British gardener Alan Titchmarsh is something of a national treasure in the United Kingdom. He has his own statue at the famed Madame Tussauds waxworks museum in London, which, curators claim, needs to be cleaned twice-weekly because of the lipstick smudges that his amorous fans leave on his likeness. His career in horticulture spans more than half a century and he’s well known to British audiences for […]
As part of sweeping efforts to reduce regulation and boost business, President Trump this week announced plans to relax fuel economy standards. The Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFE) standards, which were implemented decades ago but accelerated under President Obama, call for automakers to reach a fleetwide average 54.5 miles per gallon by 2025. In typical deal-maker fashion, Trump went to Detroit to announce the easing […]
JEDDAH: A new report by the UN Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia (ESCWA) sets two landmark precedents on the question of Palestine, a Palestinian rights activist told Arab News.The report, entitled “Israeli Practices Toward the Palestinian People and the Question of Apartheid,” has drawn swift criticism from the UN and Israeli officials.“It’s the first time any UN agency has proven beyond doubt that Israel is […]
Authored by Michael Jabara Carley via The Strategic Culture Foundation, On 10 January 2017 Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau fired his minister of external affairs, Stéphane Dion, and replaced him with Chrystia Freeland, who was then minister of international trade. This cabinet shuffle might not have gotten much public notice except that Dion is a distinguished parliamentarian, former leader of the party and leader of the opposition, […]
By Simon Lewis and Wa Lone | SITTWE, Myanmar SITTWE, Myanmar Since security forces swept into their villages in northwestern Myanmar late last year, around 75,000 Rohingya Muslims have fled across the nearby border to Bangladesh. Many now fear that the authorities in Myanmar could make their displacement permanent. At least once a year, local administrators go house-to-house in the Rohingya villages of northern Rakhine State, lining […]
BEIRUT A U.N. agency published a report on Wednesday accusing Israel of imposing an “apartheid regime” of racial discrimination on the Palestinian people, and said it was the first time a U.N. body had clearly made the charge. Israel’s Foreign Ministry spokesman likened the report, which was published by the U.N. Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia (ESCWA), to Der Sturmer – a Nazi propaganda publication […]
The men who fed a cat to dogs has been ordered to clean Dubai Zoo by Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice-President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai. Sheikh Mohammed said the culprits will clean the zoo for four hours a day for three months as punishment for the act. In a series of tweets, the crime was described as “brutal and […]
DUBAI // Three men who fed a cat to hungry dogs and filmed the horrific killing on video will clean Dubai Zoo for the next three months. Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid, the Prime Minister and Ruler of Dubai, ordered the punishment be handed down to the men under new community service laws. The video, which has been widely shared on social media, shows a white cat being […]
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. Nate Silver’s “March Madness” analysis is out and, knock on hardwood, he’s not picking Hillary Clinton. I know, I know. Cheap (jump) shot. It’s that time of year when FiveThirtyEight, the ESPN-owned politics and sports data site founded by Silver, […]
FUJAIRAH // An oil spill on Fujairah’s coastline led to a ban on people swimming at several hotels. The two kilometre-long spill, which was first spotted off the coast of the Al Aqah area of Dibba on Monday, forced beach closures but did not immediately appear to affect wildlife. “The oil patches were spotted on Monday morning at about 9am and they were covering the whole beach, […]
When Strata + Hadoop World comes around in the US, once a year in New York and once a year, as it is now, in San Jose, CA, it’s a bit of a news feeding frenzy. I’m not even at the event; I was merely pre-briefed by four vendors, last week and yesterday, with announcements they’re making this morning. And still, it’s a lot. Cloudera told me […]
WOLFSBURG, Germany Volkswagen (VOWG_p.DE) Chief Executive Matthias Mueller said he is not ruling out talks with Fiat Chrysler (FCHA.MI) boss Sergio Marchionne about a possible merger. “I am not ruling out a conversation,” Mueller told reporters on Tuesday after the carmaker’s annual earnings press conference in Wolfsburg. Marchionne has long advocated car industry mergers to share the costs of making cleaner and more technologically advanced vehicles and […]
To investors still betting — either by choice or technical necessity — that Toshiba can pull off a miracle escape act, Monday night produced yet another dispiriting blow. With just hours left before the troubled Japanese conglomerate was due to submit its audited third-quarter earnings — an already overdue document critical to its continued status as a listed entity — sources close to the company confirmed that […]
KUALA LUMPUR: The Domestic Trade, Cooperatives and Consumerism Ministry will return confiscated pig bristle paint brushes to traders if they comply with the Trade Descriptions Act 2011. Its minister, Datuk Seri Hamzah Zainuddin, said business operators have been given a one-month period to label all paint brushes made with pig bristles (as non-halal). He said since March 9, inspection has been carried out to detect whether traders […]
Volkswagen Volkswagen has already taken a battering to its reputation due to the emissions scandal and is now tarnished further as the automaker has pleaded guilty to criminal charges as part of a settlement with the US Department of Justice (DoJ). On Friday, the automaker pleaded guilty in a Detroit federal court to felonies in connection with the 2015 emissions scandal. For years, the company sold a’clean […]
Stuart Gulliver has told the HSBC board he will quit as chief executive next year, making the search for his successor a priority for Mark Tucker, who has decided to leave Asian insurer AIA to become the bank’s chairman. The appointment of Mr Tucker was announced before the Hong Kong market opened on Monday by AIA and HSBC, which first approached the insurer’s president and chief executive last […]
By Jeremy Wagstaff | SINGAPORE SINGAPORE In today’s so-called smart home, you can dim the lights, order more toothpaste or tell the kids to go to bed simply by talking to a small Wifi-connected speaker, such as Amazon’s (AMZN.O) Echo or Google’s (GOOGL.O) Home. This voice-first market – combining voice with artificial intelligence (AI) – barely existed in 2014. This year, Voice Labs, a consultancy, expects 24.5 […]
The Trump administration’s sweeping dismissal of dozens of US attorneys held over from the Obama administration leaves the president with sudden gaps in top law enforcement positions across the country. The swift dismissals which began with Friday phone calls from Dana Boente, the acting deputy attorney-general, to 46 US attorneys, now puts pressure on the Trump administration to select candidates who will pass congressional scrutiny to fill […]
When it comes to renewable energy in Saudi Arabia, there still remains more than a hint of scepticism. Multi-billion dollar plans have come and gone and the kingdom has made little progress developing renewable energy capabilities to harness its advantageous climatic conditions. In 2010, the King Abdullah Centre for Atomic and Renewable Energy (KA-Care) was established to develop the country’s renewable and nuclear capabilities, as the country […]
Tesla co-founder and CEO Elon Musk has been transitioning his company into the clean energy business and its name change in February only serves to highlight that idea. In fact, Musk is very keen on promoting solar energy as the best source of renewable energy and his enthusiasm and confidence seems to rub off on his colleagues. Lyndon Rive, vice president of energy products at Tesla, said in a […]
European leaders are preparing for Britain to begin Brexit imminently, amid signs that Theresa May could activate Article 50 divorce proceedings as early as Tuesday. During a summit of the remaining 27 EU members in Brussels on Friday, leaders were told to expect London to trigger exit talks next week and to prepare for a Brussels gathering on April 6 to respond to Britain’s formal letter of […]
Company’s yearly revenue surges by more than 30% in 2016, staff strength increases from 350 in 2015 to 600 in 2016 11 March 2017 Abu Dhabi, UAE – Emirates International Property Services (EIPS), a Bloom Holding subsidiary that offers a comprehensive range of competitive, customised facility management services, has adopted a simpler and more dynamic brand name – b.fm. The move is part of the company’s strategy […]
Her name is synonymous with delicate fragrances in luxury packaging; the very scent of aspiration. But Jo Malone spent years wondering if her sense of smell would ever find a new outlet, after selling her eponymous brand and walking away from the business – a decision she now says was “the biggest mistake” of her life. Yet after a lengthy hiatus in which she found her creative […]
This report marks the end of a series of three big trains of thought. The first explained how we’re living through the Mother Of All Financial Bubbles. The next detailed the Great Wealth Transfer that is now underway, siphoning our wealth into the pockets of an elite few. This concluding report predicts how these deleterious and unsustainable trends will inevitably ‘resolve’ (which is a pleasant way of […]
