Ever since 2014, Google has offered users to install its own Google Now-based launcher on any Android device, but that option may soon revoke. According to reports, Google is planning to remove the Google Now Launcher from the Play Store not later than Q1 2017. It will also stop approving new Android devices that’ll ship with the said launcher beginning March 1. Google Now Launcher To Be Pulled […]
“The danger is that this is the first stage in an escalation that could culminate in a military confrontation between Iran and the United States, or Iran and Israel,” said Karim Sadjadpour of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. “The entire eight years of the Obama administration was an example of unprecedented but largely unreciprocated overtures for cooperation with Iran in the Middle East. The Iranians weren’t […]
A day of market gyrations and pressure for higher interest rates has forced the Bank of Japan to tip its hand by intervening to keep 10-year yields below 0.11 per cent. It is the first time the BoJ has turned last September’s “around zero per cent” cap on the 10-year yield into explicit action, with the central bank offering to buy an unlimited number of government bonds at […]
TOKYO Japanese Defense Minister Tomomi Inada said on Saturday she hoped a visit by U.S. Defense Secretary Jim Mattis to South Korea and Japan this week, his first overseas trip since taking office, would lead to deeper security ties. Inada spoke at the start of talks with Mattis, who on Friday reaffirmed Washington’s commitment to its mutual defence treaty with Japan when he met Prime Minister Shinzo […]
By Alastair Macdonald and Gabriela Baczynska | VALLETTA VALLETTA European Union leaders said they agreed to stick together in dealing with Donald Trump, but at their first summit since he took office they were at odds on how far to confront or engage with the new U.S. president. Trump and his policies, from questioning the value of NATO and free trade to banning Muslim refugees, came up […]
Fewer than 60,000 visas were provisionally revoked to comply with U.S. President Donald Trump’s travel ban affecting seven Muslim-majority countries, the State Department said on Friday. The immigration executive order signed by Trump a week ago temporarily halted the US refugee program and imposed a 90-day suspension on people traveling from Iran, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen. Trump said the measures would help protect Americans […]
By Chuck Mikolajczak | NEW YORK NEW YORK U.S. stocks climbed on Friday, with the S&P 500 closing just short of a record high, boosted by gains in financial shares as President Donald Trump moved ahead with deregulation action and by a strong payrolls report. The S&P financial sector .SPSY jumped 2 percent to score its best day since mid-November after Trump signed an executive order to […]
Moviegoers no longer have to suffer from FOMO when deciding not to see the latest titles in the theater. That’s because Fandango is bringing new movies to its streaming platform, making titles that are still in theaters like Hacksaw Ridge and Manchester By The Sea available to stream months before it would appear elsewhere. Among the movies to be the most excited about on FandangoNOW include the latest Disney movie, […]
Investors piled into bank shares on Friday following news that Donald Trump will begin the process to undo parts of the Dodd-Frank financial reform law. The S&P 500 financials sector advanced 2 per cent and propelled it back into positive territory for the year on Friday. Within the broad group, the banks subsector gained 2.6 per cent, giving both their best day since November. Morgan Stanley shares […]
WASHINGTON The deputy director of the U.S. National Security Agency, the intelligence agency in charge of electronic surveillance and code-breaking, is retiring, an NSA spokesman said on Friday. Richard Ledgett, who just turned 59, will retire in the spring, spokesman Michael Halbig said in an emailed statement. “It has been anticipated that he would retire in 2017 and he decided the time is right this spring after […]
A Saudi soldier has died from injuries sustained in a landmine explosion on Thursday while on duty, according to the Saudi Press Agency. Corporal Younes Mohammed Ali Abu Rasain, a border guard operating in the Jazan region on the Saudi-Yemen border, was declared dead on arrival at hospital, said a spokesman at Saudi’s Ministry of Interior. Saudi Arabia and its Gulf Arab allies have carried out thousands […]
By Lucia Mutikani | WASHINGTON WASHINGTON U.S. job growth surged more than expected in January as construction firms and retailers ramped up hiring, but wages barely rose, handing the Trump administration both a head start and a challenge as it seeks to boost the economy. Nonfarm payrolls increased by 227,000 jobs, the largest gain in four months, the Labor Department said on Friday. The unemployment rate, however, […]
A Foreign Ministry spokesman, Bahram Qassemi, said on Thursday, “It is a shame that the U.S. government, instead of thanking the Iranian nation for their continued fight against terrorism, keeps repeating unfounded claims and adopts unwise policies that are effectively helping terrorist groups.” Continue reading the main story Mr. Flynn also made clear that the challenge to Iran extended beyond the missile test, holding Tehran responsible for […]
Investors have warmed to Russian assets, welcoming the country in from the cold. Russian bond funds counted record inflows in the week to February 1 as higher crude prices and improving relations with the US prompted an investor rotation back into the country. Emerging markets more broadly have found renewed investor appetite as the dollar has fallen to an 11-week low. More than $1bn flowed into EM […]
By Yeganeh Torbati | WASHINGTON WASHINGTON The United States on Friday ratcheted up pressure on Iran, putting sanctions on 13 individuals and 12 entities days after the White House put Tehran “on notice” over a ballistic missile test. The move against Iran is the first by the U.S. government since President Donald Trump took office on Jan. 20 after vowing during his 2016 campaign to get tough […]
GENEVA A renewed assault on Islamic State fighters in the Iraqi city of Mosul could force 250,000 civilians to flee, if they can find a way out, the U.N. refugee agency UNHCR said on Friday. Such an exodus would be on top of roughly 162,000 people already displaced by Iraqi government efforts to retake the city since October. Such numbers, although high, remain well below UNHCR’s initial […]
Since 2012, when the Falcons lost in the conference championship game, the Georgia Dome, which seats 71,250, has achieved at least 98 percent of its season-long capacity every year. This season’s mark of 98.2 percent, 15th among the 32 teams and the lowest since 2011, bested that of, among others, the venues for the Giants, Jets, Chiefs and Patriots. Continue reading the main story As the Braves […]
Apple clinched $10bn of debt financing on Thursday as capital market activity remained robust, with Microsoft and AT&T also borrowing hefty amounts from investors this week. Apple’s latest bond sale follows a bumper start to the year for corporate and bank borrowings, with more than $185bn raised by investment-grade groups in the US, according to Dealogic. This week Microsoft borrowed $17bn in the largest bond offering of […]
Researchers studying an annual outbreak of mysterious illnesses among children living in India’s northern state of Bihar believe they might have found the cause – lychee consumption. Since 1995, cases of an acute neurological illness have been reported in Muzaffarpur, the largest area for cultivation of the fruit in the country, between the months of May and July. They peak in June to coincide with the month-long […]
By Parisa Hafezi | ANKARA ANKARA Many Iranians who dreamt of quiet, comfortable lives after a nuclear deal with world powers in 2015 are starting to worry for the first time in decades they might be bombed in their own homes. Since taking office last month, U.S. President Donald Trump has pledged to get tough with Iran, warning the Islamic Republic after its ballistic missile test on […]
ANKARA Iran said on Friday it had barred a U.S. wrestling team from participating in the Freestyle World Cup competition in retaliation for an executive order by President Donald Trump banning visas for Iranians, state television reported. The Freestyle World Cup, one of the sport’s most prestigious events, is scheduled for Feb. 16-17 and USA Wrestling has previously said it would send a team to the competition, […]
The government is struggling to protect the UK from cyberattacks, say MPs. Image: iStock An inconsistent, dysfunctional and chaotic response to cybersecurity by the British government is causing concerns about its ability to protect the country from cyberattacks and hackers, MPs have warned. The damning indictment is set out in a by the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) report into protecting information across government, which comes as defence […]
MOSCOW The Kremlin said on Friday that allegations made by British Defence Secretary Michael Fallon, who accused Russia of spreading lies and attacking critical infrastructure with hackers, were “baseless” and a source of regret. Fallon said on Thursday night that President Vladimir Putin had chosen to become a strategic competitor of the West since the 1991 collapse of the Soviet Union. “We express regret for this hostile […]
European stocks and S&P futures rose modestly ahead of January US payrolls data, along with the dollar, while Asian shares dropped after China returned from a week-long holiday. Bonds slid, oil rose while the JGB intervened in the bond market to prevent a bond rout, in one of two major surprises during the Asian session. As reported last night, having closed at 0.109% yesterday the 10y JGB […]
