The Emirates was among the world donors that pledged more than $75m during a conference at the Louvre Museum in Paris, attended by Sheikh Saif bin Zayed, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Interior, French president Francois Hollande and other officials. The conference established the International […]
Big Chinese cities have launched a new round of lending curbs and purchase restrictions in an effort to cool overheated property markets, as official media warn that some have veered towards a bubble. Sky-high prices in cities including Beijing, Shanghai, and Shenzhen are stoking anger, even among relatively well-off professionals. Meanwhile, controlling financial risk has emerged as the dominant economic policy theme for 2017. At the conclusion of the […]
By Anna Mehler Paperny | TORONTO TORONTO A spike in refugee claims for the first two months of 2017 put Canada on track for the highest number since at least 2011. A fifth of those claimants were caught crossing the border illegally. Growing numbers of asylum-seekers are coming to Canada in the wake of the election of U.S. President Donald Trump, who has pledged to crack down […]
Rhetoric has recently trumped reality. It has become a misconceived bit of common “knowledge” that the United States of America is a bastion of free trade. Little could be further from the truth. The “freest” nation on earth, as we are taught to believe, imposes a staggering number of tariffs, import and export bans, sanctions and embargoes. Yet somehow “free trade” is blamed for the financial ills […]
Perched atop the Delta IV rocket as it blasted off in Cape Canaveral Air Force Station on March 18 was a US Air Force’s Wideband Global SATCOM (WGS-9) satellite. The WGS-9 will be the ninth member of the planned network of 10 military communication satellites in space. “WGS provides anytime, anywhere communications for soldiers, sailors, airmen, Marines and international partnership through broadcast, multicast, and point-to-point connections,” Robert Tarleton, […]
Rivlin speaks in Jerusalem at the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations. (photo credit:AVI HAYUN) In Hanoi and Beijing, they’re talking about Israel’s public broadcasting crisis, or more accurately why the crisis should not be a pretext for holding new elections. Reporters traveling in Vietnam with President Reuven Rivlin and in China with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu were more inclined to report on […]
When Jhumpa Lahiri decided to learn Italian, she took the plunge. The Namesake author moved her entire family to Rome in 2013 and spent several years refusing to read or write another word in English. Born to Bengali-speaking Indian parents in London and raised in the United States, 49-year-old Lahiri decided the only way to fully immerse herself in an unfamiliar language was to renounce her own. […]
When Tim Armour graduated from Middlebury College, a liberal arts institution in Vermont, he faced a conundrum. He could either accept a graduate programme slot at a West Coast investment group, or go and run a windsurf shop in Florida. Because he loved to windsurf but did not want to turn down a more sensible job, he asked the asset manager whether he could put off the […]
While VIX declined last week, the cost of protecting against major market swings has spiked above its previous Brexit-vote-day peak, reaching a fresh all-time high. As a reminder, CBOE explains, SKEW, is calculated from the prices of S&P 500 out-of-the-money options. SKEW typically ranges from 100 to 150. A SKEW value of 100 means that the perceived distribution of S&P 500 log-returns is normal, and the probability […]
It has been clear for months that Mosul will be liberated. And sure enough, Iraqi forces backed by U.S. assistance and firepower are now moving to clear the remaining western neighborhoods of Iraq’s second-biggest city. Islamic State leaders have reportedly fled the city and military operations will soon be complete. Success in Mosul is a testament to the determination of the Iraqi forces that have lead this […]
It has been just under a year since I reviewed the Toshiba Portégé Z20t, a 2-in-1 hybrid ultrabook that ticked a lot of boxes for me — although there were also some niggling annoyances. In the frame now is Toshiba’s new 2017 flagship ultrabook, the Portégé X20W-D. The removable screen of the Z20t has been replaced with a 360-degree rotating configuration, and Toshiba says this laptop is […]
CRA assistant commissioner Ted Gallivan said tax fraudsters identified in the Panama Papers will not be allowed to clear their name by declaring their hidden assets and paying back taxes and interest, a process called voluntary disclosure. (Graeme Roy / THE CANADIAN PRESS file photo) For the Canada Revenue Agency, the Panama Papers was a line in the sand. Unlike those exposed by previous leaks, tax cheats named […]
DUBAI // The Netherlands has announced its participation in Expo 2020. Innovation is a link that the UAE aims to build on with the Dutch who were ranked ninth last year on the Global Innovation Index that lists world economies based on their innovation capability. The UAE’s objective is to join the Netherlands in the top 10 by 2021 and the two countries are mapping out ways […]
LONDON/BRUSSELS Prime Minister Theresa May will trigger Britain’s divorce proceedings with the European Union on March 29, launching two years of negotiations that will reshape the future of the country and Europe. May’s government said her permanent envoy to the EU had informed European Council President Donald Tusk of the date when Britain intends to invoke Article 50 of its Lisbon Treaty – the mechanism for starting […]
FX traders had a slightly delayed reaction to news that UK PM Theresa May will trigger Article 50 next Wednesday but Cable is now sliding on the headlines. However, with speculative positioning already at record lows, many are asking “why would a long-term trader sell the pound now?” As Bloomberg’s Mark Cudmore notes, it’s a question worth asking, because it seems that the vast majority of potential […]
In the 21st century, musical fusions are commonplace – but just by looking at the stage, with closed ears, one might detect something novel about this starkly juxtaposed sonic line-up. To the left, a typical jazz trio – keys, double bass, drums. To the right, a five-piece Emirati percussion troupe, performing in a Bedouin tradition rarely heard outside the Gulf. The occasion was the live debut of […]
When the European Commission published a “white paper” this month on the future of Europe, something was missing. Two weeks earlier Pierre Moscovici, EU economy commissioner, had told an audience in Athens that the blueprint would include “ambitious ideas” for “deepening of the economic and monetary union” — code for overhauling the system of budget rules and policy co-ordination that underpins the single currency. Instead, amid warnings […]
Alexander McQueen uses ruffles as decoration, with layers of frothy, dark-edged chiffon. Courtesy Alexander McQueen. Using the beauty of metallic jacquard-woven fabrics as a base, Gucci adds an extra dimension with gothic embroidered lettering. Courtesy Gucci Dior decorates a simple clutch with naive hand beading and embroidery, which, against the metal hardware on the handle, looks all the more dainty. Courtesy Christian Dior. Trust Christian Louboutin to […]
Two days after Syria claimed it had shot down an Israel jet over its territory on Friday morning, an incident Israel denied even if it admitted violating Syria’s sovereign airspace by engaging in an air raid near Palmyra, the Israeli defense minister threatened to destroy Syrian air defenses after they shot (but allegedly did not down) at Israeli warplanes, which violated Syrian airspace and bombed targets on […]
