SINGAPORE The U.S. economy is on “sound footing,” a hawkish Federal Reserve official said on Monday in a speech that cautioned against asking the central bank to solve problems beyond its control such as low productivity growth. Cleveland Fed President Loretta Mester, at a forum in Singapore, did not comment specifically on interest rates. However she has dissented in the past in favor of quicker rate hikes […]
President Donald Trump sought to refocus on governing on Sunday by interviewing a shortlist of candidates to be his national security adviser having continued to blame media bias for portrayals of chaos in his administration. Following last week’s firing of Michael Flynn amid controversy over his Russia ties, Mr Trump was due to speak to four candidates to replace him in the post — the most crucial […]
Can statistics increase the value of science to society? (via WSJ)
AMMAN Syrian rebel groups who have participated in peace talks said on Sunday that an upsurge in Syrian army shelling and bombing was wrecking the prospects of maintaining a Russian-Turkish-brokered ceasefire. The rebel groups, mostly backed by Turkey, who attended two rounds of talks in the Kazakh capital Astana said they had supported a political solution to end the bloodshed, but that war had been “imposed” on […]
Like others interviewed, Abu Marwan, citing concerns about safety, agreed to speak on the condition that his full name not be published. He and others are identified by honorifics or nicknames. Residents said anyone caught using a cellphone risked being beaten or killed by militants. Continue reading the main story Abu Salah, who lives in the Bab al-Tob neighborhood in western Mosul, said the Islamic State, also […]
By Maher Chmaytelli and Isabel Coles | BAGHDAD/SOUTH OF MOSUL, Iraq BAGHDAD/SOUTH OF MOSUL, Iraq U.S.-backed Iraqi forces on Sunday launched a ground offensive to dislodge Islamic State militants from their remaining stronghold in Mosul, in the western part of the city, and put an end to their ambitions for territorial rule in Iraq. Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi announced the start of the offensive, asking Iraqi […]
BAGHDAD A suicide bomber detonated an explosive belt on Sunday in the “My Fair Lady” neighborhood of Mosul that was retaken recently from Islamic State, killing one and wounding nine others, security sources said. A restaurant in the same area was hit on Feb. 10 by a suicide bombing that killed at least 10 people. U.S.-backed forces dislodged Islamic State from the east side of Mosul in […]
Photo Iraqi forces advance toward western Mosul on Sunday. Credit Khalid Al-Mousily/Reuters ERBIL, Iraq — Iraq’s government announced the beginning of an offensive on Sunday to take back the western half of Mosul from the Islamic State, nearly three years after the city was overrun by the terror group. Overnight, planes crisscrossed the sky over the city’s occupied half, carpeting the ground with leaflets, which made a […]
YANGON Two members of Myanmar’s security forces were injured in a clash with militants on the troubled Rakhine State border with Bangladesh, Myanmar state counselor’s office said, casting doubt on the government’s claim that the region had stabilised. The government last week said the situation in northern Rakhine had stabilised and that it had ended a four-month security crackdown on Rohingya Muslims. The security operation had been […]
Researchers from the University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston have revealed in a study how the Zika virus is able to alter fetal brain development and cause microcephaly. Published in the journal Stem Cell Reports, the study results may help shed light on how Zika causes birth defects. Zika And Microcephaly At the moment, 70 countries and territories around the world are dealing with active transmissions of the […]
President Donald Trump took his press-bashing to a new level on Friday when he called journalists from The New York Times, ABC, CBS, CNN and NBC “the enemy of the American people.” The FAKE NEWS media (failing @nytimes, @NBCNews, @ABC, @CBS, @CNN) is not my enemy, it is the enemy of the American People! — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) February 17, 2017 The comment touched off a […]
By John Irish and Andrea Shalal | MUNICH MUNICH Germany, France, Russia and Ukraine agreed on Saturday to use their influence to implement a ceasefire and the withdrawal of heavy weapons from Monday in eastern Ukraine. Fighting has recently escalated between Ukrainian forces and Russian-backed separatists in the region, refocusing global attention on a simmering conflict that has strained relations between Russia and the West. “On Feb. […]
Finnish Prime Minister Sauli Niinistö made it clear to CNBC last week that while Russia’s actions involving Crimea must come to a peaceful resolution, the most important issues facing Europe right now are terrorism and migration. Despite Finland pledging $55 Million Euros to NATO, Niinistö also made it clear that European nations need to ultimately be responsible for their own security. I think that Europeans start to understand […]
China has banned coal imports from North Korea until the end of 2017, the Ministry of Commerce said on Saturday, after a week in which Pyongyang tested an intermediate-range ballistic missile and carried out an assassination in Malaysia. Kim Jong Nam the brother of North Korean ruler Kim Jong Un, was killed by two female assailants in the Kuala Lumpur airport on Monday. He had been living […]
MOSCOW President Vladimir Putin ordered Russian authorities on Saturday to temporarily recognise civil registration documents issued in separatist-held areas of eastern Ukraine, a decision strongly criticised by Ukraine’s president. The decision will enable people from the conflict-hit region to travel, work or study in Russia. According to Putin’s order, published on the Kremlin website, Russia will temporarily recognise identity documents, diplomas, birth and marriage certificates and vehicle […]
Good morning. Here’s our morning roundup of all the media news you need to know. Want to get this briefing in your inbox every morning? Subscribe here. So what if Donald Trump strong-armed media advertisers in the same way he’s trying to get companies to keep jobs in the United States? The subject was broached by a faraway observer after Trump’s angry and rambling anti-press rhetorical screed […]
In an isolated area of Ecuador’s Amazon, the face of Lenín Moreno, the anointed successor of fiery leftist President Rafael Correa in Sunday’s presidential election, is plastered on billboards proclaiming “the future is unstoppable”. That future worries Mercedes Cabrera, a peasant leader in the village of Santiago de Panantza. She says she was snatched from her bed by state security forces and branded a terrorist after a policeman […]
BEIRUT Syrian warplanes carried out air strikes in a besieged rebel-held district of Homs on Saturday that killed at least two people, adding to a death toll of more than 20 in nearly two weeks of air raids, an activist and monitors said. Al-Waer, the last rebel-held neighbourhood in the western city of Homs, had for months been spared much of the intense violence raging elsewhere in […]
By Laila Bassam and Angus McDowall | BEIRUT BEIRUT (Story corrects headline and paragraph 1 to show source said Hezbollah speeches aimed to draw “red lines” to prevent action against Lebanon, removes reference to hitting U.S. interests by targeting Israel which the source did not say.) The Hezbollah leader’s harsh words for Israel and U.S. President Donald Trump this week were aimed at drawing “red lines” to […]
By Michael Georgy | SULAIYMANIYA, Iraq SULAIYMANIYA, Iraq Islamic State militant Amar Hussein says he reads the Koran all day in his tiny jail cell to become a better person. He also says he raped more than 200 women from Iraqi minorities, and shows few regrets. Kurdish intelligence authorities gave Reuters rare access to Hussein and another Islamic State militant who were both captured during an assault […]
A Spanish court has sentenced the king’s brother-in-law to six years and three months in jail, delivering a harsh blow to the standing of the monarchy at the end of a long-running criminal trial that has captivated the nation. Iñaki Urdangarin, a former Olympic handball player and the husband of Princess Cristina, was found guilty of fraud, corruption and a range of other charges. The prosecution had […]
“Stock market hits new high with longest winning streak in decades. Great level of confidence and optimism — even before tax plan rollout!” Donald Trump tweeted this week. It is a statement that goes beyond the president’s usual rhetoric. Indeed, Wall Street had a record-setting week that included the four key US stock benchmarks — the S&P 500, the Dow Jones Industrial Average, the Nasdaq Composite and the […]
GENEVA The U.N. Syria envoy’s office declined to confirm on Friday that political transition will be discussed at peace talks in Geneva next week, potentially taking the issue of President Bashar al-Assad’s future off the agenda. “The negotiations will be entirely guided by (U.N.) Security Council Resolution 2254, which talks specifically about governance, a new constitution and elections in Syria,” Yara Sharif, a spokeswoman for U.N. envoy […]
Photo Shamsuldeen Ahmed Saed and Haitham Younis Wahab rigging a small water pump in the Rashidiya neighborhood of Mosul, Iraq. Credit Ben C. Solomon/The New York Times MOSUL, Iraq — The water taps are dry in Rashidiya. The water and sewage system collapsed in this eastern Mosul neighborhood after 100 days of street combat. On Sunday, Haitham Younis Wahab and his neighbor Shamsuldeen Ahmed Saed decided to […]
