By Mark Hosenball and David Shepardson | WASHINGTON WASHINGTON The Trump administration is likely to expand a ban on laptops on commercial aircraft to include some European countries, but is reviewing how to ensure lithium batteries stored in luggage holds do not explode in midair, officials briefed on the matter said on Wednesday. Any expansion of the ban could impact U.S. carriers such as United Airlines (UAL.N), […]
Senators from both sides of the aisle wrote to President Donald Trump on Wednesday urging him to take a tougher line with Beijing in the South China Sea, calling for more U.S. naval patrols to uphold navigation rights in the disputed waterway. The appeal, backed by three Republicans and four Democrats, reflects growing concern in Congress that the Trump administration could be ceding strategic ground to China […]
Snap fell short of Wall Street’s expectations in its first quarterly results as a public company, sending its shares tumbling by almost a quarter in value in after-hours trading to hit a new low. The maker of the Snapchat app reported revenue growth of 286 per cent to $149.6m but analysts had been expecting almost $10m more than that. Losses were also wider than forecasts. Daily active […]
The lead characters are a Norwegian couple who had Middle East experience and thought they might be able to broker an agreement. This was high-octane audacity. Yet the two of them — Terje Rod-Larsen, a social scientist, and his wife, Mona Juul, an official in Norway’s foreign ministry — pulled it off. Continue reading the main story The play’s Mr. Larsen, portrayed by Jefferson Mays, seems a […]
PARIS Several French news companies, including Le Monde and Le Figaro, said their websites went temporarily offline on Wednesday because a company that helps speed delivery of their content was hit by a cyber attack. The company, Cedexis, said it had come under a “unique and sophisticated” distributed denial of service attack, which is when hijacked and virus-infected computers target networks with data requests until they can […]
Three women from London, including a mother and daughter, were charged on Wednesday with preparation of a terrorist act and conspiracy to murder, police said. Khawla Barghouthi, 20, of northwest London, Rizlaine Boular, 21, of central London, and her mother Mina Dich, 43, of southwest London, are due to appear at Westminster Magistrates’ Court on Thursday, the Metropolitan Police said. The three were arrested last month. Britain […]
By David Morgan and Patricia Zengerle | WASHINGTON WASHINGTON U.S. President Donald Trump defended his firing of FBI Director James Comey on Wednesday as Democrats intensified accusations that the ouster was intended to undermine an agency probe into his presidential campaign’s possible collusion with Russia to sway the 2016 election. The Republican president’s abrupt move on Tuesday stunned Washington and was swiftly condemned by Democrats and by […]
BEIRUT: A top Syrian Kurdish official on Wednesday welcomed the US decision to arm Kurdish fighters with heavier weapons, saying it would “legitimize” the force as it prepares to march on Raqqa, the de facto capital of the Daesh group.But Turkey’s Deputy Prime Minister Nurettin Canikli said the decision, announced by the Trump administration Tuesday, was “unacceptable.”The US said it would provide heavier arms to the Kurdish-led […]
DUBAI // Abdualah Mohammed Al Soori has never let his muscular dystrophy get in the way of achieving his dream of becoming a published author. The Emirati, who has suffered from the disorder since the age of 7, has written several books of short stories and writes a column for Al Roya newspaper. He said people with special needs have an important role to play in society […]
ZURICH Switzerland will curb Bulgarian and Romanian citizens’ access to its labour market for the next 12 months, the government said on Wednesday, amid increased migration from those countries after limits were lifted last June. The Swiss cabinet, whose struggle with immigration from the European Union intensified after a 2014 referendum in which the public demanded that quotas be imposed, will cap the number of five-year residence […]
Oil prices extended their gains after a report showed US crude stockpiles fell by the biggest margin since December and were down for the fifth straight week. Inventories of US crude fell by 5.25m barrels in the week ended May 5, according to the Energy Information Administration. That topped forecasts for a draw of 1.9m barrels. This was the largest streak of back-to-back declines in US oil […]
CERN is stepping up the game in the field of nuclear research. The European physics research center inaugurated its newest particle accelerator, Linac 4, during a May 9 ceremony in the Swiss city of Geneva. This latest acquisition marks the first step of an extensive hardware upgrade, which aims to gather even more data from the Large Hadron Collider or LHC — CERN’s 17-mile-long circular accelerator, which scientists […]
ISLAMABAD: The multi-agency joint investigation team (JIT), constituted to probe allegations against the prime minister and his children stemming from the Panama Papers, held another meeting in the Federal Judicial Academy here on Tuesday. Sources said that the team examined the detailed judgement issued by the Supreme Court in the Panama Papers case on April 20. As per the verdict, the JIT comprises officials of the Federal […]
ABU DHABI // Experts have called for more police presence, the use of new technologies and effective publicity campaigns to reduce speed-related crashes on the country’s roads. The Fourth UN Global Road Safety Week, which will run until May 14 and has the theme Save Lives #SlowDown, focuses on managing speed and what can be done to address this key risk factor in road traffic deaths and […]
A “very limited number” of extra Ed Sheeran tickets will go on sale tomorrow [Thursday May 11] following “record breaking” demand for the star’s concert in Dubai last this year. However promoters have remained tight-lipped about the price and category of the additional tickets, or the capacity of the hotly anticipated November 23 gig. Promoters 117Live announced this morning [Wednesday May 10] that all tickets in all […]
Good morning. Here’s our morning roundup of all the media news you need to know. Want to get this briefing in your inbox every morning? Subscribe here. Sean Hannity, the eight-figure archetype of selective moral outrage, last night charged the press with going “completely insane” over the James Comey firing. Hannity accused it of “selective moral outrage,” proving it takes one to know one amid wall-to-wall Comey […]
Air Arabia has renewed plans that were put on hold after a dip in demand to expand its fleet, with the biggest discount carrier in the Gulf and North Africa encouraged by rebounding sales at its Moroccan unit. The airline, an Airbus SE A320 operator, could reach a decision on new jets as early as this year or into 2018, Chief Executive Officer Adel Ali said in […]
The Indian government issued an ordinance at the end of last week laying out some new powers for the Reserve Bank of India, powers which are aimed at chipping away at the country’s mammoth and thoroughly discussed bad loan problem. Here’s CreditSights with a brief explanation: In essence, two additional sections 35AA and 35AB were introduced into the Banking Regulation Act. 35AA will allow the government […]
Israel was clearly trying to undermine the mass hunger strike, which prisoners say is aimed at better conditions in confinement. The strike is also meant to rally Palestinians, who have carried out numerous protests in support of the prisoners and plan another general strike in the occupied West Bank on Thursday. Continue reading the main story In an interview here in the Palestinians’ administrative capital, Ms. Barghouti […]
BEIJING The Chinese government said on Wednesday that the health of people in Taiwan is not being put at risk by Taiwan’s inability to attend a U.N. health meeting this year as there is no barrier to technical or medical exchanges and aid. Self-ruled Taiwan has accused Beijing of obstructing its efforts to attend the May 22-31 annual meeting in Geneva of the World Health Assembly, the […]
Enhancing Kuwait’s arbitration legal framework in order to render Kuwait a more attractive arbitration venue in the region Kuwait – 10 May 2017 ASAR – Al Ruwayeh & Partners (ASAR), Kuwait’s leading corporate, litigation and finance law firm, co-organized a leading seminar on arbitration with the International Court of Arbitration of the International Chamber of Commerce – Paris (ICC). The ICC is one of the oldest and […]
Since its publication in 2009, Dutch author Herman Koch’s novel The Dinner has become an international bestseller, published in more than 50 countries. The Amsterdam-set story has spawned three film adaptations in the past four years: a Dutch offering by Menno Meyjes (2013), an Italian version by Ivano de Matteo (2014), and now director Oren Moverman has shifted the setting to the United States. “It poses an […]
The World Health Organization, the public health arm of the United Nations, reported 2,022 suspected cases of cholera and acute watery diarrhea in Yemen from April 27 to this past Sunday, including at least 34 deaths. Continue reading the main story Cholera has long been an underlying risk in Yemen, but it subsided during the cold winter months this year. With the sudden spike of cases, health […]
WASHINGTON U.S. President Donald Trump will meet Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov at the White House on Wednesday to discuss Syria and a wide range of international issues, a senior U.S. official said. It will be the highest-level contact between Trump and the government of Russian President Vladimir Putin since Trump took office on Jan. 20. The official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said on the agenda […]
