News related to
First Half

At least $13.3 billion of government projects are at risk of being cancelled in Saudi Arabia this year because of fiscal pressures and changing government priorities, Zawya Projects reported, citing a study by consultants Faithful+Gould. The total value of project awards for 2017 is forecast at $27 billion, and could rise to $32 billion if the Makkah Metro project, which was originally expected to be awarded in […]

Given that Cats has been seen by more than 73 million people worldwide, it is more than likely that a fair number of those who watched the first UAE performance of the musical – at Dubai Opera, where it runs until January 28 – will have seen it before. They would not have left this international touring production disappointed. Yet it is those new to the show […]

By Charlotte Greenfield | WELLINGTON WELLINGTON New Zealand cherry producers are flying helicopters low over their orchards to dry off raindrops and protect thousands of tonnes of their product headed to Asia to feed rapidly growing demand from Chinese New Year revelers. China has grown to become the second largest destination for New Zealand cherries after Taiwan in the past seven years. Together they take about 60 […]

ANKARA: A 34-year-old Uzbek man suspected of slaughtering 39 people at an Istanbul nightclub on New Year’s Eve confessed to the massacre on Tuesday, hours after his capture in a police raid.Turkish police cornered Abdulgadir Masharipov at an apartment in the Esenyurt district of Istanbul on Sunday during a massive operation.A man of Iraqi origin and three women from Somalia, Senegal and Egypt were detained with the […]

By Jilian Mincer | NEW YORK NEW YORK About a quarter of U.S. Republicans do not want to see Obamacare repealed, according to a Reuters/Ipsos poll released on Tuesday. Trump and his fellow Republicans, who control Congress, have promised to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act, known as Obamacare, but a majority of Americans, including 25 percent of Republicans polled, do not want it to be […]

HH Sheikh Mansour Bin Zayed: “The UAE is playing an active role in driving research in science and technology to identify solutions to tackle global water security challenges. This comes in support of the ambitious innovation and energy strategies of our country” Abu Dhabi-UAE: 17 January, 2017  Under the patronage of His Highness Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Presidential Affairs […]

It’s impossible for one person to see everything on display at CES each year. I had three staffers helping me cover the show, and PCMag had a dozen people on the ground in Las Vegas for its coverage. Being at CES provides valuable hands-on time with gadgets on the floor and in closed-door briefings. Based on what I saw, it’s clear that some amazing new […]

Advertisements

DUBAI // A UAE charity group that is building the first ­state-of-the-art diabetes hospital in Pakistan needs another US$2.5 million (Dh9.18m) to complete the project. The Diabetes Centre is being built in Islamabad by a group of Pakistani expatriates in Abu Dhabi who started the project six years ago. The hospital aims to offer free treatment to diabetes patients, as well as provide preventive education. So far, […]

In PwC’s 20th annual survey of CEOs worldwide, 38% (2016:35%) are very confident about their company’s growth prospects in the next 12 months while 29% (2016:27%) believe global economic growth will pick up in 2017 In PwC’s 20th annual survey of CEOs worldwide, 38% (2016:35%) are very confident about their company’s growth prospects in the next 12 months while 29% (2016:27%) believe global economic growth will pick […]

The company rolling out Australia’s National Broadband Network (NBN) has warned of possible civil works disruptions after announcing that it will begin extending fibre and cable broadband into major cities this year. Much of the disruption will occur as NBN needs to gain access to pits and existing infrastructure within high-density cities. “As the NBN network rolls out into cities, we will be met with new problems […]

Masdar, Abu Dhabi’s renewable energy company, has acquired a stake in Hywind Scotland, a 30-megawatt (MW) floating offshore pilot wind farm in the North Sea, it was announced on Tuesday.  Through the transaction, Statoil and Masdar have agreed to share the development risk and Masdar will cover 25 percent of previous and future costs.  Due to start commercial operation in late 2017, Hywind Scotland is the world’s […]

Blume was working on a letter to a man who was angry about being profiled by the police in his community. She showed me some of Obama’s handwritten comments in the margins. He had underlined sentences and added exclamation points; the words he wrote were sparse, but Blume understood the code. “See?” she said. “You can break down the sections of his thoughts: I’m mad, too. My […]

By Kylie MacLellan and William James | LONDON LONDON Britain will not seek a Brexit deal that leaves it “half in, half out” of the EU, Prime Minister Theresa May will say on Tuesday in a speech setting out her priorities for divorce talks which indicates she is prepared to leave the single market. Sterling, which has traded at the lowest levels against the U.S. dollar for […]

ISTANBUL The suspected gunman who killed 39 people in an Istanbul nightclub on New Year’s Day was born in Uzbekistan and received training in Afghanistan, Istanbul Governor Vasip Sahin said on Tuesday after police caught him in a city suburb. Sahin told reporters that the alleged attacker, whom he named as Abdulgadir Masharipov, born in 1983, had admitted his guilt and his fingerprints matched those at the […]

By Daren Butler | ISTANBUL ISTANBUL Turkish police have captured the suspected gunman who killed 39 people in an Istanbul nightclub on New Year’s Day after a two-week nationwide manhunt, with state media saying he was seized along with four other suspects at a hideout in the city. State-run Anadolu news agency said the alleged attacker, whom it and other media named as Abdulgadir Masharipov, was detained […]

By Noah Barkin | DAVOS, Switzerland DAVOS, Switzerland Chinese President Xi Jinping will defend globalisation in the face of mounting public hostility in the West on Tuesday in a speech at the World Economic Forum that will underline Beijing’s growing global role. Xi’s appearance, a first for a Chinese leader at the annual meeting of political leaders, CEOs and bankers in Davos, comes as the part the […]

By Kylie MacLellan | LONDON LONDON Britain will not seek a Brexit deal that leaves it “half in, half out” of the European Union, Prime Minister Theresa May will say on Tuesday, according to her office, in a speech setting out her 12 priorities for upcoming divorce talks with the bloc. Those priorities will include leaving the European Union’s single market and regaining full control of Britain’s […]

ATLANTA The daughter of slain civil rights leader Martin Luther King marked the holiday that honors her father on Monday by siding with African-American congressman and activist John Lewis over President-elect Donald Trump in an imbroglio that erupted over the weekend. Lewis, 76, a contemporary of King’s who endured beatings and jail time in the fight for racial equality in the 1960s, said in a televised interview […]

CARACAS OPEC Secretary-General Mohammed Barkindo forecast on Monday that stability would return to oil markets this year while price hawk Venezuela said it hoped its crude basket would rise to $70 in coming months. The head of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries was back in Caracas for a second meeting in two months with President Nicolas Maduro whom he lavishly praised for an “inspirational” role […]

Turkish police have arrested a man they suspect of killing 39 people in an Istanbul nightclub on New Year’s eve, two security officials said. The man, identified by Turkish authorities as an Uzbek acting on behalf of Islamic State, was arrested in Istanbul’s Esenyurt district, a working-class neighbourhood about 40 kilometres from the upscale Reina nightclub. He had escaped the nightclub in a taxi after using an […]

OPEC probably won’t need to extend a deal it reached with other crude producers to cut output, given compliance with the reductions and the outlook for an increase in global demand, Saudi Energy Minister Khalid Al-Falih said. The re-balancing of the oil market should take place by the end of the first half of the year, Al-Falih told reporters during an energy event in the United Arab […]

Exploding lithium-ion batteries have sunk Samsung’s flagship Galaxy Note 7 and damaged the company’s bottom line. Image: CNET Samsung’s internal investigation has found the battery, and not software or hardware, caused the Note 7 smartphone to catch fire and explode, according to a new report from Reuters. The South Korean company will officially reveal its findings on January 23. Shortly after the global recall and pulling the […]

He was the president who took out Osama bin Laden but was blindsided by Isis; who made Asia his priority but saw his trade deal for the region stymied; who built bridges with once sworn enemies in Cuba and Iran but who sparred with allies in Israel and Saudi Arabia. The mixed and sometimes messy foreign policy legacy of Barack Obama includes a climate change agreement and […]

Sunday, then, was the good fortune they felt was overdue. Even after the Cowboys — led by their poised rookie quarterback Dak Prescott — tied the score, 28-28, in the fourth quarter. Even after they tied it again, 31-31, the Packers weren’t rattled. Photo Packers tight end Jared Cook kept his feet in bounds to make a key reception at the end of the game. Credit Smiley […]

VISHNU RAJA
RYO YAMADA
HITORI GOTOH
IKUYO KITA