DUBAI // Forty-seven teams have been cleared for take-off for the forthcoming Red Bull Flugtag event in Dubai. The home-made flying machine competition takes place at Dubai Creek Park on November 27 after a nine-year hiatus. Participants will aim to break the world Flugtag record, which was set by the Chicken Whisperers in 2013, who managed to propel their flying machine 78.64 metres at an event in […]
The new Apple iPhone 6S and 6S Plus are displayed during an Apple media event in San Francisco, California, September 9, 2015. Reuters/Beck Diefenbach SAN FRANCISCO/SYDNEY A significant number of Apple Inc customers are reporting their mobile devices have crashed after attempting to upload the new iOS 9 operating system, the latest in a line of launch glitches for the tech giant. Twitter and other social media […]
A magnifying glass is held in front of a computer screen in this picture illustration taken in Berlin May 21, 2013. Reuters/Pawel Kopczynski NATIONAL HARBOR, Md. The U.S. Defense Department is building a massive, electronic system to provide an overview of the vulnerabilities of the military’s computer networks, weapons systems, and installations, and help officials prioritize how to fix them, the deputy commander of U.S. Cyber Command […]
Middle East By RUKMINI CALLIMACHI and ERIC SCHMITT September 17, 2015 The government of Iran released five senior members of Al Qaeda earlier this year, including the man who stepped in to serve as the terrorist group’s interim leader immediately after Osama bin Laden’s death, and who is the subject of a $5 million bounty, according to an American official who had been briefed on the matter. Iran’s release of the […]
News Analysis President Obama in Washington on Wednesday. White House aides said Mr. Obama had always been skeptical about training Syrian rebels. By PETER BAKER September 17, 2015 WASHINGTON — By any measure, President Obama’s effort to train a Syrian opposition army to fight the Islamic State on the ground has been an abysmal failure. The military acknowledged this week that just four or five American-trained fighters are actually […]
Qatar National Bank (QNB), the largest bank in the Gulf region, is in preliminary talks to buy Kuwait Finance House’s (KFH) Malaysia unit, the Qatari lender said on Thursday. No agreements had been reached over a potential deal and QNB would make any necessary disclosures to the Qatar stock market in the future, QNB said in the statement. KFH, the largest Islamic bank in Kuwait, said in […]
Saudi Arabia’s Emaar The Economic City (EEC) said on Thursday the grace period before starting to repay a SR5-billion ($1.33 billion) loan it signed with the kingdom’s Ministry of Finance in 2011 has been extended by five years. The first payment will commence in 2020 and the rest of the payments will be due over the period until 2026, EEC said in a bourse statement. The company, […]
Private equity funds managed by Blackstone is set to acquire a majority of Serco Group’s private sector business process outsourcing (BPO) operations. The definitive agreement will include the former Intelenet business, for a consideration of £250 million ($385.7 million), approximately INR2,558 crores, said a statement. The enterprise value of this deal represents the largest acquisition by Blackstone in India, it said. The business has expected annual revenues […]
Gulfnet Communications Co, a leading provider of information and communications technology services, has received the ISO 9001:2008 for the fifth consecutive year after an extensive audit of the company’s internal operations. The ISO 9001:2008 Quality Management System certification demonstrates Gulfnet’s robust quality management system to guide and govern its operations across the company, said a statement. The certification is an important step in assuring that customers continue […]
Gulf Business Machines (GBM), a leading provider of IT solutions, leveraging industry-leading technologies in the region, has partnered with the Information Technology Authority (ITA) of Oman to launch a programme aimed at increasing interest and offering opportunities for Omani graduates within the ICT sector. The partnership comes as part of GBM’s ongoing efforts to provide the right tools and programmes to support the continued development of Oman’s […]
Autodesk, a leader in 3D design and engineering software, said that new commercial licences of most Autodesk Design and Creation Suites and individual products will be available by subscription only from July 31 next year. When this takes effect, the company will provide new, simplified subscription options so customers can access multiple products and share licences as they currently do — while gaining the simplicity, accessibility, and […]
The development of autonomous vehicles (AV) hinges on cooperation among technology players in the areas of cybersecurity, high-definition maps, and vehicle-to-vehicle and vehicle-to-infrastructure communication, said an industry expert. “But there are equally pressing questions about liability, vehicle certification, and regulatory frameworks,” explained said Nikolaus Lang, a senior partner at The Boston Consulting Group (BCG), a global management consulting firm. “Multi-stakeholder collaboration is key to developing win-win solutions—and […]
Plummeting oil prices will cause cash flow for the global integrated oil & gas industry to contract by 20 per cent or more for 2015, with only a modest recovery expected in 2016, according to Moody’s Investors Service. This reflects the rating agency’s expectation of continued revenue declines and a negative free cash flow profile for the industry in 2015. Moody’s outlook for the global integrated oil […]
In a split decision, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit in Washington, D.C. today ruled that Apple has the right to seek an injunction to prevent Samsung from using several smartphone features found to have infringed on Apple patents. In a 2-1 ruling, the appeals court asserted that U.S. District Court Judge Lucy Koh erred in an earlier ruling against Apple’s request for an […]
Russian Hackers Targeting U.S. Government, F-Secure Says State-sponsored cyberattacks have been tied directly to a hacking group that gathers intelligence for Russia’s Kremlin. F-Secure Labs has just published a white paper that outlines seven years of attacks against governments in the United States, Asia and Europe. A malicious group called the Dukes uses a family of malware toolsets to steal information by infiltrating computer networks and sending […]
The Luna Lantern brings the glowing ambience of the full moon into your space. There are 7 sizes available, ranging from 32 in. to 236 in. diameter & they use either LED or Halogen bulbs with adjustable brightness for dialing in the perfect moonlit mood. A funded IndieGoGo. This entry passed through the Full-Text RSS service – if this is your content and you’re reading it on […]
Middle East Maricela Rangel Davalos, one of the Mexican tourists wounded on Sunday in an Egyptian Army airstrike in the Western Desert, left a Cairo hospital for the airport on Thursday. By JARED MALSIN September 17, 2015 CAIRO — Egypt’s chief prosecutor issued a ban on news media coverage in the case of an attack by security forces that killed 12 people, including eight Mexican tourists and their Egyptian […]
A recently discovered vulnerability in Android Lollipop allows an attacker to bypass the password lockscreen on a mobile device and gain full access. The flaw was discovered by a security researcher at the University of Texas at Austin, who said he has already alerted Google about his findings. The exploit requires an attacker to have physical access to the device but it will only work if the […]
Middle East Ayatollah Ali Khamenei warned on Wednesday of foreign enemy subversions. By THOMAS ERDBRINK September 17, 2015 TEHRAN — Negotiating the nuclear agreement was a torturous, two-year process for Iran’s leaders, but a new kind of struggle is unfolding now in Iran, where the supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, and President Hassan Rouhani have begun to tackle a question Iranians have not thought about much since the revolution […]
Middle East World Briefing By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS September 16, 2015 Lebanese police officers beat back protesters with clubs and sticks and arrested dozens on Wednesday in Beirut in the latest confrontations over the country’s summer trash crisis. A small group of activists had gathered near the Parliament building, some carrying eggs to pelt politicians’ convoys while others tried to block the street. Riot officers beat two demonstrators, and the […]
ABU DHABI // Young Emiratis must become fully engaged in the political process to ensure next month’s FNC elections are a success. Dr Anwar Gargash, Minister of State for FNC Affairs and Chairman of the National Elecctions Commission, stressed the essential role youths have to play on October 3. “The youths’ voice is the most important voice in the coming elections,” Dr Gargash said. “We would like […]
WASHINGTON — Only four or five Syrian individuals trained by the United States military to confront the Islamic State remain in the fight, the head of the United States Central Command told a Senate panel on Wednesday, a bleak acknowledgment that the Defense Department’s $500 million program to raise an army of Syrian fighters has gone nowhere. Gen. Lloyd J. Austin III, the top American commander in […]
WASHINGTON — Secretary of State John Kerry said on Wednesday that Moscow had proposed talks between the United States and Russian militaries on the situation in Syria and the buildup of Russian forces there. Sergey V. Lavrov, Russia’s foreign minister, made the proposal, which Mr. Kerry indicated the administration was considering, in a phone conversation with him on Tuesday. Mr. Kerry said Mr. Lavrov proposed a “military-to-military” […]
WASHINGTON — President Obama will host Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel at the White House on Nov. 9 in their first face-to-face meeting since their rupture over the international nuclear agreement with Iran, the White House said Wednesday. Mr. Obama invited Mr. Netanyahu to talk about the way forward now that the Iran agreement has cleared obstacles in Congress. The president has offered to find ways […]
