From February to April this year, NASA’s Curiosity Mars rover probed into four sites near a linear dune on the Red Planet to compare the samples of dark sand taken here to those that was found in 2015 and 2016 when it investigated the crescent-shaped dunes. Dark Sand From Mars’s Linear Sand Dune The newly taken samples from the linear sand dune, which is located uphill of Mount […]
After nearly three years on the lam, Italian fugitive Giuseppe Donaldo Nicosia — whose lavish spending of allegedly stolen money was laid bare in the Panama Papers — has been arrested in Ukraine. Police in the Black Sea port of Odessa captured Nicosia on April 18, acting on a request from Italy’s financial police and Interpol, Italian prosecutors said in a statement. A video released by Ukraine’s […]
By Felix Onuah and Ahmed Kingimi | ABUJA/MAIDUGURI, Nigeria ABUJA/MAIDUGURI, Nigeria Boko Haram militants have released 82 schoolgirls out of a group of more than 200 whom they kidnapped from the northeastern town of Chibok three years ago in exchange for prisoners, the presidency said on Saturday. Around 270 girls were kidnapped in April 2014 by the Islamist militant group, which has killed 15,000 people and displaced […]
Sign up to receive FirstFT by email here Emmanuel Macron, an independent centrist, won an emphatic victory in France’s presidential run-off against Marine Le Pen, the far-right Front National leader, on Sunday, taking 65.1 per cent of the vote, according to estimates. Mr Macron’s victory is a phenomenal achievement for the 39-year-old former Rothschild banker, who has never before held elected office and whose political movement En Marche! was […]
Phil Schiller, Apple’s senior vice president of worldwide marketing, mocked the Amazon Echo and Google Home devices before hinting that the rumored Siri-powered smart speaker will come with a display. With the shots fired and the hinted feature, Apple’s pending entry into the smart speaker market has suddenly become even more interesting. Schiller Fires Shots at Amazon Echo, Google Home In an interview with India’s Gadgets 360, Schiller […]
By Noah Barkin and Leigh Thomas | BERLIN/PARIS BERLIN/PARIS After a decade of slow growth, rising unemployment and dwindling competitiveness, France elected a president on Sunday who says he has a plan to pull the country out of its economic malaise. Emmanuel Macron, a former investment banker who quit the government of Francois Hollande twice out of frustration with the slow pace of reforms, is promising […]
JERUSALEM Israeli paramilitary police officers shot and killed a knife-wielding Palestinian teenage girl who tried to attack them at an entrance to Jerusalem’s Old City on Sunday, a police spokeswoman said. The incident was the latest in a 19-month-long period of sporadic street attacks by Palestinians against Israelis, and the bustling Damascus Gate entrance to Jerusalem’s walled Old City where it occurred has seen many attacks. Police […]
Move faster, migrating reindeer!Image: Jeff J Mitchell/Getty Images By Maria Gallucci2017-05-07 18:32:09 UTC The producers of Norway’s smash-hit “Slow TV” genre have captivated audiences with videos of a 134-hour-long cruise voyage and 13 hours of people knitting. But sometimes even Slow TV can be too slow. Norway’s public broadcaster NRK recently suspended a show following the progress of migratory reindeer because the animals stopped moving, The Local […]
In a week that started with big oil and US shale producers trumpeting their ability to thrive in a world of $50 a barrel crude, the market had a very quick response: let’s see if you can do it at $45. A brutal sell-off across commodity markets this week has quickly taken the shine off strong first-quarter results that would otherwise have been viewed as a triumph […]
Live Feed from France 24: After an extraordinary election campaign full of twists and turns, Emmanuel Macron won dramatic victory over Marine Le Pen in the French presidential election, taking 65% of the vote, with Le Pen collecting roughly 35%, according to early estimate from four separate French pollsters. Macron, 39, will become the youngest president of France’s Fifth Republic. As BBG notes, the firms sampled real […]
By Irene Klotz | CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. The U.S. military’s experimental X-37B space plane landed on Sunday at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida, completing a classified mission that lasted nearly two years, the Air Force said. The unmanned X-37B, which resembles a miniature space shuttle, touched down at 7:47 a.m. EDT (1147 GMT) on a runway formerly used for landings of the now-mothballed […]
Volkswagen bought back hundreds of thousands of emissions-cheating cars. We just discovered what it has done with them all… As Bloomberg reports, the German automaker agreed last year to buy back about 500,000 diesels that it rigged to pass U.S. emissions tests if it can’t figure out a way to fix them. Except for a handful of 2015 models, VW dealers can’t sell the cars until […]
Police have ruled out terrorists being behind twin bomb blasts in Manila that killed two people and injured six others. Blasts ripped through shops and pavement stalls on Saturday night in the historic Quiapo district near the Golden Mosque, a well known landmark in the city. A member of the Philippine National Police secures the area following two overnight explosions in Manila’s Quiapo district. Photo: AP Police said on Sunday […]
Monday UN focus on migrants The UN will meet in Geneva to address the “human rights of all migrants, social inclusion, cohesion and all forms of discrimination, including racism, xenophobia and intolerance”. Organisers say they are working towards an ambitious global policy on migration, an issue high on the political agenda after the Mediterranean migrants’ crisis and US President Donald Trump’s clampdown on migration into the US […]
By Anthony Esposito | MONTERREY, Mexico MONTERREY, Mexico Engineers from across Mexico streamed into a cramped hotel lobby in the industrial city of Monterrey for a chance of a job with the U.S. electric vehicle maker Tesla Inc (TSLA.O), which is looking south of the border for talent in short supply at home. The fair was held at a delicate time for American firms hiring abroad as […]
DUBAI // An unemployed Emirati has denied kidnapping and raping his friend’s girlfriend after threatening to kill her. Prosecutors told Dubai Criminal Court that the incident happened on December 13 last year after the Emirati woman, 40, met with her boyfriend. “I went out to meet my boyfriend at about 3am. We met near his home and I parked my car and got into his. Then he […]
KIRKUK, Iraq At least two people were killed and six injured when multiple Islamic State suicide bombers attacked a base in northern Iraq where U.S. military advisers are stationed, security sources said on Sunday. In addition, two of the militants died when they detonated their vests at the entrance to the K1 base overnight, and three more were killed by Kurdish peshmerga forces who control the Kirkuk […]
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. The image of power was simple: Jared Kushner and Ivanka Trump walking off Marine One Thursday, hand-in-hand, and boarding Air Force One for a short trek to New York City with Kushner’s father-in-law. Yes, Jared Kushner, trusted power broker, to […]
Zounds! ‘Tis Free Comic Book Day, when younglings and olds alike descend upon their local comic book merchants in search of the only nourishment that will slake their savage geek thirst: MOAR COMIC BOOKS. But despite the feeding frenzy focused on the wonder secreted in the pages of these paper treasures, Free Comic Book Day is actually a sweet moment for many families when friends and family […]
By Joseph Sipalan and Praveen Menon | KUALA LUMPUR KUALA LUMPUR Malaysia’s 1.6 million public servants have long been one of the most reliable vote banks for Prime Minister Najib Razak’s ruling coalition, but as he prepares to seek re-election he faces warnings that soaring living costs risk eroding that support. Prices have risen sharply since Malaysia cut state subsidies and launched a national goods and services […]
Korea expert Robert Kelly says the ‘real concern’ for the Philippines is being on the flight path of North Korea’s missile tests MANILA, Philippines – Remember the dad whose children barged in during his live video interview with the BBC? The man now known as the “BBC dad” is Robert Kelly, a political science professor at Pusan National University in South Korea. Kelly, an expert on Korea, […]
A corner of Wall Street has been gripped by the unknown identity of a trader that has been buying up Vix call options priced at 50 cents each, swelling to account for nearly 10 per cent of the listed market. The FT has now reported that bankers with knowledge of the trades say the so-called “50 Cent” – a reference to the American rapper known for his […]
America First Policies Group type: 501(c)(4) nonprofit Why it matters: America First Policies grew out of Trump’s political operation. Headed by Brad Parscale, who ran the digital and data portion of Trump’s campaign, and featuring a coterie of former aides, it was meant to serve as a quasi-independent outside group providing support for the president’s initiatives. Parscale has said America First Policies had raised around $25 million. […]
By Jonathan Stempel | OMAHA, Neb. OMAHA, Neb. Warren Buffett on Saturday faulted Wells Fargo & Co’s (WFC.N) previous management for failing to take action immediately upon learning that its employees were signing up customers for bogus accounts, causing a national scandal. Buffett spoke at the annual meeting of Berkshire Hathaway Inc (BRKa.N), which he chairs, and where he and Vice Chairman Charlie Munger are fielding five […]
