By Stephen Kalin | EAST OF MOSUL, Iraq EAST OF MOSUL, Iraq Iraqi forces will resume their push against Islamic State inside Mosul in the coming days, a U.S. battlefield commander said, in a new phase of the two-month-old operation that will see American troops deployed closer to the front line in the city. The battle for Mosul, involving 100,000 Iraqi troops, members of the Kurdish security […]
Your daily guide to community and cultural activities across the Emirates for December 27, 2016, including performances, festivals, art exhibitions, film screenings, health and fitness events, talks, classes, workshops and family fun. newslide Abu Dhabi Performance Get tickets now for a performance by the Vienna State Opera Gala Evening. As part of the Abu Dhabi Classics series, the musical ensemble will perform Mozart’s masterpiece Don Giovanni, the […]
Well before India’s surprise ban on using 86 per cent of its cash supply, rightwing circles were abuzz with speculation about prime minister Narendra Modi taking such a step to fight so-called black money. Mainstream economists paid little heed to the chatter — deeming it “too preposterous” to take seriously, given the economic damage it would inflict. But with India now reeling from the acute cash crunch triggered […]
Recently, there has been an increase in anti-Semitic statements at the United Nations. Ambassadors have used its forums to accuse Israel of everything from harvesting the organs of slain terrorists to committing a “final solution” against the Palestinian people. In one case, a United Nations under secretary general has made coded comparisons of Israel’s actions to those of the Nazis during the Holocaust (a common anti-Semitic trope). […]
Submitted by Michael Jabara Carley via Strategic-Culture.org, Relations between Russian president Vladimir Putin and US president Barack Obama are poisoned and irretrievably damaged. It’s therefore a good thing that Obama is leaving office on 20 January. Bad US-Russian relations are of course nothing new. Since the Anglo-American war against Iraq in 2003, the US-Russian relationship has been headed downhill. For Obama, it appears that everything has gotten […]
ANKARA At least 30 civilians were killed and many others were wounded on Sunday after Islamic State launched an attack in the Syrian town of al-Bab to prevent people from fleeing, the Turkish military said in a statement on Monday. Syrian rebels supported by Turkish troops have laid siege to the Islamic State-held town for weeks under the “Euphrates Shield” operation launched by Turkey nearly four months […]
By Emily Stephenson | KANEOHE BAY, HAWAII KANEOHE BAY, HAWAII President Barack Obama said on Sunday it had been the “privilege of my life” to serve as U.S. commander in chief and promised his continued gratitude and commitment to service members and their families during a Christmas Day visit to Marine Corps Base Hawaii. “Although this will be my last time addressing you as president, I want […]
After all, Detroit had not won a playoff game since 1991 (and still has not) or a championship since 1957, when Bobby Layne, who lived on the same street as Stafford in Dallas and played for the same high school, was Detroit’s darling quarterback. So just between friends, was he really O.K. with becoming a Lion? “He said, ‘Absolutely,’” Aikman said in a telephone interview last week. […]
TAIPEI A group of Chinese warships lead by the country’s sole aircraft carrier has passed through waters south of Taiwan and is heading southwest, Taiwan’s defence ministry said on Monday of what China has termed a routine exercise. The ministry said the aircraft carrier the Liaoning, accompanied by five other vessels, had passed 90 nautical miles south of Taiwan’s southernmost point on Monday morning via the Bashi […]
In February, Anis Amri, a Tunisian refugee with a criminal past, was officially classified by the German authorities as a potential terrorist. For six months this year he was under near constant police surveillance. None of that helped. Amri went to ground and only resurfaced three days ago as the man investigators believe rammed a truck into a Christmas market in central Berlin, killing 12 people. The […]
But with few spies in the city, American officials say assessing the enemy is difficult. “We’ve spent a lot of time trying to understand the situation on the ground in Raqqa,” Lt. Gen. Jeffrey L. Harrigian, the air war commander, said in an interview from his headquarters in Qatar. “It’s improving. It’s still not at the level we’d like it to be.” Continue reading the main story […]
Your daily guide to community and cultural activities across the Emirates for December 26, 2016, including Christmas attractions, food markets, art exhibitions, fitness events, performances, film screenings and family fun. newslide Abu Dhabi Film screening Catch a screening of The Patience Stone. The film is about a young woman in a country torn apart by war, who watches over her comatose husband and begins to tell him […]
ISTANBUL — When a Turkish police officer assassinated Andrey G. Karlov, Russia’s ambassador to Turkey, on Monday, it felt for a moment as if the whole world shook. The killing took place at a time of global uncertainty and reminded some observers of the start of World War I. The truth, however, is that despite shaky relations between Russia and Turkey in recent years, the assassination is […]
BAGHDAD Christians in Baghdad celebrated Christmas on Sunday in a heightened state of fear after deadly attacks on Christian-owned shops that sell alcohol. Two shops next door to each other were riddled with bullet holes and spattered with blood after gunmen opened fire late on Friday in Baghdad’s Ghadeer neighbourhood. Police and medical sources said three people were killed and four wounded. Local activists gave a higher […]
AMMAN Syrian President Bashar al Assad told Russia on Sunday he was saddened by the crash of a Russian military plane on its way to Syria but the countries’ fight against Islamist militants would not be affected. In a condolence message sent to Russian President Vladimir Putin, Assad said the two countries were partners in the “fight to lay the foundations of stability, security and peace” in […]
Israel on Sunday summoned ambassadors of countries that belong to the UN Security Council for a Christmas Day reprimand for their support of a resolution condemning Israel’s illegal settlements on Palestinian lands. The UK was among the countries which saw its diplomats called into Israel’s ministry of foreign affairs on Sunday. David Quarrey, Britain’s ambassador to Israel, told the Financial Times. While Mr Quarrey was in the […]
By Philip Pullella | VATICAN CITY VATICAN CITY Pope Francis on Sunday offered a Christmas hope for peace in a world lacerated by war and terrorism, urging people to remember migrants, refugees and those hit by economic instability caused by “idolatry of money”. Francis, marking the fourth Christmas season since his election in 2013, also urged Palestinians and Israelis, facing renewed tension after a U.N. resolution condemning […]
BEIJING China’s largely rubber-stamp parliament passed a law on Sunday that will levy specific environmental protection taxes on industry for the first time from 2018, as part of a renewed focus on fighting the country’s pollution woes. Anger has risen in the world’s second-largest economy at the government’s repeated failure to tackle land, water and air pollution, with large parts of northern China enveloped in dangerous smog […]
She says she hasn’t decided what she’ll do next, but that it likely will involve working for a foundation or, perhaps, in the private sector. She’ll depart the FEC having largely seen her standing goal of revealing sources of secret money in politics stymied. Goodman, in an interview, wouldn’t commit to staying at the FEC through 2017. “I will make a decision early next year about my […]
Russian jets stepped up strikes on several towns in Syria’s rebel-held Idlib province and rural Aleppo two days after the evacuation of rebels from their last pocket in the northern city of Aleppo, rebels and residents said on Saturday. They said at least eight strikes targeted Binish, Saraqeb and Jisr al Shaqour – main towns in the northwestern Syrian province of Idlib. There were reports of several […]
BEIJING China’s first aircraft carrier will carry out drills in the Western Pacific, in what the navy called part of routine exercises, but amid renewed tension over self-ruled Taiwan that Beijing claims as its own. The navy said in a statement late on Saturday the Liaoning, along with its accompanying fleet, would conduct “exercises far out at sea”, without giving details of the location or route, in […]
The haiku is a powerful poetic form derived from the original Japanese style, with its structured three lines of five, seven and five syllables. David Lanoue, haiku poet and author, defines it as: “A one-breath poem that discovers connection.” They’re beautiful but not something you expect to find many of in the FT. However, in a fit of experimentation earlier this year, we created an algorithm that […]
“The resolution that was passed by the U.N. yesterday is part of the swan song of the old world that is biased against Israel,” Mr. Netanyahu said at a Hanukkah candle-lighting ceremony honoring wounded soldiers and terrorism victims. “But, my friends, we are entering a new era and, as President-elect Trump said yesterday, that is going to happen a lot faster than people think.” Continue reading the […]
The Observatory on Social Media at Indiana University has launched a powerful new tool in the fight against fake news. The tool, called Hoaxy, visualizes how claims in the news — and fact checks of those claims — spread online through social networks. (via WSJ)
