Finland, once a world leader in mobile telephony with Nokia, is in a class of its own when it comes to internet usage on smartphones and tablets, thanks to cheap subscription plans On the crowded morning metro in Helsinki, silence prevails. Everyone is hunched over their smartphone screens, reading the news, checking emails or watching videos. A loud “yeah!” breaks the quiet, along with delighted screech from […]
Taiwan fears getting caught between the US and China as President-elect Donald Trump threatens a tougher approach toward Beijing and the Chinese government intensifies its sabre-rattling in the region. Politicians and analysts in Taiwan believe that Beijing is stepping up pressure on the self-governing and democratic island, which China claims is its territory, because of actions taken by Mr Trump. On Monday, the Chinese navy sailed its […]
AMMAN, Jordan: The Syrian army escalated aerial bombing of a rebel-held valley northwest of Damascus in an offensive begun last week to recapture the strategic area where a major spring provides most of the capital’s water supplies, rebels and residents said on Tuesday.They said the army shelled and bombarded several towns in Wadi Barada valley about 18 km (11 miles) northwest of the capital in a major […]
A problem has emerged for France’s anti-immigrant, anti-Euro presidential frontrunner, Marine Le Pen, and it has little to do with being behind in the polls ahead of the 2017 presidential elections, far from it. It has, however, everything to do with something far simpler: money, as the National Front leader is suddenly struggling to raise the €20 million ($21 million) she needs to fund the French presidential […]
Iran’s rial hit a record low against the U.S. dollar on Monday in a sign of concern about the country’s ability to attract foreign money after U.S. president-elect Donald Trump takes office. The rial was quoted in the free market at 41,500 to the dollar, weakening from around 41,250 on Sunday and 35,570 in mid-September. Before this month, the record low was about 40,000, hit in late […]
By Anne Mireille Nzouankeu YAOUNDE (Thomson Reuters Foundation) – Sitting in a circle with several other young men in a charity’s offices in Cameroon’s capital, Fleur listens intently to the speaker talk about gay sex before slowly raising his hand. “Can we catch AIDS by swallowing sperm?” he asks, prompting laughter from his peers at the group discussion held by Alcondoms, an organisation promoting the rights and […]
Google’s first ever self-branded smartphone effort, the Google Pixel and its larger sibling, the Pixel XL, having dropped the Nexus naming scheme altogether, has so far received warm acclaim, even being heralded as the best Android smartphone today. But the pair isn’t without its problems. Those who are planning to get Google’s flagships should best learn some of its known issues. Sure, it’s an excellent smartphone bearing […]
As the world’s reaction to news of George Michael’s death at 53 spread on social media, his UAE fans paused to fondly remember the pop legend. Taher Afridi, 36, a Pakistani who was born and raised in UAE, still recalled dancing to his favourite Michael song, Fast Love, when the pop-star played at Abu Dhabi’s Zayed Sports City stadium in December 2008. “There are many reasons why […]
Chinese retail investors may be able to dream of Picasso while hanging share certificates on their walls. A Singapore-based Chinese billionaire investor, who this year acquired stakes in peer-to-peer group Lending Club, Legg Mason, the fund manager and Sotheby’s, has proposed “securitising” the artist’s work to create fractional ownership and tap a wider market in Asia. Chen Tianqiao and his wife Chrissy Luo, co-founders of investment group […]
Doha, 27 December, 2016 Five fellowship programs at Hamad Medical Corporation (HMC) have achieved accreditation by the ACGME-I, the international arm of the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME), designed to ensure the high quality of training of doctors in their residency and fellowship years. This achievement solidifies HMC’s position as an internationally recognized teaching institution and academic medical center and is instrumental in helping to […]
Did the Russians really rig the 2016 US election? The Daily Telegraph’s Tim Blair exposes ‘the truth’ – You bet they did! Secret documents recently discovered in a bin behind a Kremlin-district 24-hour cabbage and tobacco store reveal for the first time the devious extent of Russian interference. These plans were decades in the making. Read on, as never-before-seen communiques between Russian agents Sergei Potrov and Dimitri […]
Stacie Overton Johnson and Adam Workman pick their favourite restaurants of the year, based on great decor and ambience as well as fabulous food. • Reviewed meals are paid for by The National and conducted incognito. Contact the restaurants as prices may have changed since our original reviews newslide Abu Dhabi Butcher & Still Very few of us will ever be cool enough to recreate the Al […]
The European Central Bank has said that Monte dei Paschi di Siena’s capital shortfall has risen to €8.8bn from €5bn, significantly increasing the price tag of the rescue of Italy’s third-largest lender by the government. In a statement released late on Monday, MPS also revealed that the ECB had warned that the bank’s liquidity had suffered a “rapid deterioration” over the past month, as it tried in […]
By Stephen Kalin | EAST OF MOSUL, Iraq EAST OF MOSUL, Iraq Iraqi forces will resume their push against Islamic State inside Mosul in the coming days, a U.S. battlefield commander said, in a new phase of the two-month-old operation that will see American troops deployed closer to the front line in the city. The battle for Mosul, involving 100,000 Iraqi troops, members of the Kurdish security […]
Retailers in the U.S. are hoping to clear stock a day after Christmas so, for bargain hunters, Dec. 26 is the next best day — after Black Friday and Cyber Monday — to score some amazing deals and discounts. Before we forget: today is also a federal holiday. This means that most government offices, banks, post offices, schools, and libraries will be closed on this day. Some people, […]
December 26, 2016 by: Joanna S Kao in New York Last week ‘Dear Evan Hansen’ became the seventh new Broadway show of 2016 to pull in more than $1m at the box office in a single week, at the end of a year in which New York’s theatre takings have so far been roughly flat at $1.34bn. Rising ticket prices and better models for variable pricing have made […]
A powerful typhoon blew out of the northern Philippines on Monday after killing at least six people and spoiling Christmas in several provinces, where more than 380,000 people abandoned celebrations at home to reach emergency shelters and other safer grounds. Typhoon Nock-Ten cut power to five entire provinces due to toppled electric posts and trees, dimming Christmas revelries in Asia’s largest Catholic nation. More than 300 flights […]
By Humeyra Pamuk | ISTANBUL ISTANBUL Turkish authorities have arrested the cafeteria manager of the opposition Cumhuriyet newspaper for insulting the president after he said he would not serve tea to Tayyip Erdogan, one of the manager’s lawyers told Reuters on Monday. Senol Buran, who runs the cafeteria at the Istanbul office of Cumhuriyet, was taken into custody after police raided his home late on Saturday, lawyer […]
Emirates airline has announced that it will operate the first ever commercial Airbus A380 flight to Morocco and North Africa, when it takes the iconic double decker aircraft to Casablanca on March 26, 2017. The airline’s flagship aircraft will replace the Boeing 777-300ER aircraft currently used on the Dubai-Casablanca route, offering increased seat capacity across all three cabin classes and an enhanced premium product experience. The switch […]
BUENOS AIRES Argentina’s government has asked Finance Minister Alfonso Prat-Gay to step down, cabinet chief Marcos Pena said on Monday, marking the first major departure in President Mauricio Macri’s Cabinet since he took office a year ago. As part of the move, the Finance Ministry will be split in two, with the treasury division led by economist Nicolas Dujovne and the finance division led by current finance […]
By Shwe Yee Saw Myint | YANGON YANGON A man has been found dead with stab wounds in Myanmar’s Rakhine State, in what the government said on Monday was the second murder in under a week of a Rohingya who cooperated with authorities as they crack down on suspected insurgents. Coordinated attacks on October 9 killed nine police officers and sparked a military operation in northern Rakhine. […]
In January of 2016, the Bundesbank announced that three years after commencing the transfer of some of its offshore-held gold from vaults located at the Banque de France in Paris and the NY Fed in New York, it had repatriated a total of 366.3 tonnes, bringing the German central bank’s gold reserves held in Frankfurt to 1,402 tonnes, or 41.5% of Germany’s total gold of 3,381 tonnes, […]
FRANKFURT European Central Bank policymaker Jens Weidmann said plans for a state bailout of Italian bank Monte dei Paschi di Siena (BMPS.MI) should be weighed carefully as many questions remain to be answered, according to German newspaper Bild. “For the measures planned by the Italian government the bank has to be financially healthy at its core. The money cannot be used to cover losses that are already […]
Despite the warning for Western Australia to brace for a category 1 cyclone Yvette with a wind speed of around 101 miles per hour (164 kilometers per hour), NASA said a vertical wind shear has weakened the wind’s intensity. According to NASA, a visible-light image of tropical cyclone Yvette captured by the agency’s Radiometer Suite on NASA-NOAA’s Suomi NPP showed bulk clouds pushed north and west of the […]
