SIMI VALLEY, Calif. The United States should focus on larger strategic interests in the Asia-Pacific region, including expanding trade ties, the defense minister of Singapore said on Saturday, when asked about the controversy sparked by U.S. President-elect Donald Trump’s phone call with the president of Taiwan. Ng Eng Hen said it was not Singapore’s place to comment on Trump’s phone calls, but welcomed comments by his aides […]
Dubai-based port operator DP World has announced the creation of an investment vehicle in partnership with Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec (CDPQ), one of North America’s largest pension fund managers. The investment platform totals $3.7 billion, with DP World holding a 55 percent share and CDPQ the remaining 45 percent, the company said in a statement. The platform will invest in ports and terminals globally […]
By James Macharia | JOHANNESBURG JOHANNESBURG South African President Jacob Zuma has asked the High Court to set aside a report by an anti-corruption watchdog that called for a judicial inquiry into alleged influence-peddling in his government, the president’s office said on Saturday. While stopping short of conclusive findings, the report by the Public Protector watchdog has increased political pressure on Zuma by calling for an investigation […]
Submitted by Robert Parry via Strategic-Culture.org, Under the cover of battling “fake news,” the mainstream U.S. news media and officialdom are taking aim at journalistic skepticism when it is directed at the pronouncements of the U.S. government and its allies. One might have hoped that the alarm about “fake news” would remind major U.S. news outlets, such as The Washington Post and The New York Times, about […]
Airline also picks up coveted accolade for 2016 World’s Leading Airline – First Class at the World Travel Awards 03 December 2016 Male, Maldives – Etihad Airways has once again collected the ‘World’s Leading Airline’ award at the 23rd annual World Travel Awards (WTA) Grand Final Gala Ceremony 2016. This marks the eighth consecutive year that the airline has received the prestigious accolade. Last night’s beachside event […]
The Samsung Galaxy S8 seems to be the blue-eyed boy of the rumor mill and the latest buzz is that the impending flagship will not sport a dual-camera setup. Previous reports have suggested that the Galaxy S8 would pack in two rear-facing cameras – a 12-megapixel one and another with a 13-megapixel resolution (with a Sony module). The news comes courtesy of a new leak from Weibo leakster Ice […]
US technology shares faced one of their worst weeks of 2016 as investors shifted their focus to equities that will benefit from the soaring price of oil and the policies of the Trump administration. The S&P 500 technology index, a measure of large companies in the sector, has declined 3 per cent since Friday last week. The fall represents the steepest drop since late April, when Apple […]
Al-Arabiya Duterte: Trump says Philippines fighting drugs ‘the right way’Al-ArabiyaThe Philippine president called Trump to congratulate him on his election victory with Trump wishing him “success” in his controversial anti-crime crackdown. (Reuters). AFP, Manila Saturday, 3 December 2016. Text size A A A. US President-elect Donald …Philippines President Says Trump Congratulated Him on Violent Anti-Drug CrackdownSlate Magazine (blog)Rodrigo Duterte: Donald Trump Endorsed Deadly War on DrugsTIMEPhilippine president says […]
By Tom Perry, Isla Binnie and Vladimir Soldatkin | BEIRUT/ROME/MOSCOW BEIRUT/ROME/MOSCOW Russia said on Saturday it was ready for talks with the United States about a withdrawal of all Syrian rebels from eastern Aleppo where advances by the Russian-backed Syrian army and its allies threaten to deal a crushing blow to the rebellion. An official with an Aleppo rebel group accused Russia of backtracking on ideas agreed […]
NEW YORK The United States “absolutely must” complete unfinished work ending the too-big-to-fail bank problem that helped plunge the global economy into recession eight years ago, an influential Federal Reserve policymaker said on Saturday. In remarks that appeared to pre-empt President-elect Donald Trump, who has promised to roll back Wall Street regulations, New York Fed President William Dudley said much progress has been made making the financial […]
ABU DHABI // French president Francois Hollande yesterday spoke of the Louvre Abu Dhabi’s message of tolerance during his visit to the museum. “I have come back to this museum because it has the ambition, even within the current circumstances faced by the region, of sending out a message of dialogue, understanding and intelligence,” he said. Mr Hollande was in the capital for the Safeguarding Endangered Cultural […]
Amanda Wills devoted much of the past year to coverage of the presidential election. So when she listened to voicemails left for CNN after Nov. 8, she expected to hear a lot of screaming from both sides. Instead, she heard perspectives she’d never encountered before, ones that taught her not just about CNN’s audience, but about the country itself. “For me, personally, as a journalist, it’s really, […]
ALEPPO, SYRIA: Syrian government forces have recaptured half the former opposition stronghold of east Aleppo, a monitor said, with the UN now facing a “race against time” to aid children forced out by the bloody offensive.President Bashar Assad’s forces have made swift gains since their offensive against Aleppo — once Syria’s commercial powerhouse — began on November 15.Tens of thousands of civilians have streamed out of the […]
By Emma Farge | BANJUL BANJUL Gambians reacted with joy and stunned disbelief on Saturday to the defeat of President Yahya Jammeh, one day after he conceded that he lost an election set to end his 22 years in power. Jammeh’s government is accused of crushing dissent and torturing opponents and he had said he would rule for a “billion years”. As a result, few believed he […]
Like Christmas ornaments on Main Streets across America, Wall Street banks’ forecasts for the year ahead keep coming out earlier every year. At least this year analysts have something substantive to sink their intellectual teeth into: the impact of incoming president Donald Trump. The results are fascinating — especially for bonds. The fixed income market has been one of the biggest victims in the “Trumpflation trade” that […]
LIBREVILLE Gabon has postponed legislative elections set for Dec. 27 until next July because of a lack of money, the interior ministry said in a statement on Saturday. The decision was taken after a request by the electoral commission and the vote will now take place on July 29, 2017, with parliament extended until then, it said. “The constitutional court has … decided that the means invoked […]
By Sinead Carew and Chuck Mikolajczak | NEW YORK NEW YORK The rally in regional U.S. bank stocks that followed last month’s election of Donald Trump may not be over, but investors may have to wait for policy to take shape for the massive move to extend further. The S&P 600 index of small-cap banks has surged more than 20 percent since Trump’s surprise Nov. 8 victory, […]
Opec’s production cut this week to bolster oil prices may strike many as a throwback to an earlier era, but it hinged on a very modern method of communication: a messaging group between the smartphones of Saudi Arabia’s delegation in Vienna and Prince Mohammed bin Salman al-Saud. For a royal priding himself on being a tech savvy moderniser in the kingdom, the use of a popular encrypted messaging service may […]
Etihad Airways has collected the World’s Leading Airline award at the 23rd annual World Travel Awards Grand Final Gala Ceremony 2016. This marks the eighth consecutive year that the airline has received the prestigious accolade, the airline said in a statement. Friday night’s beachside event was held before an audience of the industry’s leading lights at the Sun Siyam Iru Fushi Beach Resort in the Maldives. Etihad […]
Egypt, which has seen its influence wane, is seeking allies and relevance wherever it can find them, even if that means shelving concerns about Iran. Continue reading the main story While Russia’s goal seems to be to expand its influence and pave the way for the international rehabilitation of Mr. Assad’s government, the scrambling of alliances remains in motion and the results unclear. The new relationships are […]
Umno-PAS political cooperation difficult but necessary for Islamic unity, say political observers Umno President Datuk Seri Najib Razak speaks during the opening ceremony of the 2016 Umno General Assembly in Kuala Lumpur December 1, 2016. — Bernama picKUALA LUMPUR, Dec 3 ― Umno-PAS political cooperation may be difficult to achieve but cooperation in the interest of Muslims and Islam, especially social welfare is expected to continue, said […]
Bolivia’s President Evo Morales promised tough action over the airline crash that killed most of the Brazilian football team Chapecoense on Monday night. The deaths of the 71 people, who also included team officials and journalists, in the crash follow indications the British Aerospace regional jet had run out of fuel and amid speculation that it was on a flight path that was longer than its specified range. “Drastic […]
By Brad Haynes | CHAPECO, Brazil CHAPECO, Brazil The Brazilian town of Chapeco, its buildings draped in the green colors of its devastated soccer club, prepared on Saturday to receive the bodies of victims of an air disaster in Colombia that killed 71 people and wiped out the team. The crash on Monday night shocked soccer fans the world over and plunged Brazil, South America’s biggest nation, […]
BEIJING China’s success at turning around relations with the Philippines under its new president Rodrigo Duterte show the “conspiracies” of certain countries to stir up trouble in the South China Sea have been defeated, China’s foreign minister said on Saturday. In July, the Philippines won a case at the Permanent Court of Arbitration in The Hague challenging China’s sovereignty claims in the South China Sea, which infuriated […]
