Donald Trump is now president. This challenges many of us, not least members of the press. Countless reporters are still shaken and stunned by how he singled out a CNN reporter, one of the most respected news outlets in the world, to attack and humiliate him during his first press conference since winning the elections. Worryingly, none of his fellow journalists in the room stood up for […]
Good morning. Here’s our morning roundup of all the media news you need to know. Want to get this briefing in your inbox every morning? Subscribe here. A fashionista friend in the White House press corps answered this lingering question after Sean Spicer’s much-anticipated first briefing: What exactly was the glaring color of that jacket worn by Kellyanne Conway? “Tomato?” she guessed. Well, it was especially vivid […]
BERLIN Volkswagen (VOWG_p.DE) said it will halt production at one of its biggest auto-making factories in Germany on more days than originally planned because of shrinking demand for the Passat saloon and estate models. Production of the Passat at VW’s northern German plant in Emden will be stopped on Feb. 16-17 and Feb. 21, a spokesman said, adding to disruptions agreed earlier this month. Europe’s largest automaker […]
DUBAI // Pupils from across the country listened as satellite engineers from the Mohammed Bin Rashid Space Centre shared their experiences and discussed the obstacles they had to overcome to develop the nation’s first satellites. Speaking at the Project Space Forum on Tuesday, Salem Al Marri, assistant director-general for scientific and technical affairs, explained how in 2006, a group of young Emirati engineers went to South Korea […]
Photo Construction in the West Bank settlement of Ma’ale Adumim on Sunday. The Israeli government is showing signs that it is increasingly willing to disregard international condemnation of its settlements. Credit Mahmoud Illean/Associated Press JERUSALEM — Israel on Tuesday approved the construction of 2,500 housing units for Jews in West Bank settlements, throwing off diplomatic restraint just a few days into the beginning of the Trump administration. […]
By Bernie Woodall | DETROIT DETROIT Ford Motor Co (F.N), in a bid for a piece of the rapidly growing global auto parts market, is launching a new brand called Omnicraft to sell parts to Ford dealers and independent repair shops to fix competitors’ vehicles. Omnicraft joins Ford’s established Motorcraft which makes parts for Ford vehicles. Frederiek Toney, president of Ford’s customer service division, said the global […]
Authored by Paul Craig Roberts, “Racist” is the favorite epithet of the left. Every white person (except leftists) is a racist by definition. As we are defined as racists based on our skin color, I am puzzled why we are called racists a second, third, and fourth time due to specific acts, such as favoring the enforcement of immigration laws. For example, President Donald Trump says he […]
The Australian Taxation Office (ATO) announced on Tuesday it has appointed PwC to conduct an independent review into the “world first” hardware issue the ATO experienced in December. The tax office expects the consultancy firm’s review will provide insight into what actually happened and why, and what needs to be done to ensure the same incident does not occur in the future. The ATO said it chose […]
When it came out, the Galaxy Note 7 was nearly universally revered for standing as a sterling flagship released by Samsung in the second half of 2016. That is until several units began exploding. Thought at first as simply battery charging mishaps, a continuous influx of reports soon revealed that the problem was more insidious, and it may have stemmed from battery flaws or the phone’s manufacturing process. […]
A wave of about 25 African, European and South American countries is set to join the China-led Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank this year, reinforcing Beijing’s determination to push a global agenda even as US President Donald Trump rails against the ills of economic globalisation. Jin Liqun, president of the AIIB, said on Monday that an expanded membership would help boost lending by the $100bn multilateral organisation, which […]
By Denis Dyomkin and John Irish | ASTANA ASTANA Syria’s warring sides met for their first talks in nine months on Monday, with their Russian and Turkish backers pushing to cement a ceasefire that could pave the way for political talks. The meeting in the Kazakh capital comes at a time when Turkey, which backs the rebels, and Russia, which supports Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, each want […]
ASTANA, KAZAKHSTAN: Syrian opposition vowed Monday to keep fighting if the peace talks fail with the war-torn country’s government in Kazakhstan, as the two sides opened indirect negotiations.The talks had been billed as the first time armed opposition groups would negotiate directly with President Bashar Assad’s regime since the conflict erupted in 2011.“If the negotiations succeed, then we are with the negotiations,” opposition spokesman Osama Abu Zeid […]
By Luke Baker and Matt Spetalnick | JERUSALEM/WASHINGTON JERUSALEM/WASHINGTON During the presidential campaign, Donald Trump’s team spoke often about moving the U.S. embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem. But since taking office, the contentious issue has become more nuanced and may already be moving to the backburner. In a statement issued before a first post-inauguration phone call between Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu […]
SINGAPORE – Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad is opposed to the Kuala Lumpur-Singapore High Speed Rail (HSR), a project for which China is among the contenders. Citing financial constraints, the former prime minister, who is chairman of Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia, said the HSR contract signed between Malaysia and Singapore may not be a done deal if the Opposition comes to power. “We need to do a study […]
The picture that lit up social media and unsettled the White House began with a trek up 50 flights of stairs, nearly to the top of the Washington Monument, for a bird’s eye view of Donald Trump’s inauguration on Friday as the 45th U.S. president. Reuters had asked the U.S. National Park Service in an email on Jan. 13 whether a photographer could be posted on the […]
Emirates airline has announced that it will operate the first ever scheduled commercial Airbus A380 flight to South America when it upgrades its Dubai–Sao Paulo service on March 26. Replacing the existing Boeing 777-300ER used on this route, the A380 service will mark the airline’s 10th year of operations in Brazil, which it began with daily flights between Dubai and Sao Paulo in October 2007. In 2012, […]
BERLIN German Chancellor Angela Merkel said on Monday that openness, not populism, polarisation or isolation, was the answer to the world’s challenges of globalisation and digitalisation. “I think that, a quarter of a century after German unification, after the end of the Cold War, a new historical era will perhaps be replaced by another one,” Merkel said in a speech to church leaders in Wuerzburg. Even though […]
SYDNEY The dollar was under pressure in Asia on Tuesday as U.S. President Donald Trump’s focus on trade protectionism fueled suspicions his administration might seek a competitive advantage through a weaker currency. The talk of trade wars favored safe-haven Treasuries and the Japanese yen while leaving equities mixed. MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan edged up 0.1 percent but Tokyo’s Nikkei slipped 0.3 percent. Sentiment […]
ABU DHABI // Abu Dhabi has made official its bid to host the Special Olympics World Games in 2019, which is said to be the first sporting event in the region for athletes with special needs and disabilities. The official agreement for hosting the Games was signed on Monday at the Sea Palace, and witnessed by Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed, Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi and Deputy […]
Three of the world’s largest textbook publishers have subpoenaed Amazon to reveal the names and financial accounts of online vendors who allegedly sell counterfeit books at “too good to be true” prices. Pearson Education, Cengage Learning and McGraw Hill Education are suing 100 unnamed Amazon marketplace sellers for copyright infringement. In a complaint filed in New York federal court earlier this month, the publishers accused the sellers […]
“It’s really, really hard for me to look at myself in the context of the people that are in the Hall of Fame; I feel like they are Michael and I’m Tito,” Roddick said, referring to the singer Michael Jackson and one of his older brothers. “Tito got to play some pretty cool venues, too, but it’s weird for me.” Continue reading the main story At a […]
A team of geophysicists has recreated Jupiter’s jets in the laboratory for the first time and shown that they likely extend thousands of kilometers below Jupiter’s visible atmosphere. (via WSJ)
By Ian Simpson | WASHINGTON WASHINGTON A powerful storm system plowed up the U.S. Eastern seaboard with torrential showers and high winds on Monday, hindering airline and rail travel, after killing at least 21 people in the South, many in mobile homes demolished by tornadoes. The storm, which unleashed deadly twisters in Mississippi and Georgia over the weekend, turned cooler as it advanced on the Northeast, where […]
By Roberta Rampton | WASHINGTON WASHINGTON President Donald Trump’s press secretary promised reporters on Monday that he would never lie after a weekend briefing in which he made statements about the crowd size for Trump’s inauguration that were debunked. In comments to reporters on Saturday that became known as the “alternative facts” briefing, White House spokesman Sean Spicer declared that Trump’s crowd was “the largest audience to […]
