DUBAI // The emirate’s oldest dog rescue centre is preparing for its annual rush, as the novelty of puppies bought as Christmas gifts begins to wear off and owners realise the work, training and love needed to keep a pet. Each year hundreds of dogs are abandoned in the emirate, with staff at K9 Friends Dubai taking calls daily to look after dogs left by owners who […]
By Abdi Sheikh and Feisal Omar | MOGADISHU MOGADISHU Fighters from Somalia’s al Shabaab group rammed a car bomb into the gate of a hotel in the capital Mogadishu on Wednesday and then stormed inside the building, where politicians often stay. Gunfire rang out as fighters entered Dayah Hotel and a second blast shook the area shortly afterwards, police and witnesses said. Several people were injured and […]
ASTANA: Russia and regional powers Turkey and Iran backed a shaky truce between Syria’s warring parties on Tuesday and agreed to monitor its compliance, but on the ground fighters faced continued fighting on two fronts which could undermine the deal.After two days of deliberations in Astana, Kazakhstan’s Foreign Minister Kairat Abdrakhmanov said the powers had agreed in a final communique to establish a system “to observe and […]
BRASILIA Brazil’s top labour prosecutor said President Michel Temer’s proposals to modernize the country’s labour laws were illegal in a report published on Tuesday that provided ammunition to workers’ unions fighting the reforms. Updating outdated labour laws to allow outsourcing and more flexibility in contracts and work hours is part of Temer’s plan to reduce business costs and pull Brazil from its worst recession on record. But […]
Trading on Wall Street was dominated by earnings announcements from blue-chip companies on Tuesday, while big carmakers rose off the back of a meeting with President Donald Trump. Results from the likes of DuPont, Verizon and Lockheed Martin pushed the broad market slightly higher. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 0.6 per cent to 19,912, while the S&P 500 gained 0.7 per cent to 2,280. The […]
ROME Virginia Raggi, the anti-establishment mayor of Rome elected by a landslide last year after pledging to crack down on rampant corruption, has been put under investigation for abuse of office and false testimony. Raggi herself announced the investigation in a Facebook post on Tuesday. She will be questioned by prosecutors on Jan. 30, a judicial source said. “Today I’ve received a subpoena from the Rome court,” […]
President Donald Trump has quickly moved to reverse another of Barack Obama’s signature policies, backing two multibillion-dollar oil pipeline projects that became test cases for Washington’s commitment to addressing climate change. Mr Trump said the Keystone XL and Dakota Access pipelines would help to meet his campaign promise of producing new blue-collar jobs at home, insisting that any portions built in the US would have to use […]
Despite the supposed cease-fire agreement, new clashes were reported in Wadi Barada, a besieged rebel-held area and source for most of the drinking water for Damascus, the Syrian capital. Water supplies have been cut off for weeks, and the government and rebel sides have blamed each other. Continue reading the main story The agreement among Iran, Russia and Turkey was announced a day after the Syrian factions […]
Two Saudi men who blew themselves up during a gunbattle with security forces in Jeddah last week had ties with ISIL and were linked to past attacks on mosques and security forces in Saudi Arabia, the interior ministry said on Tuesday. After Saturday’s security operation in Jeddah’s eastern Al-Harazat district, the interior ministry accused the two men of planning attacks inside the country. A ministry statement carried […]
By John Irish and Andrew Osborn | ASTANA/MOSCOW ASTANA/MOSCOW Peace talks between the Syrian government and opposition in Kazakhstan were a coup for their international sponsors, but exposed the limits of what Russia, Turkey and Iran can achieve in their efforts to resolve the six-year-old war. It was the first time in nine months the two sides had come together, albeit briefly and unhappily, and the first […]
By Steve Holland and Valerie Volcovici | WASHINGTON WASHINGTON U.S. President Donald Trump signed two executive orders on Tuesday to move forward with construction of the controversial Keystone XL and Dakota Access oil pipelines, rolling back key Obama administration environmental policies in favor of expanding energy infrastructure. While oil producers in Canada and North Dakota are expected to benefit from a quicker route for crude oil to […]
BAGHDAD Iraq’s oil is the property of Iraqis, Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi said on Tuesday, in reaction to U.S. President Donald Trump who argued that the United States should have taken possession of the nation’s crude reserves. In a speech to CIA officials on Saturday, Trump suggested the United States should have taken Iraq’s oil in reimbursement for the 2003 invasion that put an end to Saddam […]
Donald Trump is now president. This challenges many of us, not least members of the press. Countless reporters are still shaken and stunned by how he singled out a CNN reporter, one of the most respected news outlets in the world, to attack and humiliate him during his first press conference since winning the elections. Worryingly, none of his fellow journalists in the room stood up for […]
Authored by Paul Craig Roberts, “Racist” is the favorite epithet of the left. Every white person (except leftists) is a racist by definition. As we are defined as racists based on our skin color, I am puzzled why we are called racists a second, third, and fourth time due to specific acts, such as favoring the enforcement of immigration laws. For example, President Donald Trump says he […]
By Denis Dyomkin and John Irish | ASTANA ASTANA Syria’s warring sides met for their first talks in nine months on Monday, with their Russian and Turkish backers pushing to cement a ceasefire that could pave the way for political talks. The meeting in the Kazakh capital comes at a time when Turkey, which backs the rebels, and Russia, which supports Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, each want […]
ASTANA, KAZAKHSTAN: Syrian opposition vowed Monday to keep fighting if the peace talks fail with the war-torn country’s government in Kazakhstan, as the two sides opened indirect negotiations.The talks had been billed as the first time armed opposition groups would negotiate directly with President Bashar Assad’s regime since the conflict erupted in 2011.“If the negotiations succeed, then we are with the negotiations,” opposition spokesman Osama Abu Zeid […]
Three of the world’s largest textbook publishers have subpoenaed Amazon to reveal the names and financial accounts of online vendors who allegedly sell counterfeit books at “too good to be true” prices. Pearson Education, Cengage Learning and McGraw Hill Education are suing 100 unnamed Amazon marketplace sellers for copyright infringement. In a complaint filed in New York federal court earlier this month, the publishers accused the sellers […]
By Maher Chmaytelli and Saif Hameed | BAGHDAD BAGHDAD Iraqi officials said on Monday government forces had taken complete control of eastern Mosul, 100 days after the start of their U.S.-backed campaign to dislodge Islamic State militants from the city. The deputy parliament speaker announced the capture of the east of the city, Islamic State’s last major stronghold in Iraq, after a meeting with Prime Minister Haider […]
The highly anticipated Tekken 7 is officially set to launch this June on the PlayStation 4, Xbox One and PC. A June release is slightly later than the “early 2017” timeframe that was previously announced, but it’s still good to have official confirmation that the game is on track for a release in the first half of this year. Coming as the next entry in the fighting franchise […]
The lead government negotiator, Bashar al-Jaafari, speaking to reporters after the opening session, responded by calling the opposition delegation “armed terrorist groups,” and accused them of “impertinent” and “provocative” behavior. Continue reading the main story The tension demonstrated the challenges that remain for Russia, the Syrian government’s most powerful backer, as the Russian government tries to show its approach can accomplish more than the largely fruitless efforts […]
By Michael Georgy | MOSUL, Iraq MOSUL, Iraq Mohamed Mahmoud is relieved he no longer has to watch Islamic State militants hang corpses from electricity poles, now that Iraqi forces have cleared the group from his east Mosul district. But he still fears for his safety. Like other Iraqis, he worries that destructive forces like sectarianism, which already provoked one civil war since the fall of Saddam […]
A policeman marks the site where firearms were recovered after a clash in Makilala, North Cotabato. —CARLO AGAMON MAKILALA, NORTH COTABATO—While the government and the National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP) panels are talking peace in Rome, a clash between soldiers and communist rebels erupted here on Saturday. A rebel was killed in the encounter in the remote village of Biangan, said Lt. Col. Harold Argamosa, […]
At the 2009 Summit of the Americas in Trinidad and Tobago, I recall a strong feeling of shame as I waited for then-Prime minister Stephen Harper and former President Barack Obama to emerge from a meeting. I was the designated pool reporter with The Canadian Press, killing time with my Associated Press counterpart. I sheepishly admitted that reporters were forbidden from asking the prime minister an unscheduled […]
In my 35 years covering the tech market, I have heard from executives—over and over—how their inventions will change the world. And while at times, this is true—the semiconductor, PC, and smartphone come to mind—I have been wondering lately if Silicon Valley should take stronger aim at solving the world’s major healthcare dilemmas. On cancer, Silicon Valley has been pretty active already. Nvidia, for example, […]
