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Twenty-seven EU leaders gathered in Rome on Saturday to pay homage to their 60-year-old integration project, celebrating its postwar founding ideals at a moment of fragility for the union, just days before Britain files to quit the bloc.  On a day that mixed vaulting tributes with mass-protests on the streets, the leaders met to renew their vows in the splendour of a Renaissance palace where six states signed […]

· H.E. Tamim: ‘One of our top strategic priorities is to provide the youth as our future leaders with best learning opportunities’ 25 March 2017 UAE – The Board of Governors of Hamdan Bin Mohammed Smart University (HBMSU) met with the University Learners Council recently to discuss the integrity and quality of the educational process in the university in a first-of-its-kind gathering in the UAE. The […]

The National Centre for the Performing Arts Orchestra has been hailed as China’s arrival on the fine arts stage. After its formation in 2010, the orchestra primarily functioned as a support for visiting maestros and ballets, but for the last four years, the NCPA has been making a name for itself in its own right. With members aged between 27 and 31, the orchestra is viewed as […]

HONG KONG — Middle-class mainlander Laura Zhang found the idea of owning a home overseas irresistible after being bombarded by commercials for an affordable project “near Singapore”. The Forest City project in the southern Malaysian state of Johor, the subject of the advertisement, is being developed by Country Garden, China’s third-largest home builder. Ms Zhang said she was told that a flat in Forest City, the developer’s […]

DUBAI // Becoming a doctor, an astronaut, a scientist, a teacher and an architect were among the aspirations of Syrian refugee children living in an orphanage in Turkey. Their common dream, however, was to be all these things in their home country. Seventy-five Syrian children between the ages of eight and 12 at Ufuk orphanage in Gaziantep, Turkey, took part in an initiative by a Dubai company, […]

Last year, Donald Trump won the election for president by bemoaning the disappearance of the American factory and pledging to bring back manufacturing from other countries. Now in power, he might have to start worrying about the decline of another traditional pillar of the US economy — the American shopping mall. Fears that the rise of online shopping will lead to substantial dislocation in the retail sector […]

By Stoyan Nenov | KAPITAN ANDREEVO, Bulgaria KAPITAN ANDREEVO, Bulgaria Bulgarian nationalists blocked border checkpoints with Turkey on Friday to stop buses bringing Bulgarian ethnic Turks to vote in Sunday’s election amid growing tension between the two neighbours. Sofia has accused Ankara of interference in its election on behalf of the DOST party that represents Bulgarian Turks, the country’s largest ethnic minority. Polls suggest DOST will fall […]

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Ford said that slowing new car demand in the US and rising costs could halve its first-quarter earnings per share compared with last year’s record first quarter. The Detroit carmaker’s shares slipped in New York on Thursday after the company said in a statement that it now expects pre-tax profits of $9bn in 2017, down from $10.4bn last year. It expects profits to rise again in 2018. […]

By Sumeet Chatterjee | HONG KONG HONG KONG HSBC (HSBA.L) plans to add as many as 1,000 new employees to its Chinese retail banking and wealth management arm this year, the business’s regional head said, most of them in the Pearl River Delta, the heart of the bank’s growth strategy in China. If that target is hit, the new additions will mean HSBC will have hired twice […]

By Henning Gloystein | SINGAPORE SINGAPORE Oil prices edged up on Friday, supported by a fall in Saudi exports to the United States, but overall markets remained under pressure on the back of a world market awash with fuel. Prices for front-month Brent crude futures LCOc1, the international benchmark for oil, were at $50.63 per barrel at 0343 GMT, up 7 cents from their last close. In […]

Chu Jeong Woo and his tour group from South Korea were supposed to visit Britain’s Houses of Parliament on Thursday. But with the area cordoned off, they had to settle for selfies with the symbol of British democracy — and the scene of Wednesday’s lethal terror attack — as a backdrop. “Change in plans,” Mr Chu, a student, explained as many in his group snapped pictures of […]

Interior Ministry officials said the CNRP’s promotion of Kem Sokha to party president and three officials to vice president violated internal party rules, issuing vague threats of legal consequences that could potentially imperil the standing of the opposition party’s candidates ahead of June commune elections. In a letter sent on Wednesday by Interior Minister Sar Kheng to CNRP executive committee chairman Yim Sovann, he said the party’s […]

By Michelle Nichols | UNITED NATIONS UNITED NATIONS The United States warned South Sudan’s government on Thursday that preventing humanitarian aid workers from reaching parts of the war-torn state that are suffering famine could “amount to deliberate starvation tactics.” A civil war erupted in 2013 when President Salva Kiir, an ethnic Dinka, fired his deputy, Riek Machar, a Nuer, who has fled and is now in South […]

Faisal Al Nuaimi is passionate about cycling. From hills to flats, this two-wheeled warrior loves pedalling the streets of Ajman City, his hometown and a growing sports-tourism hub. Cycling five times a week, mostly after work, Al Nuaimi covers up to 70 kilometres in a regular workout, interspersed with two days’ running. It has changed his body dramatically, trimming off 19 kilograms of fat in one year […]

The lungs play an important role in producing blood. Until this discovery, lungs were only associated with breathing, and the bone marrow was thought to be the one responsible for blood production. New research carried out at the University of California San Francisco has found that most of the platelets are actually produced in the lungs, and not in the bone marrow. The study was conducted on […]

By Phil Stewart and Idrees Ali | WASHINGTON WASHINGTON The top U.S. general in Europe said on Thursday that he had seen Russian influence on Afghan Taliban insurgents growing and raised the possibility that Moscow was helping supply the militants, whose reach is expanding in southern Afghanistan. “I’ve seen the influence of Russia of late – increased influence in terms of association and perhaps even supply to […]

By Henning Gloystein | SINGAPORE SINGAPORE Oil prices recovered on Thursday from losses chalked up the session before, but the market remained under pressure as bloated U.S. crude inventories and rising output dampen OPEC-led efforts to curb global production. Brent crude futures, the international benchmark for oil, were at $50.82 per barrel at 0807 GMT, up 18 cents, or 0.4 percent, from their last close. That came […]

Binghamton University Electrical and Computer Science Assistant Professor Seokheun Choi is one of the co-authors of ‘Self-sustaining, solar-driven bioelectricity generation in micro-sized microbial fuel cell using co-culture of heterotrophic and photosynthetic bacteria.’ Credit: Binghamton University Instead of oil, coal, or even solar energy, self-sustaining bacterial fuel cells may power the future. Researchers at Binghamton University, State University of New York have developed the next step in microbial […]

Two-and-a-half years ago, Nathan Law took to the streets of Hong Kong with tens of thousands of fellow students, demanding Beijing give them the right to vote for the leader of their own city government. This Sunday Mr Law will have that opportunity — but not in the way he envisaged during the “Umbrella Revolution” protests. When he was voted on to the city’s Legislative Council in […]

Twitter reflects the good, the bad and just plain ugly reality of social media these days. For academics, journalists and voters, there’s never been a more crucial time to talk about the impact these social media platforms have on factual journalism and being watchdogs of the powerful. It’s in vogue to attack the messenger for the message. We are called liars. We are called “nasty people.” We […]

TOKYO The head of a Japanese school at the heart of a political scandal received a donation of 1 million yen ($8,980) from Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s wife in 2015, he told parliament in sworn testimony on Thursday. “It was an honour so I clearly remember,” said Yasunori Kagoike, adding that he received the donation in an envelope from the first lady, Akie Abe. The prime minister […]

New Zealand telecommunications carrier TeamTalk has urged its shareholders to reject the “predatory” and “exploitative” takeover by mobile carrier Spark, obtaining an independent assessment to demonstrate that the acquisition undervalues the company’s value to the tune of around NZ$22.8 million to NZ$39.6 million. “Your directors recommend that you reject the Spark offer,” TeamTalk headed its latest missive to shareholders. “The independent adviser’s value range for TeamTalk’s three […]

BERLIN German Chancellor Angela Merkel expressed shock at the attack in which four people were killed and at least 20 injured in London on Wednesday, and she said her thoughts were with the British people and everyone in the capital. In the attack close to the British parliament a car ploughed into pedestrians and an attacker stabbed a policeman, in what police called a terrorist incident. “Although […]

Press reports are circulating that the terrorist responsible for the attack on Westminster Bridge in London, has been named as Abu Izzadeen, born Trevor Brooks from Clapton in Hackney, an infamous UK-born hate-preacher amd Islamic extremist who had been convicted for raising funds for terrorism. Suspected attacker Abu Izzadeen, here heckling John Reid at an event in Leyton. https://t.co/g1vLdbLT8F — Tom Peck (@tompeck) March 22, 2017 Suspected […]

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