WASHINGTON The U.S. Senate voted on Thursday to confirm retired neurosurgeon Ben Carson as secretary of the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) in President Donald Trump’s Cabinet. Carson, who ran for the 2016 Republican presidential nomination and later endorsed Trump, becomes the only African-American in the Trump Cabinet. The Senate confirmed his appointment by a vote of 58 to 41. Carson was sworn in by […]
President Donald Trump’s new interior secretary withdrew a decree issued in the final hours of the Obama administration that would have phased out lead bullets and fishing tackle on wildlife refuges. Secretary Ryan Zinke said in a document signed Thursday that the order was issued without ”significant communication, consultation or coordination” with stakeholders. “Given these […] (via WSJ)
WASHINGTON At least two additional officials in Donald Trump’s presidential campaign said they spoke with Russian Ambassador Sergei Kislyan at a conference on the sidelines of the Republican National Convention last July, USA Today reported on Thursday. The newspaper said J.D. Gordon, who was the Trump campaign’s director of national security, and Carter Page, another member of the campaign’s national security advisory committee, both said they met […]
ABU DHABI // Jet fighters soared across the skies and tanks rolled along the beaches to the delight of the thousands who turned out for the largest military spectacle yet seen in the UAE. Complete with paratroopers, helicopters, surveillance aircraft, fighter jets and ground combat troops, Union Fortress – an Armed Forces event that included a mock hostage rescue from a ship off Abu Dhabi Corniche – […]
GENEVA Syria’s warring sides both claimed U.N. peace talks in Geneva were going their way on Thursday, but the chief government negotiator and Syria’s ally Russia accused the main opposition delegation of trying to wreck the talks. Syrian government negotiator Bashar al-Ja’afari told reporters that he had discussed “substantive issues, particularly counter-terrorism” with U.N. mediator Staffan de Mistura, and would continue on Friday. The government delegation has […]
Uber’s US rival Lyft is seeking $500m in a new fundraising round to provide fresh ammunition as the transportation company takes its fight with Uber to a growing number of US cities, according to two people close to the process. The fundraising comes at a time when Uber has been struggling with a series of public relations crises, including allegations of sexual harassment and a video of […]
Photo Hosni Mubarak, the former president of Egypt, was taken back to a military hospital in Cairo on Thursday after a court session. Credit Mohamed Hossam/European Pressphoto Agency CAIRO — Egypt’s top appeals court cleared former President Hosni Mubarak of any responsibility for the killing of hundreds of people during the 2011 protests that ended his 30-year rule, sweeping away the final legal hurdle to Mr. Mubarak’s […]
When it came to once slice of the media Thursday, Jeff Sessions was generally trumped by Evan Spiegel. Contacts with Russians? Lying to a Senate committee deliberating his nomination? Need for a special prosecutor? Step aside as Attorney General? Well, that was grist for the mills of Washington-focused media and the cable news channels Thursday — and with good reason. But on CNBC and Fox Business, as […]
By Ayesha Rascoe | NEWPORT NEWS, Va. NEWPORT NEWS, Va. President Donald Trump said on Thursday he wants a U.S. military buildup of more ships and planes to “project American power in distant lands,” making his case for a proposed $54 billion increase in defense spending that has U.S. lawmakers squabbling. Wearing an olive military jacket and hat aboard a new aircraft carrier, the Gerald R. Ford, […]
GENEVA The Syrian opposition declined to congratulate Syrian President Bashar al-Assad on retaking historic Palmyra from Islamic State militants on Thursday and suggested the sight of the city changing hands again was risible. “It is the second time that we see this handover and this is obviously being used for political reasons,” chief opposition negotiator Nasr al-Hariri told reporters in Geneva, adding that he considered both sides […]
Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, on Wednesday appointed a new police chief. In a tweet, he named Major General Abdullah Khalifa Al Marri as the new chief of Dubai Police, a day after Sheikh Mohammed ordered the promotion of Al Marri from the rank of Brigadier to that of Major General. Al Marri was […]
By Lauren Hirsch | NEW YORK NEW YORK Snap Inc’s (SNAP.N) shares continued to defy doubts about the company’s early-stage business model and slowing user growth, jumping nearly 50 percent in their first day of trading on the New York Stock Exchange. The owner of the Snapchat messaging app raised $3.4 billion in its initial public offering on Wednesday night, more than the $3 billion Facebook (FB.O) […]
Australia is concerned about the South China Sea; all Indonesia wants to talk about is economics. By Leo Suryadinata and Mustafa Izzuddin for The Diplomat March 03, 2017 Prior to Indonesian President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo’s maiden visit to Australia on February 25-26, The Australian – a conservative-leaning paper in Australia – published its exclusive interview with Jokowi on February 24. Jokowi was reported as saying that he […]
All branches of the Armed Forces participated, including the Quick Reaction Force of the Presidential Guard, supported by the UAE Joint Aviation Command, the Navy, the Air Force, Air Defence and the Army. Antonie Robertson / The National The event was attended by Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed, Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi and Deputy Supreme Commander of the Armed Forces, and sheikhs, military commanders and officials. Ryan […]
The US broke its long drought of hot technology initial public offerings on Thursday as shares in Snap soared more than 40 per cent in their market debut despite questions about corporate governance and profitability at the owner of vanishing messaging service Snapchat. A pack of traders huddled around the desk of Snap’s designated market maker for more than an hour after the opening bell at the […]
GENEVA Syrian government negotiator Bashar al-Ja’afari accused the Saudi-backed opposition on Thursday of holding peace talks hostage because of their reported refusal to unify under one opposition delegation and include terrorism on agenda. “We heard that… the Riyadh platform refused the inclusion… of counter-terrorism,” Ja’afari told reporters after meeting U.N. envoy Staffan de Mistura. “This did not come as a surprise because some members of the Riyadh […]
Government of Dubai Media Office – 2 March 2017 The jury of the Dubai Canvas 3D Art Award will be looking for exceptional creativity, technique and style in its evaluation of the 25 artworks shortlisted for the Award. The shortlisted works are being displayed at the Dubai Canvas 3D Art Festival 2017, which began in City Walk on Sunday. The Award and Festival are organised by Brand […]
By Kanupriya Kapoor | JAKARTA JAKARTA Saudi Arabia’s King Salman has embraced the “selfie”, taking part in a number of light-hearted self-shot pictures and videos during his tour of Asia that contrast with the pomp and formality of most of the octogenarian monarch’s trips abroad. In the first days of a lengthy regional tour, the king has appeared with top-ranking officials in Indonesia and Malaysia in pictures […]
MOSCOW Russian Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu told President Vladimir Putin on Thursday that the Syrian city of Palmyra has been fully recaptured from Islamic State militants, the RIA news agency reported, citing Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov. The Syrian army retook the ancient town, which has fallen to IS twice, with help from the Russian air force, it cited Peskov as saying. (Reporting by Denis Pinchuk; Writing by […]
By Yashaswini Swamynathan U.S. stocks looked set to climb further on Thursday after a record day on Wednesday, as strong economic data added to the optimism about the U.S. economy. Wall Street’s main indexes rallied on Wednesday and the Dow Jones Industrial Average sailed past the 21,000 mark, boosted by President Donald Trump’s more measured tone in a speech to Congress and as bank stocks surged on […]
Jeff Sessions, the US attorney-general, failed to disclose during his confirmation hearings that he twice met the Russian ambassador while acting as a close adviser to Donald Trump during last year’s presidential campaign. Mr Sessions met Sergey Kislyak on September 8 in the then senator’s private office in the US Capitol building, after having spoken with him briefly two months earlier at an event sponsored by the […]
WASHINGTON — The United States conducted airstrikes overnight Thursday against several suspected Qaeda targets across south-central Yemen, according to American and Yemeni military officials, the first American attacks in the country since an ill-fated Special Operations raid in January. The coordinated series of attacks against Qaeda militants occurred in three Yemeni provinces that have been areas of suspected terrorist activity — Abyan, Shabwa and Baydha — according […]
By Doina Chiacu | WASHINGTON WASHINGTON Top Democrats pressed for Attorney General Jeff Sessions to resign on Thursday after a newspaper reported he had not disclosed two meetings with the Russian ambassador before President Donald Trump took office. Sessions, a top adviser to Trump during the presidential campaign, received Russian Ambassador Sergei Kislyak in his office in September, the Washington Post reported. That was at the height […]
The founders of Mossack Fonseca, the law firm at the centre of the Panama Papers scandal, were arrested in Panama City on Thursday as the country’s attorney general launched a probe into their alleged connections with Brazil’s sprawling Lava Jato corruption scandal. Juergen Mossack and his colleague Ramon Fonseca, a former adviser to Panama’s president Juan Carlos Varela, were taken into custody and transferred to police cells […]
