19 December 2016 Dubai: Rixos The Palm Dubai has experienced a 12 percent increase in occupancy rates in 2016 as compared to the previous year reaching the target of 90 percent. Rixos The Palm Dubai is one of the most sought after luxury hotels in the UAE by UAE citizens and residents, GCC nationals and residents and many other travelers from around the world. The influx of […]
MOSCOW The Russian Defence Ministry said on Monday that one of its planes had crashed in northeast Siberia, but that nobody had been killed in the accident, Russian news agencies reported. It said 23 people had been airlifted to hospital, 16 of whom were in serious condition. The Defence Ministry Ilyushin Il-18 aircraft made an emergency landing 30 kilometres (18.64 miles)from an airfield near the town of […]
YANGON Malaysia said on Monday the plight of Rohingya Muslims in Myanmar was a regional concern and called for the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) to coordinate humanitarian aid and investigate alleged atrocities committed against them. Malaysian Foreign Minister Anifah Aman said progress in improving the human rights of the Rohingya people in Rakhine state had been “rather slow” and reports of arbitrary arrests, extrajudicial killings, […]
By Henning Gloystein | SINGAPORE SINGAPORE Oil prices rose on Monday in anticipation of tighter crude supply going into 2017 following the decision by OPEC and other producers to cut output to prop up prices. Brent crude futures, the international benchmark for oil prices, were trading at $55.57 per barrel at 0401 GMT, up 36 cents, or 0.7 percent, from their last close. U.S. West Texas Intermediate […]
The Christmas album has proved to be a tough roasted chestnut to crack over the years. Few musicians emerge from the ordeal of releasing a festive single with their credibility intact, so surely only the most foolhardy (or cash-strapped) of artists would attempt a whole LP of seasonal tunes. Yet try they do. From the hipster-pleasing holiday grooves of James Brown to the contemporary cheer of this […]
The barbarians at the gate have claimed a victory in the battle for control over China Vanke, the country’s largest retail property developer, after the company called off a deal to take on a new majority shareholder. Shares in Vanke fell more than 6 per cent to HK$18.22 in Hong Kong on Monday morning after the home builder said on Sunday that it had dropped plans to […]
Federer landed on his still-fragile left knee, which in February had required him to have surgery for the first time in his career, keeping him out for more than two months. Though he got up slowly at Wimbledon and finished the match, he did not finish the season. He even missed the Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, which had long been one of his major late-career […]
Monday 02:20 GMT Overview Stocks across Asia were weaker, retreating in line with Wall Street’s slight pullback on Friday from last week’s record highs, and as the US dollar softened. What to watch Investors are turning their attention to the Bank of Japan’s policy decision on Tuesday, in the wake of the Federal Reserve’s interest rate rise last week. While the dollar’s strength over recent weeks seems […]
By Ben Blanchard | BEIJING BEIJING An underwater drone taken by a Chinese naval vessel in the South China Sea last week is part of U.S. surveillance efforts in the disputed waterway, but Beijing won’t likely make a big fuss about its handover, Chinese state media and experts said. U.S. President-elect Donald Trump, who has vowed to take a more aggressive approach in dealing with China over […]
SEOUL South Korea sent eight North Koreans and two vessels it had rescued drifting at sea last week back across their maritime border on Monday, and patrol vessels from the North were on hand to receive them, the South’s unification ministry said. All eight of those rescued had said they wanted to return to the North, ministry spokesman Jeong Joon-hee said. Their return came after North Korea […]
Ahmed Al-Balushi: The agreement contributes towards enhancing our public transport services Talal Al-Mamari: The partnership comes as part of Omantel 3.0 transformational strategy to enable digital society to flourish Muscat, December 18, 2016 Omantel, the Sultanate’s first telecoms provider, and Oman National Transport Company, ‘MWASALAT’, signed a partnership agreement to provide free WiFi in all MWASALAT buses, in addition to providing a number of other services […]
On a clear afternoon on September 28, 2008, Elon Musk was on the verge of a nervous breakdown. Years earlier he had sunk most of his internet fortune into a commercial space company – SpaceX – and was now vying for a lucrative deal with NASA to resupply the International Space Station. There was only one problem: the last three attempts to send a rocket into space […]
On Saturday morning, the Pentagon was eager to announce that China would return a U.S. Navy underwater drone after its military scooped up the submersible in the South China Sea late this week and sparked a row that drew in President-elect Donald Trump. As previously reported, Pentagon spokesman Peter Cook said that “through direct engagement with Chinese authorities, we have secured an understanding that the Chinese will […]
By Brenda Goh, Allison Lampert and Brad Haynes | SHANGHAI/MONTREAL/SAO PAULO SHANGHAI/MONTREAL/SAO PAULO New rules governing Chinese airline startups are fueling hopes at Embraer SA (EMBR3.SA), Bombardier Inc (BBDb.TO) and other regional jet makers for a spike in orders next year, but local competition and doubts about size restrictions still loom as major obstacles. The new policy is aimed at encouraging fledgling carriers to boost domestic flights […]
Your daily guide to community and cultural activities across the Emirates for December 19, 2016, including performances, festivals, art exhibitions, film screenings, health and fitness events, talks, classes, workshops and family fun. newslide Abu Dhabi Film screenings Catch two film screenings as part of the Cinema Space series. The Patience Stone (pictured), a film in Dari (Afhgan Persion) with English subtitles, is about a young woman in […]
Senior American officials and top commanders in the Middle East say the brutal urban fight for Mosul is succeeding — however slowly — but is proving to be tougher than expected. These officials predict that the battle to oust the Islamic State from Iraq’s second-largest city could last two to four more months. Continue reading the main story Brett H. McGurk, President Obama’s envoy to the international […]
By Kylie MacLellan | LONDON LONDON Britain may need a transitional agreement to smooth its exit from the European Union but it should not “buy back” into too many of the bloc’s regulations, Britain’s trade minister Liam Fox said on Sunday. Fox, who campaigned for a Brexit vote in June’s referendum, also indicated he was seeking a flexible approach on trade to try to ensure the best […]
LONDON Leading Brexit campaigner Nigel Farage said on Sunday he wanted to be a bridge between the British government and the new U.S. administration. Last month U.S. President-elect Donald Trump said Farage – the former leader of the United Kingdom Independence Party (UKIP) – would be great as Britain’s envoy to Washington, but the British government dismissed the suggestion. “I can help to be a bridge between […]
In this Dec. 8, 2016 photo, Steve Burke and Jim Besha of Albany Engineering Corp. stand at the site of an abandoned iron mine in the Adirondacks, in Mineville, N.Y., where they’re seeking a federal permit to build an underground hydroelectric pumped storage project. The hills behind them are “tailings” leftover from crushing ore to extract iron from the mine that closed in 1971. (AP Photo/Mary Esch) […]
By Jeffrey Heller | JERUSALEM JERUSALEM Settlers due to be evicted from an outpost in the occupied West Bank under an Israeli court order accepted a government-proposed deal on Sunday to head off a forced evacuation and confrontation with troops. The Supreme Court had ruled that the Amona outpost, where 330 settlers live, must be evacuated by Dec. 25. The court found that Amona was built illegally […]
LONDON Talks aimed at averting a planned Christmas strike by British Airways (ICAG.L) cabin crews will be held on Monday, conciliation service Acas said. Last week, British Airways said the Unite trade union had called a strike involving one of its five cabin crew fleets on Christmas Day and Boxing Day, Dec. 26. More than 2,500 Unite members who serve as crews on long- and short-haul routes […]
The Federal Reserve will wait six months before raising interest rates again, according to a survey of top economists that suggests policymakers will maintain a cautious approach to tightening policy until they see the economic package US president-elect Donald Trump has promised. Officials will raise the Fed’s key short-term rate just twice in 2017, starting with a move in June, an FT survey of 31 Wall Street […]
In his characteristic third-person style, One River Asset Management’s Chief Investment Officer Eric Peters takes on all-comers in his latest letter to investors; lamenting the rapidity of losses, juxtaposing Michelle Obama’s “hopeless” America with the US equity markets’ near-record “hope”, and denouncing the scourge of risk managers everywhere – central bankers… Hope all goes well… “No one has real risk on,” said the CIO, dizzy. “We’ve all […]
By David Morgan | WASHINGTON WASHINGTON A top aide to Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign said on Sunday it was an “open question” whether President-elect Donald Trump’s advisers colluded with Russia to hack into Democratic Party emails to try to sway the Nov. 8 election. Clinton campaign chairman John Podesta said there was evidence that Trump associates had contact with a Russian intelligence official and the website Wikileaks […]
