By Richard Balmforth | PARIS PARIS France’s far-right leader fired broadsides at the European Union and the euro currency on Friday, marking out Europe as a major plank in her programme as the battle lines took shape in the campaign for the presidential election in spring. Marine Le Pen, head of the anti-EU, anti-immigrant National Front (FN) and seen by pollsters as highly likely to make a […]
By Isabel Coles and Saif Hameed | NORTH OF MOSUL, Iraq/BAGHDAD NORTH OF MOSUL, Iraq/BAGHDAD Elite Iraqi troops bridged a river under the cover of darkness to seize a district of Mosul in an unprecedented night raid early on Friday, part of a new phase in the battle to capture the city from Islamic State after weeks of slowed momentum. Since last week, Iraqi forces have launched […]
WASHINGTON President-elect Donald Trump criticized news stories on Friday that reported U.S. taxpayers would pay for his planned border wall with Mexico, saying they were failing to report that U.S. funds used to start the project would be repaid later by Mexico. “The dishonest media does not report than any money spent on building the Great Wall (for sake of speed), will be paid back by Mexico […]
When Donald Trump comes to Washington on January 20, his YouTube supporters Diamond and Silk will be travelling to the capital with him. Then, they will turn round and go home. Over the course of the tycoon’s campaign, Diamond and Silk served as two of the president-elect’s biggest surrogates to the African-American community, talking him up on their hit video blogs, speaking alongside him at rallies and […]
Argentina is looking to sell up to $10bn of debt, taking advantage of calmer conditions across bond markets and a pullback in the US dollar. The year-old government of Mauricio Macri is just one of a host of other emerging markets, including Brazil, Saudi Arabia and Nigeria, all racing to raise finance soon to mitigate risks stemming from the uncertainty over the direction of US policy, with […]
SEJONG, South Korea China is suspected to be taking indirect action against South Korea’s decision last year to deploy a U.S. anti-missile system, South Korea’s finance minister said. China worries that the U.S. Terminal High Altitude Area Defence (THAAD) system’s powerful radar can penetrate its territory and it has objected to the deployment. South Korea and the United States say the missile system is aimed solely at […]
Xiaomi’s division in India claims to have topped $1 billion (roughly 6,800 crore rupees) in revenue in 2016, following an announcement in October that it sold more than 1 million smartphones in India in 18 days. In a Facebook post celebrating the revenue milestone, head of Xiaomi India Manu Kumar Jain wrote that the company thinks it’s the first to cross the $1 billion revenue mark in […]
What with the Golden Globes, the Oscars, the Baftas and the host of other award ceremonies jamming up their calendars, it’s a wonder that the stars of stage, screen and television ever have time to act. Plus, as British comedian Ricky Gervais liked to point out on each of the four occasions he presented the annual Golden Globes ceremony in Los Angeles, watching the impossibly wealthy and […]
A prominent Republican lawmaker is taking another shot at tightening U.S. rules for high-skilled worker visas ahead of Donald Trump’s inauguration as president later this month. Rep. Darrell Issa, one of the highest-profile Republicans in Congress and a supporter of Mr. Trump, said Wednesday in a statement on his website that he is reintroducing a bill designed to “stop the outsourcing of American jobs” and ensure laws are not […]
Philippine National Police chief Director General Ronald “Bato” Dela Rosa. JULLIANE LOVE DE JESUS/INQUIRER.net Philippine National Police (PNP) chief Director General Ronald “Bato” Dela Rosa will be presenting the police’s accomplishments on its intensive anti-drug campaign under “Oplan Double Barrel Alpha” to President Rodrigo Duterte in a meeting in Malacañang on Friday afternoon. Scheduled at 3 p.m. Friday, Dela Rosa, along with top police commanders, heads of PNP national support units […]
For the past 24 hours, Chicago media have been cautiously running gruesome video of four people tying up, cutting, beating and taunting a mentally disabled man while broadcasting the ordeal live on Facebook. The video is hard to watch. One of the captors slapped the victim repeatedly and used a knife to cut the victim’s clothing then cut a plug of his hair and scalp. While the […]
By Kaori Kaneko and Tetsushi Kajimoto | TOKYO TOKYO Japan said on Friday it was recalling its ambassador to South Korea over a statue commemorating Korean women forced to work in Japanese military brothels during World War Two and that the statue violated an agreement to resolve the issue. The two nations agreed in 2015 that the issue of “comfort women”, which has long plagued ties between […]
Global reality-television singing competition The Voice is launching a special edition for kids between the ages of 13 and 17 in the Philippines. The Voice Teens Philippines will be the second teenage edition of the show internationally – after Colombia – and the first in Asia. It is due to debut in the summer. The first round of auditions will be held in Manila on January 14 […]
Donald Trump has turned his Twitter ire on Toyota, telling the Japanese carmaker that it will face heavy penalties if it chooses to make cars for the US market in Mexico. “Toyota Motor said will build a new plant in Baja, Mexico, to build Corolla cars for U.S. NO WAY! Build plant in U.S. or pay big border tax,” the President-elect wrote on Twitter on Thursday. The […]
By Mark Hosenball and Steve Holland | WASHINGTON WASHINGTON There is disagreement within President-elect Donald Trump’s camp about the structure of the top U.S. intelligence agency when he takes office and it is unclear whether his national security adviser will prevail in advocating a reorganization, sources familiar with the matter said on Thursday. At issue is the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI), which Congress […]
By Suleiman Al-Khalidi | AMMAN AMMAN The Syrian army and its allies pressed ahead on Friday with a two-week-long offensive to seize a strategic valley where a key spring provides supplies to four million people in the capital, Damascus, residents and rebels said. Aerial bombing and shelling from the army as well as Hezbollah fighters stationed in the mountains that overlook the valley on the northwestern edge […]
Law Blog rounds up the morning’s legal news: Obamacare repeal: The Republican-controlled Senate took its first step toward dismantling the 2010 Affordable Care Act, using its initial day in office to introduce a measure that sets an aggressive timeline for developing plans to repeal much of President Barack Obama’s signature health law. [WSJ] Holder hired: […] (via WSJ)
Your daily guide to community and cultural activities across the Emirates for January 6, 2017, including performances, festivals, art exhibitions, film screenings, health and fitness events, talks, classes, workshops and family fun. newslide Abu Dhabi Cultural festival Enjoy the extended opening of Sheikh Zayed Heritage Festival. Learn more about local culture at this event that celebrates the legacy of the founding President of the UAE, including entertainment […]
Mexico’s central bank intervened in the foreign exchange markets to halt the peso’s record slide against the dollar but failed to provide anything more than temporary respite for its battered currency. The peso responded to the move, the first of its kind since the election of Donald Trump, with a 1.5 per cent rise against the dollar. Having tumbled to another all-time low of 21.61 pesos on […]
By David Shepardson | WASHINGTON WASHINGTON U.S. President-elect Donald Trump targeted Toyota Motor Corp (7203.T) on Thursday, threatening to impose a hefty fee on the world’s largest automaker if it builds its Corolla cars for the U.S. market at a plant in Mexico. “Toyota Motor said will build a new plant in Baja, Mexico, to build Corolla cars for U.S. NO WAY! Build plant in U.S. or […]
By Steve Holland | WASHINGTON WASHINGTON President-elect Donald Trump on Thursday picked former U.S. Senator Dan Coats as his director of national intelligence, two senior transition officials said, as he puts his own stamp on a U.S. intelligence community that he frequently criticizes. The official announcement was expected this week as Trump makes decisions on some of the remaining major positions he must fill as he prepares […]
By Susan Cornwell and Susan Heavey | WASHINGTON WASHINGTON Senate Democrats on Thursday demanded an ethics probe into Tom Price, President-elect Donald Trump’s pick for U.S. health secretary, following a report that the fierce Obamacare critic traded in healthcare company stocks while pushing legislation in Congress that could affect those shares. Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer and others made their comments as congressional Republicans moved ahead with […]
It appears Newt Gingrich was right in his outrage at the hypocrisy surrounding the kidnapping and abuse of a mentally-ill white teen by four young black assailants. Despite the suspects shouting “fuck Donald Trump” and “fuck white people”, Chicago police said today that they do not believe the attack was motivated by race, more likely due to his “special needs.” As a reminder, this is what Gingrich, […]
On an episode of the popular television show House of Cards, the American president, played by Kevin Spacey, announces an initiative to create 10 million jobs in America, where anyone who’s unemployed and wants a job will get one. In a speech, he says: “Entitlements have crippled the country. Let me be clear, you are entitled to nothing; you build your future, it isn’t handed to you”. […]
