The US economy expanded at its weakest pace in three years during the opening months of the year, underlining the daunting task facing Donald Trump’s administration as it seeks to attain ambitious growth targets. Gross domestic product grew at a 0.7 per cent annual rate in the first three months of 2017, according to the Bureau of Economic Analysis, a sharp drop from 2.1 per cent at […]
‘Demagogic’ populism does not help cause of peace. The pope invoked Egypt’s “glorious history” as an ancient cradle of civilization to argue on Friday that the delivery of a more peaceful future required a new civility that appreciated differences, resisted the violent path of close-minded absolutism and condemned extremists who camouflage terror in religious language. Continue reading the main story “An education in respectful openness and sincere […]
I’m a PC gamer who hasn’t owned a home video game console in five years. I don’t mention that to obnoxiously flex my PC Master Race muscles or look down upon filthy console peasants. Instead, it’s to highlight how thoroughly done I am with those generic black boxes that sit in entertainment centers and simply…exist. I may not be the most hardcore PC gamer, but […]
JERUSALEM Israel intends to build 15,000 new settlement homes in East Jerusalem, the Housing Ministry said on Friday despite U.S. President Donald Trump’s request to “hold back” on settlements as part of a possible new push for Israeli-Palestinian peace. A formal announcement of the settlement plan, quickly condemned by the chief Palestinian negotiator, could come around the time Trump is scheduled to visit Israel next month. Israel […]
GENEVA El Nino weather conditions associated with droughts and flooding have a 50-60 percent probability of returning this year, the U.N. World Meteorological Organization (WMO) said on Friday, revising its view from two months ago. “Sea surface temperatures in the far eastern tropical Pacific Ocean increased to 2.0° Celsius or more above average during February and March, creating very heavy rainfall and a trade wind collapse from […]
Emerging market equities have been the darling asset class de jour in 2017, mainly in Asia and Latin America, despite the March FOMC rate hike, a US Dollar Index at or above 100 and a mini-swoon in crude oil after a Saudi-Russian output cut spat. Earnings growth (India/Thailand) a stabilized currency (China), policy reforms (India, Brazil, Indonesia) local interest rate cuts (Brazil) and lower US protectionist policies […]
File Photo The head of Uber’s self-driving car project is stepping away from the leadership role as a lawsuit embroiling Uber and his former employer Waymo relating to the theft of trade secrets continues. Anthony Levandowski is a talented engineer who is believed to have been a key player in former Google unit Waymo’s success in developing the technology. While working in Google’s Street View maps unit […]
Barclays has reported a doubling of underlying quarterly profits, excluding a big hit for selling its African unit, as its chief executive sought to shift attention away from a row over his treatment of a whistleblower. Jes Staley, who is being investigated by British and American regulators for trying to discover the identity of a whistleblower, said: “We are now just two months away from completing the […]
Global energy markets are heading to a rebalancing in the next years after oil prices fell to historic lows due to oversupply, Qatar’s energy minister said Thursday, praising OPEC members for their adherence to a “successful” November deal to cut production. Qatar’s Minister of Energy and Industry Mohammed Saleh Abdullah Al-Sada told the Atlantic Council summit in Istanbul that a decade of high oil prices had led […]
Just in case someone attempts to fly a drone over Iraq and Syria, DJI has made sure it will not happen. DJI added parts of Iraq and Syria to its No-Fly Zone or NFZ list. It means DJI-made drones will be prevented from flying in and around the war-torn region, which is currently embroiled in a war. Several news reports stated that terrorist organizations like the Islamic State had […]
Sometimes those of us in the news media bust our own balloons, leaving us with lots of clown makeup and nothing to hand out to the kids. And that’s how ESPN, the company that changed the world of sports, looks this week. Journey back in time to 1979 when ESPN was created. The question almost asked was simple: How will you be able to put on 24 […]
Two acclaimed authors made an appearance on the second day of the Abu Dhabi International Book Fair. Held at Abu Dhabi National Exhibition Centre (Adnec) until May 2, the 27th edition of the event welcomed Abbas Beydoun, author of The Autumn of Innocence, on Thursday. The first prize winner of the Sheikh Zayed Book Award in the literature category, the novel’s theme of tyranny was discussed at […]
Worldwide smartphone shipments grew by 4.3 percent, according to research firm IDC. The figure is a few ticks above above the firm’s previous first-quarter forecast of 3.6-percent growth. Samsung regained the title of “world’s largest smartphone vendor” from Apple during the first quarter thanks to shipments of 79.2 million smartphones, IDC said. Samsung’s position was bolstered by deep discounts on the Galaxy S7 and S7 edge, which […]
Qatar Airways grows route network This week Qatar Airways announced 12 new flight routes for 2018. The Doha-based airline will launch services to San Francisco next year, as well as Cardiff in Wales, Utapao in Thailand, Chittagong in Bangladesh, Mykonos in Greece, Málaga in Spain, Accra in Ghana, Lisbon in Portugal, Abidjan in Ivory Coast, Prague in the Czech Republic, Kiev in Ukraine and Mombasa in Kenya. […]
The Public Broadcasting Act of 1967, which created the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB) and later led to the creation of both PBS and NPR, also recognized the importance of archiving public broadcasting material in the United States. It stipulated that CPB should: …Establish and maintain, or contribute to, a library and archives of noncommercial educational and cultural radio and television programs and related materials and develop […]
The malware code contains references to Felis and Mus — Latin for ‘cat’ and ‘mouse’. Image: Getty Images/iStockphoto A sophisticated form of Trojan malware allows its highly-skilled creators to secretly take over an infected system — and it comes with self-updating capabilities that enable it to strengthen itself, fix bugs, or change what it looks like in order evade detection. Once it has infected a system, the […]
The UAE’s telecoms regulator has said that roaming charges incurred by UAE customers who travel to other Gulf countries have fallen by 18 percent this month. The Telecommunication Regularity Authority (TRA) has announced the implementation of price caps for intra-GCC roaming services by UAE-based mobile operators. As a result, average international roaming prices for UAE customers fell by 18 percent since April 1, state news agency WAM […]
Dubai-based Speedex, which is best known as a supplier of tools and hardware but also offers ideas and inspiration for every part of the home, has launched a series of in-store workshops to boost the development of a DIY culture in the UAE. The goal is to encourage people to make things and make friends, while enjoying a taster arts-and-crafts session that is designed to demystify the […]
Betting big on Amazon and selling the shares of traditional retailers has been a blockbuster trade for some time. Now, a small but growing number of hedge funds are wagering that the next leg of the woes afflicting bricks and mortar retailers in the US will unfold dramatically for those shopping mall owners who have largely so far been considered immune. The level of bets against some […]
By James Pomfret, Lawrence White and Sumeet Chatterjee | DONGGUAN, China/LONDON/HONG KONG DONGGUAN, China/LONDON/HONG KONG In the digital age, footfall in bricks-and-mortar outlets is an incomplete measure of business activity, but HSBC’s empty branches in the Pearl River Delta (PRD) suggest it’s not all plain sailing for the bank’s expansion in mainland China. HSBC, the world’s sixth-largest bank by assets, announced in 2015 that it would hire […]
By Joseph Nasr | DORTMUND, Germany DORTMUND, Germany For all its economic success, Germany has a growing problem with inequality and poverty, and yet Chancellor Angela Merkel seems to be deflecting the blame so far as the battlelines are drawn for elections in September. GRAPHIC – German income inequality tmsnrt.rs/2p3AtK4 Renowned for its highly-skilled workforce, Germany has in fact a greater proportion of working poor – people […]
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 […]
European companies have been slow to capitalise on this week’s market rally — a pause in issuing new bonds that bankers do not expect to last with borrowers set to return as the spring earnings season progresses. There was no investment grade euro bond issuance from non-financial corporates last week as debt issuers sat on the sidelines ahead of the first round of the French presidential election […]
Turkish policymakers surprised investors by tightening monetary conditions on Wednesday, helping to support the lira on a day of widespread weakness across emerging market currencies and prompting some to rethink their pessimism towards the country. While the Turkish central bank kept its main interest rates unchanged, it defied expectations by raising the late liquidity lending rate by 50 basis points. Describing the move as “a hawkish surprise”, […]
