Brussels’ lead Brexit negotiator has called for an “orderly withdrawal” of the UK from the EU but warned the government will have less than two years to agree its exit in a tough negotiating timetable set by the bloc. In his first press conference after being appointed as head of the EU’s Article 50 Taskforce, Michel Barnier said it was “too soon to talk about the details” […]
By Stanley White | TOKYO TOKYO Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe is arranging to meet Donald Trump about a week after he takes over as U.S. president on Jan. 20, Jiji news service reported on Tuesday. Abe met Trump in New York last month, soon after his election victory, and Jiji said Abe would meet him around Jan. 27. Trump’s inauguration is due on Jan. 20. A […]
TOKYO Toyota Motor Corp said on Tuesday it will expand the development of its gasoline-hybrid technology over the next five years to speed up the introduction of lower-emission engines in the face of stricter global emissions standards. The announcement was the latest by the Japanese firm aimed at making cars “greener” as global automakers face tighter regulations in China, the United States and other regions that will […]
newslide Jimmy Kimmel to host Oscars Late night television presenter Jimmy Kimmel has been give Oscar hosting honours for the next instalment of the Academy Awards in February. It will be a first for the comedian, who has hosted Jimmy Kimmel Live! on ABC since 2003. Kimmel was praised for his work as host of this year’s Emmy awards. Kimmel tweeted, “Yes, I am hosting the Oscars. […]
Indian politicians, celebrities and the public turned out to say goodbye to Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Jayaram Jayalalithaa Tuesday. Crowds thronged the streets as her supporters massed to try and pay respects and get a glimpse of her body, lying in state at Rajaji Hall in Chennai. As politicians made arrangements to attend her funeral, they also took to social media to pay tribute to the leader. Prime Minister […]
The UAE Armed Forces on Monday said it has signed contracts worth AED763 million ($207.7 million) with seven of the region’s leading F&B suppliers on the opening day of the SIAL 2016 exhibition. Major-General Staff Pilot Ishaq Al Balushi, head of the Supply Department of the General Command of the Armed Forces, signed contracts with the Army Officers Club, Abu Dhabi National Hotel Company Middle East, Al […]
It’s been a bad year for newspapers. Money from print advertising is tanking. Layoffs have affected newsrooms large and small. And The President-elect isn’t shy about abusing journalists on Twitter. But today, just a few weeks before Christmas, the clouds parted a bit as New York Times CEO Mark Thompson spoke at the UBS Global Media & Communications Conference in Manhattan. He dispensed a couple of encouraging […]
HONG KONGThe corruption crackdown ordered by Chinese President Xi Jinping is reliant on a secret system of detentions and torture beyond the reach of the formal Chinese criminal justice system, a U.S.-based human rights group said in a report on Tuesday. Human Rights Watch, which released its study in Hong Kong, called for the abolition of the system known as shuanggui, through which it alleges that confessions […]
Submitted by Brian Cloughley via Strategic-Culture.org, Britain, China, France, Russia and the United States are the world’s five «nuclear weapons states», a description officially recognised in the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), which lays down that «each nuclear-weapon State Party to the Treaty undertakes not to transfer to any recipient whatsoever nuclear weapons or other nuclear explosive devices…» It is apparent that the word ‘transfer’ involves ownership and not location, […]
Anyone checking the exchange rate between China’s renminbi and the US dollar would have got a shock early on Tuesday when an apparent glitch resulted in quotes shown on Google and at least two other currency exchange websites showing an 8 per cent devaluation. When markets opened, the Chinese currency instead rose against its US counterpart, after the central bank set the midpoint of the renminbi’s 4 per […]
President Rodrigo Duterte. RENATO LUMAWAG/ Presidential Photo Human rights group Karapatan on Tuesday said President Rodrigo Duterte and his administration seem to be “stalling” the efforts of the peace negotiations as they refuse to release all political prisoners. “Lest the GRP’s use of the political prisoners as trump cards in the peace process will be seen as its vile attempt to set the stage to renege on […]
The inaugural event will serve as a platform for industry wide knowledge exchange and discussions around legacy creation 06 December 2016 Dubai, United Arab Emirates: Dubai Business Events in collaboration with the BestCities Global Alliance and the Professional Convention Management Association (PCMA), inaugurated the first ever BestCities Global Forum yesterday. Dubai is proud to host the first event of its kind organised by the global alliance, set […]
Time magazine said Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi won its online readers’ poll which contributes to its selection of its person of the year. Mr. Modi beat U.S. President-elect Donald Trump and President Barack Obama to win 18% of the vote. He also beat Hillary Clinton, Mark Zuckerberg and Wikileaks founder Julian Assange. Mr. Modi last month unleashed chaos in the South Asian nation with a surprise […]
GUATEMALA CITY Taiwan’s President Tsai Ing-wen will visit diplomatic ally Guatemala next month, the foreign minister said on Monday, but it was unclear if she would also go to the United States after a phone call with President-elect Donald Trump raised sensitivities in Sino-U.S. relations. Tsai is due to visit Guatemala on Jan. 11-12, Foreign Minister Carlos Raul Morales told Reuters. He gave no details on what […]
ABU DHABI // As ties between Turkey and the UAE grow increasingly warm, Ankara’s new ambassador — formerly the most senior Middle East official in the Turkish foreign ministry — says his appointment shows his country is serious about improving bilateral ties. “That is my mission here,” Ambassador Can Dizdar, who began his tenure in October, told The National. “I want to increase the pace, and achieve […]
The World Economic Forum is preparing to welcome Xi Jinping to its annual meeting in January, in what would be the first such appearance by a Chinese president. Mr Xi’s stop-off at the mountain resort will coincide with a state visit to Switzerland and planning is well under way, according to two people who have been involved in the arrangements. The annual meeting is a favourite watering […]
By Kaori Kaneko and Linda Sieg | TOKYO TOKYO Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s visit to Pearl Harbor this month, the first by a Japanese leader, will not be to apologise for the Japanese attack 75 years ago that drew the United States into World War Two, Abe’s top aide said on Tuesday. Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga said the purpose of Abe’s Dec. 26-27 visit was to […]
By Se Young Lee and Yun Hwan Chae | SEOUL SEOUL The heads of South Korea’s top conglomerates including the Samsung and Lotte Groups were questioned on Tuesday in an unprecedented parliamentary hearing into the political scandal that appears poised to bring down President Park Geun-hye. A parliamentary panel is investigating whether the conglomerates, known as chaebol, were pressured by Park or a friend and aide to […]
Submitted by Mac Slavo via SHTFPlan.com, When gold exploded to the upside earlier this year amid the biggest New Year’s stock market panic in history, we noted that the bull market had awoken. And despite arguments to the contrary from mainstream financial pundits that gold and silver were not monetary metals and nothing but historical relics, it became apparent during the Brexit vote that precious metals were the […]
If President Obama actually goes through with a rumored plan to start a digital media company, he might want to move to France or Spain. That’s because digital media companies tend to succeed in countries where legacy media — newspapers, broadcast and magazines — aren’t particularly strong, according to a new report from the Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism. The report, which examined 12 digital organizations […]
U.S. President-elect Donald Trump said on Monday he would name retired neurosurgeon Ben Carson as secretary of the Department of Housing and Urban Development. The following is a list of Republican Trump’s selections for top jobs in his administration. All the posts but that of national security adviser require Senate confirmation: DEFENCE SECRETARY: JAMES MATTIS Mattis is a retired Marine Corps general known for his tough talk, […]
The great American corporate buyback party was expected to fizzle out next year, leaving a hangover of debt and remorse. Instead, the boom may soon find renewed succour if US companies bring their pile of foreign-based cash back home. A tax holiday for US companies looms under president-elect Donald Trump, with some seeing this wave of cash as the catalyst of an investment boom and faster US […]
A parliament packed with lawmakers who oppose wage cuts and taxes, and who want to keep Kuwait’s sumptuous welfare state intact, is threatening the government’s attempts to close a gaping budget deficit. Opposition candidates won about 24 out of 50 seats last month in a parliamentary election seen by Kuwaitis as a referendum on austerity measures aimed at dealing with the 2016/17 shortfall, forecast at 9.5 billion […]
By Roberta Rampton and Ben Blanchard | WASHINGTON/BEIJING WASHINGTON/BEIJING The White House said on Monday it had sought to reassure China after President-elect Donald Trump’s phone call with Taiwan’s leader last week, which the Obama administration warned could undermine progress in relations with Beijing. The statement from a spokesman for U.S. President Barack Obama highlighted concerns about the potential fallout from Trump’s unusual call with Taiwan President […]
