By John Davison and Abdelaziz Boumzar | MOSUL, Iraq MOSUL, Iraq From a distance, the exhausted Iraqis fleeing parts of Mosul controlled by Islamic State appeared to be pushing their worldly possessions on handcarts. By the time they reached Reuters journalists it was clear that their cargo was far more precious, and more tragic. One man lifted a grubby, fluffy blanket to reveal the dust and blood-covered […]
BEIRUT Ahrar al-Sham, a powerful Syrian rebel group, on Friday said the U.S.-led coalition against Islamic State was behind a deadly mosque attack near Syria’s Aleppo that a war monitor said killed dozens of people on Thursday evening. Jets hit around a mosque in al-Jina village near Atarib in the western part of Aleppo province, a few miles (km) from Idlib province on Thursday, killing at least […]
Bob Diamond, the former Barclays chief executive, has teamed up with the investment vehicle of the Qatari royal family to launch a bid for Panmure Gordon, the lossmaking stock broker and investment bank. Panmure, whose name dates back more than 140 years, is suffering like many mid-cap brokers from a number of structural challenges, including increased regulation, fewer deals and lower corporate retainers. The deal may be […]
By John Davison | MOSUL, Iraq MOSUL, Iraq After five months of intense fighting, Iraqi forces have begun to drive back Islamic State into the dense and narrow-alleyed Old City of Mosul, with the mosque where its leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi declared a caliphate in 2014 firmly in sight. Iraqi leaders say the battle to recapture Mosul is reaching its final stages, trumpeting each gain made against […]
BEIRUT Syria’s army high command said in a statement on Friday Israeli jets breached Syrian air space early in the morning and attacked a military target near Palmyra in what it described as an act of aggression that aided Islamic State. It said its air defences shot down one of the Israeli jets over what it called “occupied ground” and damaged another. (Reporting By Angus McDowall; Editing […]
The parkas that have made it to the top of Mount Everest and the cover of Sports Illustrated’s swimsuit edition have found their way to Wall Street. Shares of Canada Goose, the maker of down winter coats with coyote fur trim and a circle patch logo, soared in their New York debut on Thursday, rising 26 per cent to $16.08 after pricing at $12.78 a piece, above […]
It’s a story that’s cherished in the hearts of journalism students across the United States: Two enterprising Washington Post reporters, hungry for a big story, dig deep into Richard Nixon’s secretive presidency and expose wrongdoing that eventually pushes him out of office. Except it didn’t happen that way. Not exactly. In fact, the enterprising heroes of Watergate, Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein, were mostly chroniclers of an […]
By John Davison | MOSUL AIRPORT, Iraq MOSUL AIRPORT, Iraq Outside a mosque on the edge of Mosul airport’s ripped up runway, Iraqis made homeless by war sit on suitcases, taking a brief rest before beginning their onward journey, on foot or in buses. Men push wheelchairs carrying elderly relatives or carts loaded with small children over dusty and uneven ground, part of an exodus of people […]
JERUSALEM: Israeli ex-defense minister Moshe Yaalon accused Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Wednesday of seeking a “neo-Ottoman empire” while warning of growing instability in the Middle East.Yaalon, seeking to build a campaign to become Israel’s next prime minister, spoke of his concerns while addressing regional issues in a meeting with foreign journalists.The ex-minister, forced out of office last year as Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu sought to […]
BEIRUT Two suicide bomb attacks killed at least 31 people and wounded dozens more in Damascus on Wednesday, state media reported, in the second such spate of bombings in the Syrian capital in five days. The first suicide bomber targeted the Palace of Justice, the main courthouse in central Damascus near the Old City. Justice Minister Najem al-Ahmad told reporters the initial death toll was 31, mostly […]
With the oil market showing signs of losing faith in a price rebound, Opec is now asking itself: what more can it do? Production cuts agreed late last year between some of the world’s biggest producers inside and outside the cartel, are losing their sway given the near 10 per cent drop in the Brent benchmark over the past week. Brimming global storage tanks and a resurgent […]
GENEVA Negotiations to end the war in Syria must speed up, U.N. Syria envoy Staffan de Mistura told Reuters on Wednesday, on the sixth anniversary of the start of the conflict. “There is no way that we should be accepting the fact that the sixth anniversary becomes the seventh,” he said. “It’s becoming one of the longest and most cruel wars of recent years. That’s why there […]
Eon, the German utility, recorded a net loss of €16bn for 2016 — the largest in his history — and unveiled ambitious measures to reduce debt by €7bn through asset sales and cutting 1,300 jobs. The loss reflected impairments on Uniper, the new fossil fuel power company spun out of Eon last year, as well as payments Eon is having to make into a new state fund to cover the […]
By Philip Blenkinsop | AMSTERDAM AMSTERDAM The Dutch began voting on Wednesday in an election seen as a test of anti-immigrant and nationalist feeling, magnified in the last few days by a spat with Turkey, and as one of three polls this year that will gauge the strength of the ties that bind the European Union together. The centre-right VVD party of Prime Minister Mark Rutte, 50, […]
By Kevin Yao and Ryan Woo | BEIJING BEIJING China’s Premier Li Keqiang reassured investors on Wednesday that the world’s second-largest economy is strong and not at risk of a hard landing, while stressing Beijing’s support for globalization and free trade at a time of rising protectionism. Li also reiterated that China does not want a trade war with the United States, and urged talks with Washington […]
By Andrew Osborn | MOSCOW MOSCOW First, armed police seized some of its books. Next, its director was put on trial accused of stirring up ethnic hatred. And now, quietly, its shelves have been emptied and its volumes packed up, ready to be merged into another library’s collection. A year and a half after Russia’s only state-run Ukrainian language library, Moscow’s Library of Ukrainian Literature, was dragged […]
Bahrain’s GFH Financial Group may merge with Dubai-based Shuaa Capital, GFH said on Tuesday, confirming market speculation that sent both companies’ share prices surging this week. “GFH has been in discussion with several financial institutions, including Shuaa Capital, for potential majority shares acquisitions of those financial institutions and/or mergers,” GFH said in a statement to the Bahrain bourse, without disclosing further details. A spokesman for Shuaa declined […]
TAIPEI China’s accelerated military development and recent activity by its military aircraft and ships around Taiwan pose an increased threat to the self-ruled island, according to a Taiwanese government defence report draft reviewed by Reuters. The 2017 Quadrennial Defence Review (QDR) also highlights the uncertainty over the future strategic direction of the United States in the region, the impact of Japan flexing its military capabilities and “conflict […]
TOKYO Shares in Toshiba Corp tumbled on Wednesday after it said it would consider a sale of Westinghouse but did not offer any clarity on whether it would proceed with a Chapter 11 filing for the U.S. nuclear unit – a move that could stem losses. Toshiba’s failure to submit audited third-quarter earnings on Tuesday and its announcement of an expanded probe into Westinghouse also contributed to […]
ABU DHABI // Farmers and members of the Federal National Council called for more measures to protect local food prices from competition with cheap imports. Experts, however, said that such restrictions, proposed at the FNC meeting on Tuesday, could drastically raise food prices and would not solve the problem of water scarcity. FNC members had raised complaints from local farmers, who say their products are getting drowned […]
Dutch voters head to the polls on Wednesday after Mark Rutte, prime minister, and rivals clashed over refugees, immigration and the economy in the last televised debate following an extraordinarily tight race. After a campaign that was interrupted by a diplomatic spat with Turkey, by fears of foreign interference and by a row over the security of populist Geert Wilders, the vote is set to be extremely […]
Authored by Charles Hugh-Smith via OfTwoMinds blog, Those urban regions that pursue decentralized, networked, localized solutions will likely prosper as the adaptive advantages of these principles pay self-reinforcing dividends. In yesterday’s entry, I suggested that rather than bemoan the inevitable failure of centralized “fixes,” let’s turn our efforts to the real solutions: decentralized, networked, localized. To commentators such as Richard Florida, decentralized, networked, localized describes cities. He […]
Singapore needs to keep a close watch on teachings or statements that are exclusivist and divisive, Deputy Prime Minister Teo Chee Hean said yesterday. These have had repercussions in other countries, he noted at a gathering of Islamic religious teachers. “Attacks claimed to be in the name of Islam have led to a rise in Islamophobia, with anti-immigration rhetoric and negative reactions among other communities,” he said. […]
DUBAI // The UAE has more open communication with its citizens than people abroad realise, acording to a senior adviser at the Emirates Diplomatic Academy. Tom Fletcher, former British ambassador to Lebanon, said there was a perception in the West that the region was a more “closed world”. “But when most people come here, they can see it’s not the case and they can see this effort […]
