The recent split judgment of the Pakistan Supreme Court, giving the country’s Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif breathing space by appointing a joint investigation team (JIT) to probe the Panama Papers’ claims of financial irregularities by him and his family, has changed the strategic scenario in the country. The JIT comprises members of the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA), National Accountability Bureau (NAB), Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan […]
Researchers have developed a new solution to tracking objects hidden behind scattering media by analyzing the fluctuations in optical ‘noise’ created by their movement. The approach could help fill in the gaps where LIDAR and other line-of-sight based methods fall short, advancing remote sensing and biomedical applications. (via WSJ)
Oil producers are moving closer towards agreement on extending the Opec-led deal to limit output, Saudi Arabia’s energy minister said on Thursday, as the cartel battles excess stockpiles and a resurgent US shale industry that have weighed on prices. Khalid al-Falih said the deal could be run for another three to six months beyond the end of June. Under the terms of the existing accord, Opec members […]
United Continental chief executive Oscar Munoz will not automatically assume the role of chairman in 2018 as previously planned, as the airline group also introduced plans to more directly link employee bonuses to customer experience. The moves come less than a fortnight after the company became the centre of a storm over the forcible removal of a passenger from a crowded United flight, as well as a […]
While geopolitical concerns and French election uncertainty are factors, The Wall Street Journal notes that many markets are flashing red on growth as investors begin to return to pre-election bets on the ol ‘new normal’ – a persistently weak economic expansion. There are clear signs that the sugar rush of Donald Trump’s victory and global-growth hopes has faded, raising doubts among some investors about whether stocks can […]
Tens of millions of iPhone owners are ready to upgrade to 2017 iPhones, fueling the so-called iPhone “supercycle,” market research firm comScore reports. Apple has always enjoyed a loyal fan base and each new product iteration attracts many existing customers looking to upgrade to the latest and greatest. A new report from comScore now reveals that tens of millions of legacy iPhone owners are looking to upgrade […]
April 21, 2017 by: Anjli Raval, Oil and Gas Correspondent Oil was set for the biggest weekly drop in a month as market confidence in Opec’s ability to overpower a resurgent US shale industry wavered. US benchmark West Texas Intermediate fell below $50 a barrel on Friday — down $1.32 to $49.39 — by 6.45pm in London. The global Brent marker dropped $1.24 to $51.75 a barrel. […]
Jürgen Mossack said in a document, obtained by French news agency AFP, that the number of new tax shelters created has fallen by 30% in Panama and elsewhere after more than 11 million documents were leaked from the law firm in April 2016. “However, jurisdictions such as Delaware, Nevada and others located in the United States, where virtually no due diligence is required […] incorporations are thriving!” […]
By Eyanir Chinea and Efrain Otero | CARACAS CARACAS Eight people were electrocuted to death during a looting incident in Caracas, a firefighter said on Friday, amid violent protests against Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro by opponents accusing him of seeking to create a dictatorship. The accident occurred when a group of looters broke into a bakery in the working class neighborhood of El Valle, according the firefighter, […]
Investor sentiment is leaning towards a market-friendly outcome ahead of Sunday’s first round of voting in the French presidential election. The euro was on course for its best week in three months near $1.07, while a key proxy of election risk, the premium demanded by investors to own French government bonds over German Bunds, has narrowed sharply. “The most likely outcome is for a second round run-off […]
LONDON Oil held near $53 a barrel on Friday, but was on course for its biggest weekly drop in a month due to doubts that an OPEC-led production cut will restore balance to an oversupplied market. Brent futures LCOc1 were at $53.01 a barrel at 1107 GMT, up 2 cents from their last close and set for a 5.15 percent weekly drop, their biggest fall since the […]
ABU DHABI // The capital is the safest cities in the world, according to a 300-strong online index. Compiled by Numbeo.com, a database of user-contributed information, the Crime Index Rate puts the capital in 288th place among 288 cities in terms of crime, meaning it is the safest city on the planet. Dubai is in 279th place. Sheikh Saif bin Zayed, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of […]
CARACAS A man was killed in a protest in the Venezuelan capital on Thursday night, an official said on Friday, marking the ninth death in a wave of sometimes violent demonstrations against President Nicolas Maduro’s government. Melvin Guaitan died of a bullet wound in the slum of Petare, municipal mayor Carlos Ocariz said via Twitter. Local media reported looting and street clashes with security forces in poor […]
More than 100 cloud seeding missions were carried out in the UAE in the first quarter of 2017, Arabian Business can reveal. Figures obtained from the National Centre for Meteorology and Seismology (NCMS) show that the UAE conducted 101 cloud seeding operations between January and the end of March, compared to 77 missions in the same period last year. This represents a 30 percent increase from the […]
Credit: Erik Jepsen/UC San Diego Publications Everyone experiences stiff muscles from time to time, whether after a rigorous workout, in cold weather, or after falling asleep in an unusual position. People with cerebral palsy, stroke and multiple sclerosis, however, live with stiff muscles every single day, making everyday tasks such as extending an arm extremely difficult and painful for them. And since there isn’t a foolproof way […]
ROME The number of migrants crossing Niger to reach Libya has declined, the International Organisation for Migration (IOM) said on Friday, after Europe pledged Niger money to help it fight people-smuggling. The IOM monitors trucks carrying migrants at a desert crossroads in eastern Niger commonly used to reach Libya, where more than half a million have set out on flimsy boats for Europe in the past three […]
Although Google is processing more requests, it’s also producing data for a smaller share of them. Image: Google Government requests for Google user data in the second half of 2016 were the highest since the firm first reported the figures in 2009. As Google notes in its latest Transparency Report, it received 45,549 government requests for user data in the second half of 2016, of which about […]
General Electric Co (GE.N) reported a 1 percent decline in quarterly revenue on Friday, hurt by lower sales in its oil and gas and lighting businesses. However, earnings from continuing operations attributable to GE shareholders rose to $858 million in the first quarter ended March 31, from $248 million a year earlier. Earnings per share from continuing operations rose to 10 cents from 3 cents. (invent.ge/2obaxNT) Total […]
Yet another wildlife species has fallen victim to a deadly fungus that could potentially result in significant biodiversity loss. Nearly a month after Tech Times reported about three species of Texas bats carrying the Pd fungus, putting them at risk for the lethal white nose syndrome, biologists warn salamanders are in danger of being decimated. Researchers at the University of Zurich in Switzerland reveal that fire salamander populations […]
© Seb Jarnot I arrive at La Méditerranée, a traditional fish restaurant in a literary quarter of the Left Bank, Paris, at 7pm to find its blue doors firmly bolted. Charlotte Rampling has just confirmed our reservation, but our dining slot appears to have fallen foul of that particularly French timetable that decrees that no civilised person would ever want to eat before 8pm. In a panic, […]
Most applications of deep learning use “convolutional” neural networks, in which the nodes of each layer are clustered, the clusters overlap, and each cluster feeds data to multiple nodes (orange and green) of the next layer. Credit: Jose-Luis Olivares/MIT In the past 10 years, the best-performing artificial-intelligence systems—such as the speech recognizers on smartphones or Google’s latest automatic translator—have resulted from a technique called “deep learning.” Deep […]
PANAMA CITY — The co-founder of the law firm at the center of the Panama Papers scandal says the fallout has set off a “thriving” boom in the creation of tax shelters in the United States. Juergen Mossack, who partnered with Ramon Fonseca to create the Panamanian firm Mossack Fonseca, said in a document obtained Thursday by AFP that after the Panama Papers leak a year ago, […]
PARIS France has fully mobilised its security forces, including elite units, to ensure citizens’ protection during the forthcoming presidential election following Thursday night’s shooting in central Paris, Prime Minister Bernard Cazeneuve said on Friday. Speaking after an emergency meeting of top security officials, Cazeneuve said all elite units were on top alert for the election to back up the 50,000 police already earmarked for special election duty. […]
By Kate Holton and William Schomberg | NEWTON FERRERS, England/LONDON NEWTON FERRERS, England/LONDON Before last year’s Brexit vote, Scott McCready was struggling to fill his holiday cabins on the coast of southwest England. Now the site is fully booked with British tourists avoiding more expensive foreign trips following a plunge in the pound. This turnaround in the 10 months since Britons decided to leave the European Union […]
