Saudi Arabia has imposed limits on the ownership of prepaid SIM cards for citizens and foreigners, restrictions that the regulator said aim to prevent the use of cards in carrying out militant attacks in the kingdom. Foreign residents, who make up more than a third of the population, are now limited to two prepaid SIM cards across all operators, according to two people familiar with the matter. […]
By Brian Ellsworth | CARACAS CARACAS Protesters blocked a highway in Venezuela’s capital Caracas for nearly eight hours this week in an effort to show the opposition’s dedication to civil disobedience as their main tool to resist President Nicolas Maduro. But by the end of the afternoon, hooded youths had filled the highway with burning debris, looted a government storage site, torched two trucks and stolen medical […]
The big announcement of the really, really big Trump Tax Plan with the “biggest tax cuts in history” came out bigly on Wednesday, as Trump promised. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin and National Economic Council Director Gary Cohn, Trump’s latest tax team, beamed proudly as they presented their baby. The stock market took a deep breath, then looked at their brainchild and completely petered out. First, let me say, I clearly have nothing to recant […]
A Malta magistrate is investigating explosive claims of money laundering and corruption that have put New Zealand in the middle of a global cash trail from the family of Azerbaijan president Ilham Aliyev. President Aliyev’s daughter, Leyla Aliyeva, is alleged to have channelled more than $1.5 million to senior figures of the Malta government, including Prime Minister Joseph Muscat’s wife. These include alleged payments to Panama companies […]
· “The Middle East remains an extremely important region and we are committed to enhancing our customer experience,” says Robert Williams · British Airways’ recently announced investment plans to boost customer experience with the new First Wing now open to passengers flying from Kuwait · Airline set to launch 22 New Routes in 2017 expanding its network of onward connections for Kuwaiti and wider Middle […]
By Steve Holland | WASHINGTON WASHINGTON U.S. President Donald Trump told the leaders of Canada and Mexico on Wednesday that he will not terminate the NAFTA treaty at this stage, but will move quickly to begin renegotiating it with them, a White House said. The announcement came after White House officials disclosed that Trump and his advisers had been considering issuing an executive order to withdraw the […]
Indian carrier Jet Airways said Wednesday it had suspended a foreign pilot from flying duty over allegations that he assaulted a woman and hurled racist abuse at another passenger on a domestic flight. The Mumbai-based airline, in which Abu Dhabi’s Etihad Airways holds a 24 percent stake, confirmed the incident took place on April 3 on a Chandigarh-Mumbai flight, adding the pilot in question had been taken […]
Small Australian internet service provider (ISP) Comvergence has begun deploying the nation’s first G.fast services using the AXOS solution from broadband communications access systems and software provider Calix. The G.fast service is being provided to businesses across Sydney and Melbourne, with Calix’s AXOS E5-16F G.fast node and 801F GigaPoints being installed inside multi-tenant units. The service is currently delivering symmetrical speeds of around 300Mbps, with the capacity […]
SHANGHAI China needs to raise its military capabilities to protect its growing overseas interests, its foreign minister said following the launch of China’s first domestically built aircraft carrier, but he vowed not to pursue expansionism. China launched the carrier on Wednesday amid rising tension over North Korea and regional worries about Beijing’s assertiveness in the South China Sea and its broader military modernisation programme. Speaking during a […]
Breitbart News hit a wall Tuesday in its campaign to storm the ramparts of the media establishment when one of the most influential press associations in Washington, D.C. denied its application for credentials to cover Congress because of concerns over the site’s funding, staffing, workspace and independence. The decision by the Standing Committee of Correspondents of the House and Senate Press Gallery — a body chaired by […]
Qatar said Wednesday that the deal to secure the recent release of a hunting party kidnapped in southern Iraq went ahead with the “full knowledge” of Baghdad. Responding to a complaint by Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi that ransom money was brought into Iraq without its approval, the emirate said it had regularly consulted with officials in Baghdad during the tense negotiations. It was the first official statement […]
The University of Technology Sydney (UTS) has partnered with the China Electronics Group Corporation (CETC) to launch a new joint centre for advanced research. Located at the UTS campus in Sydney, the Australia-China Research Innovation Centre in Information and Electronics Technologies (IET) is expected to conduct long-term research projects into information, communications, and electronics. The IET will be governed and managed by representatives of both UTS and […]
SEOUL Strong memory chip earnings propelled tech giant Samsung Electronics Co Ltd (005930.KS) to its best quarterly profit in more than 3 years, the South Korean firm said on Thursday as its first-quarter results matched its earlier guidance. Samsung said in a regulatory filing its January-March operating profit was 9.9 trillion won ($8.75 billion), compared with 9.9 trillion won it estimated earlier in April. Revenue rose 2 […]
United Airlines can’t catch a break, as a giant bunny set to be the world’s largest just died on one of the airline’s planes and it’s a mystery how it happened. Hot on the heels of the recent United Airlines scandal regarding forcibly removed passengers, the airline is now in trouble again as a huge bunny died while being transported to its new “celebrity” owner. Giant Bunny […]
Two of America’s most prominent Republican dynasties — the Bushes and the Romneys — are locked in a $1bn-plus battle to acquire the Miami Marlins baseball team, in a tangled sale process that previously included a rival bid from the family business of Jared Kushner. A consortium bid fronted by Jeb Bush, the former Florida governor and presidential candidate, and Derek Jeter, the retired New York Yankees […]
By Phil Stewart and David Brunnstrom | WASHINGTON WASHINGTON The Trump administration said on Wednesday it aimed to push North Korea into dismantling its nuclear and missile programs through tougher international sanctions and diplomatic pressure, and remained open to negotiations to bring this about. The U.S. stance, which appeared to signal a willingness to exhaust non-military options in spite of repeated warnings that “all options are on […]
. 240 modern gas stations across the country set for completion by 2020 · Strong support is required to encourage organized companies to step in to the service field. 26 April 2017 Riyadh – Petromin, the leading lubricants and automotive services company in Saudi Arabia, outlined plans to build 240 gas stations across the Kingdom at the 10th edition of the Saudi Travel and Tourism Investment […]
Increasingly sophisticated hackers possibly linked to a foreign nation aimed to disrupt key organisations in Saudi Arabia, the US-based cyber security firm McAfee said. It did not name the possible attacker but US intelligence officials said they suspected a link to the kingdom’s regional rival Iran after the Shamoon virus struck the Saudi energy sector in 2012. Renewed Shamoon campaigns that began late last year attacked a […]
NEW HAVEN, Conn. A federal judge in Connecticut on Wednesday sentenced a former Jefferies Group bond trader to two years in prison and to pay a $2 million fine after he was found guilty earlier this year of defrauding customers on bond prices. A jury in January found Jesse Litvak guilty of one of 10 criminal charges he had faced, a muted victory as prosecutors try to […]
President Donald Trump’s top economic team unveiled what they called the biggest tax cut in US history, proposing a sharp reduction in corporate taxes and a simplification of individual rates they said would unleash economic growth. Steven Mnuchin, the Treasury secretary, said the proposal would slash corporate taxes from 35 per cent to 15 per cent and include a “one-time” cut-rate tax to induce companies to repatriate […]
Citigroup Inc has received an investment banking licence from Saudi Arabia’s Capital Market Authority more than 10 years after exiting the kingdom. The CMA board authorised Citigroup Saudi Arabia “to conduct dealing as underwriter, arranging and advising in securities business activities,” according to statement posted on the regulator’s website. The firm lost its key banking licence when it sold its stake in Samba Financial Group in 2004. […]
PARIS France’s centre-right party, seeking to rebound after the defeat of its presidential candidate, said on Wednesday it could share power with Emmanuel Macron if he is elected, as pollsters predict, on May 7. Macron, a 39-year-old centrist, is tipped to comfortably win a run-off vote against far-right leader Marine Le Pen, but the political movement he created a year ago faces a huge challenge in the […]
ESPN on Wednesday went through with a long-awaited round of layoffs that will trim about 100 commentators from the sports network’s payroll as cord-cutters and digital media upstarts continue to disrupt the broadcaster’s business model. Among those laid off are on-camera personalities that have become familiar faces on the network’s coverage of hockey, football and baseball and writers for ESPN’s digital platforms. ESPN President John Skipper announced […]
Tax Foundation: Not what it seems? The other big player, the Tax Foundation, is a Washington, D.C.-based think tank that researches state and federal tax policies, and meets with lawmakers, citizens, and journalists to provide expert advice on tax policy. The group’s mission is to “improve lives through smarter tax policy,” according to the foundation’s website. Smarter tax policy, the foundation argues, includes making the tax code […]
