The Chinese government has long resented accusations that, as US President Donald Trump put it in a tweet in early January, it “won’t help with North Korea”. On Wednesday China’s foreign minister used a colourful metaphor to describe his government’s position on the crisis-prone Korean peninsula, likening Pyongyang, Seoul and Washington to “runaway trains” that Beijing was doing its best to stop. The press conference by Wang […]
Here are the big questions set to frame a new trading week for markets. How frothy are equity and junk bond valuations looking?Another record-breaking week for equities and a red hot reception for the Snap initial public offering is not the only sign of investor optimism running wild. Junk bond spreads — the premium investors demand to hold the bonds over Treasury yields — are heading towards […]
BERLIN Support for Germany’s Social Democrats (SPD) nudged up to 32 percent, one percentage point behind Chancellor Angela Merkel’s conservatives, over the past week, according to a poll published on Wednesday. The centre-left SPD, currently the junior partner in Merkel’s ruling coalition, has seen its poll ratings soar since nominating former European Parliament president Martin Schulz as its candidate for chancellor in the Sept. 24 federal election. […]
Sources tell us that Google is acquiring Kaggle, a platform that hosts data science and machine learning competitions. Details about the transaction remain somewhat vague, but given that Google is hosting its Cloud Next conference in San Francisco this week, the official announcement could come as early as tomorrow. Reached by phone, Kaggle co-founder CEO Anthony Goldbloom declined to deny that the acquisition is happening. Google itself declined “to comment on rumors.” […]
By Kiyoshi Takenaka and Teppei Kasai | NAMIE, Fukushima NAMIE, Fukushima A truck occasionally whizzes past the darkened shops with cracked walls and fallen signs that line the main street of Japan’s mostly deserted seaside town of Namie. Workers repair a damaged home nearby, and about 60 employees busily prepare for the return of former residents in the largely untouched town hall. Not far away, two wild […]
Hey, it’s boss week here at Local Edition. This week, we’re going to spend a little time with a Florida editor who doesn’t fit many molds (started as a designer, doesn’t care for sandy beaches, etc.) As a reminder, this is week three in our four-week conversation about why we’re still in journalism. (You can subscribe here.) Hang around after the boss talk for a peek at […]
Muneera Al Hubail is one of the first women from Abu Dhabi to compete internationally at CrossFit, having reached the finals in the Battle of the East international competition in Kuwait in November. The 28-year-old Emirati passed another important milestone last month when she managed to lift the equivalent of her own body weight over her head. Al Hubail’s ultimate goal is to be a grandmother who […]
Using the world’s smallest astronomical satellites, researchers have detected the biggest stellar heartbeat ever. Astronomers are hopeful that this discovery will provide the initiative to search for other such systems, creating a fundamental shift in how we study the evolution of massive stars. This is important, since massive stars are laboratories of elements essential to human life. (via WSJ)
UNITED NATIONS The United Nations Security Council on Tuesday condemned North Korea’s recent ballistic missile launches and expressed concern over the country’s increasingly destabilising behaviour and defiance of the 15-member body. Pyongyang fired four ballistic missiles into the sea off Japan’s northwest coast on Monday, angering South Korea and Japan, days after it promised retaliation over U.S.-South Korea military drills it sees as preparation for war. The […]
WASHINGTON The chairman of the U.S. House of Representatives intelligence committee said on Tuesday he had seen no evidence to support President Donald Trump’s allegation he was wiretapped by then-President Barack Obama during the 2016 presidential campaign. Republican Representative Devin Nunes told reporters that if Trump’s assertion were true, the leaders of Congress and the chairman of its two intelligence committees, known collectively as the “Gang of […]
The Panama Papers investigation has this week received its fourth major American journalism prize, the William Brewster Styles Award for Business/Economics Reporting from the Scripps Howard Foundation. The series, which illuminated offshore tax havens and shook up politicians around the world, was coordinated by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists, at the time a project of the Center for Public Integrity. The two organizations have since separated. […]
DUBAI – March 7, 2017 Hotpack Packaging Industries, a leading producer and wholesaler of quality disposable food packaging materials in the UAE, has recently announced an investment of GBP 50 million to develop a facility in Wrexham – Wales, England. The facility will be equipped with the latest in packaging and manufacturing technologies. The announcement was made when Ms. Lesley Griffiths, Welsh Government Cabinet Secretary for Environment […]
By Jennifer Ablan | NEW YORK NEW YORK Jeffrey Gundlach, chief executive officer at DoubleLine Capital, said on Tuesday he expects the Federal Reserve to begin a campaign this month of “old school” sequential interest rate hikes until “something breaks,” such as a U.S. recession. Gundlach, who oversees more than $101 billion at Los Angeles-based DoubleLine, said U.S. economic data support a rate increase as soon as […]
By Joel Schectman | WASHINGTON WASHINGTON The prosecutor tapped to fill the No. 2 position at the U.S. Justice Department declined on Tuesday to commit to appointing a special counsel to oversee an investigation into Russian meddling in the 2016 presidential election. If confirmed, Rod Rosenstein, nominated by Republican President Donald Trump to be deputy attorney general, would take control of the Russia investigation because Attorney General […]
VIENNA U.S. President Donald Trump’s administration pledged on Tuesday to show “great strictness” over restrictions on Iran’s nuclear activities imposed by a deal with major powers, but gave little indication of what that might mean for the agreement. The 2015 deal between Iran and six major powers restricts Tehran’s nuclear programme in exchange for the lifting of international economic sanctions against the Islamic Republic. Trump has called […]
A ground-breaking research in the field of neuroscience offers an in-depth analysis of the brain’s reward system, highlighting its influence on the decision-making process. The study encompasses three decades of investigation into the role of dopamine in everyday life choices and shows how the brain perceives different options, prioritizing those which prompt a better reward. For their outstanding merits, Professors Wolfram Schultz, Peter Dayan, and Ray Dolan received […]
As Abdelmonem Alserkal tours his latest architectural commission, his pristine white kandura stands in contrast to the monochrome building that broods in Alserkal Avenue – the warehouse creative community he has brought to life in Dubai’s industrial neighbourhood of Al Quoz. A muted study in steel, small mirrors, translucent polycarbonate and sprayed, shot-blast and polished concrete, the new venue is the latest milestone in Alserkal Avenue’s decade-long […]
The inner workings of the CIA’s cyber-espionage operations were at risk of being laid bare on Tuesday, after WikiLeaks published what it claimed was the first part of a large trove of documents detailing the US agency’s techniques for hacking into smartphones, internet-connected TVs and other devices. The documents purported to reveal a stockpile of malware used by the CIA to break into some of today’s most […]
Reuters (Adds comments from Saudi source) KUALA LUMPUR/DUBAI, March 7 (Reuters) – Malaysia said on Tuesday that suspected militants from Yemen arrested late last month ahead of a visit by Saudi King Salman had been planning an attack on Arab royalty. A senior Malaysian police source said the four suspects belonged to Yemen’sIran-allied Houthi movement, which hails from a Shi’ite Muslim sect and has been […]
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — Bahrain’s justice ministry has filed a lawsuit intended to dissolve a major opposition group that it accuses of supporting terrorism, the state-run Bahrain News Agency reported on Monday. The group, the National Democratic Action Society, or Waad, was accused by the ministry of “serious violations targeting the principle of respecting the rule of law, supporting terrorism and sanctioning violence.” The secular organization […]
By Isabel Coles and John Davison | MOSUL, Iraq MOSUL, Iraq Iraqi forces on Tuesday recaptured the main government building in Mosul, the central bank branch and the museum where three years ago the militants filmed themselves destroying priceless statues. A Rapid Response team stormed the Nineveh governorate complex in an overnight raid that lasted more than an hour, killing dozens of Islamic State fighters, spokesman Lieutenant […]
Snap Inc’s shares fell as much as 10.4 percent on Tuesday, opening at their lowest since a blockbuster market debut last week. Snap’s shares hit a low of $21.30 in early trading on Tuesday, wiping out more than $9 billion of the company’s market capitalization from Friday’s high. Shares surged 44 percent in a hotly anticipated listing on Thursday, valuing the parent of Snapchat, an app popular […]
BEIRUT Fawaz Atmeh and Mohammed Musa’s families were among the first to flee Russia’s intervention in the Syrian conflict, sheltering in tents on boggy ground near the Turkish border as jets bombed their villages further east. As Syria’s battle lines have shifted in nearly 18 months since, the two young men have watched their camp swell with families and fighters escaping government territorial gains, insurgent infighting and […]
Brazil’s economy shrank 3.6 per cent last year as high inflation, a runaway budget deficit and political turmoil drove the country to its worst recession on record. The contraction, which was felt across almost all economic sectors from industry to services, was slightly worse than economists’ estimates and only marginally better than 2015, when gross domestic product contracted 3.8 per cent. GDP in the final three months […]
