By ROD NORDLAND and ERIC SCHMITT August 13, 2016 CAIRO — American military drones monitored Islamic State militants loading up hundreds of cars, buses and trucks with fighters and civilians and fleeing the city of Manbij, Syria, on Friday, as Syrian rebels advanced and the extremists lost yet another stronghold. On Wednesday, the Libyan city of Surt, held by the Islamic State for more than a year, also fell to pro-government […]
By SHUAIB ALMOSAWA and ROD NORDLAND August 13, 2016 SANA, Yemen — Airstrikes carried out by warplanes from a military coalition led by Saudi Arabia killed at least 19 people, mostly children, on Saturday in a residential area and a school in northern Yemen, witnesses and hospital officials said. One bombardment in the village of Birken in the Razih District, near Yemen’s northern border with Saudi Arabia, struck the home of […]
A new study, led by Prof. Jaesung Jang at Ulsan National Institute of Science and Technology (UNIST), South Korea, has developed a new sensor for early detection of heart attack in humans. Heart disease is the leading cause of death for both men and women. Therefore, a fast and reliable diagnosis of heart attack is urgently needed. A new study, led by Prof. Jaesung Jang (School of […]
In order to keep your gear load lighter, Patagonia’s new down-filled sleeping bag system is designed to only insulate the lower half of your body, allowing you to keep the temp of your body regulated depending on the jacket you wear. The top half of the bag is a thin, shell material and features a lighter, half-zip design. It packs small & weighs just 1-pound. Available September […]
Well-understood physical and chemical processes can easily explain the alleged evidence of a secret, large-scale atmospheric spraying program, commonly referred to as “chemtrails” or “covert geoengineering,” concludes a new study from Carnegie Science, University of California Irvine, and the nonprofit organization Near Zero. Some groups and individuals erroneously believe that the long-lasting condensation trails, or contrails, left behind aircraft are evidence of a secret large-scale spraying program. […]
While the more than 5 meter long Greenland shark is one of the world’s largest sharks, it is also one of the least understood animals on our planet. The Greenland shark’s general biology and way of life have been a mystery to biologists for many years. However, marine biologists at the University of Copenhagen have now deployed an epoch-making method to unveil one of the greatest of […]
Humans have evolved a disproportionately large brain as a result of sizing each other up in large cooperative social groups, researchers have proposed. A team led by computer scientists at Cardiff University suggest that the challenge of judging a person’s relative standing and deciding whether or not to cooperate with them has promoted the rapid expansion of human brain size over the last 2 million years. In […]
By ISABEL KERSHNER August 12, 2016 KIBBUTZ SDE BOKER, Israel — The rare, intimate and reflective interview with Israel’s founding prime minister was filmed nearly 50 years ago, but it never aired. David Ben-Gurion, at 82 and five years out of office, spoke in the six-hour interview of state-building and the biblical prophets that guided him; the security imperative of his young nation and Israel’s quest for spiritual and […]
A federal appeals court yesterday ruled that the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) overstepped its bounds when it issued an order to preempt state rules limiting the development of municipal broadband networks in Tennessee and North Carolina. The decision was welcomed by the telecom industry, which has in some places fought against city-led efforts to expand broadband services to more people. Supporters of local broadband expressed disappointment and […]
Users like the convenience of Google’s Drive suite of applications, but the Docs, Sheets and Slides apps haven’t received high ratings from mobile users, especially when it comes to using them to make tables and charts. However, an update to the Docs, Sheets and Slides apps for Android released this week aims to make them easier to use than ever. For instance, when users copy a body […]
While Salesforce didn’t shout from the rooftops about its recent decision to acquire the “living document” platform provider Quip, it clearly sees big potential in integrating Quip’s offerings into its own. Quip, a four-year-old San Francisco-based tech firm with just about 40 employees, is on track to become a wholly owned subsidiary of Salesforce, which is paying an estimated $750 million for the company. Since news of […]
UAE. While cybersecurity is one of the most prevalent issues of our time, the resulting impact of a cyber incident is still largely unproven. Recognizing the need of business leaders to have clarity around the enterprise-wide effect of such events, Deloitte the global leader in cyber risk advisory services, released: “Beneath the surface of a cyberattack: A deeper look at business impacts,” a risk-based report outlining the […]
INTERNATIONAL. The future for many young people across the Middle East and North Africa looks bleak. The World Bank records that 54% of the working age population in the Middle East and North Africa is unemployed with little prospect of any positive immediate change. An average of 28.7% of 15 to 24-year-olds in the Middle East and 30.6% of those in North Africa are unemployed according to […]
INTERNATIONAL. A KPMG report finds that the global Political Risk and Crisis Management insurance market looks set to exceed $10bn by 2018 A KPMG report, out today, finds that the that the global Political Risk and Crisis Management insurance market looks set to exceed $10bn by 2018, an anticipated $2bn of growth. The challenging macroeconomic environment, recent terrorist attacks, growing cyber threats and global political uncertainties are […]
Bomb-blasted roads, frequent blackouts, shortages of basic equipment and an untested consumer market are hardly conditions that make for natural entrepreneurial opportunities. But three Army veterans and one civilian who all served in Afghanistan have taken on those challenges in their new venture. Their company, Rumi Spice, buys saffron from Afghan farmers and sells it to international customers. Their business is part of a small crop of […]
ABU DHABI // Pupils from the GCC are less likely than their expatriate peers to consider science as necessary to future employment, a new study has found. And the more educated GCC parents are, local pupils are more likely to believe they do not need science, technology, engineering and maths (Stem) skills to get their desired job later in life. Family connections are often considered more important […]
BAGHDAD — If there were one safe place in Iraq, it should be a hospital nursery, locked down for the night with dozens of babies nestled inside. But here, not even that is a given. When a fire started late Tuesday night in the maternity wing of one of Baghdad’s main hospitals, it quickly engulfed the babies’ room. And then, in another Iraqi tragedy in a horrifying […]
A look at UAE’s assistance to Yemen by sectors and categories since April 2015. Let’s block ads! (Why?) (via The National)
Ripped pants or a torn shirt usually means a trip to the tailor or a garbage can is in one’s future. But scientists could be closing in on a new solution. They report in the journal ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces a fabric coating made of squid proteins that allows rips in cotton, linen and wool to “heal” themselves. Damage to a variety of surfaces, ranging from […]
SYDNEY Australia’s first online national census was in chaos on Wednesday after the survey website crashed overnight due to a possible cyber attack, raising concerns over the country’s cyber security and criticism of its slow internet services. “It was an attack and we believe from overseas,” Australia’s chief statistician, David Kalisch told Australian Broadcasting Corp radio. Kalisch said that no data from the 2.3 million forms already […]
People visit a Tesla Model S car during the Auto China 2016 in Beijing, China, April 25, 2016. Reuters/Jason Lee/File Photo BEIJING Tesla said on Wednesday that one of its cars had crashed in Beijing while in ‘autopilot’ mode, with the driver contending sales staff sold the function as ‘self-driving’, overplaying its actual capabilities. Tesla said it had reviewed data to confirm the car was in autopilot […]
A security guard stands guard outside a branch of Rizal Commercial Banking Corporation (RCBC) in Paranaque city, Metro Manila, Philippines August 2, 2016. Reuters/Erik De Castro/File Photo MANILA Rizal Commercial Banking Corp (RCBC) officials say they have preserved ties with major U.S. banks despite the use of one of its branches in Manila by cyber criminals to funnel $81 million stolen from the Bangladesh central bank’s account […]
Despite recently weakening consumer sales for both the iPhone and iPad, Apple devices and software have enjoyed a growing presence in business enterprises. Out of net sales of nearly $234 billion in 2015, some $25 billion came through sales to large business customers, according to Apple’s most recent annual report, released in October. While those sales were just a small fraction of the company’s overall revenues, they […]
Normally, individual molecules of genetic material repel each other. However, when space is limited DNA molecules must be packed together more tightly. This case arises in sperm, cell nuclei and the protein shells of viruses. An international team of physicists has now succeeded in artificially recreating this so-called DNA condensation on a biochip. Recreating important biological processes in cells to better understand them currently is a major […]
