Good morning. Here’s our morning roundup of all the media news you need to know. Want to get this briefing in your inbox every morning? Subscribe here. There is dumb provocative, which we can associate with talk radio and President Trump’s tweets, and there is smart provocative. Nieman Lab offers the latter as it wonders if the media and American banking are soulmates when it comes to […]
WASHINGTON Four civilians were killed in February by U.S.-led coalition forces in Iraq and Syria, the U.S. military said on Saturday as it updated a tally of accidental deaths in the fight against the Islamic State militants. At least 229 civilians have been unintentionally killed by air strikes since the U.S.-led operation against the militants began almost three years ago, the Pentagon said in a statement. The […]
Event will gather together CEOs, CMOs, Presidents and VPs from across the region and beyond Riyadh KSA, April 1 2017: For the first time, Saudi Arabia will host the ‘Top CEO Conference and Awards’ – an event which will see CEOs, CMOs, Presidents and VPs from across the Arabian Gulf region and beyond gather together on 10th and 11th April 2017 at Bay La Sun Hotel & […]
By Mark Hosenball | WASHINGTON WASHINGTON U.S. President Donald Trump on Friday backed a decision by his former national security adviser to seek immunity in congressional investigations of possible ties between his election campaign and Russia, but there was no immediate sign a request would be granted. Retired General Michael Flynn, who resigned only 24 days after becoming national security adviser, wants protection against “unfair prosecution” if […]
Mr. Zaidan is a former bureau chief for Al Jazeera in Pakistan and one of the few journalists to interview Osama bin Laden before the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks. Continue reading the main story The men’s lawyers and Reprieve, a human rights group in Britain that filed the lawsuit, hope that it will force the government to not only to clarify the men’s status, but to divulge […]
After centuries of getting around primarily via horses, many people viewed the first automobiles with apprehension. This newfangled “horseless carriage” was considered too fast and dangerous to ever catch on. In the late 19th century, England even had a law called the Red Flag Act, which required self-propelled vehicles to be led at walking pace by someone waving a red flag. In 1895, the New […]
Taken together, the moves reinforce the message that Mr. Trump plans to make security cooperation the cornerstone of the American approach to the region, without human rights becoming an obstacle, unlike President George W. Bush, who also emphasized the development of democracy, or Mr. Obama, who pressed autocratic states to ease repression. Continue reading the main story “A blank check from President Trump on human rights concerns […]
President Donald Trump said immunity should be offered to former national security adviser Michael Flynn in exchange for his congressional testimony in to Russian interference in the US election, an inquiry both men dismissed as a “witch hunt”. Mr Flynn’s lawyer on Thursday said the former general had offered to testify in the House and Senate intelligence committees’ hearings on Russia, only if he had reasonable assurances […]
With Adam Rawnsley Looking for a deal. Michael Flynn, President Donald Trump’s former national security adviser, has offered to be interviewed by the FBI and House and Senate investigators examining the Trump campaign’s potential ties to Russia, in exchange for immunity from prosecution, “but has so far found no takers,” according to the Wall Street Journal. In a statement on Thursday evening, Flynn’s lawyer Robert Kelner, […]
President Jacob Zuma has sacked Pravin Gordhan, his finance minister, and eight other cabinet members, threatening turmoil for South Africa’s fragile economy and setting the stage for the biggest crisis yet for the ruling African National Congress under his leadership. Mr Zuma’s decision to fire Mr Gordhan as part of a late-night cabinet reshuffle sent the rand down 2 per cent on Friday, taking the currency’s decline […]
WASHINGTON The White House has invited the top Republican and Democratic members of the Senate and House of Representatives intelligence panels to review new material relevant to their investigation into Russia’s alleged interference in the U.S. presidential election, White House spokesman Sean Spicer said on Thursday. “There has been information, … material that has … come to light, and that we want to make sure that the […]
A previously-undisclosed security flaw in an older Windows web server won’t be patched, despite hundreds of thousands of servers still running the outdated software. The vulnerability in Windows Internet Information Services (IIS 6) web server has been remotely exploited since July last year, according to two security researchers at the South China University of Technology, who released a proof-of-concept exploit for the vulnerability on Github this week. […]
In 2016, more than 4 billion records were leaked worldwide, exceeding the combined total from the two previous years, according to a report from IBM Security. In its IBM X-Force Threat Intelligence Index 2017, Big Blue explained the leaked documents comprised the usual credit cards, passwords, and personal health information, but also noted a shift in cybercriminal strategies, finding a number of significant breaches were related to […]
ABU DHABI // The amount of certain drugs seized in the UAE has almost tripled, while the number of drug-related criminals arrests has more than doubled in a year, according to the head of anti-narcotics at the Ministry of Interior. Lt Col Saeed Al Suwaidi said the production of Captagon and crystal methamphetamine in the GCC had gone through the roof in recent years because of political […]
By Se Young Lee and Anjali Athavaley | SEOUL/NEW YORK – SEOUL/NEW YORK – Samsung Electronics Co Ltd (005930.KS) unveiled its Galaxy S8 flagship smartphone as it battles to regain the market leadership it lost to Apple Inc (AAPL.O) after the embarrassing withdrawal of the fire-prone Note 7s. Boasting some of the largest wrap-around screens ever made, the long-awaited S8 is the South Korean technology company’s first […]
By Mark Hosenball and Yeganeh Torbati | WASHINGTON WASHINGTON A U.S. State Department employee with access to sensitive diplomatic information was accused of failing to report her contacts with Chinese foreign intelligence agents who provided her with gifts in exchange for economic information, federal prosecutors said on Wednesday. A State Department spokeswoman had no immediate comment on the charges of obstruction of justice and making false statements […]
WASHINGTON The Democratic and Republican leaders of the U.S. Senate Intelligence Committee pledged on Wednesday that their investigation of Russian hacking of the 2016 U.S. campaign would be bipartisan. Senator Richard Burr, the committee’s Republican chairman, said he has not coordinated at all with President Donald Trump’s White House on the scope of the panel’s Russia probe. (Reporting by Patricia Zengerle, Additional reporting by David Alexander; Editing […]
Bloomberg suffered its second-ever drop in the number of ubiquitous terminals dotting global trading desks as it fell victim to cost cutting by the finance industry. The number of Bloomberg’s distinctive black terminals, used daily by bankers, traders and money managers, fell by 3,145 last year to just under 324,500, down nearly 1 per cent from 2015, according to a report on Tuesday from Burton-Taylor International, one […]
By Josh Smith and James Mackenzie | KABUL KABUL Afghanistan plans to double the number of elite special forces from 17,000 troops, officials said, part of a long-term strategy to bolster units stretched and exhausted by persistent attacks from Taliban insurgents and other Islamist militants. Special forces, who represent a small fraction of the 300,000-strong armed forces, have been carrying out nearly 70 percent of the army’s […]
The House intelligence committee cancelled a hearing on alleged ties between the Trump campaign and Russia after administration officials reportedly told an Obama-era appointee that she could not testify about conversations she had concerning Michael Flynn, who was fired as White House national security adviser. Sally Yates, the acting attorney-general early in the Trump administration, was due to testify before the committee on Tuesday. But the White […]
Tesla Motors and SpaceX boss Elon Musk says Neuralink will explore software on implantable devices for the human brain. Image: James Leynse Tesla and SpaceX boss Elon Musk has created another out-there venture called Neuralink, which will develop tech to enhance human brain capacity. Details of Musk’s new medical research company were reported by The Wall Street Journal on Monday. Musk plans to reveal more details in […]
During the 2016 United States presidential campaign, property tycoon and reality TV personality Donald Trump frequently promised that if he were elected, he would go to Washington and “drain the swamp”, removing career political hacks and bringing in new blood. When he was elected, however, in addition to packing the White House with relatives and controversial figures, he picked a long-time swamp-dweller for one of the most […]
Elon Musk is a man who wants to do a myriad of things: he wants autonomous electric cars cruising down streets in the near future, he wants to send people to Mars and our Moon, and he wants to build a substitute to trains that travels blazingly fast. Now, he has another item in his to-do list: to link up your human brain with artificial intelligence. How? With the […]
Australia has shelved plans to ratify a controversial extradition treaty with Beijing following concerns raised by lawmakers over inadequate protections for human rights and rule of law in China. The decision to pull the parliamentary vote on Wednesday represents a setback for the Australian government, which had warned in recent days that failing to ratify the treaty could damage Sino-Australian relations. Barnaby Joyce, Australia’s deputy prime minister, […]
