It has been almost five years to the day since Mahmood Hashim Al Kooheji took over as head of Bahrain’s sovereign wealth fund, Mumtalakat, restructuring several investment interests and making other changes to whip the fund into shape after years of losses. It followed a term at Gulf Air in which he managed the national carrier’s controversial restructure that saw 15 percent of its staff, around 600 […]
By Susan Cornwell and Valerie Volcovici | WASHINGTON WASHINGTON U.S. House Republicans are working on changes to their healthcare overhaul bill to provide more generous tax credits for older Americans and to add a work requirement for the Medicaid program for the poor, U.S. House Speaker Paul Ryan said on Sunday. Ryan said Republican leaders still plan to bring the healthcare bill to a vote on the […]
Cheat days have become a modern phenomenon. A quick scan of social media hashtags such as #cheatday and #cheatmeal, yields over a million photos of freakshakes, oozing cheese burgers and deep fried chicken wings. A few hundred more are posted each weekend in a declaration of freedom from the dieting drudgery suffered during the week. Celebrities, who know a thing or two about restrictive diets, have also […]
Employer-funded healthcare in the US is an accidental system. It came into being during the second world war, when wage freezes and 1.9 per cent unemployment forced the government to allow companies to offer fringe benefits like healthcare in an attempt to attract workers. In 1943, the Internal Revenue Service ruled that employer-based healthcare should be tax free — and we were off to the races. The […]
A surgeon implants a pacemaker to a patient An Ohio man claimed he was forced into a hasty window escape when his house caught fire last year. His pacemaker data obtained by police showed otherwise, and he was charged with arson and insurance fraud. In Pennsylvania, authorities dismissed rape charges after data from a woman’s Fitbit contradicted her version of her whereabouts during the 2015 alleged assault. […]
Researchers have found a way to use molecules of dye to see inside some of the new composite materials being tested for bridges, cars and sporting goods. (via WSJ)
In the months since the election, America’s major newsrooms have been recruiting investigative journalists with the knowledge and skills to dig into government institutions at the federal, state and local levels. The New York Times, BuzzFeed, ProPublica, The Washington Post and CNN have all posted or filled investigative reporting jobs in the days since the election, and announcements of new hires come on a near-weekly basis. “It’s […]
There are more than 100 places to get steak in the UAE and more steakhouses are opening all the time, which is testament to the fact that beef is one of the world’s most popular dishes. If there’s one thing the UAE likes to eat it’s beef, and the country’s connoisseurs have long enjoyed a love affair with one particular type – Wagyu. This intensely marbled beef […]
BEIJING U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson told Chinese President Xi Jinping on Sunday that President Donald Trump looks forward to enhancing understanding with China and the opportunity for a visit in the future. Xi said he was glad to see good progress from Tillerson’s meetings in China so far and that he and Trump expect a new stage of constructive development in bilateral relations. Tillerson said […]
Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte shakes hands with visiting Chinese Vice Premier Wang Yang, in Davao City,the Philippines, on March 17, 2017. (Xinhua/Rouelle Umali) MANILA, March 18 (Xinhua) — A senior Chinese official said on Saturday that China and the Philippines enjoy broad prospects of pragmatic cooperation, urging the two countries to grasp the opportunity to deepen and enlarge bilateral cooperation. “China and the Philippines are close in […]
DUBAI // Cheating has been around as long as universities themselves – from the age-old habit of sneaking notes into exams to more modern methods of deception. But technological advances are helping to keep students on the straight and narrow rather than aiding their deceit. Academics in the country’s universities are noticing a gradual decline in the practice. A realisation of how easy it is to be […]
Chuck Berry, who has died aged 90, was to some the greatest rock ’n roll artist of all time: he was certainly among the most influential. All the big British bands of the 1960s, in particular The Beatles, The Rolling Stones and The Animals, looked to Berry for both inspiration and material. Their early hits such as “Roll over Beethoven”, “Come On” and “Memphis Tennessee” had all […]
Half of GCC-based companies have not started to prepare for the launch of 5 percent value added tax in the region next year, according to a survey conducted by global consultants EY. Only 11 percent of businesses said they have evaluated the changes that are needed to their financial, operational and information technology processes ahead of the introduction of VAT in January 2018. The survey revealed that […]
A few days ago Jeanne Shaheen, a Democratic Senator from New Hampshire, introduced a piece of legislation that would give the Department of Justice “new authority” to investigate potential violations of the Foreign Agents Registration Act by the ‘Russian Times’. Among other things, Shaheen said the legislation was necessary to determine whether “RT News is coordinating with the Russian government to spread misinformation and undermine our democratic […]
From the evil alien foe Krall in Star Trek Beyond, which was partly shot in Dubai, to the battle-hardened guerrilla commandant in Netflix’s harrowing debut feature Beasts of No Nation, and the tortured murder detective in the globally successful detective-show Luther, British actor Idris Elba has made a career out of playing tough guys. His latest show for Discovery Channel, Idris Elba: Fighter, however, sets out to […]
British documentary filmmaker Adam Curtis is scheduled to speak about western perceptions of the Arab world at the launch of the BBC Arabic Film Festival in London on Friday. Curtis uses his films to discuss the cultural and political subconscious of the world through a mix of sociology, psychology, philosophy and political history. A recent New York Times profile on the 61-year-old British BBC journalist described his […]
Forced applause usually follows a regulator’s remarks to the regulated. Not so inside the pink stucco walls of the Boca Raton Resort and Club in Florida this week. Chris Giancarlo of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission received a standing ovation when he spoke to hundreds of traders, brokers and exchange executives. The enthusiastic response reflects hopes in the derivatives industry for a better relationship with the CFTC, its principal […]
It is now well-established that the economics of cloud computing services add massive value to the business, a contention supported both by research and by the number of organisations that either have moved or are now moving production systems into the cloud. Challenges remain of course, and among them is automation. Cloudy challenges Cloud certainly changes the economics of IT but it does not necessarily change all […]
Given the distinctly MacBook-like look and feel of many Windows ultraportables, we were pleased to see that Acer’s new Swift 5 manages to make a more individual design statement — while still keeping its prices attractively competitive. Even better is the fact that the Swift 5 pulls off the difficult balancing act of delivering affordable ultrabook functionality — including good performance and portability — without making too […]
If you like your crime shows bleak, British and full of David Tennant snapping grumpily at people, then you need to start watching Broadchurch. The ITV drama — which was insanely popular in Britain when the first season was broadcast back in 2013 — has just gotten stuck into its third season. At the time of writing, we’re three episodes in. Every time a new season of […]
Brazil’s economy will emerge this quarter from its deepest recession on record and reach a growth rate of up to 3 per cent by the final three months of the year, central bank chief Ilan Goldfajn has said. The recovery would be driven by a combination of easier monetary policy as inflation falls to levels not seen since January 2010, economic reforms that are boosting investor confidence […]
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 […]
Authored by Paul Craig Roberts, I am convinced that the US, and probably the entire Western world, that is, the American Empire, has entered an era in which respect for truth does not exist in public and private institutions. We have been watching this develop for some time. Think, for example, back to August 3, 2002, a recent time in terms of our present predicament, but a […]
I think that Donald Trump has invented a new use for quotation marks. In several now-famous tweets, the president accused Barack Obama of wiretapping him during the election. Trump used quotation marks around versions of the word but also used the word without quotes. When the accusation was criticized from many quarters, Trump, and those speaking for him, said that when the president said “wiretapping”, he really […]
