Investors face a test of nerve as the second quarter beckons. The rally in US stocks and the dollar sparked by the election of Donald Trump is looking stretched, amid doubts about the president’s ability to deliver fiscal stimulus for the economy that can justify lofty equity valuations. The shifting mood has spurred money into emerging markets and European stocks, with EM currencies enjoying a stellar March […]
“I’m sorry viewer, the TV show you’re searching for cannot be streamed in your reality. Please stand by for reconnection.” Those are the opening lines of Hulu’s new show Dimension 404, a show that explores “the wonders and horrors of our digital age” in six one-hour episodes. If that makes you think of Black Mirror, you’re not alone. But Dimension 404, which debuts on April 4, is […]
By Guy Faulconbridge | LONDON LONDON Just days after Prime Minister Theresa May formally served the European Union with divorce papers, a powerful affliction appeared to strike some in Britain: Brexit fever. Amid a row with Spain and the EU over the status of Gibraltar, a former leader of May’s Conservative party, Michael Howard, even said she would be prepared to go to war to defend the […]
Mental Illness Aimee Mann (Superego Records) Four stars It is hardly the most inviting of album titles, but Mental Illness, Aimee Mann’s ninth solo album and first in five years, is decidedly easy on the ear. Its calming, almost-sedative mood is established from the moment the soft chink of sleigh bells ushers in the opening track, Goose Snow Cone. Several of the songs here are meditative-sounding waltzes, […]
Australia’s house prices are rising at their fastest pace in seven years, igniting fears of an emerging property bubble and prompting regulators to crack down on risky bank lending. New figures on Monday show residential property prices have increased 12.9 per cent in the past 12 months, with prices in Sydney surging 18.9 per cent — the fastest rate of growth in almost 15 years. “Four of […]
LONDON Gibraltar’s leader scolded EU Council President Donald Tusk on Monday for giving Spain a right of veto over the future relationship between the British enclave and the European Union after Britain leaves the bloc. The future of Gibraltar, a rocky British outpost on Spain’s southern tip, has become the first major dispute of the exit negotiations since Prime Minister Theresa May filed the formal divorce papers […]
The Australian Privacy Foundation (APF) has recommended that the Department of Human services (DHS) reform its automated debt recovery process and bring back the “human” involvement that was replaced with the new data-matching technology. In its submission [PDF] to the Senate Community Affairs References Committee, the APF noted several serious concerns about the automatic data matching system used by Centrelink, citing problems with relying on technology as […]
Some of the region’s leading female filmmaking talent gathered at the film and TV industry trade show Cabsat at Dubai World Trade Centre last week to talk about their careers and the challenges they face. They were assembled by Japanese camera manufacturer Canon to help promote the local launch of its new C700 cinecamera. Encouragingly, none of those we spoke to felt they had been passed over […]
Image: Kharnagy I’ve never seen a topic in IT become so popular, so fast, while so many people in the field still have only a vague idea of what it is and how it can help them. DevOps promises that it will change the way businesses run their technology stack–shedding old ways of operating that were once efficient, but are now holding back the enterprise. When you […]
Huaqiangbei electronics market in downtown Shenzhen is a gadget geek’s paradise, selling everything from individual semiconductor chips to roll-up drum kits to hoverboards. For some, it is also the culprit for the declining fortunes of US wearable tech companies such as GoPro and Fitbit. “[Their] problem essentially is Shenzhen,” says Richard Windsor, founder of independent research company Radio Free Mobile. “It makes much cheaper cameras that are […]
Google has already rolled out the new look on Android, when users add accounts, and on the Google App on iOS. Image: Getty Images A new sign-in page design might seem like a minor event, but the change will affect over a billion people who use a Google account to sign in to its various apps, including Gmail, YouTube, Search, and the Play Store. Google says it […]
Here are the main questions facing markets as a new trading week and the start of the second quarter beckons. What are the likely drivers?A host of market-moving events confront investors as the calendar flips over to April. These include France’s presidential elections and the opening salvos of the UK’s divorce from the EU. But there is also the prospect of a sustained recovery in global activity, […]
One major feature of the Samsung Galaxy S line that we have seen in place since 2010 is the physical home button. On the Galaxy S8 and S8 Plus, that button has been removed and this trend may continue with the next Apple iPhone. The Samsung Galaxy Unpacked event in New York City last week was very exciting and I enjoyed the opportunity to try out the […]
Image: Vicky Leta/Mashable By Damon Beres2017-04-02 05:26:43 UTC Facebook’s new “Stories” update is here, and it ruins the best part about the entire social network: Mindlessly plumbing your friends’ lives without fear of getting caught. When you watch a friend’s Story — which exists for 24 hours and is comprised of one or more photos or short videos — that friend will know you’re creeping. This is […]
It is fortuitous for Dubai’s new Hollywood-inspired theme park, Motiongate, that the third Smurfs movie, which was released on Thursday, is set entirely in the cutesy toadstool cottages and enchanted forest of the little blue creatures’ homeland, following two films that took place in our world. After all, that is what the park’s Smurfs Village – the area aimed at younger children – is all about: brightly […]
Like many Hong Kongers with family and business ties in mainland China, Ceci Chong would often carry cash back across the border — until she was stopped last summer by a Chinese customs officer. She was caught bringing Rmb100,000 ($14,500) in family savings to Hong Kong — five times the cash limit imposed by China. Her case was part of a crackdown on “financial ants”, who smuggle […]
Based on lab tests conducted in Switzerland, Black Insomnia could be the strongest coffee in the world. It contains 702 milligrams of caffeine per 12-ounce cup, which is far higher when compared to the same amount of Starbucks’ dark roast coffee, which contains only 195 milligrams of coffee . Mary Sweeney, from Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, who conducts study on the effects of caffeine, said that Black […]
Colombians woke up on Saturday to a devastating landslide that left at least 193 dead in the south-west of the country, after heavy rains caused rivers to overflow. The avalanche propelled sediment on to buildings and bridges, as homes and cars were swept away in the city of Mocoa in Putumayo. “We have adults, women and infants,” police commander Colonel Omar Bonilla told a Colombian radio on […]
Didi Chuxing may have defeated Uber, but China’s dominant ride-hailing platform is no match for the country’s local governments after being forced to gut its urban fleet to comply with regulations. Didi’s core business of cheap ride-hailing now faces a tough fight in the big urban markets, which it built after a bruising battle with local and foreign rivals. Uber ceded the Chinese market — its largest — […]
Venezuela’s government-controlled supreme court has reversed its ruling to strip the opposition controlled assembly of legislative powers in an effort to ease tensions amid growing cries of dictatorship. “This controversy is over,” embattled President Nicolás Maduro said, “the constitution has won”. The unexpected move came after a “state security committee”, convened by the socialist Mr Maduro, ordered the court to reconsider. The head of the supreme court […]
Paraguay was plunged into a constitutional crisis after congress was stormed and set on fire by protesters, enraged by attempts by President Horacio Cartes to amend the constitution to allow his re-election. Furious protesters, one of whom was killed by police, accused Mr Cartes of engineering a coup, echoing similar cries elsewhere in the region after Venezuela’s government-controlled Supreme Court dissolved congress on Thursday. What is going […]
South Africa’s new finance minister, Malusi Gigaba, that said that he would pursue radical transformation of its economy while defending the country’s investment-grade credit rating in his first comments after the divisive firing of his predecessor by President Jacob Zuma. Mr Gigaba, formerly home affairs minister and a close ally of Mr Zuma, became the fourth Treasury chief in two years this week after the president used […]
The basic format of political fact-checking is identical the world over: Start from a widely circulated claim by a public figure, then rate the truthfulness of its objectively verifiable components. Tom Rosenstiel, executive director at the American Press Institute, thinks it may be time to rethink this model. Local newsrooms especially, he suggests, should make “the key unit of fact-checking not a claim or a fact, but […]
Chat is nothing new in business (or even new to Microsoft), but it’s heading out of the technical department and the personal chat clients, and into the wider workforce. Microsoft Teams has some obvious similarities to Slack and HipChat and the other business chat services, but it has a different focus. This is chat for teams of people in your business who already use Office 365 tools […]
