When Ghada Kunash discovered the work of artist Majd Kurdieh, it was a “light-bulb moment” for her. She looked at his simplistic, childlike drawings and immediately recognised the depth and poetic stories within. Kurdieh is a Syrian refugee who lives on the edge of a forest in Lebanon. He is in his late 20s and lives alone, with only the characters he creates as company. He makes […]
CAIRO Egypt began on Saturday handing over to their families the bodies of those who died when EgyptAir flight MS804 crashed into the Mediterranean in May with the loss of 66 passengers and crew, the state news agency MENA reported. The remains of crew members were handed over on Saturday, with the handover of Egyptian, French and other foreign passengers expected to begin on Sunday. Among those […]
2017 – the sky’s the limit! Robin Harris The pace of storage change continues to accelerate, and its impact on us continues to grow. Digital storage is central to a digital civilization, and as we grow more digital, we grow more dependent on improvements in storage. Here’s what to expect in 2017. AI AI will make stored data – and therefore storage- more valuable. When you can […]
SHANGHAI One of China’s top coal-producing provinces has vowed to slash its level of fine particle pollution by one-fifth by 2020, the official Xinhua news agency reported on Saturday, citing the provincial government. China has adopted various measures from policing barbeques to halting industrial production in efforts to ease the yearly winter haze that hit the country earlier this month leaving cities veiled in foul-smelling smog. China’s […]
Back in August Mikaela Kellner became Sweden’s most famous police officer when she took a short break from sunbathing in the park to tackle and arrest a pickpocket. Pictures of the event quickly rose to international fame and nearly broke the internet. I bet this guy was trying to get caught. Bikini-clad Swedish cop makes arrest while sunbathing https://t.co/EuxnrYpis2 — Neil Combee (@NeilCombee) August 6, 2016 Swedish […]
Comet 45P is expected to appear near the crescent moon on New Year’s Eve. It is not the first time that the comet, also known as Comet Honda-Mrkos-Pajdusakova, will pass by Earth, though. As a short-period comet, it visits our planet every 5.25 years. Comets As Symbol Of Bad Luck Skywatchers may enjoy the sight of comets in the sky, but these celestial objects were historically viewed as […]
TAIPEI Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen said on Saturday that Taiwan will be “calm” when facing issues to do with China, but uncertainties next year will test the self-ruled island and its national security team, even as she recommitted to maintaining peace. China is deeply suspicious of Tsai, who it thinks wants to push for the formal independence of Taiwan, a self-governing island that Beijing regards as a […]
Much has been made in the last several years for the need of the CIO and CMO to align on technology plans, as marketing strategy increasingly must be realized largely or entirely within digital experiences. While the CIO has long owned the overall technology stack inside of the enterprise, the CMO has certainly had a say in it in most organizations since the rise of digital marketing […]
Two beauty queens with links to the Gulf have won the latest season of The Amazing Race Asia. After they returned from filming The Amazing Race Asia last summer, Maggie Wilson-Consunji and Parul Shah could barely contain their excitement. “Don’t let our invisible crowns fool you. We are beauty-queen fighting machines,” they told their fans on social media. “We are scared but also super excited. We cannot […]
By Elida Moreno | PANAMA CITY PANAMA CITY Panama does not expect any change in its relations with Taiwan or China, a senior official from the isthmus nation said on Friday, despite increased pressure from Beijing on Taiwan’s allies to sever ties. Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen will visit Latin America next month, against a tense backdrop after news of her phone call with U.S. President-elect Donald Trump […]
For those out of the loop, Amazon has just been granted a patent for an “airborne fulfillment center utilizing unmanned aerial vehicles for item delivery,” a fancy phrase for what’s essentially a flying warehouse. The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office had already handed Amazon the go-ahead back in April, but only now have the plans surfaced online via the office’s website. What’s described in the patents, as others […]
Getty Images/iStockphoto With 2016 drawing to a close, here is a look at some of the things — tech, as well as a number of industry metrics — that you should be keeping an eye on over the coming year. CES thoughts Before I begin, I want to mention the first big tech shindig of 2017, which will be CES. I pay very little attention to CES […]
Here’s something you don’t hear enough: Journalists, you’re doing a good job. Chances are good that you learned a new skill this year and put it into action. Maybe 2016 was the year you started using Snapchat to tell global stories. Perhaps you figured out how to use GIFs, or augmented your reporting with data. It’s also possible that you unleashed some bots upon the world. In […]
There are two stories we can tell about US higher education. In the first, public two- and four-year colleges face increasing student service costs, 20 percent less state support than they received before the recession, and a shortfall they pass onto students, who now graduate with an average of $30,000 of debt. In the second story, those institutions have contained costs, keeping tuition increases at inflationary levels, […]
A year ago the coffers at Argentina’s central bank were empty as the country teetered on the brink of a currency crisis. Now banks are scrambling to fly dollars back to the US as their vaults fill to bursting with piles of cash. That would sound like good news for Alfonso Prat-Gay, who as finance minister this week boasted that his tax amnesty had already repatriated $90bn hidden […]
By Jakub Iglewski | WARSAW WARSAW Polish President Andrzej Duda and hundreds of mourners on Friday attended the funeral of Lukasz Urban, the Polish truck driver who was killed and his vehicle used to crash into a Berlin Christmas market last week. The 37-year-old father of a teenaged boy was among 12 people killed in the attack claimed by Islamic State. Germany’s Federal Prosecutor’s Office said on […]
As 2017 approaches, people are encouraged to be positive and ask Allah for a year of happiness and prosperity, worshippers will hear on Friday. Friday’s sermon emphasises the importance of having a good omen. As a hadith by Prophet Mohammed says: “Allah, the Most Exalted, says ‘I am as my servant thinks of me, so let him assume about me whatever he wishes.” So if one thinks […]
Trade between the UAE and China is expected to increase to $60 billion by the end of this year, up from $54.8 billion in 2015, according to the Dubai Economic Council. It said the UAE is now China’s second largest trading partner in the Middle East and the region’s biggest market for Chinese goods, news agency WAM reported. China, whose trade with the UAE stood at only […]
Dubai’s transport authority has announced the roll-out of the Smart Mall concept to four new metro stations. The expansion to Abu Dhabi Commercial Bank Station, Damac Station, Dubai Internet City Station and Emirates Towers Station is part of the Road and Transport Authority’s (RTA) plan to rank Dubai as the smartest city in the world. Mattar Al Tayer, director-general and chairman of the RTA, said: “The Smart […]
Photo John Kerry speaking at the State Department on Wednesday. Credit Zach Gibson/Getty Images In a speech this week laying out the Obama administration’s parameters for a final peace agreement between Israel and Palestine, Secretary of State John Kerry stated what has been obvious to most observers for many years: that Israel’s construction of Jewish settlements on occupied Palestinian land has all but destroyed the two-state solution. […]
BEIRUT A ceasefire deal between Syrian government forces and rebels that took effect at midnight held early on Friday, after initial isolated clashes and gunfire, a monitoring group and a rebel official said. The truce was violated almost immediately after it came into effect as the warring sides clashed in the northwest of the country. However, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said hours later that the […]
In August, US group ValueAct announced a $1.1bn stake in Morgan Stanley. Yet the notorious boardroom activist had no plans to shake up management, no beef with strategy at the investment bank. The stock, it said, was simply cheap. Mere months later an investment that had seemed brave at the time is worth $1.8bn. ValueAct’s gain is just one of the more striking examples of an extreme […]
Authored by Oliver Stone (via Facebook), THE RUSSIANS ARE COMING As 2016 draws to a close, we find ourselves a deeply unsettled nation. We’re unable to draw the lines of our national interest. Is it jobs and economy, is it national security, or is it now in our interest to ensure global security — in other words, act as the world’s policemen? As the “failing” (to quote […]
The Singapore government has invested significant resources and efforts in building up a thriving startup environment, but its inhabitants must now take risks and look beyond local shores. Jeffrey Paine, general partner at Golden Gate Ventures, believed Singapore’s startup scene had progressed well over the last six to eight years. He said a number of successful startups had grown and executed well in the region, as well […]
