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Asia Pacific Philippine lawmakers started hearing an impeachment complaint against President Rodrigo Duterte on Monday, which alleges he betrayed the public trust over his “defeatist” approach to China and had abused his power during a bloody anti-drugs campaign. Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte attends the opening plenary of the World Economic Forum on ASEAN at a hotel in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, May 11, 2017. REUTERS/Samrang Pring MANILA: Philippine […]

WASHINGTON President Donald Trump is trying to determine how keeping his promise to move the U.S. Embassy in Israel to Jerusalem could affect his hopes of brokering a peace deal between the Israelis and the Palestinians, his secretary of state said on Sunday. Since taking office in January, Trump has shown signs of shelving his campaign pledge to move the embassy from Tel Aviv, while vowing to […]

Oil jumped after the energy ministers from Saudi Arabia and Russia said that an OPEC-led agreement to cut output should be extended until March 2018. Saudi energy minister Khalid Al Falih and his Russian counterpart Alexander Novak discussed oil output policy in Beijing after which they made a joint statement. Mr Falih said the next round of cuts will be on the same terms as the first […]

SYDNEY U.S. buyout firm TPG Capital Management on Monday raised its cash bid for Fairfax Media Ltd (FXJ.AX), offering A$2.76 billion ($2.04 billion) for the struggling Australian publisher and sending its shares to a six-year high. The fresh offer from TPG [TPG.UL] and partner Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan Board (OTPP) would allow shareholders to cash out completely rather than leaving them with scrip in a piecemeal collection […]

ABU DHABI // A team of doctors from hospitals in Abu Dhabi operated on 110 patients in six days during a visit to a remote part of south Yemen. On his fourth trip to the country last month, Dr Amin El Gohary, paediatric surgeon at Burjeel hospital Abu Dhabi, carried out the vital operations with two other doctors in the remote Al Mukalla region. A strong believer […]

Your daily guide to community and cultural activities across the Emirates for May 13, 2017, including performances, festivals, art exhibitions, film screenings, health and fitness events, talks, classes, workshops and family fun. Aarti Jhurani rounds up 10 things to do today in the UAE. Want to see your event listed here? Email us with the details and contact information at [email protected] newslide Abu Dhabi Film screening Cinema […]

Acer Computer Australia has reported after-tax profit of AU$3.2 million for the full year ended December 31, 2016, turning around the AU$3.6 million loss reported in the previous year. The Taiwanese electronics company did not break down figures according to business, but reported that revenue rose 10.4 percent from AU$275.9 million in 2015 to AU$304.6 million in 2016. Cash and cash equivalents increased 84 percent to AU$33.1 […]

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Singapore, one of the most urbanised nations on earth, is making land available for agriculture for the first time in decades for farmers to come up with high-tech ways of improving the city-state’s food security. About 60 hectares of land will be released for farming from August, in a move authorities describe as providing a “buffer” against disruption in the supply chain. Singapore is the third most […]

By Benjamin Kang Lim | BEIJING BEIJING China and the Philippines will start bilateral consultations on the disputed South China Sea this week, the Philippine ambassador to Beijing said, as Manila looks to ease tensions with Asia’s top economic power. Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte, who is visiting Beijing this weekend to attend a summit on China’s new Silk Road plan, has opted to court China for its […]

While equity volatility has collapsed to record lows (amid the biggest increase in net VIX shorts in 9 months), positioning across bond, FX, money market, and commodity markets has been shifting massively in recent weeks. As US Macro data has crashed to its weakest and most negative in 12 months…   US equity complacency has hit record lows…   As Speculators add to VIX shorts by the […]

BAGHDAD U.S.-backed Iraqi forces pushed deeper into the last pocket of Mosul controlled by Islamic State militants on Sunday as the battle for the city approaches an end after seven months of gruelling urban combat. The militants have now been dislodged from all but a handful of districts in the western half of Mosul including the Old City, where Islamic State is expected to make its last […]

ATHENS Three people died and 10 more were injured when a train derailed in northern Greece on Saturday night and ripped through a house, police said. The train carrying 70 passengers and five crew was heading from Athens to the second-biggest city of Thessaloniki when it derailed in the town of Adendro, 37 km (23 miles) from Thessaloniki, railway company TRAINOSE said. At least two carriages crashed […]

The cyber attacks that swept the globe on Friday likely aren’t over just yet: current data show more than 1.3m computer systems are still vulnerable to infection to the debilitating WannaCry infection. So far, 200,000 computers across 150 countries are known to have been infected in the first wave of the WannaCry cyber attack, Europol said on Sunday. “The recent attack is at an unprecedented level and […]

The ransomware attack caused chaos last week around the world, including at hospitals in the UK. sudok1, Getty Images/iStockphoto The global ransomware attack that caused chaos could spring back to life again as workers return to the office, experts have warned. While ransomware has been a growing menace for some time, this particular attack is without parallel, largely because the ransomware was combined with a worm-like functionality […]

TOKYO Western Digital Corp (WDC.O) has sought international arbitration to stop partner Toshiba Corp (6502.T) from selling its chips arm without its consent, potentially derailing a much-needed capital injection for the Japanese conglomerate. California-based Western Digital is a long-standing joint venture partner and runs Toshiba’s main semiconductor plant in Japan. It has sought to bid for the Toshiba chips business, but is not seen as the front-runner, […]

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) recently confirmed that the Space Launch System (SLS) rocket and Orion Spacecraft will have an unmanned maiden flight despite earlier plans for a crewed mission. According to the NASA, it is already too late into the mission planning schedule to accommodate changes from its original plan for the Exploration Mission 1 (EM-1), which was designed to have an unmanned first flight […]

Edmonton International Airport in Canada will become the first airport in the world to use the Robird on a daily basis. The Robird is a lifelike robotic bird that will scare real birds away from the airport, starting at the end of May. (via WSJ)

By Michael Martina and Christian Shepherd | BEIJING BEIJING North Korea kept a low profile at the opening of a summit in Beijing on China’s new Silk Road plan on Sunday, after the United States warned China Pyongyang’s attendance could affect the participation of other countries. North Korea’s attendance at China’s biggest diplomatic event this year raised further eyebrows after Pyongyang fired a ballistic missile early on […]

Abu Dhabi // Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed will hold talks at the White House with Donald Trump on Monday to discuss enhancing cooperation on counterterrorism, confronting Iran and other core issues in the increasingly close relationship. Over the course of what is expected to be a two-day visit to Washington, Sheikh Mohammed, Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi and Deputy Supreme Commander of the Armed Forces, is also […]

Chancellor Angela Merkel’s conservatives won a surprise victory on Sunday in regional elections in Germany’s most populous state, giving Europe’s most powerful leader a big boost in the run-up to national elections in September.  The Christian Democrats took control of North Rhine-Westphalia from their Social Democrat rivals, dealing a heavy blow to SPD leader Martin Schulz as he bids to unseat Ms Merkel in Berlin.  Meanwhile, the […]

By Dustin Volz and Eric Auchard | WASHINGTON/FRANKFURT WASHINGTON/FRANKFURT U.S. and European officials scrambled to catch the culprits behind a massive ransomware worm that caused damage across the globe over the weekend, stopping car factories, hospitals, shops and schools, as Microsoft pinned blame on governments for not disclosing more software vulnerabilities. The attack, which leveraged malicious software that security researchers widely believe was stolen from the U.S. National […]

ATHENS One person died and two others were injured when a fire fanned by an early heatwave tore through a forested area in a town near Athens on Sunday, the fire brigade said. TV pictures showed plumes of smoke rising above the town of Agioi Theodoroi, some 65 km (40 miles) west of Athens, as the fire burned through large areas of woodland. Rescuers recovered a body […]

President Uhuru Kenyatta of Kenya has called on China to rebalance an increasingly skewed trade relationship between Africa and the rising superpower, arguing that Beijing must do more to tackle a widening trade deficit. Africa’s trade balance with China has moved decisively into deficit due to a fall in the price of many African commodities, such as oil, copper, iron ore and cocoa. In 2015, the most […]

By Michel Rose and Jean-Baptiste Vey | PARIS PARIS Emmanuel Macron took power as president of France on Sunday, vowing to restore the country’s status in Europe and the world and heal divisions in society — a nod to the bitter campaign the pro-EU centrist fought to defeat a far-right leader. The 39-year-old former investment banker, unknown to the wider public three years ago and whose May […]

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