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Obama announces 'understanding' with China's Xi on cyber theft but remains wary

WASHINGTON President Barack Obama announced on Friday that he had reached a “common understanding” with Chinese President Xi Jinping on curbing economic cyber espionage, but threatened to impose U.S. sanctions on Chinese hackers who persist with cyber crimes. The two leaders also unveiled a deal to build on a landmark emissions agreement struck last year, outlining new steps they will take to deliver on pledges they made […]

The Gulf: Not all that's gold glitters

INTERNATIONAL. Gleaming glass skyscrapers, state-of-the-art technology, and wealthy merchant families have replaced the Gulf’s muddy towns and villages populated by traders and pearl fishers that once lacked electricity, running water or modern communications. The region’s modern day projection of a visionary cutting- edge, 21st  century urban environment masks however the fact that some things have not changed. Gulf states continue to be ruled by the same families, […]

Military Analyst Again Raises Red Flags on Progress in Iraq

WASHINGTON — As the war in Iraq deteriorated, a senior American intelligence analyst went public in 2005 and criticized President George W. Bush’s administration for pushing “amateurish and unrealistic” plans for the invasion two years before. Now that same man, Gregory Hooker, is at the center of an insurrection of United States Central Command intelligence analysts over America’s latest war in Iraq, and whether Congress, policy makers […]

Dubai Crown Prince’s poem for his brother, Sheikh Rashid bin Mohammed

DUBAI // Sheikh Hamdan bin Mohammed, Crown Prince of Dubai, penned an emotional poem mourning the loss of his older brother, Sheikh Rashid bin Mohammed, who died on Saturday of a sudden heart attack at age 33. The poem was shared by thousands of people on social media, where it was first posted. Sheikh Hamdan, well-known for his lyrical art and oratorical skills, recorded the poem and […]

‘I demand justice for my 72-day jail ordeal’, says Dubai mother mistaken for terrorist

DUBAI // A woman who claimed she was tortured and threatened with rape after being mistaken for an Al Qaeda terrorist faces months of uncertainty awaiting the outcome of a legal case against the Kenyan government. Mother of three Kamilya Mohammedi Tuweni, 50, relived her 72-day ordeal this week as she gave testimony via video link from London to the high court in Nairobi. She was too […]

Qatar 'AA/A-1+' ratings affirmed; outlook stable

QATAR. On Sept. 18, 2015, Standard & Poor’s Ratings Services affirmed its ‘AA’ long-term and ‘A-1+’ short-term foreign and local currency sovereign credit ratings on the State of Qatar. The outlook is stable. We also affirmed the ‘AA’ long-term issue ratings on the bonds issued by Qatari Diar Finance Q.S.C. and SoQ Sukuk A Q.S.C. RATIONALE Qatar is a wealthy economy; we estimate its GDP per capita […]

The road to Autonomous Vehicles must be paved with collaboration among all stakeholders

INTERNATIONAL. The era of the autonomous vehicle (AV) is fast approaching. Mass-market adoption of AVs will be the greatest inflection point for the automotive industry since the introduction of the assembly line and will confer tremendous benefits on society, according to a new report from The Boston Consulting Group (BCG). The report, titled Revolution Versus Regulation: The Make-or-Break Questions About Autonomous Vehicles, is being released today. It […]

Developer pulls leading ad-blocking app from Apple Store

Tumblr co-founder Marco Arment, who developed the most popular paid ad-blocker on Apple Inc’s (AAPL.O) U.S. app store, has pulled the product, citing concerns that the tool could hurt independent Web publishers. In a blog post on Friday, Arment, wrote on the social media site that he was pulling his “Peace” app because he does not feel that it is his role to decide what content is […]

Dozens of teams prepare their home-made flying machines for Flugtag in Dubai

DUBAI // Forty-seven teams have been cleared for take-off for the forthcoming Red Bull Flugtag event in Dubai. The home-made flying machine competition takes place at Dubai Creek Park on November 27 after a nine-year hiatus. Participants will aim to break the world Flugtag record, which was set by the Chicken Whisperers in 2013, who managed to propel their flying machine 78.64 metres at an event in […]

Apple customers report devices crashing on iOS 9 update

The new Apple iPhone 6S and 6S Plus are displayed during an Apple media event in San Francisco, California, September 9, 2015. Reuters/Beck Diefenbach SAN FRANCISCO/SYDNEY A significant number of Apple Inc customers are reporting their mobile devices have crashed after attempting to upload the new iOS 9 operating system, the latest in a line of launch glitches for the tech giant. Twitter and other social media […]

Iran Released Top Members of Al Qaeda in a Trade

Middle East By RUKMINI CALLIMACHI and ERIC SCHMITT September 17, 2015 The government of Iran released five senior members of Al Qaeda earlier this year, including the man who stepped in to serve as the terrorist group’s interim leader immediately after Osama bin Laden’s death, and who is the subject of a $5 million bounty, according to an American official who had been briefed on the matter. Iran’s release of the […]

Technology teamwork key to AV development

The development of autonomous vehicles (AV) hinges on cooperation among technology players in the areas of cybersecurity, high-definition maps, and vehicle-to-vehicle and vehicle-to-infrastructure communication, said an industry expert. “But there are equally pressing questions about liability, vehicle certification, and regulatory frameworks,” explained said Nikolaus Lang, a senior partner at The Boston Consulting Group (BCG), a global management consulting firm. “Multi-stakeholder collaboration is key to developing win-win solutions—and […]

Russian Hackers Targeting U.S. Government, F-Secure Says

Russian Hackers Targeting U.S. Government, F-Secure Says State-sponsored cyberattacks have been tied directly to a hacking group that gathers intelligence for Russia’s Kremlin. F-Secure Labs has just published a white paper that outlines seven years of attacks against governments in the United States, Asia and Europe. A malicious group called the Dukes uses a family of malware toolsets to steal information by infiltrating computer networks and sending […]

Huge Vulnerability in Android Allows Lockscreen Bypass

A recently discovered vulnerability in Android Lollipop allows an attacker to bypass the password lockscreen on a mobile device and gain full access. The flaw was discovered by a security researcher at the University of Texas at Austin, who said he has already alerted Google about his findings. The exploit requires an attacker to have physical access to the device but it will only work if the […]

Post-Deal Iran Asks if U.S. Is Still ‘Great Satan,’ or Something Less

Middle East Ayatollah Ali Khamenei warned on Wednesday of foreign enemy subversions. By THOMAS ERDBRINK September 17, 2015 TEHRAN — Negotiating the nuclear agreement was a torturous, two-year process for Iran’s leaders, but a new kind of struggle is unfolding now in Iran, where the supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, and President Hassan Rouhani have begun to tackle a question Iranians have not thought about much since the revolution […]

4 or 5 U.S.-Trained Syrians Still Fighting ISIS, Senators Are Told

WASHINGTON — Only four or five Syrian individuals trained by the United States military to confront the Islamic State remain in the fight, the head of the United States Central Command told a Senate panel on Wednesday, a bleak acknowledgment that the Defense Department’s $500 million program to raise an army of Syrian fighters has gone nowhere. Gen. Lloyd J. Austin III, the top American commander in […]

UAE ministry continues campaign against claims over air quality

ABU DHABI // Government organisations have continued their fightback against claims that the UAE has the most polluted air in the world. Earlier this year, the World Bank released The Little Green Data Book, which said the country had particle pollution levels (PPM) much higher than the World Health Organisation’s recommended guidelines. It said the UAE was the “country with the most polluted air”, which was immediately […]

Amazon's Jeff Bezos ups his stake in billionaires' space race

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. Amazon (AMZN.O) founder Jeff Bezos unveiled plans on Tuesday to build a rocket manufacturing plant and launch site in Florida to better compete with fellow billionaires using their fortunes and tech prowess to open a new frontier in human space travel and exploration. Bezos’ space startup, Blue Origin, intends to invest more than $200 million to build the rocket-making facility adjacent to NASA’s Kennedy […]

Diamonds: Dubai to gain from Belgium shift

Dubai’s diamond trade will grow as the  emirate attracts dealers from the industry’s traditional hub in the Belgian port of Antwerp after one of the city’s main lenders closed, depriving buyers of needed financing, according to National Bank of Fujairah. “Do we anticipate a big shift of rough diamond traders to Dubai?” Davy Blommaert, unit head for precious metals and diamonds at National Bank of Fujairah, said in […]

Technology revolutionises UAE real estate

For decades, the world of science fiction has been shaping our expectations of the future, with many puzzling terms of the past like 3-D printing, aerial drones, and virtual reality now having become reality nowadays. However, while we might be familiar with these terms, not all of us have actually experienced the full extent of how these concepts have revolutionised modern living. One of the sectors that […]

News Analysis: Nuclear Deal Sealed, Obama Must Now Make It Work, and Mend Fences

Middle East News Analysis By PETER BAKER and JULIE HIRSCHFELD DAVIS September 11, 2015 WASHINGTON — Having beaten back a congressional campaign to derail his nuclear agreement with Iran, President Obama now faces a panoply of challenges that may be just as daunting: making the deal actually work while repairing relations with disaffected allies and constraining Tehran’s regional ambitions. He got started Friday even as the House was still voting by announcing […]

How Much Income Risk Should You Take In Retirement?

Du launches 4 new basic TV packages

Leading telecommunications operator du has launched its all new Basic TV packages aimed at delivering specific customer needs, by launching four unique language based packages. It includes South Asian, French, English and Arabic, aimed at enhancing its TV customers’ experience by offering them the option to subscribe to one or more of these packages from just Dh39 ($10.6)per month, said a statement. The four new packages offer […]

Google Begins Rolling Out Android Pay

In a move to compete against Apple Pay, Google is revamping its mobile payment system. The search engine giant is starting to roll out Android Pay, a “simple and secure” way to pay for goods with your Android mobile operating system-powered phone. In fact, consumers with Android Pay installed on their smartphones can pay for goods at over 1 million locations in the United States. Beyond making […]