By Sarah Marsh and Alexandre Meneghini | CIEGO DE AVILA CIEGO DE AVILA Cuban farmer Pascual Ferrel says his favorite fighting cock’s prowess was “off the charts,” so after it died of illness he had the black and red rooster preserved and displays it on his mantelpiece beside a television. “He fought six times and was invincible,” the 64-year old recalled fondly, talking over the crowing of […]
(Image: Mastercard) Swipe-to-pay, then chip-and-PIN. What next, credit cards with fingerprint sensors? Turns out that’s Mastercard’s latest invention, a new credit card with an integrated fingerprint sensor, which aims to fight in-store fraud. The card, currently under trial in South Africa, includes sensor is embedded in plastic of the credit card, allowing customers to authorize a payment with a fingerprint, rather than a PIN code or a […]
By Mubasher Bukhari | ISLAMABAD ISLAMABAD Three women dressed in burqas killed a man who had been accused of blasphemy in 2004 in a northeastern Pakistani town, police said on Thursday, the second brutal killing over alleged insults to Islam in a week. Blasphemy is a highly charged topic in Pakistan where there have been at least 66 murders over unproven allegations since 1990 according to figures […]
It’s springtime. Flowers are blooming, birds are chirping, and love is in the air. That can only mean one thing: It’s time to send pictures of your bits and pieces! If you’ve ever used your phone to send someone special a picture of your thing(s), you’re not alone. Data shows that sexting is a highly popular pastime enjoyed by men and women alike. As you […]
By Sarah White and Yann Le Guernigou | PARIS PARIS Hard-left presidential challenger Jean-Luc Melenchon and conservative Francois Fillon were neck-and-neck behind the frontrunners in an opinion poll on Thursday, as candidates made last-ditch appeals to undecided voters. Voters will cast their ballots on Sunday in the first round of what has transformed into the most unpredictable French election in living memory, with four candidates within reach […]
SYDNEY Austria and Australia are 16,000 km (9,940 miles) and two keystrokes apart, as European aircraft manufacturer Airbus discovered to its chagrin this week. The Financial Times, citing fine print in the company’s 2016 financial accounts, reported on Monday that Airbus was being investigated by authorities in Australia for offences such as bribery or fraud. The Airbus accounts did indeed say Australia, but a company spokesman said […]
DUBAI // Drones are being tested to lift firefighting equipment on to burning high-rises and locate people trapped inside. The remote-controlled devices would use thermal-imaging cameras to find people and fire flashpoints, and could be used to carry gear to battle blazes from next year, civil defence officials revealed on Wednesday. Tests are being carried out on 15 drones in a special civil defence unit and more […]
Jeff Bezo’s Amazon is coming, take cover Australia!Image: DAVID RYDER/GETTY IMAGES By Jerico Mandybur2017-04-20 02:36:33 UTC The moment Australian retailers have dreaded is here. Amazon is expanding Down Under, opening warehouses that’ll enable cheap, fast local shipping, and letting small businesses sell goods through the site—a development an Amazon employee reportedly said would “destroy the retail environment in Australia.” Shopping on Amazon.com is already available […]
A Saudi military helicopter that crashed in Yemen killing 12 Saudi soldiers was likely hit by “friendly fire”, military sources said Wednesday. The soldiers, including four officers, died Tuesday when the helicopter went down in Yemen’s Marib province, the Saudi-led Arab coalition fighting Iran-backed Huthi rebels said in a statement. “As the Saudi helicopter was not identified by the ground operations centre, the air defence system was […]
The defense secretary said Iranian support for the Houthis was destabilizing Yemen, and he talked up the relationship between the United States and Saudi Arabia. Relations are enjoying salad days in the Trump administration after years of friction between the Obama administration and the Saudi leadership, which thought Obama officials were too friendly with Iran. Continue reading the main story Mr. Mattis’s two-day visit, the start of […]
By Steve Holland | WASHINGTON WASHINGTON U.S. President Donald Trump may add a visit to Saudi Arabia to a trip to Europe in May in what will be his first overseas journey since becoming president, a senior administration official said on Wednesday. Such a trip is “being discussed,” the official said, speaking on condition of anonymity. Trump is already planning to attend a NATO summit in Brussels […]
The next most-generous companies listed are Quicken Loans ($750,000), Wynn Resorts ($729,217), Chevron ($525,000), American Financial Group ($500,000), Intel ($500,000) JPMorgan Chase and Co. ($500,000), Citgo Petroleum ($500,000), oil comapny BP Corporation of North America ($500,000), casino developer and Ultimate Fighting Championship parent Fertitta Entertainment ($500,000), Manhattan real estate investment firm Tahl Propp ($500,000) and the MacAndrews and Forbes Group ($500,000), which owns military contractor AM General, among other companies. And other six-figure […]
Twelve Saudi soldiers, including four officers, were killed on Tuesday when their helicopter went down in Yemen, the Arab coalition fighting Yemeni rebels said in a statement. The Saudi Black Hawk “fell during operations in the province of Marib” east of Sanaa, the coalition said in a statement carried by SPA state news agency, without clarifying the reason. “The causes of the incident are being investigated,” the […]
AMD is stepping up its game with the launch of Radeon RX 500 series, its new GPU aimed at giving rival Nvidia a run for its money. The Radeon RX 500 cards are aimed directly at gamers to woo them back to the AMD bandwagon when the series launches this May. AMD released on April 11 the critically acclaimed Ryzen 5 processors aimed at the mid-range market. The […]
MOSCOW The Russian Defence Ministry on Wednesday dismissed as false a Reuters report which said Russia had understated the number of its servicemen and private contractors killed during a period of intense fighting to retake the city of Palmyra. Reuters reported on Tuesday that the death toll over the period from late January until late March was 21, more than four times higher than the official toll […]
MANILA Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte warned on Wednesday he might “invade” an island stronghold of the Islamic State-linked Abu Sayyaf to “finish the game” following a thwarted attempt by the group to kidnap tourists on a resort island last week. Duterte offered cash rewards for the capture, dead or alive, of six Abu Sayyaf militants still at large following a day-long clash last week on Bohol island, […]
KHAN SHEIKHUN: A suspected chemical attack killed at least 58 civilians in opposition-held northwestern Syria on Tuesday, a monitor said, prompting global outrage and calls for international action.The attack in the town of Khan Sheikhun also left dozens suffering respiratory problems and symptoms including vomiting, fainting and foaming at the mouth, the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.Hours later, airstrikes hit a hospital in the town […]
Photo On Tuesday, the Islamic State released its first official statement on President Trump, though he was not called out by name. Credit Doug Mills/The New York Times Although members and supporters of the Islamic State have frequently commented on President Trump and his policies, analysts have been puzzled by the terrorist group’s official silence about him. Mr. Trump had not been mentioned in any of the […]
Australian telecommunications provider TPG has announced spending a further SG$23.8 million on acquiring more mobile broadband spectrum in the Singaporean market, winning 2x 5MHz in the 2.5GHz band during the general spectrum auction this week. “We are very satisfied with the allocation obtained in the new entrant spectrum auction, and are now very pleased to have successfully taken the opportunity to add to our portfolio of spectrum […]
At the hospital in Reyhanli, a small Turkish border town that took in many of the victims, the mourners gathered outside mostly came from just two extended families, Mr. Youssef’s and the Abu Amash family. Continue reading the main story The families are connected by marriage and both come from Khan Sheikhoun, the village in rebel-held Idlib Province that residents said been hit with chemical weapons earlier […]
By Phil Stewart | QAYYARA WEST AIRFIELD, Iraq QAYYARA WEST AIRFIELD, Iraq President Donald Trump’s son-in-law, Jared Kushner, voiced optimism about the long-term U.S. alliance with Iraq’s military and its campaign to retake Mosul from Islamic State on Tuesday, as he visited a base about 10 miles (16 km) from the city. Kushner was on the last day of a two-day trip to Iraq as the guest […]
Americans are highly aware that President Trump and the media have locked swords, and nearly three-quarters think those tensions are suppressing their access to important political news. Those are the findings of a new two-question survey the Pew Research Center released today. Hardly surprising, Pew researchers found that 83 percent of a survey panel of more than 4,000 believe Trump’s relationship with the media “is generally unhealthy.” […]
BEIRUT, Lebanon — The United States blamed the Syrian government and its patrons, Russia and Iran, on Tuesday for one of the deadliest chemical weapons attacks in years in Syria, one that killed dozens of people in Idlib Province, including children, and sickened scores more. A senior State Department official said the attack appeared to be a war crime and called on Russia and Iran to restrain […]
Photo A Boeing 737 MAX at Boeing Field in Seattle in January 2016. The company wants to sell up to 60 airliners to Iran. Credit Jason Redmond/Reuters The Boeing Company announced a tentative agreement on Tuesday to sell up to 60 737s to an Iranian airline, a transaction valued at $6 billion that appears very likely to test the Trump administration’s avowed hostility toward Iran. Boeing, the […]
