Syrian rebel leaders are in secret talks with Russia to end the fighting in Aleppo, according to opposition figures, a development that shows how the US could become sidelined in some of the Middle East’s most pivotal conflicts. Four opposition members from rebel-held northern Syria told the Financial Times that Turkey has been brokering talks in Ankara with Moscow, whose military intervention last year on the side […]
By Henning Gloystein | SINGAPORE SINGAPORE Oil prices shot up more than 12 percent, smashing trading volume records, after producer club OPEC and Russia cut a deal to reduce output to drain a global supply glut, but analysts warned prices could recede as other producers stand by to fill the gap. The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC)agreed on Wednesday its first oil output reduction since […]
Photo Mahmoud Abbas, the president of the Palestinian Authority, center, was greeted by fellow Fatah members on the second day of the Fatah party conference, in Ramallah, the West Bank, on Wednesday. Credit Majdi Mohammed/Associated Press RAMALLAH, West Bank — Mahmoud Abbas, the president of the Palestinian Authority that operates in the West Bank, proposed on Wednesday the creation of a temporary unity government along with Hamas, […]
Image: AWS Amazon Web Services’ (AWS) CEO Andy Jassy has said his company will continue to focus on getting new products and services to market at speed, despite that resulting in lengthy delays for the majority of its 14 regions. “It’s always a trade-off when you’re launching these services,” Jassy told ZDNet. “Do you want to wait until you have the services available in our 14 regions […]
Malware dubbed Gooligan targets devices running Android 4.0 and 5.0, which represent nearly 74 percent of mobile devices using the Google-powered operating system Malicious software designed to attack Android smartphones has breached the accounts of more than a million Google users, security researchers said Wednesday. The report by Check Point Software Technologies said the malware dubbed Gooligan targets devices running Android 4.0 and 5.0, which represent nearly […]
All you need: Blink’s two-camera outfit with a sync module, set-up guide and an Android or iOS device with app loaded. Photo: Jack Schofield Most people who really need security cameras should already have installed them. However, there are still plenty of people like me, who aren’t willing to make that much of an effort, or pay a monthly fee. Now there is at least one system […]
By Sarah Marsh and Diego Oré | HAVANA HAVANA Draped in the red, white and blue national flag, Fidel Castro’s ashes began a marathon procession across Cuba on Wednesday to his final resting place in the east of the island, where the first shots in the Cuban Revolution were fired. Castro, who ruled Cuba for half a century until 2008 and built a Communist state on the […]
Photo Khalid al-Falih, center, the Saudi energy minister, at the OPEC meeting in Vienna on Wednesday. Credit Christian Bruna/European Pressphoto Agency VIENNA — After years of trying fruitlessly to prop up energy markets, OPEC on Wednesday finally reached a consensus on production cuts, sending oil prices soaring. The problem is, the euphoria may not last. With prices still at less than half the levels of two years […]
OPEC clinched a deal to curtail oil supply, confounding skeptics as the need to clear a record global crude glut — and prove the group’s credibility — brought its first cuts in eight years. Crude rose as much as 8.8 percent in London. OPEC will reduce output to 32.5 million barrels a day, Iranian Oil Minister Bijan Namdar Zanganeh told reporters in Vienna Wednesday. The breakthrough deal showed […]
By Adama Diarra | SIKASSO, Mali SIKASSO, Mali A Malian court began a trial of former coup leader General Amadou Sanogo on Wednesday on charges of “complicity in kidnapping and assassination,” three and a half years after his junta was accused of killing 21 soldiers. Sanogo led a coup in March 2012 that deposed former President Amadou Toumani Toure and plunged Mali into chaos, enabling Tuareg rebels […]
Toyota Motor Corp. engineer Hisao Yamashige speaks to reporters at the Japanese automaker’s Tokyo office Thursday, Nov. 24, 2016. Toyota says it has developed a new way of observing the movements of tiny particles in a battery used to power electric vehicles—an advance it says will help boost their cruise range by 10 percent to 15 percent. Yamashige explained to reporters the complex method for tracking the […]
Oil prices rose sharply on Wednesday as Opec gathered in Vienna to try and clinch the first supply deal since crude prices plummeted two years ago. Ministers from the 14-member cartel held pre-meeting talks at the Park Hyatt hotel this morning a final attempt to bridge their differences. Iran’s oil minister Bijan Zanganeh said he was “optimistic” when asked by reporters if there would be an agreement […]
/By Maxwell Wessel/The term “big data” is ubiquitous. With exabytes of information flowing across broadband pipes, companies compete to claim the biggest, most audacious data sets. And businesses of all varieties — old and new, industrial and digital, big and small — are getting into the game. Masses of social, weather, and government data are being leveraged to predict supply chain outages. Enormous amounts of user data are being […]
HANOI A high-profile Vietnamese activist on Wednesday lost a bid to overturn a 20-month jail term for protesting against illegal land grabs, her lawyer said, after a judge upheld a lower court ruling that had outraged human rights groups. Vietnam’s boom in real estate in recent years has spurred protests by small landowners evicted to make way for construction projects. Many say the evictions are illegal, with […]
November 30, 2016 by: Anjli Raval and David Sheppard — Vienna What is happening?Opec oil ministers from the 14-member producer group start their official meeting around 10am (GMT) on Wednesday in Vienna as they attempt to secure the first supply deal in eight years. Meetings traditionally last for between two and eight hours, but trying to predict the duration of such a gathering is near impossible. Oil […]
The Australian Attorney-General’s Department (AGD) has advised that it expects the lifetime capital costs for telcos to comply with data retention obligations to hit the AU$198.5 million mark by the end of the 2016-17 financial year, the Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA) said in its Communications report 2015-16 [PDF] tabled in Parliament on Wednesday. (Image: ACMA) The estimate is based on costs submitted to AGD by […]
Submitted by Kelli Sladick via Tenth Amendment Center, During the last eight years, the Obama administration failed to live up to its promise reverse the Bush era’s mass surveillance of American citizens. In fact, it was expanded and justified. If you were silent, the sweeping power controlled by the president may not be on your radar for the right reasons. While there is a deep fear resonating, […]
For six and a half years, Donald Trump battled fraud allegations against his now-defunct Trump University, claiming it duped students into thinking they’d get personal access to the real estate mogul and the secrets to his success. After both sides vowed to go to trial, the litigation settled for $25 million the week before Thanksgiving, days before a trial was set to begin in San Diego. As part of the […]
By Lawrence Delevingne | NEW YORK NEW YORK At least four U.S. agencies are investigating former officials of a now-bankrupt oil and gas company once majority owned by troubled hedge fund manager Platinum Partners, according to a legal filing submitted last week. In a motion filed with federal bankruptcy court on Nov. 23, a group of 10 directors, officers and employees of Black Elk Energy Offshore Operations […]
5863 25 by Shannon K. O’Neil November 18, 2016 A police officer from the SWAT team stands guard during an anti-drugs operation in Mandaluyong, Metro Manila in the Philippines, November 12, 2016 (Reuters/Erik De Castro). Philippines’ Duterte Tries to Take Down Critic Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte brooks no dissent. His latest backlash is against one of his most outspoken critics, Senator Leila de Lima. After she opened […]
4224 28 by Adam Segal November 18, 2016 A man is silhouetted against a video screen with an Facebook logo as he poses with an Samsung S4 smartphone in this photo illustration taken in the central Bosnian town of Zenica, August 14, 2013. (Dado Ruvic/Reuters) Here is a quick round-up of this week’s technology headlines and related stories you may have missed: 1. Disinformation. Disinformation everywhere. Since Donald Trump’s […]
By Maher Chmaytelli and Ulf Laessing | BAGHDAD/MOSUL, Iraq BAGHDAD/MOSUL, Iraq A full siege is developing in Mosul as poor families struggle to feed themselves after prices rose sharply following the U.S.-backed offensive on the Islamic State-held city in northern Iraq, humanitarian workers said on Tuesday. Some of the poorest families are finding it hard to feed themselves while others are hoarding and hiding food as they […]
Source: GSMA Singapore’s three mobile operators have announced plans to support a global authentication standard that will allow their customers to access online services with their mobile number. In a joint statement released Tuesday, M1, StarHub, and Singtel said they would adopt the GSMA authentication standard, Mobile Connect, which would create a single digital user identity. This would enable their mobile customers to access supporting services including […]
The Lego-compatible, Wi-Fi and Bluetooth-enabled SBricks Plus have four ports that are inputs and outputs, so you can attach sensors, motors, and lights. Image: Vengit Remember those colored bricks you used to play with as a child, or possibly much more recently? They were great, and still are, for building anything from bridges to trains. But in hindsight they lacked one thing: interactivity. Things started to change […]
