The weekly EIA report showed a surprise rise in gasoline inventories and a further rise in oil production, which rattled oil bulls. Image: Shutterstock 22 April 2017 Big commodity swings have been witnessed during the past month, not least in the farm sector where bloated global stocks and the prospect of another bumper year — weather permitting — have led to heavy selling by hedge funds […]
Oman’s new low-cost carrier, SalamAir, has announced the launch of flights to Saudi Arabia with plans to also start services to Pakistan. Flights to Saudi Arabia started this week with return ticket prices starting at OR89, with Oman’s first budget airline flying daily to Jeddah’s King Abdulaziz International Airport. The carrier said in a statement that it also plans to start operations to the Saudi holy city […]
Many Starbucks lovers are crazy over trying out secret menu items that allow them to experience new ways to enjoy their caffeinated and sweet beverages, and the company knows it. That is why it comes as no surprise when Starbucks’ latest craze – the Unicorn Frappuccino – is such a hit with its patrons who love to post picture-perfect photos on Instagram. Of course, not everyone shares the excitement […]
©AFP WASHINGTON — Thousands of scientists and people from other walks of life turned out in Washington and New York on Saturday for Earth Day events that organisers have framed as a “celebration” of science to counter a growing disregard for evidence-based knowledge. The “March for Science” festivities included “teach-ins” on the National Mall and parades in midtown Manhattan and hundreds of other cities and towns. The […]
“Thousands of new doors opened and rents soared. This created a bubble, and like housing, that bubble has now burst.” – Richard Hayne, Urban Outfitters CEO, March 2017 The devastation in the US retail sector is accelerating in 2017, and in addition to the surging number of brick and mortar retail bankruptcies, it is perhaps nowhere more obvious than in the soaring number of store closures. […]
By Brian Ellsworth | CARACAS CARACAS Venezuela’s opposition prepared to march in silence on Saturday to honor a dozen people killed in three weeks of protests demanding that the government of President Nicolas Maduro hold delayed elections and address a growing economic crisis. Twelve people have been killed in a renewed wave of demonstrations this month in incidents primarily involving security forces or armed civilians. Another eight […]
The conventional wisdom says that the days of the mainframe are numbered, but it just might be that a new generation of apps will breathe new life into it. A state-of-the-mainframe survey by Syncsort shows that the mainframe market as ever is experiencing some shrinkage, but also that there are some grounds for optimism. Syncsort has been working on mainframes since 1968 and has customers in more […]
Researchers found that certain search terms revealed AI bias. Credit: Princeton University In debates over the future of artificial intelligence, many experts think of the new systems as coldly logical and objectively rational. But in a new study, researchers have demonstrated how machines can be reflections of us, their creators, in potentially problematic ways. Common machine learning programs, when trained with ordinary human language available online, can […]
The Power of Networks: Six Principles that Connect Our Lives • By Christopher G. Brinton and Mung Chiang • Princeton University Press • 310 pages • ISBN: 978-0-691-17071-8 • £27.95 We don’t normally think of our lives this way, but each of us is enmeshed in myriad networks — the real-life one of people, social media like Twitter and Facebook, and technical networks (internet, cellular). According to […]
By Ginger Gibson | WASHINGTON WASHINGTON President Donald Trump’s promised “big announcement” next week on overhauling the U.S. tax code, a top campaign pledge, will consist of “broad principles and priorities,” an administration official said on Saturday. The president unexpectedly said on Friday at a Treasury Department event that there would be “a big announcement on Wednesday having to do with tax reform.” In a Twitter message […]
By Michelle Martin | COLOGNE, Germany COLOGNE, Germany The co-leader of the anti-immigrant Alternative for Germany (AfD) suffered an embarrassing defeat on Saturday when delegates refused to discuss her motion to shift the party into the “mainstream”, putting it on course to turn further right. The party, a pariah in German politics, has seen its support drop in recent months, and thousands turned up to protest the […]
BOSTON Officials of two large California public retirement systems said Friday they are voting against nine of 15 Wells Fargo & Co directors up for election at the bank’s annual meeting next week, citing the bank’s phony-account scandal. Leaders of the largest U.S. state pension system, known as CalPERS, said in an email it is voting about 13.9 million shares against the bank nominees, including its chairman, […]
He broadened his point to argue that much of the chaos gripping the Middle East today was a result of mistrust between communities over historical wrongdoings that no one is willing to confront. “The past is not the past in the Middle East,” he said. “This is the biggest obstacle to peace and stability in the Middle East.” Eric D. Weitz, a history professor at the City […]
Carmaker Tesla is issuing a recall for its Model X and Model S vehicles because of a possible manufacturing defect with the parking brake. The voluntary recall from Tesla impacts Model X and Model S cars made from February 2016 to October 2016. “Tesla recently discovered a potential manufacturing issue with the electric parking brakes installed on certain Model S and Model X vehicles that could prevent the parking […]
ABU DHABI // National Service recruits and volunteers have come away from military training with greater discipline, patience, appreciation for those serving in the Armed Forces, and life-long friends. After months of physical and technical training at Armed Forces’ National Service centres across the country, Emirati conscripts said the time in service had had a profound effect on their physiques, attitude and outlook. Hadi Al Badi, a […]
April 22, 2017 by: Kathrin Hille in Krasnoyarsk When Kremlin officials are asked about Alexei Navalny, they like to laugh off the Russian opposition politician’s chances of challenging president Vladimir Putin. But this week the Kremlin appeared to signal that it does take Mr Navalny seriously after all. In a video published on YouTube on Wednesday, the politician who organised protests in more than 80 Russian cities […]
By Chris at www.CapitalistExploits.at Market dislocations occur when financial markets, operating under stressful conditions, experience large widespread asset mispricing. Welcome to this week’s edition of “World Out Of Whack” where every Wednesday we take time out of our day to laugh, poke fun at and present to you absurdity in global financial markets in all its glorious insanity. While we enjoy a good laugh, the truth is that the first step to […]
By Maher Chmaytelli | MOSUL, Iraq MOSUL, Iraq Pushing carts loaded with bags, babies and the elderly, hundreds of people fled Mosul on Saturday after Iraqi forces retook another district in the west of the city from Islamic State. After walking for miles, families were taken by bus from a government checkpoint in the south of the city to camps housing more than 410,000 people displaced since […]
There were five huge boxes sitting at the loading dock of The Poynter Institute yesterday, waiting for the FedEx truck to pick them up. They are filled with more than 125 file boxes containing the literary effects of Donald M. Murray, in my opinion the most influential writing teacher America has ever known. The precious content of those boxes — including 100 of Murray’s experimental daybooks — […]
By Francesco Canepa and Gernot Heller | WASHINGTON WASHINGTON Global economic leaders on Friday continued downplaying possible friction with the Trump administration over currencies, trade and other potentially contentious issues, even while acknowledging that much about the U.S. president’s plans remains unclear. On a day when Donald Trump himself seemed focused on domestic matters – promising a new U.S. tax plan next week and announcing reviews of […]
The three cases are part of a campaign by Saudi women, who have been broadcasting daring videos with their cellphones, using Facebook to organize street protests and posting Twitter messages to challenge the very idea of male supremacy in their famously patriarchal society. Continue reading the main story The campaign, started by a loose network of activists who have enlisted young, media-savvy women, has gone far beyond […]
Emirates has announced that it will introduce a second daily service to the island of Bali in Indonesia on July 2. The new service will be added to meet the growing demand for travel to and from Bali, offering travellers more convenience and connectivity options, the Dubai-based airline said in a statement. The second daily flight will be operated by a Boeing 777-300ER aircraft in a two-class […]
Oil producers are moving closer towards agreement on extending the Opec-led deal to limit output, Saudi Arabia’s energy minister said on Thursday, as the cartel battles excess stockpiles and a resurgent US shale industry that have weighed on prices. Khalid al-Falih said the deal could be run for another three to six months beyond the end of June. Under the terms of the existing accord, Opec members […]
DETROIT A federal judge in Detroit on Friday sentenced Volkswagen AG (VOWG_p.DE) to three years’ probation and independent oversight for the German automaker’s diesel emissions scandal as part of a $4.3 billion settlement announced in January. The plea agreement called for “organization probation” in which the company would be overseen by an independent monitor. The sentencing was one of the last major hurdles to VW moving past […]
