Authored by Melkulangara Bhadrakumar via The Strategic Culture Foundation, The common thread running through the two major ‘hot spots’ in the Middle East today – the conflicts in Syria and Libya – is undoubtedly the threat to international security from the extremist groups operating in these theatres. Therefore, Syria and Libya become test cases of the efficacy of the international community – Russia and the United States […]
21 March 2017 Dubai, United Arab Emirates – HH Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President and Prime Minister of UAE and Ruler of Dubai, has inaugurated the 200 megawatt (MW) second phase of the Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum Solar Park. The project reflects a new era in the excellence and leadership of the UAE, as it increases the share of clean and renewable energy. […]
By Arshad Mohammed and John Walcott | WASHINGTON WASHINGTON U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson plans to skip a meeting with NATO foreign ministers next month in order to stay home for a visit by China’s president and will go to Russia later in April, U.S. officials said on Monday, disclosing an itinerary that allies may see as giving Moscow priority over them. Tillerson intends to miss […]
The UAE has pledged US$15 million (Dh55m) to a historic alliance to protect cultural heritage sites threatened by war and extremism. The Emirates was among the world donors that pledged more than $75m during a conference at the Louvre Museum in Paris, attended by Sheikh Saif bin Zayed, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Interior, French president Francois Hollande and other officials. The conference established the International […]
“I think this administration wants to be more engaged in fighting terrorism,” Mr. Abadi added. “I sense a difference in terms of being head-to-head with terrorism.” Continue reading the main story Neither American nor Iraqi officials, however, explained what economic support might be provided by the United States and the international community to help rebuild Iraqi cities that have been damaged during the conflict. Nor did they […]
By Susan Cornwell and David Morgan | WASHINGTON WASHINGTON Congressional Republicans recrafted their Obamacare replacement bill on Monday in hopes of satisfying critics as U.S. President Donald Trump prepared to promote his first major legislative initiative on Capitol Hill. In a sign of deepening concern among Republicans about the bill’s future, Trump will speak to the party’s lawmakers in Congress on Tuesday about the healthcare overhaul, two […]
By Anna Mehler Paperny | TORONTO TORONTO A spike in refugee claims for the first two months of 2017 put Canada on track for the highest number since at least 2011. A fifth of those claimants were caught crossing the border illegally. Growing numbers of asylum-seekers are coming to Canada in the wake of the election of U.S. President Donald Trump, who has pledged to crack down […]
The release of the Panama Papers exposed an elaborate kickback scheme whose tentacles spread from the Caribbean island of Aruba to warehouses in Doral to the offshore banking haven of Panama City, according to a lawsuit filed in Miami federal court. The scam was allegedly hatched by Egbert Koolman, an employee of Aruba’s state-owned telecommunications provider, Setar. Koolman’s job was to buy phones from suppliers around the […]
SEOUL Ousted South Korean President Park Geun-hye apologised to the country on Tuesday as she arrived at prosecutors’ offices for questioning as a criminal suspect in a widening corruption investigation that has already cost her the presidency. “I am sorry to the people. I will faithfully cooperate with questioning,” Park said in front of media at the steps of the office building, in her first comments directly […]
Rhetoric has recently trumped reality. It has become a misconceived bit of common “knowledge” that the United States of America is a bastion of free trade. Little could be further from the truth. The “freest” nation on earth, as we are taught to believe, imposes a staggering number of tariffs, import and export bans, sanctions and embargoes. Yet somehow “free trade” is blamed for the financial ills […]
By Matt Spetalnick and David Brunnstrom | WASHINGTON WASHINGTON The Trump administration is considering sweeping sanctions aimed at cutting North Korea off from the global financial system as part of a broad review of measures to counter Pyongyang’s nuclear and missile threat, a senior U.S. official said on Monday. The sanctions would be part of a multi-pronged approach of increased economic and diplomatic pressure – especially on […]
By Sarah N. Lynch | WASHINGTON WASHINGTON Shareholder activists are pushing back against a major business trade group’s request that the White House use its influence on the U.S. securities regulator to make it harder to get governance, political or environmental issues onto corporate ballots, according to a letter seen by Reuters on Monday. Company boards and CEOs have increasingly faced requests by investors to include various […]
Airline passengers travelling from eight Middle Eastern nations, including Jordan and Egypt, will be barred from carrying large electronic devices into the main cabin under new regulations from the Trump administration. The rules, which come into effect on Tuesday, also apply to Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, according to a US official. Passengers from the eight countries will have to check laptop computers and other […]
By Steve Holland | WASHINGTON WASHINGTON Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi thanked U.S. President Donald Trump on Monday for removing Iraq from a travel ban affecting several Muslim-majority countries and said he sought stronger cooperation in fighting Islamic State militants. The two leaders sat down face to face at the White House for the first time since Trump took office on Jan. 20. Abadi is trying to […]
NEW YORK Eric Trump, the 33-year-old middle son of U.S. President Donald Trump, said on Monday that his wife Lara was expecting to give birth to their first child in September. “We are adding a boy to #TeamTrump,” Trump wrote on Twitter. “It’s been an amazing year. We are blessed!” Eric Trump and his wife, formerly Lara Yunaska, married in November 2014 at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort in […]
Rivlin speaks in Jerusalem at the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations. (photo credit:AVI HAYUN) In Hanoi and Beijing, they’re talking about Israel’s public broadcasting crisis, or more accurately why the crisis should not be a pretext for holding new elections. Reporters traveling in Vietnam with President Reuven Rivlin and in China with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu were more inclined to report on […]
The Authority marks the day with a range of internal and external initiatives to spread joy inside the Authority and beyond to the whole community 20 March 2017 Dubai, UAE – Dubai Culture & Arts Authority, the Emirate’s dedicated entity for culture, arts and heritage, has celebrated International Happiness Day 2017 with a range of internal and external initiatives that have spread joy inside the Authority and […]
When Tim Armour graduated from Middlebury College, a liberal arts institution in Vermont, he faced a conundrum. He could either accept a graduate programme slot at a West Coast investment group, or go and run a windsurf shop in Florida. Because he loved to windsurf but did not want to turn down a more sensible job, he asked the asset manager whether he could put off the […]
I am a writing teacher, not a beat reporter. No one calls me “scoop.” So it was fun last September to help break the news that the Daily Beast was about to publish a new piece of work from Jimmy Breslin. It was a pleasure to analyze the essay, part of a fictionalized memoir, and reflect on the work of the famous/infamous New York City columnist, who […]
By Lawrence Hurley and Andrew Chung | WASHINGTON WASHINGTON Democrats raised questions on Monday about whether Neil Gorsuch, President Donald Trump’s U.S. Supreme Court nominee, would rule against abortion rights and gun control while favouring corporations as his Senate confirmation hearing began, with the court’s ideological balance at stake. Judiciary Committee Republicans praised Gorsuch, the conservative appeals court judge from Colorado nominated by Trump on Jan. 31, […]
It has been clear for months that Mosul will be liberated. And sure enough, Iraqi forces backed by U.S. assistance and firepower are now moving to clear the remaining western neighborhoods of Iraq’s second-biggest city. Islamic State leaders have reportedly fled the city and military operations will soon be complete. Success in Mosul is a testament to the determination of the Iraqi forces that have lead this […]
WASHINGTON FBI Director James Comey on Monday confirmed the agency was investigating possible Russian government efforts to interfere in the 2016 U.S. election including any links between President Donald Trump’s campaign and Moscow. Comey told a congressional hearing on Russian activities that the probe “includes investigating the nature of any links between individuals associated with the Trump campaign and the Russian government and whether there was any […]
NEW YORK Billionaire philanthropist David Rockefeller, former head of Chase Manhattan Corp and patriarch of one of the most famous and influential American families, died on Monday, a family spokesman said. He was 101. Rockefeller, who reportedly gave away nearly $2 billion in his lifetime, died in his sleep of congestive heart failure at his home in Pocantico Hills, New York, spokesman Fraser Seitel said in a […]
BOSTON The football jersey that New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady wore in last month’s Super Bowl victory in Houston, Texas, which disappeared hours after the stunning come-from-behind win, has been found in Mexico, the National Football League and police said Monday. Both the jersey worn in Brady’s fifth league championship over the Atlanta Falcons, and the one he’d worn two years earlier when the team topped […]
