Opec’s production cut this week to bolster oil prices may strike many as a throwback to an earlier era, but it hinged on a very modern method of communication: a messaging group between the smartphones of Saudi Arabia’s delegation in Vienna and Prince Mohammed bin Salman al-Saud. For a royal priding himself on being a tech savvy moderniser in the kingdom, the use of a popular encrypted messaging service may […]
By Brad Haynes | CHAPECO, Brazil CHAPECO, Brazil The Brazilian town of Chapeco, its buildings draped in the green colors of its devastated soccer club, prepared on Saturday to receive the bodies of victims of an air disaster in Colombia that killed 71 people and wiped out the team. The crash on Monday night shocked soccer fans the world over and plunged Brazil, South America’s biggest nation, […]
Ben Carson Nothing’s official yet, but Ben Carson will supposedly serve as Trump’s Housing and Urban Development secretary. In a Republican primary field of establishment politicians, Carson and Trump were consummate outsiders. The demure doctor put together an impressive small-dollar fundraising machine built on the collection of personal information from millions of supporters. Months later, the campaign reported earning quarter million dollars by selling donors personal information, […]
BEIJING China’s Foreign Ministry has expressed concern after Yemen’s armed Houthi movement and its political allies formed a new government, in what appeared a blow to U.N.-backed efforts to end 20 months of war in the country. Diplomats had hoped the Houthis, who control the capital Sanaa, would hold off on putting together a cabinet of their loyalists and instead form a unity government with their Yemeni […]
Apple has started to reduce its orders for the iPhone 7 amid declining demand for the smartphone, according to a report by DigiTimes. The publication’s sources, which come from the supply chain in Taiwan, said that demand for the iPhone 7 in China and other markets has decreased significantly since the smartphone was launched in September. Massive Demand For iPhone 7 At Launch Now Fading According to […]
At a conference on investing in non-performing loans in Milan last week, attendees were asked to vote on whether an Italian government scheme to help sell the debt was the “best way forward”. Just 3 per cent agreed. The response follows a year of wrangling over proposals to tackle the €360bn of problematic loans plaguing the balance sheets of Italian banks, which have lost half their stock […]
By Michelle Nichols | UNITED NATIONS UNITED NATIONS The United Nations General Assembly began talks on Friday on a draft resolution that would demand an end to fighting in Syria amid frustration by some states and rights groups over U.N. Security Council deadlock on the nearly six-year conflict. More than a third of the 193-member General Assembly this week asked for a formal meeting to be held […]
Fitch Ratings-Moscow/London-01 December 2016 OPEC’s agreement to cut production by 1.2 million barrels of oil per day, and the potential agreement to cut with non-OPEC countries, should help accelerate market re-balancing and increases the chances of more rapid oil price recovery than previously expected, says Fitch Ratings. But implementation risks remain, including OPEC’s adherence to the agreement and the willingness of other participants, notably Russia, to co-operate […]
When Dala Farouki Kakos was a child, her parents invested in three Syrian chests, with matching mirrors, in the traditional sadaf style – on the understanding that they would be passed on to Kakos and her two siblings once they were grown up and had homes of their own. Beautifully embellished with mother of pearl, Kakos’s set has accompanied her on her travels around the world, and […]
JAKARTA, Indonesia (AP) — At least 200,000 conservative Muslims rallied peacefully in the Indonesian capital on Friday in the second major protest against its minority Christian governor, who is being prosecuted for alleged blasphemy. President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo, a political ally of the governor who angered hard-liners by being out of the city during their first protest, unexpectedly went to the national monument to join Friday prayers […]
By Anshuman Daga and Marius Zaharia | SINGAPORE SINGAPORE Singapore’s central bank imposed penalties on the local units of U.K.-based Standard Chartered (STAN.L) and private bank Coutts for money laundering breaches related to Malaysia’s scandal-tainted 1MDB fund and said it was nearing the end of its probes. The penalties – of S$5.2 million ($3.65 million) and S$2.4 million, respectively – were the latest punitive measures taken by […]
Friday 06:00 GMT Overview Stock markets across Asia, oil and the dollar have all gone into reverse on Friday, while government bonds were mixed ahead of the release later today of closely-watched US jobs data. European bourses are expected to open lower with spreadbetters predicting the UK’s FTSE 100 will slip 40 points to 6,712 and Germany’s Dax to drop 55 points to 10,479. US index futures […]
Communication is broken, according to Twilio’s VP of Product Management Patrick Malatack, who thinks the root of the problem is that businesses are overlooking the fact that their customers are human. Speaking at StartCon in Sydney, Malatack said there’s a belief among businesses that personalised communication experiences are not scalable, that you can’t humanise communications and serve a wide customer base at the same time. “That’s no […]
US technology shares are on track to log their worst week in seven months as investors shifted their focus to equities that will benefit from the soaring price of oil and the policies of the Trump administration. The S&P 500 technology index, a measure of large companies in the sector, has declined by 3.3 per cent since last Friday. The fall would represent the steepest drop since […]
Why is a book out of print for over 13 years – and one that recalls events that took place more than half a century ago – one of the most significant publishing events of the year? Anyone who has tried to obtain a copy of Susan Hillyard’s Before the Oil will know the answer. Her definitive and moving account of life in Abu Dhabi in the […]
Tax compliance gets easier for companies, but new data highlights post-filing challenges across the world JOHANNESBURG, South Africa, December 1, 2016/ Economies around the world continue to make progress in simplifying and reducing the burden of tax compliance on business, according to the latest edition of Paying Taxes 2017, a report by the World Bank Group and PwC (www.PWC.com ). Released today, the report finds that the Total […]
By Daniel Ramos and Fredy Builes | LA PAZ/MEDELLIN, Colombia LA PAZ/MEDELLIN, Colombia Bolivian authorities on Thursday suspended the license of a tiny charter airline whose plane crashed in Colombia this week after apparently running out of fuel, killing 71 people and wiping out a Brazilian football team on its way to a regional cup final. Monday night’s disaster sent shock waves across the global football community […]
Image: Getty Images/iStockphoto Neural networks, machine-learning systems, predictive analytics, speech recognition, natural-language understanding and other components of what’s broadly defined as ‘artificial intelligence’ (AI) are currently undergoing a boom: research is progressing apace, media attention is at an all-time high, and organisations are increasingly implementing AI solutions in pursuit of automation-driven efficiencies. The first thing to establish is what we’re not talking about, which is human-level AI […]
Now the hard work begins. The supply agreement agreed by Opec on Wednesday sent oil prices soaring above $50 a barrel but there are many reasons for caution, not least in making sure no one cheats and producers from outside the cartel also contribute. While the deal looks straightforward, it is anything but and the devil is in the detail. The conference documents released on Wednesday evening […]
By Astrid Zweynert LONDON (Thomson Reuters Foundation) – In the backyards of rural Cambodia, a tiny weapon is being deployed to fight dengue fever, the world’s fastest spreading tropical disease that causes debilitating flu-like symptoms and can develop into a deadly hemorrhagic fever. More than 3,000 households in Kampong Cham province, which has one of the highest dengue rates in Cambodia, have been given colourful guppy fish […]
By Crispian Balmer | ROME ROME A ‘No’ vote in Sunday’s referendum on constitutional reform would be a slap in the face to Europe, said the head of the rightist Northern League, pledging to pull Italy from the euro if he wins the next national elections. Matteo Salvini, who has said he would run for prime minister, has helped lead the campaign against the government’s planned overhaul […]
In a sign that investor enthusiasm about the Apple “rebound” may have been premature, Digitimes reports that Apple has begun to reduce orders for iPhone 7s as initial “sales momentum has started fading”, according to sources from Taiwan’s handset supply chain. The Digitimes sources said that initial shipment momentum of the iPhone 7 was in part driven by strong demand for the jet black iPhone 7 models […]
The opposite of a bank run, it turns out, isn’t a good thing either. In the case of India, it is a total banking mess. India’s big bang demonetization program, aimed at rooting out “dirty” money from the economy, has forced $80 billion worth of old rupee notes into bank vaults. At first, this seemed like a boon for banks, who were suddenly flush with cheap funding. […]
Pursglove would soon learn, however, that navigating this offshore archipelago is not easy. In any given year, trillions of dollars sit safely in the offshore financial world, effectively stateless, protected by legions of well-compensated defenders and a tangle of laws deliberately designed to impede creditors and tax collectors. Even the United States government finds it challenging: A special Internal Revenue Service division known as the “wealth squad,” […]
