AMMAN Syria’s main opposition body on Sunday approved a new delegation to take part in Geneva peace talks later this month, which include Russian-backed blocs that have been critical of the armed insurgency against President Bashar al-Assad. The High Negotiation Committee, (HNC) the main umbrella group, said in a statement after two-days of meetings in the Saudi capital, Riyadh, that the new 21-member negotiating team included members […]
Credit: Salk Institute Although we spend a lot of our time online nowadays—streaming music and video, checking email and social media, or obsessively reading the news—few of us know about the mathematical algorithms that manage how our content is delivered. But deciding how to route information fairly and efficiently through a distributed system with no central authority was a priority for the Internet’s founders. Now, a Salk […]
BANGUI A top militant and three others were killed in Central African Republic when a U.N. helicopter fired on fighters advancing towards the town of Bambari, a rebel group said on Sunday. The UN’s mission known as MINUSCA shot at fighters from the Popular Front for the Renaissance of Central African Republic (FPRC), on Saturday after they crossed a “red line” it had set north of the […]
Egypt, 12 February 2017 Flight diversions due to inflight medical emergencies make up a tiny portion of the millions of flights operated annually, but it is costly for airlines. With more people traveling by air, the actual number of inflight medical events has been gradually increasing over the years. Emirates, the largest airline by international traffic, operates over 3,500 departures a week, or more than 194,000 flights […]
Video footage of a young cyclist who was run over by a bus sparked soul searching in India as local media declared that bystanders had failed to help him, choosing to film the scene instead. The 23-year-old man, Anwar Ali, was hit by a bus while cycling in Koppal in the southern state of Karnataka on Wednesday and died in hospital three hours later, police said. As […]
By Andreas Rinke | BERLIN BERLIN Former foreign minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier was elected Germany’s president on Sunday, the 12th person to hold the largely ceremonial post in the post-war era. Steinmeier, a Social Democrat who had served as foreign minister until last month, won 931 of the 1,239 valid votes by lawmakers and representatives of Germany’s 16 federal states. There 103 abstentions and 14 votes were invalid. […]
Sarah Tew iPad sales are awful. Truly awful, and while CEO Tim Cook might be bullish about the tablet’s future, Apple desperately needs to do something to turn sales around if it’s going to come off life support. Must read: Does your iPhone have a battery drain problem? “We’ve got some exciting things coming on iPad,” Cook said during Apple’s last financial conference call, “and I’m optimistic […]
Scientists have estimated the lifetime of the solar nebula — a key stage during which much of the solar system evolution took shape. This new estimate suggests that the gas giants Jupiter and Saturn must have formed within the first 4 million years of the solar system’s formation. (via WSJ)
By David Shepardson | WASHINGTON WASHINGTON The chief executives of 18 major automakers and their U.S. units urged President Donald Trump to revisit a decision by the Obama administration to lock in vehicle fuel efficiency rules through 2025. In a letter sent late Friday and viewed by Reuters, the chief executives of General Motors Co (GM.N), Ford Motor Co, Fiat Chrysler Automobiles NV, along with the top […]
FEBRUARY 10, 2017 Camels, the ungainly ships of the desert, have been part of the history and folklore of Arabian culture for centuries. They’ve inspired poetry and song, served as transportation and racing companions, and have been a source of milk and meat for nomadic travelers. Image The traditional camel race during the Sultan Bin Zayed Heritage Festival, held at the Sweihan racecourse on the outskirts of […]
NEW YORK A major winter storm is expected to dump 8 to 16 inches (20 to 40 cm) of snow on parts of the U.S. Northeast on Sunday night and Monday, prompting storm warnings from upstate New York to northern Maine, the U.S. National Weather Service said. The weather stands to disrupt travel, likely to result in major airline delays and cancellations, and slow economic activity in […]
RIYADH U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said on Sunday the U.N. envoy to Yemen had his full support, days after Yemen’s Houthi group asked him not to renew the diplomat’s term due to what it said was bias against the Iranian-aligned movement. “Our envoy has my full support and I believe that he is doing an impartial work, that he is doing it in a very professional way […]
Nepali fashion model Anjali Lama walked in 20 shows at Mumbai’s fashion week last week, becoming the first transgender model to take part in the event as part of the usual troupe of models. Ms. Lama, 32, in December beat more than 120 others to win a competition to take part in the Lakmé Fashion Week, or LFW, in Mumbai. But her journey there wasn’t easy. She […]
WASHINGTON A White House official on Sunday launched a blistering attack on the federal appeals court that blocked President Donald Trump’s executive order on immigration, calling its ruling a “judicial usurpation of power.” The Trump administration has faced multiple legal setbacks to its travel ban issued on Jan. 27, and the Republican president has said he may issue a new order rather than go through lengthy court […]
The latest retailer to join the “anti-Trump resistance“, is also the one which despite being closest to death managed to crush short sellers on Friday after its stock soared on the announcement of yet another hail ymary restructuring: according to Reuters, Sears and Kmart are discontinuing online sales of 31 Trump Home items. An obvious publicity stunt meant to distract the public’s attention from the company’s chronic […]
An update to Cortana — Microsoft’s digital assistant infused with artificial intelligence—enables it to recognize and make note when people promise in messages to tend to tasks Microsoft virtual assistant Cortana began holding people to their promises on Thursday. At least, to commitments made in email messages. “Now, Cortana can help you remember things you’ve said you would do in your emails—without you even having to […]
By Jeffrey Heller | JERUSALEM JERUSALEM Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Sunday he would present “responsible policies” in talks with U.S. President Donald Trump, signalling to the Israeli far-right to curb its territorial demands in the occupied West Bank. Netanyahu leaves for Washington on Monday and will see Trump at the White House on Wednesday for their first meeting since the Republican’s inauguration last month, with […]
SEOUL South Korea’s special prosecutor said it would again summon Samsung Group scion Jay Y. Lee on Monday to question him on suspicion of bribery, as it investigates a graft scandal that has engulfed the country’s president. Last month, special prosecution officials questioned 48-year-old Lee for more than 22 hours straight, but a court rejected a warrant to arrest him in the inquiry into a scandal that […]
It is time to disabuse our minds of the old notion that West Nile virus (WNV) epidemics spread in “most ideal temperatures of transmission”. A new study suggests otherwise — West Nile virus transmission is higher during drought. The study, published in Proceedings of the Royal Society B on Feb. 8, found out that drought is the key driver in the increased intensity of the WNV epidemics in the […]
Photo Residents walked through the destruction in eastern Aleppo last month, after it was brought back under the control of government forces. Credit Hassan Ammar/Associated Press President Bashar al-Assad of Syria suggested in an interview published Friday that he could foresee cooperation with the Trump administration and might even countenance the deployment of American soldiers in the country one day. The remarks by Mr. Assad appeared to […]
By Huda Majeed and Ahmed Rasheed | BAGHDAD BAGHDAD Tension between Iraq’s Shi’ite leaders mounted on Sunday as the toll from protests in central Baghdad on Saturday increased to six killed, five demonstrators loyal to the fiery cleric Moqtada al-Sadr and one policeman. At least 174 other protesters were injured in clashes that pitted police and Sadr’s followers who had gathered to demand an overhaul of a […]
Though steep print ad revenue losses persisted in the fourth quarter of 2016, Gannett and McClatchy both reported today slightly improved financial performance heading into the new year. Gannett’s USA Today Network posted a revenue gain compared to the same period in 2015, even though print ads declined at about the same rate as in the third quarter — 15.4 percent. But most of the added revenue […]
PNC Menon is a busy man — it takes several months to lock an interview into his diary. But on the day of our meeting in Dubai, the Indian-born real estate developer exudes characteristic warmth and courtesy, refusing to allow Arabian Business to leave without a bowl of Middle Eastern halva and repeatedly asking whether we have enough milk in our tea. A long-term UAE resident and […]
Canceling cash was just the beginning. An article in Wednesday’s Wall Street Journal takes a look inside the next phase in India’s war on the underground economy. After Prime Minister Narendra Modi forced his countrymen to turn in their high-value rupee bills late last year, tax sleuths are now sifting through records of millions of bank deposits to see who might have brought in cash that was […]
