The series of scattershot remarks has further unsettled a turbulent period in American foreign policy. It underscores Mr. Trump’s challenge in fashioning a coherent approach to the problems he will inherit in Asia, Europe and the Middle East, especially working with a team that consists of retired generals and an oil executive, few of whom have experience in the daily cascade of crises that confront every White […]
Infrastructure of Berth 5 and Berth 6 at final stages of this year’s strategic expansion 21 December 2016 King Abdullah Economic City, The infrastructure works for Berth 5 and Berth 6 are about to be finished in a few weeks, King Abdullah Port announced on Wednesday. The two berths are part of the port’s strategic expansion plan, which aims to significantly uprate the port’s capacity, thus boosting […]
In its search for extrasolar planets, the Kepler space telescope looks for stars whose light flux periodically dims, But the timing and duration of diminished light flux episodes Kepler detected coming from KIC 846852, known as Tabby’s star, are a mystery. Now a team of scientists proffer an entirely novel solution to the Tabby’s star puzzle. (via WSJ)
A lawsuit has been filed against Google by one of its employees, alleging the company’s policies improperly muzzle workers. The suit, posted on the website of the plaintiff’s lawyer, challenges the legality of Google’s policies and seeks damages for 12 alleged violations of California labor code under the state’s Private Attorneys General Act. The case was filed by Google product manager identified only as “John Doe,” who […]
A unit of UAE-based KEF Holdings has launched a $100 million manufacturing park, spanning one million sq ft, to cater to the infrastructure needs in India and GCC markets. With 10 manufacturing lines featuring the latest technology, KEF Infra One in Krishnagiri, Tamil Nadu in India, promises significant cost and time savings in building hospitals, homes, schools, hotels and specialised infrastructure. Faizal E Kottikollon, founder and chairman, […]
By Steve Scherer | ROME ROME Three days after resigning as Italian prime minister and before his successor took office, Matteo Renzi typed a late-night Facebook post from his family home near Florence that seemed to cast doubt on his future. “I have no seat in parliament, no salary, no pension… I’m starting over,” he wrote. Since stepping down on Dec. 7 after a crushing referendum defeat […]
ABU DHABI // Motorists will pay more for their car insurance from January 1 when new tariff rates are introduced and companies pass on the cost of ambulance services and courtesy cars to customers. New maximum and minimum premiums will be set for third-party and comprehensive policies, depending on vehicle type. The UAE Insurance Authority has issued a new vehicle insurance tariff system, on which premiums are […]
Otsimo provides free games for autistic children to help improve attention spans using machine learning and gamification. Image: Otsimo Autistic spectrum disorders, or ASDs, impose huge costs, both human and economic, on sufferers, their families, and the community. The human toll, in terms of care and impaired relationships, is almost impossible to quantify. Looking at the US alone, the economic expenditure last year was estimated at about […]
It’s a hot July day in Bethlehem, and white-robed pilgrims from Nigeria stand in the courtyard entrance to the ancient church, singing and beating drums. They’ve travelled more than 3,500 kilometres to enter the church’s low wooden door, pass through a nave under restoration and down one of the staircases in the sprawling church, to the grotto. There, they will kneel in prayer and devotion at the […]
Tunis – December 20, 2016 The Tunis Bay Project Company, a project of Bahrain-based GFH Financial Group B.S.C., held a ceremony in the Tunisian capital recently to mark the nearing completion of infrastructure works on the first and second phases of the Tunis Financial Harbour (TFH). The ceremony was held under patronage and presence of Tunisia’s Prime Minister, Youssif Chahed, a number of other ministers, parliament members and diplomats. The event coincided […]
Whether water freezes to ice, iron is demagnetized or a material becomes superconducting — for physicists there is always a phase transition behind it. They endeavour to understand these different phenomena by searching for universal properties. Researchers have now made a pioneering discovery during their study of a phase transition from an electrical conductor to an insulator (Mott metal-insulator transition). (via WSJ)
Medical implants often carry surface substrates that release active substances or to which biomolecules or cells can adhere better. However, degradable gas-phase coatings for degradable implants, such as surgical suture materials or scaffolds for tissue culturing, have been lacking so far. In a new article, researchers now present a polymer coating that is degraded in the body together with its carrier. (via WSJ)
Many stakeholders are now coming home after a productive week at the 2016 Internet Governance Forum (IGF) in Guadalajara, Mexico. As the first IGF since its 10 year mandate renewal by the UN General Assembly, this was a key edition to set the stage for multistakeholder cooperation in the next few years, and to identify the issues that will have to be addressed by the global Internet community now […]
UNITED NATIONS: The UN Security Council will vote Sunday on a French proposal to send observers to the flashpoint Syrian city of Aleppo to monitor evacuations and report on the protection of civilians, diplomats said.The council will meet at 10 a.m. (1500 GMT) to decide on the draft resolution, despite resistance from Russia, Syria’s ally and a veto-wielding Security Council member.France circulated a draft text late Friday […]
18 December 2016 Dubai: The Ministry of Finance (MoF) signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Dubai Islamic Economy Development Centre to exchange experiences and coordinate on matters related to the strategic plan for ‘Dubai the Capital of Islamic Economy 2017-2021’, in order to strengthen the UAE’s position and enhance the Emirate of Dubai as the capital of the Islamic economy. The Dubai Islamic Economy Development Center […]
Settling into an interview with Marwan Bin Jassim Al Sarkal, the man in charge of luring foreign investors to Sharjah, it becomes evident that both tensions and ties bond the emirate with neighbouring Dubai. On the one hand Sharjah is cast into the shadows, often overlooked by businesses and visitors. On the other hand, the bigger brother’s international standing is helping the emirate of 1.5 million people […]
The New York Times will vacate eight floors of its midtown headquarters in a bid to make some money and improve its efficiency. “The current way we have configured our office makes us slower and less collaborative,” New York Times CEO Mark Thompson and Publisher Arthur Sulzberger Jr. said in a memo to staff Friday. “It is also, frankly, too expensive to occupy this many floors when […]
Capitalism as we know it is irrevocably in its death throes, argues German sociologist Wolfgang Streeck, which on its own is not a novel thesis. In our age of regular financial crashes and bursting bubbles, illiberal movements and borderless wars, even Nobel Prize winners and mainstream thinkers – I think of Joseph Stiglitz, among others – say that the post-war free market regime is broken, and that […]
AED 141 million project featuring 272 studio units and 72 1-BR apartments to be completed in 2019 December 15, 2016 Sweet Homes Group, one of the UAE’s premier property Master Developer, has revealed the launch of the company’s first hotel apartment project in Ajman. The announcement was made during the company’s participation in the Ajman Real Estate Conference 1, an event organized by the Real Estate Regulatory […]
Russia said the evacuation of thousands of people trapped for months in the last rebel foothold of Aleppo was finished on Friday, hours after a series of blasts halted the operation. “The Syrian army operation to liberate the militant-controlled eastern districts of Aleppo is complete,” the Russian defence ministry said. “Syrian government forces are liquidating isolated pockets of resistance by radicals.” An agreement for rebels to withdraw […]
Facebook announced today that it is taking several steps to reduce the reach of fake news. One of the initiatives announced by the social network, third-party fact-checking, will allow verified fact-checkers in the United States to review stories to determine if they are true or false. If enough fact checkers mark a story as fake, the post will be marked as such in users’ News Feeds. The […]
Latest asset of Abu Dhabi’s cruise tourism sector set to change face of ‘winter sun’ tourism in Abu Dhabi Abu Dhabi-UAE: December 15, 2016 Under the patronage of His Highness Sheikh Hamdan Bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Ruler’s Representative in the Western Region, Abu Dhabi Ports today has officially opened Sir Bani Yas Cruise Beach, offering cruise ship passengers a new beach destination with unmatched tourism experiences. […]
It has been touted as one of the most exciting Dubai mega-projects of recent years and has now come to fruition. The $735m Dubai Water Canal — carved out of land between Business Bay and Jumeirah — opened to the public last month, creating a water-bound ‘mini-Manhattan’ that flows from Downtown Dubai to the ocean. The 3.2km-long canal is the final segment of the Dubai Creek extension, […]
By Greg Lacour | CHARLESTON, S.C. CHARLESTON, S.C. A jury on Thursday found avowed white supremacist Dylann Roof guilty of federal hate crimes resulting in the deaths of nine black parishioners at a historic church in Charleston, South Carolina, last year. Jurors also said Roof, 22, was guilty of firearms violations and obstructing the exercise of religion for those he shot and killed during a Bible study […]
