SACRAMENTO, Calif. Several months of wet weather have dramatically eased California’s years-long drought, replenishing reservoirs and parched aquifers and forcing state water officials to switch – at least temporarily – from managing shortages to avoiding floods. With rain continuing to fall following a deluge that brought 20 inches (50 cm) of precipitation to some areas this week, the snowpack in the Sierra Nevada mountains – crucial for […]
The seven candidates for France’s centre-left presidential nomination showed their profound differences on the economy and the EU on Thursday night even as they scramble to pull together a fractured Socialist party ahead of a widely expected crushing defeat in the spring. A little more than a week before the first round of primary elections, the presidential hopefuls quarrelled on primetime television over the legacy of the […]
By Suleiman Al-Khalidi | AMMAN AMMAN Syrian army command said on Friday that Israel fired rockets at a major military airport west of Damascus, the capital, and warned Tel Aviv of repercussions of what it called a “flagrant” attack. Syrian state television quoted the army as saying several rockets were fired from an area near Lake Tiberias in northern Israel just after midnight which landed in the […]
President-elect Donald Trump may be at war with the intelligence community, but on Thursday his pick to head the CIA tried to bridge the rift between the incoming president and his spies, saying he accepts the assessment that Russia meddled in the election to boost the Republican’s candidacy. “It’s pretty clear about what took place here, about Russian involvement in efforts to hack information and to have […]
BAMAKO Authorities in Mali have arrested a man believed to be linked to an al Qaeda attack on a beach resort town in neighbouring Ivory Coast that killed 19 people early last year, Malian security officials said on Thursday. Gunmen shot swimmers and sunbathers in the town of Grand Bassam, 40 km (25 miles) from the commercial capital Abidjan, last March before storming into several hotels. The […]
It’s almost time for Nintendo’s Switch-focused event, where it’s expected to disclose official details about the forthcoming hybrid console. Once Nintendo itself proffers official information, keen-eyed anticipants may finally straighten out the rumple caused by a flurry of rumors that has surfaced — surfacing, still — since its reveal late October last year. It’s known that the console can easily switch between dock and undocked modes, as revealed […]
Photo Clam-Chowder Pizza Credit Gentl and Hyers for The New York Times. Food stylist: Maggie Ruggiero. Prop stylist: Rebecca Bartoshesky. Some winter nights when my heart is tight, I take the F train from work to stand on the sidewalk in front of the plate-glass window at Lucali, the famed, candlelit pizzeria on Henry Street in Brooklyn, and watch Mark Iacono make pizza. His movements are slow, […]
By Patrick Rucker and James Oliphant | WASHINGTON WASHINGTON U.S. Senate Democrats on Thursday pressed Ben Carson, Donald Trump’s nominee to lead housing policy, on potential conflicts of interest between the agency he is set to run and properties in which the president-elect may hold a financial stake. The Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) hands out billions of dollars each year to developers and landlords. […]
Chatbots, collective intelligence and blockchain are some of the big technology trends that will change the way entrepreneurs run their businesses in 2017, says Klaus-Michael Vogelberg, chief technology officer at Sage. Vogelberg sees six major trends in 2017 that could make a big difference to the way business builders will work in 2017 and beyond. 1. Chatbots and autonomous interfaces Autonomous interfaces, such as chatbots or digital […]
By Julia Edwards Ainsley | WASHINGTON WASHINGTON A U.S. government watchdog said on Thursday it would examine whether the Federal Bureau of Investigation followed proper procedures in its probe of Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton’s use of a private email server. The inspector general’s announcement comes amid outcry from Democrats who say Clinton’s loss to President-elect Donald Trump was in part due to Comey’s bringing Clinton’s emails […]
By Mohamed Zaki and Mohamed Abd El-Ghany | CAIRO CAIRO In an economic crisis that has led to a shortage of medicines, Egyptians are skipping trips to drug stores and instead turning to herbal remedies to treat every-day illnesses. In the Cairo working class neighborhood of Basateen, dozens can be seen lining up outside a decades-old herbal spice shop with pyramid-shaped stacks of jars on display, filled […]
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. Donald Trump is nothing if not transparent, especially when it comes to views of the press and outright evasions about his business holdings. That was self-evident at his Wednesday spectacle (labeled “press conference”) in which he bashed media and also […]
By Susanna Twidale | LONDON LONDON Britain should go ahead with “cost effective” plans to build what would be the world’s first tidal lagoon renewable power project, a government commissioned review said on Thursday. Britain needs to invest in major new infrastructure to replace aging coal and nuclear plants set to close in the 2020s, and also needs to reduce is greenhouse gas emissions to meet its […]
Global investors sold the dollar and sought government bonds and gold on Thursday in the wake of Donald Trump’s pre-inauguration press conference, revealing the first sign of buyers remorse for a reflation rally that has dominated global markets since early November. Mr Trump’s press conference, his first as president-elect, was held in New York’s Trump Tower on Wednesday and was dominated by his ties to Russia, his […]
Having publicly trashed the US economy’s performance during the presidential campaign, Donald Trump has become its most prominent cheerleader. The president-elect has in recent weeks claimed credit for surging consumer confidence, stellar equity prices and stronger end-of-year household spending, arguing there was “no hope” before he arrived on the scene. To Barack Obama’s supporters, claims from Mr Trump that the US was cloaked in economic gloom before […]
Thursday 08:40 GMT Overview The dollar, Treasury yields and equities are lower — with pharmaceutical groups in the firing line — as traders question the “Trumpflation trade” following the US president-elect’s fractious press conference on Wednesday. The yen is stronger, signalling waning risk appetite among traders, while gold is back above $1,200, a seven-week high. Hot topic Investors are reassessing the implications of a Trump presidency. Markets […]
|By Saifur Rahman| US President-Elect Donald Trump said he’s rejected a Dh7.3 billion (US$2 billion) deal with Damac Properties at a press conference on Wednesday, just nine days before his inauguration as the 45th President of the United States. “Over the weekend, I was offered $2 billion to do a deal in Dubai with a very, very, very amazing man ‑ my friend Hussain [Sajwani] ‑ a […]
By Patricia Zengerle and Yeganeh Torbati | WASHINGTON WASHINGTON Secretary of State nominee Rex Tillerson expressed views on Wednesday at odds with President-elect Donald Trump’s positions on key foreign policy issues like nuclear proliferation, trade deals, climate change and relations with Mexico. In a nine-hour Senate confirmation hearing, the former chief executive of oil company Exxon Mobil (XOM.N) said he favoured maintaining U.S. sanctions against Russia for […]
Top US lawmakers are challenging Wells Fargo to explain a recent rise in overdraft charges, signalling a new regulatory battle for the bank still reeling from a fake accounts scandal. On Wednesday a group of Democrats on the Senate banking committee wrote a letter to Tim Sloan, the bank’s chairman and chief executive, asking him to explain whether the bank’s recent surge in income from overdraft charges […]
MEXICO CITY Mexico’s government said on Wednesday it would throw its relationship with the United States wide open when it sits down for talks with the incoming U.S. administration, putting security, migration and trade on the table in search of a deal. U.S. President-elect Donald Trump has threatened to tear up a trade agreement that underpins Mexico’s economic model if he cannot renegotiate its terms in his […]
The Sims 4 will soon be welcoming the undead into the life simulation game, as the Vampires Game Pack is all set to be released on Jan. 24. In addition to introducing vampires into The Sims 4, the game pack will also add a new world and creepy objects for players to explore and enjoy. The Sims 4 Vampires Game Pack Announced: What Is It Like To Be A […]
ABU DHABI // The relationship between the UAE and Afghanistan goes back for more than a decade, with the Emirates involved in the country’s military stabilisation since the collapse of the Taliban regime. Since 2003, it has had an effective presence in Afghanistan, ensuring stability as the country continues to suffer attacks from Taliban militants, and delivering aid while helping it to rebuild. “Afghans appreciated UAE officers […]
Volkswagen will plead guilty to three felonies and pay $4.3bn in penalties to settle a US Department of Justice investigation into the diesel emissions scandal that has engulfed the German carmaker for the past 15 months. Six VW executives based in Germany have also been indicted in connection with the case, including Oliver Schmidt who was arrested in the US on Monday, said Loretta Lynch, US attorney-general. “For years, […]
By Emily Stephenson and Lawrence Hurley President-elect Donald Trump said on Wednesday his team has met with numerous candidates to fill the longstanding U.S. Supreme Court vacancy and promised a decision on a nominee within about two weeks of taking office on Jan. 20. Trump, during a news conference in New York, indicated the importance he attached to the selection of a replacement for conservative Justice Antonin […]
