By Charlotte Greenfield | WELLINGTON WELLINGTON New Zealand cherry producers are flying helicopters low over their orchards to dry off raindrops and protect thousands of tonnes of their product headed to Asia to feed rapidly growing demand from Chinese New Year revelers. China has grown to become the second largest destination for New Zealand cherries after Taiwan in the past seven years. Together they take about 60 […]
Multiple agencies with little accountability The reports to Congress specifically delineate those participants in the International Military Education and Training (IMET) program tagged in the State Department’s annual human rights reporting effort as having problematic behavior. As the main program that brings foreigners to the United States to attend U.S. military schools at Washington’s expense, IMET is now offered to select military and police officers in more […]
From a domestic murder-mystery and a Serbian folk tale to an Arabian moral fable and an “existential crisis in 10 minutes or less”, audiences can expect a dizzying display of diversity at this weekend’s Short+Sweet Abu Dhabi theatre festival. The competitive event, at New York University Abu Dhabi, will showcase a dozen locally-produced plays – each performed both on Friday and Saturday (January 20-21) – constrained only […]
Submitted by David Battistella A Violent Inauguration? A Call For Peace On Inauguration Day Now that all attempts to delegitimize President Elect Trump to this point including failed recounts, the constant drum beating about popular vote victory, intimidation, bullying and desperate pleas to the Electoral college and the attempt at cold War 2.0 have failed, will inauguration day be the last stand? Now even millionaire Catholic socialist […]
Donald Trump has threatened to overturn two decades of US economic policy by questioning the strong value of the dollar, raising fears that his presidency could set off a new round of currency wars between the world’s major economies. On Monday the president-elect appeared to break from the longstanding “strong dollar” policy of successive administrations, declaring that the currency was too high and that this was preventing […]
VIENNA The head of Austria’s far-right Freedom Party, Heinz-Christian Strache, has said he will travel to Washington for meetings “on the sidelines of” the inauguration of President-elect Donald Trump, though he did not specify who. In a statement on his Facebook page, the head of the anti-immigration Freedom Party (FPO) did not say whether he would attend the inauguration ceremony on Jan. 20, but did state he […]
By Elisabeth O’Leary | EDINBURGH EDINBURGH The British government’s plan for leaving the European Union is “economically catastrophic” and Scotland must have the option of voting for independence if its views on Brexit are rejected, Scottish First Minister Nicola Sturgeon said on Tuesday. Sturgeon, who leads the pro-independence devolved government, was speaking after British Prime Minister Theresa May signalled Britain would quit the European Union single market […]
DUBAI Iranian President Hassan Rouhani said on Tuesday U.S. President-elect Trump cannot unilaterally cancel the nuclear deal Tehran signed with world powers including Washington and that talk of renegotiating it was “meaningless”. Trump, who will take office on Friday, has called the July 2015 agreement “the worst deal ever negotiated”. He has threatened to either scrap the agreement or seek a better deal. Under Iran’s agreement with […]
Three years ago, The New York Times published its innovation report, an unsparing assessment of the newsroom’s many weaknesses. Nearly 100 pages long and full of words like “worrying,” “shrinking” and “upheaval,” the report described a New York Times that was in a digital standstill while competitors like BuzzFeed, Vox Media and The Washington Post were racing ahead. Today, The New York Times released the results of […]
In PwC’s 20th annual survey of CEOs worldwide, 38% (2016:35%) are very confident about their company’s growth prospects in the next 12 months while 29% (2016:27%) believe global economic growth will pick up in 2017 In PwC’s 20th annual survey of CEOs worldwide, 38% (2016:35%) are very confident about their company’s growth prospects in the next 12 months while 29% (2016:27%) believe global economic growth will pick […]
BOSTON JPMorgan Chase & Co Chief Executive Jamie Dimon has been no fan of Institutional Shareholder Services and once called investors “lazy” if they cast votes in corporate elections based on recommendations from the leading proxy adviser or its rival. But JPMorgan itself turns out to be a close follower of ISS, at least when it comes to proxy votes on pay, new data show. JPMorgan (JPM.N) […]
The adventurous spirit of The Flaming Lips extends to both music and words. The 15th album from the American psychedelic rockers is titled Oczy Mlody (pronounced “Oxlee Melody”), a Polish phrase chosen after frontman Wayne Coyne found it in a second-hand book he bought because he liked the cover. He didn’t care that the book, Blisko Domu (Almost Home), was in a language he does not speak. […]
January 17, 2017 by: Henry Mance, Political correspondent Theresa May has promised a clean break with the EU, saying that Britain would not “seek to hold on to bits of membership as we leave”. In a much anticipated speech outlining her Brexit objectives, the prime minister said that Britain would seek “a new and equal partnership” with the other 27 countries in the EU — not “anything […]
By Kylie MacLellan and William James | LONDON LONDON Britain will not seek a Brexit deal that leaves it “half in, half out” of the EU, Prime Minister Theresa May will say on Tuesday in a speech setting out her priorities for divorce talks which indicates she is prepared to leave the single market. Sterling, which has traded at the lowest levels against the U.S. dollar for […]
Why Megève Megève is old France at its classiest best – a magical village with a medieval heart and effortlessly chic atmosphere. It’s moneyed, certainly, but without the vulgarity you see in other glitzy resorts in the Alps. When you’re strolling through the main Place de l’Eglise, with its dazzling fairy lights, it’s hard not to sigh at the immaculate prettiness of it all. It was the […]
By Noah Barkin | DAVOS, Switzerland DAVOS, Switzerland Chinese President Xi Jinping will defend globalisation in the face of mounting public hostility in the West on Tuesday in a speech at the World Economic Forum that will underline Beijing’s growing global role. Xi’s appearance, a first for a Chinese leader at the annual meeting of political leaders, CEOs and bankers in Davos, comes as the part the […]
By Kylie MacLellan | LONDON LONDON Britain will not seek a Brexit deal that leaves it “half in, half out” of the European Union, Prime Minister Theresa May will say on Tuesday, according to her office, in a speech setting out her 12 priorities for upcoming divorce talks with the bloc. Those priorities will include leaving the European Union’s single market and regaining full control of Britain’s […]
BISHKEK A Turkish cargo jet crashed near Kyrgyzstan’s Manas airport on Monday, killing at least 37 people, most of them residents of a village struck by the Boeing 747 as it tried to land in dense fog, Kyrgyz officials said. According to the airport administration, the plane was supposed to make a stopover at Manas, near the capital city Bishkek, on its way from Hong Kong to […]
“Dedication, that’s what you need, if you want to be a record breaker,” sang the TV entertainer Roy Castle on the long-running BBC programme dedicated to notable feats. London’s FTSE 100 has been on a dedicated record-breaking run all of its own, notching up an unprecedented 14 consecutive sessions of gains by the end of last week, a run which only ended on Monday, when the index […]
LONDON (Thomson Reuters Foundation) – As university students mill around a bright and airy study hall in London, Eiad Zinah converses in his native language Arabic with a female student from Germany. It is the first time the pair have met for a language tuition session – and it is the Syrian refugee who is running the tutorial today, not the other way around. “It’s an amazing […]
Ken Miller Crunch Network Contributor Ken Miller is an investor, writer, and advisor to several technology companies and Venture Capital firms. Previously he was an Executive at PayPal and Intuit, and early Advisor to Square. More posts by this contributor: How to join the network Pundits and Monday morning quarterbacks have spent much of the last two months lost in a fog of speculation and assertions as […]
Kuwait’s Fawaz Al Hasawi has failed to agree on terms for the partial sale of Nottingham Forest to a US investor. Al Hasawi, who has been in control of the former double European champions since 2012, had been in negotiations to sell an 80 percent stake in the club to John Moores, the former San Diego Padres owner. The deal was supposed to be completed in December […]
Sunday, then, was the good fortune they felt was overdue. Even after the Cowboys — led by their poised rookie quarterback Dak Prescott — tied the score, 28-28, in the fourth quarter. Even after they tied it again, 31-31, the Packers weren’t rattled. Photo Packers tight end Jared Cook kept his feet in bounds to make a key reception at the end of the game. Credit Smiley […]
ROME McDonald’s received a lukewarm reception when it opened a new branch just steps from St. Peter’s Square last month, but on Monday the fast food giant accepted a challenge to adopt one of Pope Francis’s cherished principles – feeding the hungry. The new restaurant, whose opening in a Vatican-owned building on Dec. 30 upset some purists, donated dozens of meals on Monday to a charity which […]
