(Image: CBSNews.com) With the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) having been dumped by new United States President Donald Trump on his first week in office, the question remains as to whether the remaining signatories will attempt to push through the deal by themselves or with China’s aid — or whether they will instead use a Chinese-led deal. The TPP, signed by its 12 member states in February 2016, was […]
The length of time needed for a driver to switch from automated vehicle control to manual vehicle control is crucial for the safety of future automated vehicles, research shows. (via WSJ)
By Luiza Ilie | BUCHAREST BUCHAREST The hermetically-sealed heavy steel door to the bunker of Romania’s late communist dictator Nicolae Ceausescu opens with a squeak, releasing a burst of cool air. The bunker sits two levels beneath a lavish villa in an upmarket neighbourhood in Bucharest, Ceausescu’s private residence through the 24 years he ruled Romania, one of Eastern Europe’s most repressive Cold War-era regimes. “It is […]
Manuel Valls sought to make up lost ground in the race for France’s Socialist presidential nomination by attacking frontrunner Benoît Hamon’s “illusory” economic proposals and “ambiguous” stance towards radical Islam. In a primetime television debate four days before the party’s primary run-off, the former French prime minister challenged his rival’s claim that automation would destroy jobs, leaving individuals with fewer work opportunities. Mr Valls criticised Mr Hamon’s […]
It is difficult to understand why Donald Trump’s campaign promise to “make America great again” resounded so deeply with so many. True, the threat of terrorism, rising inequality and job-killing digitalisation have been breeding anxiety for some time. However, on most metrics the US economy has been doing just fine and certainly better than Europe. While the median US household’s real income still stands below peak of […]
All but one of the students were enrolled in the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, also known as DACA. Created in 2012 by an Obama-administration executive action, DACA allowed teenagers and young adults who came to the United States illegally as children with their parents to register with the government and in turn receive a two-year renewable protection against deportation, along with work permits and Social […]
After Trump’s executive order to accelerate the Keystone XL and Dakota Access pipelines, angry environmental groups reacted quickly by denouncing Trump’s actions, and promising legal action and White House protests. “Donald Trump has been in office for four days, and he’s already proving to be the dangerous threat to our climate we feared he would be,” said Michael Brune, the executive director of the Sierra Club. He […]
LAGOS General Electric Co (GE.N) has proposed investing in Nigeria’s oil refineries, potentially convening a consortium of companies to improve capacity at the run-down facilities. GE’s plan and similar promises from companies like Italy’s Eni (ENI.MI) to work with Nigeria to rehabilitate the country’s three oil refineries could help the government as it tries to reduce costly imported oil products. The work was raised during a meeting […]
By Tetsushi Kajimoto | TOKYO TOKYO Japan’s exports rose for the first time in 15 months in December on strong sales of electronics and car parts, a positive sign for the export-reliant economy even as U.S. protectionism threatens to hurt trade across the region and dent external demand. Ministry of Finance data showed on Wednesday that exports rose 5.4 percent year-on-year in December, compared with a 1.2 […]
Many of last year’s academy nominations prompted a backlash from a film-going world where ‘white’ is no longer the norm; in 2017 the focus has shifted and the calibre is just as high. The eyes of the world were focused on the Academy for Motion Picture Arts and Sciences on Tuesday for what were widely expected to be the most diverse Oscar nominations to date. The expectations […]
Good morning. Here’s our morning roundup of all the media news you need to know. Want to get this briefing in your inbox every morning? Subscribe here. A fashionista friend in the White House press corps answered this lingering question after Sean Spicer’s much-anticipated first briefing: What exactly was the glaring color of that jacket worn by Kellyanne Conway? “Tomato?” she guessed. Well, it was especially vivid […]
By Bernie Woodall | DETROIT DETROIT Ford Motor Co (F.N), in a bid for a piece of the rapidly growing global auto parts market, is launching a new brand called Omnicraft to sell parts to Ford dealers and independent repair shops to fix competitors’ vehicles. Omnicraft joins Ford’s established Motorcraft which makes parts for Ford vehicles. Frederiek Toney, president of Ford’s customer service division, said the global […]
Brewing for months now, Tesla has now begun rolling out the latest update to Autopilot for owners of its HW2 vehicles, including Model S and Model X, as confirmed by Elon Musk, the company’s chief, via a tweet. These cars, which were built since October, are equipped with Tesla’s second-generation Autopilot hardware, but they have so far not been privy to a slew of safety features already in […]
Once known as the “ships of the desert”, camels are a feature of Rolls-Royce’s new special edition, which has just arrived in the UAE. Abu Dhabi Motors has taken delivery of the Rolls-Royce Ghost Oasis Edition, a special commission developed by the marque’s Bespoke department to be presented to the brand’s patrons in the Middle East only. The two-tone exterior in Aurum and Desert Dune Metallic carries […]
By Diadie Ba and Tim Cocks | DAKAR/BANJUL DAKAR/BANJUL West African leaders did not agree to immunity for Yahya Jammeh during negotiations that convinced Gambia’s longtime ruler to flee into exile, Senegal’s foreign minister said on Sunday. Jammeh, who is accused of serious rights violations, led his country for 22 years but refused to accept defeat in a December election. He flew out of the capital Banjul […]
But by April, protests against Mr. Assad had spread throughout Syria. One summer day I joined a group of young women in an upscale neighborhood of western Aleppo. We walked through a market carrying banners critical of the regime. A few minutes later, pro-Assad militiamen arrived in several cars and began circling us. We ran. A girl and I who sought refuge in a house in an […]
“I’m sorry,” said Ms. Najjar, 26, wiping her eyes. Hisham, who is shy and has large dark brown eyes, left the room to play with balloons. “It’s just that I almost lost him, not to violence or to war, but to diabetes.” A few birds singing in their cages brighten the grim space where Hisham’s family lives. But they also remind the family of what it left […]
The head of Dubai’s Roads and Transport Authority (RTA) has inaugurated its new smart rental service, described as the first of its kind in the Middle East. The service enables customers, especially public transport users, to rent cars for short periods not exceeding six hours via smart apps. The RTA said it has contracted with U drive and ekar to operate 200 vehicles (100 each) at a […]
By Jeff Mason and Warren Strobel | WASHINGTON WASHINGTON On the first full day as U.S. president, Donald Trump will head to CIA headquarters on Saturday, signaling an effort to mend fences after he slammed spy agencies for their investigation into Russian hacking during the presidential election. Trump engaged in an unprecedented feud with the CIA and U.S. intelligence agencies before his inauguration, but his spokesman Sean […]
A strong tornado killed at least four people in southern Mississippi and left many others trapped in their homes after touching down in the hours before sunrise on Saturday, local and state officials said. The tornado, which touched down at about 3:45 a.m. Central time (0945 GMT), reduced some buildings to splinters, downed power lines and was strong enough to flip over cars, according to photographs shared […]
While tech titans such as Google, Uber, and Apple along with almost every auto maker on the planet have poured resources into the development of autonomous vehicle technology, online retail giant Amazon has been relatively quiet on that front. But a recently approved patent shows the Seattle-based company could be ready to make a big move in the autonomous vehicle space. The patent doesn’t suggest […]
BERLIN German Chancellor Angela Merkel vowed on Saturday to seek compromises on issues like trade and military spending with U.S. President Donald Trump, adding she would work on preserving the important relationship between Europe and the United States. “He made his convictions clear in his inauguration speech,” Merkel said in remarks broadcast live, a day after Trump vowed to put ‘America first’. Speaking at a news conference […]
After years of excess supply the global aluminium market may be turning a corner, as China seeks to cut capacity and the incoming Donald Trump administration ratchets up trade threats against the world’s largest producer of the lightweight metal. A glut of aluminium in recent years has decimated the US aluminium industry, where smelters were forced to shut down as Chinese imports rose. Now, after tackling excess […]
Donald Trump launched a promised assault on “burdens” imposed by government within hours of becoming US president on Friday by moving to loosen rules tied to Obamacare and halting the introduction of any new regulations. Between the end of the daytime inaugural parade and the start of evening balls, the Trump administration took its first major policy moves by ordering government agencies to do all they could […]
