BANJUL Gambia’s longtime leader Yahya Jammeh has asked the West African bloc ECOWAS for an extension of a midday deadline for him to leave power until 4 p.m. local time (1600 GMT), government sources said on Friday. Guinea’s President Alpha Conde and Mauritania’s President Mohamed Ould Abdel Aziz arrived in the Gambian capital Banjul on Friday for last-ditch talks with Jammeh, witnesses said. It was not clear […]
BERLIN There is no reason to speculate about a return to the Group of Eight (G8) meetings that included Russia, a spokesman for the German government said on Friday. Italian Foreign Minister Angelino Alfano said on Tuesday that Russia was an important international partner and world leaders should consider inviting it back to the annual summit of major industrialised nations. German government spokesman Steffen Seibert said Chancellor […]
Kabir Mulchandani is a hands-on developer. While he may not be laying bricks, the SKAI Holdings CEO forwent his air-conditioned office in Downtown Dubai for an often stinking hot construction site on the Palm Jumeirah for the two years that it took for his flagship $1.2 billion hotel to be built. It was only in November that he finally walked offsite when the Viceroy Dubai Palm Jumeirah […]
SEOUL South Korea’s special prosecutor’s office said on Friday it summoned a Samsung Electronics Co Ltd executive for questioning as it investigates a widening influence-peddling scandal that has embroiled President Park Geun-hye. The office said it had summoned Executive Vice President Hwang Sung-soo for questioning at 2 p.m. (0500 GMT) on Friday, adding he was classified as a witness. It did not elaborate. Hwang is the fifth […]
Thirty people still missing at Italian hotel buried by massive avalanche | Reuters ‘+Reuters.inlinevideo.title+’ ‘+Reuters.inlinevideo.length+’ ‘); } PENNE, Italy Rescuers dug all night in deep snow and debris in search of some 30 missing people who were staying in a luxury mountain hotel in Italy when an avalanche struck almost two days ago. Officials have confirmed finding two bodies, while Italian media said two more were located […]
BEIJING China National Chemical Corp, or ChemChina, said on Friday it has sought the U.S. anti-trust regulator’s approval for its planned $43 billion acquisition of Swiss crop protection and seed group Syngenta AG (SYNN.S). “We have filed an HSR Act with the FTC after good communications with the case team. We believe the U.S. anti-trust process is on track,” ChemChina said in an email, referring to the U.S. […]
As previous reports have suggested, Samsung is officially nearing a public shrift, particularly about the Galaxy Note 7 fiasco of yesteryear. It might finally give a closure to the company’s prolonged strain, which was caused by numerous of random Note 7 explosions. Galaxy Note Probe Findings Samsung will hold a press conference detailing the cause behind the explosions, alongside a “quality enhancement plan,” reports say. The event will […]
Quantico star Priyanka Chopra won her second People’s Choice Award this week for favourite dramatic TV actress for her portrayal of FBI agent Alex Parrish. Unlike the Golden Globes or Academy Awards, the annual People’s Choice Awards, held on Wednesday at the Microsoft Theatre in Los Angeles, are decided by fans rather than industry peers. Chopra last year became the first South Asian actress to win a […]
January 20, 2017 by: Jude Webber in Mexico City One the eve of Donald Trump’s inauguration, Mexico has extradited Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán, the country’s most powerful drug lord, to face trial in the US. Mr Guzmán, at one time credited with smuggling half of all the illicit drugs entering the US, twice escaped from maximum security jails in Mexico, most recently in 2015 through a tunnel […]
“Basically what I did was work very, very hard, physically and mentally, to play 21 years, and that was the key to my career,” said Rodriguez, who set the record for games played as a catcher. “I know there was a lot of speculation, but look at where I am right now.” Now he is part of the gilded 1 percent who have worn a major league […]
TAIPEI Taiwan aspires to create a “new era” of peace with China, which should set aside the baggage of history and have positive dialogue, Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen said in a letter to Pope Francis, adding military action cannot resolve problems. The issue of self-ruled and proudly democratic Taiwan has shot to the top of the international agenda since U.S. President-elect Donald Trump broke with decades of […]
Bernie Dunn may have retired from the US Army but he remains on a mission in the Middle East. The Boeing regional president hit a bullseye on December 11 when his team secured an $8 billion deal with Iran Air in the airline’s first plane contract since 1979. The world’s largest aerospace manufacturer beat out its French rival, Airbus, by 11 days. Though Airbus then secured 20 […]
HTC Vive has launched a $10 million program to support virtual reality developers working on projects that drive awareness and understanding of global issues such as famine, poverty, gender disparity, and climate change. VR technology has drawn a lot of attention, particularly in the last few years, for its ability to stimulate our senses, transport us to an alternate reality, and ultimately entertain us. But beyond the […]
MELBOURNE A man deliberately drove into pedestrians, killing three and injuring more than 15 in the centre of Australia’s second largest city Melbourne on Friday, but police said the lunch-time incident was not terrorism-related. Police eventually rammed the car and shot the 26-year-old driver in the arm, before dragging him from the vehicle and arresting him. Police said the man had a history of family violence and […]
By Nate Raymond | NEW YORK CITY NEW YORK CITY Mexican cartel kingpin Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman is expected to appear in a court in New York on Friday, shortly after his surprise extradition from Mexico ended a decades-long career in drug-trafficking, dare-devil jail breaks and murder. A Justice Department spokesman said El Chapo, or Shorty, once one of the world’s most wanted drug lords, was set […]
A small moth with a yellowish-white coif of scales has been named after U.S. President-edit Donald Trump, in honour of the former reality TV show host and real estate magnate’s signature hairdo. The new species, dubbed Neopalpa donaldtrumpi, lives in a habitat that spans southern California and Mexico’s Baja California and was named by evolutionary biologist Vazrick Nazari in an article published in the scientific journal ZooKeys. […]
TOKYO Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, speaking in parliament hours before U.S. President-elect Donald Trump takes office, said on Friday he wanted to further strengthen the Japan-U.S. alliance. Trump sparked worries in Tokyo and the rest of the Asia-Pacific with campaign comments which included a pledge to make allies pay more for the security provided by U.S. forces and opposition to the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) trade deal. […]
The new UAE fire and life safety code is expected to be released on January 22 – but it will not be retrospective. Considering that upgrading the code was made more urgent by the alarming string of fires in existing residential buildings and the realisation that more than 1,000 buildings in the UAE still have a form of external cladding that is at high risk of rapidly […]
By Kevin Yao and Elias Glenn | BEIJING BEIJING China’s economy grew a faster-than-expected 6.8 percent in the fourth quarter, boosted by higher government spending and record bank lending, giving it a solid tailwind heading into what is expected to be a turbulent 2017. But Beijing’s decision to raise spending to meet its official growth target could exact a high price, as policymakers grapple with financial risks […]
A newer version of e-cigarettes called vape pens do not look much like the traditional cigarettes, but findings of a new study involving young smokers suggest that seeing somebody use this device can spark the desire to smoke. Less Resemblance To Traditional Cigarettes Vape pens, or vaporizers, are battery-powered gadgets that work much like other e-cigarettes. These devices feature a heating element that turns liquid nicotine and […]
When it comes to bare-knuckle political lobbying, 12-year-old Claudia Conway is a chip off the old block. Today her mother, Kellyanne Conway, the Republican pollster credited with turning round Donald Trump’s presidential campaign, will be celebrating her 50th birthday at the inauguration of the 45th President of the United States. As his special counsellor, Conway is looking forward to life as the most powerful woman in the […]
Donald Trump vowed to make America “greater than ever before” as he stood framed by Washington’s Lincoln Memorial and addressed a crowd of supporters on the eve of his inauguration as the 45th president of the United States. “It’s a movement like we’ve never seen anywhere in the world,” the former property developer and reality television star declared before fireworks lit up the sky above the National Mall […]
Palmer, the staff director, also did not return requests for comment. But in a Dec. 19 email to FEC commissioners and other top staffers, Palmer listed several efforts his management team has undertaken to address morale concerns. Palmer also praised the embattled Orrock for “her outstanding leadership within the compliance division” and reported witnessing “overwhelming joy and happiness” among FEC compliance division staff as they gathered during […]
TOKYO Japanese Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida on Friday objected to mention on the Pyeongchang Olympics website of islands disputed by his country and South Korea, saying it was “unacceptable” and went against the spirit of the international competition. Ties between Japan and South Korea, host of the 2018 Winter Games in Pyeongchang, have often been fraught over history, especially Japan’s 1910-1945 colonisation of the Korean peninsula. Both […]
