Royal Dutch Shell has struck deals worth up to $4.7bn to sell offshore oil and gas assets in the North Sea and Thailand, adding momentum to the debt-reduction programme launched after its $50bn takeover of BG Group. The Anglo-Dutch group said on Tuesday it had agreed to sell a package of UK North Sea assets to Chrysaor, a small British company backed by EIG Partners, a US […]
In the past two months, the Islamic State has used more than 80 remotely piloted drones against Iraqi forces and their allies. About one-third of the aircraft, some as small as model airplanes, dropped bombs or were rigged with explosives to detonate on the ground, said Col. John L. Dorrian, the spokesman for the American-led operation against the Islamic State in Baghdad. Continue reading the main story […]
TOKYO Japan must make public places in Tokyo smoke-free by the time it hosts the 2020 Summer Olympics or risk falling afoul of International Olympic Committee (IOC) rules that call for a healthy games, activists said on Tuesday. Japan’s health minister has said the government is eager to stamp out smoking in public by the time the capital hosts the Olympics. But smoking remains so entrenched there […]
By Praveen Menon and Pairat Temphairojana | KUALA LUMPUR/BANGKOK KUALA LUMPUR/BANGKOK Seeking to capitalise on U.S. President Donald Trump’s controversial new travel restrictions, companies and officials in Asia said they would target greater tourism and education ties with Muslims worried about the curbs. Trump’s Friday directive put a 120-day hold on allowing refugees into the country, an indefinite ban on refugees from Syria and a 90-day bar […]
Twitter has a security problem — and businesses are paying the price for it. The official Twitter account of Indian airline IndiGo has been hit with a breach. The verified account, which previously had over 100,000 followers and several hundred thousands of tweets, now appears to be in possession of a user who goes by the handle @activevibezzz1. Image: screengrab/twitter Earlier Tuesday morning, IndiGo’s Twitter handle was […]
Australian rail freight company Aurizon has announced the termination of its Freight Management Transformation (FMT) project, contracted to SAP since 2014, resulting in an impairment charge of AU$64 million. The FMT project in 2014 attempted to bring 18 separate legacy systems used for logistics planning, scheduling, ordering, and billing into a single platform. However, following a review of the project, the Australian Securities Exchange (ASX)-listed company has […]
By Tom Allard and Agustinus Beo Da Costa | JAKARTA JAKARTA Indonesian police will block a rally in Jakarta next month led by the hardline Islamic Defenders Front (FPI) if the group intends to make it political just days before an election for city governor that has raised religious tension. The FPI has led two rallies over the past year targeting the ethnic Chinese, Christian Jakarta governor, […]
By Simon Lewis and Shwe Yee Saw Myint | YANGON YANGON The office of Myanmar’s civilian president said on Tuesday that the assassination of a lawyer advising the ruling party on amending a military-drafted constitution was likely an effort to destabilise the country. A lone gunman shot Ko Ni, 63, an adviser to the ruling National League for Democracy, in the head in front of onlookers as […]
By Ginger Gibson and David Shepardson | WASHINGTON WASHINGTON Days before a group of Republican lawmakers were due to discuss their party’s controversial proposal to tax all imports, Toyota Motor Corp (7203.T) sent an urgent message to its U.S. dealers – tell the politicians the tax would seriously hurt car buyers. Some of Toyota’s 1,500 dealers heeded the call and contacted members of the House of Representatives’ […]
Whatever your personality and current state of mind – seeking adventure, travelling the world, or enjoying fatherhood – here’s the kind of backpack you need. Read this and more stories in Luxury magazine, out with The National on Thursday, February 2. [email protected] newslide The outdoor trekker You’re drawn to athletic stripes, and the prospect of embroidered animal appliqués doesn’t scare you. You’ve developed a taste for extreme […]
The publication of Michael Lewis’s book Flash Boys in 2014 thrust the arcane world of ultra-high frequency trading firms into the popular consciousness, prompting debate over everything from the industry’s morality to the possible risks it posed to financial stability. What was undeniable was how several of these companies were staggeringly profitable, generating hundreds of millions of dollars by trading at speeds made up of fractions of […]
WASHINGTON — Iran conducted its first missile test since President Trump took office, American and Israeli officials said Monday, posing an early test of whether the Trump administration will make good on its promises to strictly enforce all aspects of the Iranian nuclear deal and a side agreement on missile testing. The Iranian missile traveled about 600 miles, but its re-entry vehicle reportedly exploded before the flight […]
Investors, economists and strategists have begun to question their enthusiasm for Donald Trump’s new administration, following the president’s decision to block entry to the US from seven Muslim-majority countries. Mr Trump’s travel clampdown appeared to knock some of the confidence from markets, after stock indices reached record highs last week following speculation the new president will deliver faster economic growth and accelerating price rises — dubbed “Trumpflation”. […]
A new species of lobopodian, a worm-like animal with soft legs from the Cambrian period (541 to 485 million years ago), has been described for the first time from fossils found in the Burgess Shale in the Canadian Rocky Mountains. Source
BEIJING China’s second aircraft carrier is “taking shape” after two years and nine months of construction, local media reported, a move likely to further unnerve Taiwan and other neighbours about Beijing’s growing military assertiveness. Construction of The Shandong, named after a province in China’s east coast, began in 2014, the APP of Shandong television and radio said in a report seen on Tuesday. The Shandong, China’s first […]
From the top left corner, moving clockwise, the four images depict: University at Buffalo students performing an experiment, clean drinking water, water evaporating, and black carbon wrapped around plastic in water with evaporated vapor on top evaporated water. Credit: University at Buffalo. You’ve seen Bear Grylls turn foul water into drinking water with little more than sunlight and plastic. Now, academics have added a third element—carbon-dipped paper—that […]
Telstra has announced the launch of its gigabit-capable 4G mobile network in three capital cities throughout Australia, allowing users with compatible devices to attain speeds of up to 1Gbps amid promises that it will also upgrade its standard 4G network to 300Mbps speeds for 80 percent of its footprint by 2019. Already available at certain sites across Sydney, Melbourne, and Brisbane, Telstra said it would launch the […]
WASHINGTON/SEOUL U.S. Defense Secretary James Mattis and his South Korean counterpart agreed during a phone call on Monday to strengthen their defense against “the evolving North Korean threat,” the Pentagon said, amid reports the North may be preparing a new missile test. Mattis, who is to visit South Korea on Thursday, reaffirmed to South Korean Defense Minister Han Min-koo the U.S. commitment to defend the country and […]
By Terray Sylvester | CANNON BALL, N.D. CANNON BALL, N.D. Dump trucks and heavy machinery rolled into the protest camp near the site of the Dakota Access Pipeline on Monday, and crews began filling large dumpsters with garbage that has accumulated, much of it now buried under snow. The clean-up marked cooperation among authorities and camp organizers. The decision to clean the site, where a few hundred […]
By Kevin Dougherty | QUEBEC CITY QUEBEC CITY The French-Canadian student charged in a shooting spree that killed six people at a Quebec City mosque was known in online circles as a supporter of far-right French politician Marine Le Pen and described by a former classmate as a “nerdy outcast.” Alexandre Bissonnette, 27, the sole suspect in Sunday night’s shooting, was charged on Monday with six counts […]
By Henning Gloystein | SINGAPORE SINGAPORE Brent crude oil prices fell around 5 percent from their early January peak as rising U.S. drilling activity offset efforts by OPEC and other producers to cut output in an effort to prop up the market. Brent crude futures LCOc1, the international benchmark for oil prices, were trading at $55.25 per barrel at 0112 GMT, virtually unchanged from their last close. […]
Dogs are man’s best friend. Tweak the adage a bit and you get the findings of a new study: pets are children’s best buds — closer to them than their own brothers and sisters. University of Cambridge researchers examined children’s relationship with their pets and found that they derived more satisfaction from animal companions and got along better with them than with their siblings. These pets may then wield […]
Whirlwind is not an adequate-enough word to sum up the past two years of Daya’s life. After scoring her first chart smash in 2015 at the age of 16, with debut single Hide Away, the scorching American talent was propelled to stardom as the soulful voice behind last year’s smash Don’t Let Me Down by The Chainsmokers. The song’s recent nomination for Best Dance Recording at this […]
The ranks of business leaders attacking Donald Trump’s immigration clampdown swelled on Monday as executives at several large US companies criticised the measures while Amazon said it was considering a legal challenge. Executives at the financial groups Goldman Sachs, Citigroup and MasterCard, the carmaker Ford and beverage group Coca-Cola risked a clash with the president as they criticised the restrictions on travellers from seven Muslim-majority countries. Amazon’s Jeff […]
