WASHINGTON President Donald Trump’s call for $1.5 billion this year to help build a wall along the border with Mexico could be in jeopardy as fellow Republicans in Congress weigh delaying a decision on the request. Republican Senator Roy Blunt, a member of his party’s leadership, told reporters on Tuesday that money for the wall likely would not be coupled with a spending bill that must pass […]
The United States Department of Commerce’s Bureau of Industry and Security has removed Chinese telecommunications technology solutions provider ZTE from its trading blacklist following the company pleading guilty to illegally exporting products to Iran. “Upon recommendation by BIS, the company and ZTE Kangxun Telecommunications Ltd will be removed from the Entity List on 29 March 2017 (United States time),” ZTE said in a statement [PDF] to the […]
BEIJING/TAIPEI A Taiwan man who had gone missing in China is being investigated on suspicion of harming national security, China’s government said on Wednesday, in a case that has caused alarm on the self-ruled and democratic island Beijing claims as its own. Lee Ming-che, a community college worker known for supporting human rights in China, disappeared earlier this month after entering China’s Zhuhai city via the Chinese […]
WASHINGTON U.S. President Donald Trump told a group of senators on Tuesday that he expected lawmakers would be able to reach a deal on healthcare, without offering specifics on how they would do it or what had changed since a healthcare reform bill was pulled last week for insufficient support. “I have no doubt that that’s going to happen very quickly,” Trump said at a bipartisan reception […]
SYDNEY Asian shares inched ahead on Wednesday while the dollar and commodities rallied as investors shook off disappointment about U.S. President Donald Trump’s failed healthcare bill and focused on an improving outlook for global growth. The cheerful mood did not extend to the pound which was on the skids as the British government sent a letter to Brussels formally starting the country’s exit from the European Union. […]
HAVANA Cuban President Raul Castro participated in an “intimate and simple family ceremony” on Tuesday interring the ashes of his sister Agustina del Carmen Castro Ruz, according to state television. Agustina was the youngest of the seven Castro siblings, including Raul and Fidel, who together have run the island nation for nearly 60 years. Agustina, who kept a low public profile, died on Sunday in Havana at […]
Your daily guide to community and cultural activities across the Emirates for March 29, 2017, including performances, festivals, art exhibitions, film screenings, health and fitness events, talks, classes, workshops and family fun. Ellen Fortini 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 Family workshop Book […]
Overseas companies that invest in the UK issued a flurry of warnings on Tuesday about the threat Brexit poses to their businesses, signalling their growing concern as the UK prepares to start the formal process of leaving the EU. Forty European business lobbies, representing 20m companies in 34 countries, issued a statement calling for a post-Brexit settlement which would preserve the integrity of the single market, deliver […]
By Valerie Volcovici and Jeff Mason | WASHINGTON WASHINGTON President Donald Trump on Tuesday signed an order to undo Obama-era regulations to curb climate change, keeping a campaign promise to support the coal industry while calling into question U.S. support for an international deal to fight global warming. Flanked by coal miners, Trump enacted his “Energy Independence” executive order at the Environmental Protection Agency. A coalition of […]
After the biggest downturn in a generation, there are reasons to think the worst of the commodities slump might be over. The Financial Times’s Commodities Global Summit began on Tuesday in Lausanne, Switzerland. Here are the main talking points from the first day. There was no shortage of talk on Opec, which in November agreed its first reduction in supply in almost a decade. Executives from some of the world’s […]
When was the first time you smoked weed? For those who’ve never indulged (or perhaps never inhaled), the question might seem too personal for an interview. But, for the millions of Americans who smoke marijuana, it could be an entrée to a host of interesting questions: Where are you from? Who’d you hang out with when you were in high school? What was your relationship with your […]
By Josh Smith and James Mackenzie | KABUL KABUL Afghanistan plans to double the number of elite special forces from 17,000 troops, officials said, part of a long-term strategy to bolster units stretched and exhausted by persistent attacks from Taliban insurgents and other Islamist militants. Special forces, who represent a small fraction of the 300,000-strong armed forces, have been carrying out nearly 70 percent of the army’s […]
(Image: C-SPAN broadcast) Rules preventing internet providers from selling personal information, such as customer browsing histories, will be repealed, following a vote in the US House of Representatives this afternoon. The Republican-led House voted 215-203 in favor of repealing the rules, implemented just a few months ago under the previous Obama administration. It follows a similar vote in the Senate last week, which also speedily passed the […]
By Ju-min Park and Christine Kim | SEOUL SEOUL If ousted South Korean president Park Geun-hye is arrested this week, she will be sent to a solitary cell where she will be expected to rise at 6:30 a.m. and go to bed by 9 p.m. The only privilege she could have over other inmates will be slightly more space and a toilet and shower in an adjoining […]
WASHINGTON The U.S. Commerce Department will remove Chinese telecom equipment maker ZTE Corp (000063.SZ) from a trade blacklist after the company admitted to violating sanctions on Iran, the Commerce Department said in a notice made public on Tuesday, At the same time, the Commerce Department said it would impose severe restrictions on former ZTE chief executive, Shi Lirong, who the agency accused of approving efforts to skirt […]
NEW YORK Seven young contestants from around the United States put their best and smelliest shoe forward at the 42nd National Rotten Sneaker Contest in New York City on Tuesday. Twelve-year-old Connor Slocombe claimed the first place title for having the worst-smelling sneaker after three prior attempts to win the contest in years past. The four judges of the contest, which was held at Ripley’s Believe It […]
WASHINGTON The U.S. Senate voted overwhelmingly on Tuesday to approve the expansion of NATO to allow Montenegro to join the alliance. As voting continued, the vote was 86 to 2 in favour of Montenegro’s accession to the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation. The vote sends the issue to the White House for President Donald Trump’s signature. (Reporting by Patricia Zengerle; Editing by James Dalgleish) ‘); $(‘.second-article-divide’).append($(‘.slider.slider-module’)); $(‘.third-article-divide’).append(”); var […]
Over the years I have asked numerous jazz musicians the same question: what goes through your mind when improvising? The answers vary wildly, from the technically obtuse to the infuriatingly abstract, but the general consensus – whether the interviewee is a legend such as Herbie Hancock or John McLaughlin, or an unsigned music student – generally boils down to “as little as possible”. No one has ever […]
A former University of New Mexico student failed to persuade a federal appeals court that the school violated her free speech rights by rejecting an essay containing anti-lesbian remarks that she had written for a film class. The 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals on Tuesday said the university had legitimate pedagogical concerns when its professors refused to grade Monica Pompeo’s critique of a film about a […]
The triggering this week of Article 50 of the Lisbon treaty to facilitate Britain’s exit from the EU is undoubtedly a momentous event. At issue in the forthcoming talks will be whether Britain can win back control over immigration and lawmaking without wrecking trade relations in its biggest market and damaging London’s status as the pre-eminent international financial centre. A minimum of two years of difficult and […]
A typical office scanner can be infiltrated and a company’s network compromised using different light sources, according to a new paper by researchers from Ben-Gurion University of the Negev and the Weizmann Institute of Science. “In the paper, “Oops! I Think I Scanned Malware,” we demonstrated how to use a laser or smart bulb to establish a covert channel between an outside attacker and malware installed on […]
Telstra has announced that it will be launching a new suite of managed security services and two new cybersecurity centres in Melbourne and Sydney. According to Neil Campbell, Telstra’s director of Security Solutions, the offerings will be ready for customers by July 19, with the aim to make the cybersecurity challenge easier for organisations to deal with. “We’re taking this opportunity to rethink and reinvent really our […]
CAIRO Islamic State’s branch in Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula posted a video on Tuesday depicting the beheading of two men the militant Islamist group said it had found guilty of practicing witchcraft and sorcery. The video, posted on a Telegram channel often used by IS, showed the group forming a religious police unit known as the Hasbah in northern Sinai, where it has waged an insurgency for years. […]
YOLA, Nigeria A former Nigerian state governor sentenced to five years in prison for corruption this month has been granted bail on medical grounds pending his appeal, his lawyer said on Tuesday, though prison officials queried the basis of the ruling. James Bala Ngillari, governor of northeastern Adamawa state for seven months until May 2015, was convicted of awarding a contract for the procurement of 25 vehicles […]
