While equity market euphoria at the prospect of President Donald Trump’s spendthrift, deregulatory agenda remains undimmed, bond investors are sending a very different message. US equity gauges have continued to climb this year, propelled by hopes of deregulation, tax cuts, government spending and more business-friendly policies. This week all four of the biggest stock indices achieved yet another “Grand Slam” of fresh records in the wake of […]
The National Australia Bank (NAB) faced the House of Representatives Standing Committee on Economics’ review of the performance of Australia’s banking and financial system on Friday, with CEO Andrew Thorburn probed again on the idea of opening up the bank’s application programming interfaces (API) to external parties. By 2018, banks in the United Kingdom will be required to effectively open up APIs to enable consumer data to […]
ERBIL, Iraq Rival Kurdish groups clashed in Iraq’s northwestern Sinjar region on Friday, two Kurdish security sources said, causing deaths on both sides. The fighting erupted when Peshmerga Rojava forces deployed towards the border with Syria, encroaching on territory controlled by a local affiliate of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK). The unrest highlights the risk of conflict and turf wars between the multiple forces arrayed against Islamic […]
SYDNEY The dollar clung to broad gains on Friday as the risk of an imminent U.S. interest rate hike slugged sovereign bonds and commodities, even managing to sour Wall Street’s party as the reality of rising borrowing costs began to sink in. Spread betters pointed to opening losses for European stocks and E-mini futures for the S&P 500 were off 0.3 percent. Asian markets were mostly lower, […]
Good news to fossil fuel companies. Bad news to advocates of the environment. The agency tasked to provide regulation and environmental protection on Thursday scrapped the order that requires oil and gas operators to report on their equipment and level of methane emissions. The order, issued in May 2016 by the Environmental Protection Agency, was one of the major actions of the Obama administration to combat climate […]
For Friday’s sermon, the imam will discuss the rights of elderly people in society. Islam attributes a special status to the elderly and orders its followers to treat them with respect and show compassion to them in their old age. Honouring the old is even associated with exalting Allah, worshippers will hear. In Islam, serving older people, treating them mercifully, providing for their needs and comfort and […]
There was no mistaking the arrival of King Salman Abdulaziz Al-Saud of Saudi Arabia and his entourage in Malaysia on Sunday morning. Traffic stood still for 30 minutes as we waited for the 600-strong royal party to make their way from the airport to the centre of Kuala Lumpur — a near-endless stream of limos, lorries, outliers and ambulances, sirens screaming. This is King Salman’s first trip […]
Branden Spikes says he has led a charmed life. Boasting an IT career that started in Silicon Valley when the web was born, Spikes was in the midst of the “awesome craziness” that occurred as a result of the dotcom boom — not to mention “the craziness” that he said followed. “The invention of the web was happening right in my backyard at a time when I […]
People take part in a protest against corruption in Lima, Peru after a scandal involving bribes Brazil’s Odebrecht distributed in Peru, February 16, 2017 (Guadalupe Pardo/Reuters). A wave of corruption scandals has roiled Latin America in recent years, from Chile’s campaign finance affairs, through Mexico’s Casa Blanca revelations. Most recently, the information divulged in the December Odebrecht settlement has sent a shudder of fear across regional politics […]
Why Georgetown? Georgetown was there long before Washington, DC was, and it still has some pretty stern objections to being regarded as just another district of the American capital. Formerly a port town, it has now become Washington’s most obviously moneyed-up area – where people come to dine and mooch around shops and galleries. Part of the appeal comes from the architecture. Many 18th- and 19th-century buildings […]
In a rash moment of generosity amid the euphoria of victory, he snipped off a negative and gave it to an army spokesman, who promptly handed it to the Israeli Government Press Office. In his 2007 autobiography, “Israel Through My Lens,” written with Ruth Corman, Mr. Rubinger recalled that the press office “in turn made prints and started distributing them to all and sundry for a dollar […]
ABU DHABI // Jet fighters soared across the skies and tanks rolled along the beaches to the delight of the thousands who turned out for the largest military spectacle yet seen in the UAE. Complete with paratroopers, helicopters, surveillance aircraft, fighter jets and ground combat troops, Union Fortress – an Armed Forces event that included a mock hostage rescue from a ship off Abu Dhabi Corniche – […]
It is easy for a restaurant at Atlantis The Palm to get lost among all the hustle and bustle of the resort. Hence, why it is a shrewd move for Gordon Ramsey’s Bread Street Kitchen to be part of Dubai Restaurant Week. Diners can get a chance to appreciate some of the underrated dishes on offer. One thing about Bread Street Kitchen is the dishes have personality. […]
When it came to once slice of the media Thursday, Jeff Sessions was generally trumped by Evan Spiegel. Contacts with Russians? Lying to a Senate committee deliberating his nomination? Need for a special prosecutor? Step aside as Attorney General? Well, that was grist for the mills of Washington-focused media and the cable news channels Thursday — and with good reason. But on CNBC and Fox Business, as […]
Interested in precious metals investing or storage? Contact us HERE Written by Peter Diekmeyer (CLICK HERE FOR ORIGINAL) Gold prices have surged (+8.57% EOD Wednesday) since January. However, one expert says that trend could continue. “Shrinking exploration budgets, a dearth of new high-quality deposits and the “fear trade” will provide continuing upside pressure as the year unfolds,” says Brent Cook, editor […]
Technology accelerates by leaps and bounds, which can only spell doom for most workers’ economic prospects. How long before a robot or algorithm can do your job, leading to mass “technological unemployment?” Machines are learning to master once-unthinkable tasks. Yet, even though our software can best us at Jeopardy! and our hardware has learned to run and jump, there’s still no consensus among economists that […]
She was arrested and charged with supporting terrorism, not because of her novels but as a result of her affiliation, as an adviser, with a newspaper linked to the Kurdish movement that has since been shut down. She still faces a trial that could land her back in prison, and with that hanging over her, she has been living with her mother, sleeping late, not writing much […]
By Luke Baker | BETHLEHEM, West Bank BETHLEHEM, West Bank A year ago, Nuseir Yassin, a 24-year-old Harvard graduate, was living in New York city, working for a successful hi-tech company and earning $120,000 a year. Despite it all, he couldn’t escape the feeling that life was passing him by. So for the past 328 days, he has been travelling the world – from Nigeria to Myanmar, […]
Via Charles Hugh-Smith of OfTwoMinds blog, This is precisely what you’d expect of a self-serving elite that was desperate to cloak the unhappy reality that the relative few are benefiting immensely at the expense of the many. The core narrative of politics everywhere is progress, i.e. “moving forward.” If progress isn’t being made, politicos and the system are failing. In the past, “progressive” movements sought to advance […]
A research group at Tohoku University and Japan Advanced Institute of Science and Technology has developed a molecular robot consisting of biomolecules, such as DNA and protein. The molecular robot was developed by integrating molecular machines into an artificial cell membrane. It can start and stop its shape-changing function in response to a specific DNA signal. This is the first time that a molecular robotic system has […]
Fact-finding mission or junket? Some lawmakers are bewildered that the groups that paid for their trips are now swept up in Turkey’s current political turmoil. “I can’t imagine what they would have wanted out of the North Dakota state Legislature,” said former North Dakota state Rep. Ben Hanson, a Democrat who went on a trip sponsored by a Gulen group in 2013 with six other lawmakers from […]
The war is not over yet — the battlefield has just gotten bigger. On February 28, publisher EA and developer DICE unveiled four major expansions for Battlefield 1 included in the Premium Pass offer. These expansions will extend the flames of World War I around Europe with a focus on French and Russian armies in their respective lands. You can also engage in thrilling amphibious and naval battles, and […]
BERLIN A Christian cleric on Thursday criticised Chancellor Angela Merkel for kowtowing to Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi and downplaying human rights concerns as she headed to north Africa to expand trade and investment ties. Joachim Schroedel, a German cleric who has worked in Egypt for more than two decades, expressed anger at Merkel’s assertion that Egyptian Copts were in a “very good situation” and her description […]
A video showing Uber CEO Travis Kalanick disrespecting a company driver has gone viral and drew a firestorm of criticism, and Kalanick would like to apologize. For those unfamiliar with the matter, a video surfaced on Tuesday, Feb. 28 showing Kalanick in a heated argument with an Uber driver. The video stirred quite some waves and made headlines, so a more humble Kalanick has now seen the error of […]
