China’s factories stopped losing jobs in March for the first time in nearly five years as manufacturing activity grew at the fastest pace since 2012, according to an official gauge of the sector. The official purchasing managers’ index for China’s manufacturing sector came in at 51.8 in March, climbing further above the 50-point mark separating growth from contraction. But the biggest turnround came from a sub-index tracking […]
Friday 05.10 BST Overview Asian stocks were mostly positive on Friday as investors prepared to end a solid first quarter of 2017 and Wall Street closed in on record highs. Hot topic 1 South Africa’s rand was 1.2 per cent weaker in Asian trading in the wake of the nation’s finance minister, Pravin Gordhan, being dismissed on Thursday by President Jacob Zuma. The currency has shed a […]
By Michelle Nichols | NEW YORK NEW YORK The United States’ diplomatic policy on Syria for now is no longer focussed on making the war-torn country’s president, Bashar al-Assad, leave power, the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations said on Thursday, in a departure from the Obama administration’s initial and public stance on Assad’s fate. The view of the Trump administration is also at odds with European […]
By Nichola Saminather | SINGAPORE SINGAPORE The dollar extended its overnight gains in early Asian trade on Friday on signs of strong U.S. economic growth, while the euro inched up after sliding overnight on data suggesting slowing growth in Europe. Stock markets in Asia were off a bit despite solid gains on Wall Street as investors awaited China’s official manufacturing purchasing managers index data for March. The […]
The Tyrannosaurus rex is a fearsome dinosaur during prehistoric times. Now, a new dinosaur discovery suggests that the T-rex and other tyrannosaurs may have faces covered with highly sensitive scales that gave them the ability to detect the slightest changes such as the presence of a prey attempting to avoid detection. T-Rex Relative Daspletosaurus Horneri A newly discovered species of the tyrannosaur was found to have remarkably sensitive […]
The UAE leads the region in renewable energy, according to the International Renewable Energy Agency, and is working to increase its capacity further. The country now produces 139 megawatts from renewable sources, up from 134MW in 2015 and 13MW in 2012. Renewable Energy Capacity Statistics 2017, by the agency that has its base in Abu Dhabi, also found that last year was the strongest for new renewable […]
Why Hamburg? The recent opening of Hamburg’s state-of-the-art concert hall, the Elbphilharmonie, has transformed Germany’s second biggest city from an under-the-radar destination into one of Europe’s current hotspots. And the Elbphilharmonie is only the tip of Hamburg’s vibrant music scene. There is Germany’s oldest Opera House, a concert hall dedicated to Brahms, plus dozens of live music clubs in the St Pauli neighbourhood, still going strong since […]
There ends a third and perhaps final attempt to unite the London Stock Exchange Group and Deutsche Börse. Do they remain independent or prizes for rivals? One supposed reason for the deal was that without it both the LSE and Deutsche Börse viewed themselves as takeover targets. Now we are about to see whether that is truly the case. There are only three other global operators with bigger equity […]
By Diego Oré and Andrew Cawthorne | CARACAS CARACAS Opposition leaders branded Venezuela’s socialist President Nicolas Maduro a “dictator” on Thursday after the Supreme Court took over the functions of Congress and pushed a lengthy political standoff to new heights. There was swift and widespread international condemnation of the de facto annulment of the National Assembly, where the opposition won a majority in late 2015 amid an […]
Microsoft has officially confirmed that the next major Windows update, known as Windows 10 Creators Update, will start rolling out on April 11 to customers worldwide. Like with last year’s Windows 10 Anniversary Update, which rolled out in August, the Creators Update will see a throttled release that will likely stretch over a few months. The update will arrive after several months of beta tests, leaks, and bits of […]
By Maayan Lubell | JERUSALEM JERUSALEM Israel’s security cabinet on Thursday approved the building of the first new settlement in the occupied West Bank in two decades, even as Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu negotiates with Washington on a possible curb on settlement activity. The unanimous vote in favour of construction of the new settlement in an area called Emek Shilo came after Netanyahu earlier told reporters: “I […]
Ousted South Korean president Park Geun-hye was arrested on Friday after a Seoul court issued a warrant in connection with the corruption and abuse-of-power scandal that ended her presidency, according to local media reports. Facing at least 13 charges, Ms Park is accused of letting a now-jailed confidante, Choi Soon-sil, meddle in state affairs and gain unauthorised access to classified documents, while colluding to extort massive donations […]
The Crisis in Scale Five million people is roughly equal to the population of Norway. If nearly a quarter of the United States’ population left the country, it would be as if the combined populations of California, New York and Ohio had disappeared. In addition, 6.3 million Syrians have been internally displaced by the war. Altogether, about half of all Syrians have been forced from their homes […]
If President Jacob Zuma of South Africa wanted to know how markets would react if he sacked Pravin Gordhan as finance minister, he got part of the answer this week. The rand shed 4.4 per cent of its dollar value earlier this week after Mr Zuma ordered Mr Gordhan to cancel a roadshow with investors on the first day and fly home from London, without explanation. The […]
When Viacom Inc’s (VIAB.O) Spike TV rebrands as the Paramount Network in early 2018, the struggling media company hopes to position itself as a challenger to top-rated U.S. cable networks like Comcast Corp’s (CMCSA.O) USA and Time Warner Inc’s (TWX.N) TNT with shows that have the caliber of HBO. Viacom is heading into the upfront, when U.S. TV channels sell the bulk of their advertising inventory for […]
We have been hearing President Rodrigo Duterte raising the alarm bells anew over alleged narco-politicians linked to the illegal drug trade down to the barangay level. President Duterte fears this pervasive problem will remain unabated if the elections of barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan (SK) will be held as scheduled this coming October 23. So again, the President suggested another postponement of the barangay and SK elections. “Narco-politics […]
The food tour has become one of the great tourism successes of the last decade, and most major cities have some sort of walk and taste tour available. These tours are also diversifying – concentrating on specific cuisines and honing in on certain neighbourhoods. It’s this delving-beyond-the-staple citybreak diet that makes such tours worth their while – and not just as a chance to explore the local […]
Speed was once a ticket to riches in financial markets. Now it’s the bare minimum. Electronic trading groups that made fortunes by being first to pounce on favourable prices are finding it tougher to stay ahead in markets where transactions unfold in billionths of a second. Their costs have risen at the same time that volatility and volumes — essential elements for profitable trading — have ebbed. As a […]
A previously-undisclosed security flaw in an older Windows web server won’t be patched, despite hundreds of thousands of servers still running the outdated software. The vulnerability in Windows Internet Information Services (IIS 6) web server has been remotely exploited since July last year, according to two security researchers at the South China University of Technology, who released a proof-of-concept exploit for the vulnerability on Github this week. […]
Sea lampreys (Petromyzon marinus) have gained a notorious reputation in the North American Great Lakes. Although considered an endangered species in their native territories – Europe and the Pacific Northwest – their presence inspires terror in U.S. waters, threatening local fish populations and the fishing industry. These parasitic eel-like fish thrive at the expense of other aquatic creatures, which have come to fear their gaping jawless mouths. Equipped with razor-like […]
Elevate, one of the biggest subprime lenders in the US, is reviving plans to go public, seeking to cash in on a big lift in sentiment since the election victory of Donald Trump. Financial stocks have rallied hard since November 8, with big banks such as Bank of America rising as much as 50 per cent on hopes of fatter lending margins, lower taxes and lighter regulation. […]
30 March 2017 The UAE decision of granting Indian passport holders with either a valid US visa or a green card a visa on arrival is a welcoming step as this will boost the tourism and trade between the two countries, informed Mr Kamal Vachani, Group Director, Al Maya Group, Regional Director, Electronics and Computer Software Export Promotion Council (ESC) for the Middle East and President – […]
TOKYO Japan is considering relaxing restrictions on visas for tourists from China, three people with direct knowledge of the matter said on Thursday, hoping to extend a tourism boom and lend support to consumer spending. Since Prime Minister Shinzo Abe took office in late 2012, his government has gradually eased visa requirements for Asian countries, pushing to a record high the number of inbound visitors and sparking […]
A Google Maps beta had a neat feature in testing to help users remember where they parked their cars, but it’s apparently no longer in the mix. The feature was called “Save Your Parking” and, as the name itself suggested, it aimed to help users find their parking space faster in case they forgot where they left their car. The feature stirred quite some interest as it […]
