The blockbuster listing of Ant Financial, the payments affiliate of Alibaba, has been put on ice until the end of next year at the earliest, according to bankers. Market players have been counting on Ant, which runs China’s popular Alipay mobile payments service, to be the star in this year’s initial public offerings calendar. It was valued at $60bn in its last financing round in April 2016, […]
With the holy month just around the corner, take a look at some of the city’s top iftars and suhoors to try. 1. Al Fanous Lounge: The Dubai Ballroom at JW Marriott Marquis will transform into an oriental lounge designed with lavish white, gold and jewel tones for the holy month of Ramdan. Also lavish at the lounge is the iftar buffet that will consist of over […]
A newly developed printable elastic conductor retains high conductivity even when stretched to as much as five times its original length, says a Japanese team of scientists. The new material, produced in paste-like ink form, can be printed in various patterns on textiles and rubber surfaces as stretchable wiring for wearable devices incorporating sensors, as well as give human skin-like functions to robot exteriors. The development of […]
By Jack Kim and Ju-min Park | SEOUL SEOUL North Korea’s successful missile test-launch signals major advances in developing an intercontinental ballistic missile, such as mastery of re-entry technology and better engine performance key to targeting the United States, experts say. The isolated country has been developing a long-range missile capable of striking the mainland United States mounted with a nuclear warhead. That would require a flight […]
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 […]
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, […]
Private dining in the UAE is no longer the exclusive domain of the rich and famous. Heeding requests from customers with a desire for closed-door rooms and secluded enclaves for entertaining, restaurants in the country are increasingly providing spaces where patrons can host private get-togethers. While some packages can cost thousands of dirhams, if your tastes are gourmet or your group exceeds 30, there are deals to […]
The US dollar came under pressure on Friday morning, with investors eyeing a duo of disappointing reports on the American economy. The buck was recently down by 0.44 per cent against the euro at $1.0909, while it was flat against sterling at $1.2878, having earlier traded as strong as $1.2845. Meanwhile, the greenback declined 0.34 per cent against the Japanese yen to ¥113.48. Friday’s performance came after […]
By Ayesha Rascoe and Michael Martina | WASHINGTON/BEIJING WASHINGTON/BEIJING The United States and China have agreed to take action by mid-July to increase access for U.S. financial firms and expand trade in beef and chicken among other steps as part of Washington’s drive to cut its trade deficit with Beijing. The deals are the first results of 100 days of trade talks that began last month, when […]
North Korea’s conducted its latest weapons test on Sunday, presenting South Korea’s Moon Jae-in with his first foreign policy challenge and raising fears that Pyongyang may have developed a new kind of missile. Japan’s defence minister said the missile had reached an altitude of 2,000km on its 700km journey, potentially indicating a new type of rocket. David Wright, a physicist and missile expert, wrote on the All […]
Authored by Paul Criag Roberts, “Fifty years ago, the streets of Leningrad taught me one thing: If a fight is inevitable, you must strike first.” Vladimir Putin In George Orwell’s 1949 dystopian novel, 1984, information that no longer is consistent with Big Brother’s explanations is chucked down the Memory Hole. In the real American dystopia in which we currently live, the information is never reported at all. […]
By Ju-min Park and Jack Kim | SEOUL SEOUL North Korea fired a ballistic missile on Sunday in defiance of calls to rein in its weapons programme, South Korean and U.S. officials said, days after a new leader took office in the South, pledging to engage it in dialogue. The U.S. Pacific Command said it was assessing the type of missile but it was “not consistent with […]
Security breaches this week in Singapore and around the globe reveal the country will have to safeguard a much wider attack surface and need a cybersecurity strategy that goes beyond simply limiting internet access. It was revealed on Friday that two Singapore universities suffered APT (advanced persistent threat) attacks last month, with the hackers specifically targeting government and research data. The National University of Singapore (NUS) had […]
A giant sea creature that washed ashore in Indonesia had many baffled about the mysterious animal. What other giant sea creatures have surprised people when they washed up ashore? Giant Squid? A local in the island of Seram in Indonesia was surprised to find a massive sea creature on the shores of his island home. As news spread of his colossal find, reports of the creature being […]
By Jeremy Wagstaff | SINGAPORE SINGAPORE Some hospitals, schools and universities in Asia were hit by a global cyber attack which infected tens of thousands of computers in Europe and the United States, but officials and researchers said the extent of any damage may not yet be known. China’s official news agency Xinhua said secondary schools and universities were hit, but did not say how many or […]
BUSBARI, Italy Financial leaders of seven leading world economies pledged stronger cooperation against cyber crime on Saturday and not to use foreign exchange to gain competitive advantage, but stuck to their cautious wording on trade, their final communique showed. Finance ministers and central bank governors from the United States, Canada, Japan, France, Germany, Italy and Britain met in the Italian city of Bari to discuss the world […]
By David Lawder and William Schomberg | BARI, Italy BARI, Italy The United States said on Saturday the world’s other rich economies were getting used to the policy plans of President Donald Trump, but Europe and Japan showed they remained worried about Washington’s shift. Officials from the Group of Seven nations met in southern Italy hoping to hear more about Trump’s plans which they fear will revive […]
Nadim Karam moved back to his native Beirut in the early 1990s, after years spent studying abroad during the lengthy Lebanese civil war. The city had been ravaged by shelling and was haunted by derelict buildings. It was emotionally and symbolically divided along the Green Line that had split the city into East and West for 15 years. Karam, who had studied both architecture and art, saw […]
LONDON Nissan’s manufacturing plant in Sunderland, northeast England, has been affected by a cyber attack that has hit nearly 100 countries, a spokesman for the Japanese carmaker said on Saturday. “Like many organizations around the world, some Nissan entities were recently targeted by a ransomware attack. Our teams are responding accordingly and there has been no major impact on our business,” he said in a statement. He […]
Nearly 70 years after he produced Hong Kong’s first plastic duck, toy industry veteran LT Lam’s factories in China now churn out everything from Transformers to Play-Doh. But with costs rising in China and the industry fragmenting because of technological advances and changing consumer tastes, the 93-year-old worries that Hong Kong could lose its decades-long role at the heart of the global toy industry. “We started with […]
BARI, Italy Financial leaders of seven leading world economies will pledge stronger cooperation against cyber crime on Saturday and not to use foreign exchange to gain competitive advantage, but stick to their cautious wording on trade, a draft communique showed. Finance ministers and central bank governors from the United States, Canada, Japan, France, Germany, Italy and Britain are meeting in the Italian city of Bari to discuss […]
SEOUL A senior North Korean diplomat who handles relations with the United States said on Saturday Pyongyang would have dialogue with the U.S. administration if conditions were right, South Korea’s Yonhap news agency reported. Choe Son Hui, North Korea’s foreign ministry director general for U.S. affairs, made the comment to reporters in Beijing as she was travelling home from Norway, Yonhap said. “We’ll have dialogue if the […]
Former Argentina coach Edgardo Bauza has taken on the challenge of trying to qualify the United Arab Emirates for the 2018 World Cup, it was announced on Thursday. The 59-year-old oversaw eight World Cup qualifying games for Argentina but was fired last month with the nation fifth in their group, and has now signed a two-year deal to coach in the Middle East. Bauza won the Copa […]
WASHINGTON U.S. President Donald Trump has responded to the new South Korean president’s advocacy of talks with North Korea by saying he does not oppose discussions, but reiterated that the circumstances must be right, according to a transcript of an NBC interview. Moon Jae-in’s advocacy of engagement with North Korea has appeared to contrast with the approach of the United States, South Korea’s main ally, which has […]
