For those out of the loop, Amazon has just been granted a patent for an “airborne fulfillment center utilizing unmanned aerial vehicles for item delivery,” a fancy phrase for what’s essentially a flying warehouse. The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office had already handed Amazon the go-ahead back in April, but only now have the plans surfaced online via the office’s website. What’s described in the patents, as others […]
30 December 2016 The Roads and Transport Authority – Dubai: A delegation from the Roads and Transport Authority (RTA) has met with specialists in research & production centers as well as public & private entities in the United States and the United Kingdom during visits to these two countries. The visits were part of efforts to develop Dubai Autonomous Transportation Strategy involving self-driving vehicles of the RTA. […]
Getty Images/iStockphoto With 2016 drawing to a close, here is a look at some of the things — tech, as well as a number of industry metrics — that you should be keeping an eye on over the coming year. CES thoughts Before I begin, I want to mention the first big tech shindig of 2017, which will be CES. I pay very little attention to CES […]
The Connecticut Supreme Court on Friday instated the 2002 murder conviction of Kennedy cousin Michael Skakel on a charge that he murdered his neighbour in 1975, rejecting his argument that his lawyer at trial was inadequate. Skakel, the nephew of Robert F. Kennedy’s widow, Ethel Kennedy, was freed from a prison sentence by a lower court in November 2013. (Reporting by David Ingram in New York; Editing […]
Back in September we wrote about what we thought for sure would be the wackiest new state law passed in 2016. The law came from the state of California (of course) and demanded a 40% reduction in methane gas from cow flatulence by 2030. Here’s what we had to say about the bill: In yet another attack on California businesses, yesterday Governor Jerry Brown signed into law […]
KINSHASA Congolese President Joseph Kabila will step down after elections held before the end of 2017, under a deal struck by political parties on Friday, according to a lead mediator from the Catholic Church. Under the deal, Kabila will be unable to change the constitution to extend his mandate and run for a third term, Marcel Utembi, president of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference in the Democratic Republic […]
Here’s something you don’t hear enough: Journalists, you’re doing a good job. Chances are good that you learned a new skill this year and put it into action. Maybe 2016 was the year you started using Snapchat to tell global stories. Perhaps you figured out how to use GIFs, or augmented your reporting with data. It’s also possible that you unleashed some bots upon the world. In […]
WASHINGTON U.S. defence and security agencies said they believed the threat of militant attacks inside the United States was low during this New Year’s holiday, yet some chance of an attack was “undeniable,” according to security assessments reviewed on Friday. “There are no indications of specific threats to the U.S. Homeland,” said a “situational awareness” bulletin issued to U.S. Army personnel this week by the Army’s Training […]
There are two stories we can tell about US higher education. In the first, public two- and four-year colleges face increasing student service costs, 20 percent less state support than they received before the recession, and a shortfall they pass onto students, who now graduate with an average of $30,000 of debt. In the second story, those institutions have contained costs, keeping tuition increases at inflationary levels, […]
BEIRUT A spokesman for the Syrian Islamist militia Jabhat Fateh al-Sham, formerly called the Nusra Front, criticised a nationwide Turkish- and Russian-backed ceasefire in Syria on Friday, saying the political solution under this agreement would “reproduce the criminal regime”. The group, which changed its name and announced in July that it was severing ties with al Qaeda, condemned the deal for not mentioning President Bashar al-Assad’s fate. […]
Apple Inc (AAPL.O) will trim production of iPhones by about 10 percent in the January-March quarter, the Nikkei financial daily reported, citing calculations based on data from suppliers. The company slashed output by 30 percent in the January-March quarter this year due to accumulated inventory, the Nikkei reported. s.nikkei.com/2hClWTv Apple’s shares were down 0.85 percent in midday trading. The company did not immediately respond to requests for […]
RIO DE JANEIRO Rio de Janeiro investigators suspect that Greece’s ambassador to Brazil was murdered at the behest of his wife and a police officer with whom she was romantically involved, Globo TV reported on Friday, citing police sources. Greek Ambassador Kyriakos Amiridis, 59, had been missing since Monday night. His Brazilian wife, Françoise, reported him missing to police on Wednesday. The pair have a 10-year-old daughter. […]
Hindsight Capital beats the market, and all competition, every year. But how would it do over a decade? For the uninitiated, Hindsight Capital is an imaginary hedge fund that is blessed with perfect foresight, which features at this time of year in the Long View column. As real fund managers deploying real money have to hedge their bets, it always does far better than any of them […]
Dubai, UAE, 30 December 2016 Dubai Electricity and Water Authority (DEWA) won the Best Business Award 2016, which is one of the most prestigious business awards in the UK in the field of health and safety. This reflects DEWA’s international position in leadership and excellence, and its efforts, commitment and achievements in the field of health and safety over the last 15 years. HE Saeed Mohammed Al […]
By Jakub Iglewski | WARSAW WARSAW Polish President Andrzej Duda and hundreds of mourners on Friday attended the funeral of Lukasz Urban, the Polish truck driver who was killed and his vehicle used to crash into a Berlin Christmas market last week. The 37-year-old father of a teenaged boy was among 12 people killed in the attack claimed by Islamic State. Germany’s Federal Prosecutor’s Office said on […]
Tesla Transport underpins and supports both urban and rural living worldwide. Whether this is just a runaround to get from A to B, a flight to get to a conference or distribution networks for parcels and supplies, companies and the general public require a strong transport infrastructure for cities and businesses to thrive. However, as transport is so ingrained, new and innovative solutions are required to lessen […]
ANKARA Turkey would welcome the United States at Syrian peace talks planned in Astana, Kazakhstan, but the Kurdish YPG militia should not be involved, Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said on Friday. “From the start, we have told Russia that a terrorist organisation like the YPG should not be in Astana,” Cavusoglu told reporters in the southern city of Alanya, in comments broadcast live on television. “If […]
For a glimpse into just how insane modern finance and capital markets are, look no further than Italy’s thrice insolvent (in three years) bank Monte Paschi, which after failing to finalize a private, is finalizing the terms of its nationalization with the Italian government: a rescue which will cost Italian taxpayers at least €6.6 billion, and likely more. The bailout, however, is not the punchline. What is, […]
By Selam Gebrekidan | TOREKOV, Sweden TOREKOV, Sweden For more than a year, Girmay Mehari dreaded his 18th birthday next February. The teenager escaped from an Eritrean jail two years ago after he was sentenced to an indefinite term for evading national service or plotting to escape the country. The police never spelled out the charges. With money his brothers raised in New York and Israel, Girmay […]
By Yashaswini Swamynathan Wall Street aimed to end 2016 on a positive note, setting up the Dow for its best annual performance since 2013 amid increasing optimism about the outlook for the economy. The markets have shown surprising resilience to major political events, such as Britain’s vote in June to leave the European Union and the election of Donald Trump as U.S. president in November. U.S. stocks, […]
A team of researchers made a significant breakthrough which will help patients with heart problems all over the world. The scientists managed to create synthetic stem cells, which can help the heart tissue regenerate just as well as normal stem cells, while also avoiding the complications associated with them. Promising Results A team of American and Chinese researchers joined efforts in order to provide a better treatment […]
By Polina Nikolskaya and Svetlana Reiter | MOSCOW MOSCOW President Vladimir Putin ruled out on Friday expelling anyone in retaliation for Washington’s decision to throw out 35 Russian diplomats and impose sanctions on two of the country’s intelligence agencies. RIA news agency quoted Putin as saying he would consider the actions of President-elect Donald Trump, who takes office next month, when deciding on further steps in Russia-U.S. […]
As we live through it, every year seems packed with significant events and key players who, for better or worse, seize our attention on the world stage. But as 2016 draws to a close and the white noise of 24-hour news cycles and transient Twitter storms fades into the background, it is already clear that history will remember only a handful of those people, each of whom […]
This has already changed the course of the Syrian war. Turkey grudgingly accepted the fall of Aleppo in return for a de facto recognition of its zone of influence along the Syrian-Turkish border. Instead of supporting rebel groups fighting in Aleppo or pressuring the Assad forces besieging the city, Turkey raced to capture territory from the Islamic State before the Kurds did. The Kremlin is now not […]
