What is the most dangerous job in the UAE? Firefighting? High-rise window cleaning? How about photographing people as you are tumbling through the air after jumping out of an airplane? So far in his high-flying career, Juan Mayer, from Argentina, has jumped more than 11,000 times. He admits being a skydiving photographer is a risky job. “I’ve been on many jumps that have gone wrong and led […]
Photo Nigerians displaced by Boko Haram insurgents last February at Dikwa camp in northeastern Nigeria. The United Nations raised the alarm on Wednesday about the risk of famine in northern Nigeria. Credit Agence France-Presse — Getty Images UNITED NATIONS — In a world filled with excess food, 20 million people are on the brink of famine, including 1.4 million children at imminent risk of death. In the […]
SOUTH OF MOSUL, Iraq A few hundred civilians have fled their homes in the outskirts of western Mosul, the first reported displacement since a U.S.-backed offensive on the jihadists’ remaining stronghold there began at the weekend. A Reuters correspondent saw about 200 women and children being transported on buses by federal police on Wednesday to the town of Hammam al-Alil, some 20 km (12 miles) south of […]
Your daily guide to community and cultural activities across the Emirates for February 23, 2017, including performances, festivals, art exhibitions, film screenings, health and fitness events, talks, classes, workshops and family fun. Ellen Fortini 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 Performance Get tickets […]
By SUZAN FRASERAssociated Press ANKARA, Turkey (AP) – Turkey’s military has changed its regulations to allow female officers to wear headscarves while on duty, defense officials said Wednesday, removing a ban on Islamic-style head coverings at an establishment that once was considered a bastion of secularism. The move also ends the last remaining headscarf ban at a public institution in the predominantly Muslim, but officially secular country. […]
But one option being considered is for American troops to step up their support of the fighters by firing artillery, shooting mortars, helping with logistics and significantly expanding efforts to advise them, much as the United States is doing for Iraqi forces in the battle for Mosul. Continue reading the main story In late January, President Trump gave the defense secretary, Jim Mattis, 30 days to develop […]
The Vietnamese woman suspected of helping to kill the North Korean leader’s half-brother was a keen singer whose Facebook pages featured pouting portraits and pictures of parties. Four days before Kim Jong Nam was killed at a Malaysian airport, she appears to have posted a picture of herself wearing a shirt emblazoned with the acronym “LOL”, similar to the one on the fleeing suspect caught on CCTV […]
Right to repair is back in the news because Apple is opposing a Nebraska bill that would require electronics companies like Apple to produce repair manuals and sell replacement parts. Apple only got involved because the bill—one of eight nationwide, according to Motherboard—threatens its software licenses. We saw a similar battle between farmers and John Deere, which asserted that ownership of John Deere equipment “does […]
However, neither American nor British officials could say for certain that the militant was the same man as Jamal Malik al-Harith, the man who had been held at Guantánamo. Continue reading the main story The British government also said it could not confirm the Islamic State’s communiqué nor the reports in the British news media. “As all U.K. consular services are suspended in Syria and greatly limited […]
By Tuvan Gumrukcu and Michele Kambas | ANKARA/ATHENS ANKARA/ATHENS Cyprus reunification talks were in disarray on Wednesday after reports the Turkish Cypriot side would not join this week’s meeting in an escalating row that opened old wounds over past Greek Cypriot ambitions to unite with Greece. Talks between Greek Cypriot leader Nicos Anastasiades and Turkish Cypriot leader Mustafa Akinci were abruptly interrupted last week over a decision […]
Photo Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel, left, with his host, Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull, in Sydney, Australia, on Wednesday. The visit was a first by a sitting Israeli leader. Credit Jason Reed/Reuters SYDNEY, Australia — Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel was warmly welcomed here Wednesday by his Australian counterpart, Malcolm Turnbull, with the Israeli leader promoting the two countries’ growing ties as Israel faces rising […]
LONDON Britain will provide additional aid money to South Sudan, where famine has been declared in parts of the country, and to Somalia, where there is a credible risk of famine, the government said on Wednesday. Britain will provide 100 million pounds ($125 million) to each country in 2017/18 in addition to existing flows of aid. “The world faces a series of unprecedented humanitarian crises and the […]
When Lieutenant General HR McMaster walks into his office in the West Wing of the White House as the new US national security adviser, the widely respected soldier and military historian will face one of the biggest challenges of his decorated career. President Donald Trump named Lt Gen McMaster — a three-star army general who commanded troops in Iraq and served in Afghanistan — to succeed Michael […]
But they are not buying much. Unemployment is high, especially among the many young people graduating from college. In all, 50,000 people remain displaced. Electricity and water supplies are still near crisis levels. Hamas, which governs Gaza, elected a new hard-line leader. Tunnel building goes on (and, presumably, so does the construction and smuggling of weapons). On the Israeli side, the political right talks of a new […]
MEXICO CITY Homicides in Mexico jumped by more than a third in January, new figures showed, fueled by violence in states hit by an internal split in the Sinaloa drug cartel. Murders were up by more than half in the northern states of Chihuahua and Sinaloa, according to official figures dated Monday. In Baja California there were almost 50 percent more. Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman, the powerful […]
This much we can tell you for sure: the still-untitled Han Solo spin-off movie will not be called “Red Cup.” That’s the working title, a nod to the fact that George Lucas named Solo’s character for the plastic drinks brand. (True story.) But what about the actual title for the standalone film, which as of Tuesday is scheduled for May 25, 2018? Thus far Lucasfilm has it […]
If eight years under Obama rule, 6 of which included Republican majorities in Congress, taught us anything, it’s that Presidents have fairly broad authority to govern through executive orders and rules changes implemented at the 100’s of government agencies responsible for overseeing our every move. Fortunately for the Trump administration, this broad Presidential authority extends to immigration laws and, despite his recent defeat in the 9th Circuit, […]
“If someone is arrested for throwing a rock, they get a two-year sentence,” the father, Yusri al-Sharif, said, according to the news site Ynet. “In this case, a soldier murdered and got a year and a half.” Continue reading the main story “My son is not an animal,” he said. But Israeli leaders, still shocked that an Israeli soldier was convicted in January in a killing in […]
Rising angst over the outcome of France’s presidential election sent the premium investors are demanding to own French debt instead of German bonds to a new post-eurozone crisis high. The gap between the yield on 10-year French debt and German equivalent bonds exceeded 0.81 percentage points for the first time since August 2012, as a fresh poll showing far right candidate Marine Le Pen is on course […]
By Tom Perry and John Davison | BEIRUT BEIRUT The U.S.-backed Syria Democratic Forces (SDF) alliance has crossed into Deir al-Zor province for the first time as part of an offensive against Islamic State, a Kurdish military source said on Tuesday. The advance into the province, most of which is under the control of the ultra-hardline group, is part of an operation to encircle and ultimately capture […]
Photo A session at the International Conference in Support of Palestinian Intifada in Tehran on Tuesday, where Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Iran’s supreme leader, urged renewal of the Palestinian uprising, or intifada, against Israel. Credit Ebrahim Noroozi/Associated Press TEHRAN — Everything was in place on Tuesday for a gala celebration at Iran’s annual conference in support of Palestine. Awaiting the hundreds of guests was a table piled high […]
By Robin Emmott | BRUSSELS BRUSSELS U.S. President Donald Trump sent top U.S. officials to Europe with a familiar warning from Washington that allies must spend more on defence, this time with the ultimatum “or else”. But Europeans have tried to deflect the threats with the argument that a commitment to security is not just about spending targets, which diplomats said that U.S. officials did not challenge, […]
Having come under pressure to address an uptick in incidents targeting Jewish institutions across the US, President Trump denounced anti-Semitism Tuesday when during a tour of the National Museum of African-American History and Culture he said that “Anti-Semitism is horrible and it’s going to stop and it has to stop.”. Trump: Anti-Semitic incidents are “horrible and painful” https://t.co/QmRTDXgq5E — Daniella Diaz (@DaniellaMicaela) February 21, 2017 Further, the […]
Ann Ravel on Sunday fulfilled her promise to quit the Federal Election Commission by May. In doing so, Ravel — who directed her resignation letter at President Donald Trump and including unsolicited advice for new president — leaves behind an agency the outspoken Democratic commissioner says she at once considers “essential” to American democracy and as useful, in its current state, as “men’s nipples.” But Ravel tells […]
