By Tom Miles and John Irish | GENEVA GENEVA Opposing sides in the Syrian war came face-to-face in U.N. peace talks for the first time in three years on Thursday, to hear mediator Staffan de Mistura implore them to cooperate to find a way out of almost six years of war. “I ask you to work together. I know it’s not going to be easy to end […]
Rex Tillerson, US secretary of state, struck a conciliatory tone during a visit to Mexico, saying the neighbouring countries had an opportunity to upgrade their economic relationship. After meeting Mexican officials during his second mission as the top US diplomat, Mr Tillerson said the countries had agreed to “seize the opportunity to modernise and strengthen our trade and energy relationship”. His remarks came just after President Donald […]
There was so much weaponry inside that visitors got searched not just on the way in, but also on the way out. Continue reading the main story The exhibition served to promote Abu Dhabi, the capital of the United Arab Emirates, which has distinguished itself as a regional hub for international business at a time when wars and uprisings have upended other Arab states. It also provided […]
By Steve Holland | WASHINGTON WASHINGTON President Donald Trump said on Thursday he wants to build up the U.S. nuclear arsenal to ensure it is at the “top of the pack,” saying the United States has fallen behind in its atomic weapons capacity. In a Reuters interview, Trump also said China could solve the national security challenge posed by North Korea “very easily if they want to,” […]
Beirut, 23 February 2017 Ipsos, the number one research company in Middle East and North Africa, and Nielsen, a global performance management company that provides a comprehensive understanding of what consumers Watch and Buy, released their official results for Television Audience Measurement (TAM) for 2016 in Lebanon, during a gathering at Phoenicia Hotel in Beirut. The event took place in the presence of key representatives from the […]
BISSAU Hundreds of people marched through the capital of Guinea Bissau on Thursday demanding the departure of President Jose Mario Vaz, a day after parliament rejected a programme submitted by his prime minister. Vaz appointed Prime Minister Umaro Mokhtar Sissoco Embalo in November after months of regional talks seeking an end to an 18-month political crisis that has paralysed the institutions of the poor West African nation […]
The arrival of Mike Flynn’s replacement, Gen. H.R. McMaster as Trump’s new national security advisor could mean sweeping changes of the White House foreign policy team, giving him control of Homeland Security and guarantee full access to the military and intelligence agencies. In a report by the NYT, Mr. McMaster is said to be weighing changes to an organization chart that generated consternation when it was issued […]
BEIRUT: Turkish-backed Syrian opposition announced on Thursday they had taken full control of Al-Bab from the Daesh group, marking a key defeat for the jihadists after weeks of heavy fighting.The town of Al-Bab, just 25 kilometers (15 miles) south of the Turkish border, was the last Daesh stronghold in the northern Syrian province of Aleppo.“We are announcing Al-Bab completely liberated, and we are now clearing mines from […]
IDEX 2017 ends on a high-note with a total of 90 deals valued at more than AED 19.177 billion Abu Dhabi-UAE: 23 February, 2017 At a press conference on the fifth and last day of the 13th edition of the International Defence Exhibition and Conference (IDEX 2017), Naval Staff Colonel Fahed Nasser Al Thehli, Official Spokesperson of the fourth edition of the Naval Defence Exhibition (NAVDEX 2017), […]
DUBAI // A Pakistani man is accused of transferring millions of dirhams from a man’s account after posing as him to access his mobile banking. Dubai Criminal Court heard that the 22-year-old accused pretended to be the Afghan man when he went to du to request a replacement SIM card with his old phone number after claiming that he had lost his. After getting a SIM with […]
Many fear electronic voting machines can be hacked and tampered with. Image: iStock The hacking campaign around the US presidential election, cyberattacks against Ukrain’s power grid, and even the internet crippling Mirai botnet DDoS attack all demonstrate how cyberattacks have grown to threaten the very fabric of society itself, NATO has warned. Citing the impact of high profile incidents like these, Jamie Shea, deputy assistant secretary general […]
By Mehreen Zahra-Malik | LAHORE, Pakistan LAHORE, Pakistan Pakistani real estate giant Rafi Group made a ten-fold profit last year from its sale of hundreds of acres of land in the remote fishing town of Gwadar, acquired soon after the government announced plans for a deep-sea port there. The windfall came after 12 years of waiting patiently for the Gwadar port to emerge as the centrepiece of […]
BEIJING China’s defence ministry said on Thursday it was aware of the presence of a U.S. aircraft carrier strike group in the South China Sea and China respected freedom of navigation for all countries in the waters there. The U.S. navy said the strike group, including the Nimitz-class aircraft carrier the USS Carl Vinson, began “routine operations” in the South China Sea on Saturday amid growing tension […]
BAGHDAD U.S.-backed Iraqi security forces closing in on the Islamic State-held western half of Mosul stormed the city’s airport and a nearby military base on Thursday, state television said. Counter-terrorism service (CTS) troops and elite interior ministry units known as Rapid Response descended on the airport early on Thursday and the nearby Ghozlani military complex, CTS spokesman Sabah al-Numan told state TV. “Our forces started a major […]
By Mubashir Bukhari | LAHORE, Pakistan LAHORE, Pakistan A blast at a market in Pakistan’s eastern city of Lahore killed at least five people on Thursday and wounded 21, a rescue official told Reuters. The cause of the explosion was not immediately clear. Security forces cordoned off the area and people were not being allowed to leave or enter. “Forensic teams have arrived on the scene and […]
KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia — Malaysian authorities want to speak with a North Korean embassy official and airline employee as part of their investigation into the murder of Kim Jong Nam. The two being sought are Hyon Kwang Song, who worked at the North Korean embassy in Malaysia, and Kim Uk Il, a staff member of the North Korean carrier Air Koryo, Malaysian Inspector-General of Police Khalid Abu Bakar […]
Abu Dhabi-UAE: 22 February, 2017 At a press conference on day four of the 13th edition of the International Defence Exhibition and Conference (IDEX 2017), His Excellency Staff Brigadier-General Rashid Mohammed Al Shamsi, Official Spokesperson of IDEX 2017, announced 20 new deals worth AED 3,422,120,575. 13 of the deals are with national companies and the remaining 7 with international companies. The press conference, held at Abu Dhabi […]
By Brenda Goh | DANDONG, China DANDONG, China As Beijing tightens its grip on trade with North Korea, the economies of Chinese towns along the 1,400-km border the two countries share are floundering. On Saturday, China said it would ban all coal imports from North Korea, the latest move to enforce United Nations sanctions aimed at depriving Pyongyang of hard currency for its nuclear weapons and ballistic […]
By Gina Cherelus | NEW YORK NEW YORK It cost New York City about $24 million to provide security at Trump Tower, President Donald Trump’s skyscraper home in Manhattan, from Election Day to Inauguration Day, or $308,000 per day, New York’s police commissioner said on Wednesday. The revelation prompted renewed calls for Congress to reimburse the city for the cost of protecting Trump’s private residence on Manhattan’s […]
By Tom Miles and Stephanie Nebehay | GENEVA GENEVA U.N. mediator Staffan de Mistura said on Wednesday he did not expect an immediate breakthrough when Syria peace talks restart on Thursday but wanted productive talks that relaunch the process towards a political solution to end the six-year war. They will be the first U.N.-mediated negotiations on Syria in almost a year, during which time the military and […]
Credit: George Hodan/Public Domain Researchers at the Ben-Gurion University of the Negev (BGU) Cyber Security Research Center have demonstrated that data can be stolen from an isolated “air-gapped” computer’s hard drive reading the pulses of light on the LED drive using various types of cameras and light sensors. In the new paper, the researchers demonstrated how data can be received by a Quadcopter drone flight, even outside […]
By Luis Echeverria | GUATEMALA CITY GUATEMALA CITY U.S. Homeland Security Secretary John Kelly on Wednesday told Guatemalans not to waste their money trying to get to the United States illegally, detailing how his department was cracking down on undocumented immigrants and would speed up deportations. Speaking after he greeted a plane full of Guatemalans deported back from the United States, Kelly said U.S. authorities were not […]
The smart home is gaining ground, but it’s still a muddle of confusing standards, competing platforms, and gadgets that don’t do what you might expect. But the promise of products that can make your life a little easier is hard to resist, so I’m here to answer the inevitable questions that arise. Whether it’s figuring out the best connected door lock to assembling the right […]
By Amina Ismail and Arwa Gaballa | Al-GAMALIYA, Egypt Al-GAMALIYA, Egypt Thousands of mourners gathered in a small Egyptian town on Wednesday for the funeral of the Muslim cleric known as “the blind sheikh” who was convicted of conspiracy in the 1993 World Trade Center bombing in New York. Omar Abdel-Rahman, who was also convicted of planning a broader “war of urban terrorism” in the United States, […]
