“We recognized the nature of the fight was going to change and that we had to ensure that authorities were down to the right level and that we empowered the on-scene commander,” General Votel said. He was speaking specifically about discussions that he said began in November about how the fights in Syria and Iraq against the Islamic State were reaching critical phases in Mosul and Raqqa. […]
Engineer Atsushi Shimizu, founder and CEO of the Japanese venture company Challenergy, stands next to his bladeless wind turbine in Tokyo Most people look for a place to hide when a typhoon is on the horizon, but Atsushi Shimizu hopes that the fury of nature may one day help resource-poor Japan tackle its energy woes. As thousands of Australians seek shelter from a “monster” cyclone battering the […]
TOKYO Asian shares edged up to near their highest in two years on Thursday, while the dollar benefited from waning expectations that the European Central Bank was poised to end its easy policy. MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan .MIAPJ0000PUS was 0.2 percent higher in early trade, pushing against its loftiest levels since June 2015. Japan’s Nikkei stock index .N225 was down 0.2 percent, while […]
Authored by Brandon Smith via Alt-Market.com, The general public truly lives in two separate worlds. We have the world of the mainstream media, popular culture and political rhetoric; a world which constantly and desperately seeks to twist or destroy any legitimate measure of reality, leading people into a frenzied fog. Then, we have the world of concrete facts; an ugly, brutal world that upsets many people […]
BAGHDAD — A suicide bomber driving a truck filled with explosives attacked a police checkpoint in southern Baghdad on Wednesday night, killing at least 15 people and wounding 45 others, Iraqi officials said. Three police officers were among the dead and several were wounded, but most of the victims were civilians, officials said. No one immediately claimed responsibility for the attack, but the Islamic State has carried […]
By Isabel Coles and John Davison | MOSUL MOSUL Iraqi special forces and police fought Islamic State militants to edge closer to the al-Nuri mosque in western Mosul on Wednesday, tightening their control around the landmark site and in Baghdad a suicide truck bomb killed at least 17 people. The close-quarters fighting is focussed on the Old City surrounding the mosque, where Islamic State leader Abu Bakr […]
Born in Sheffield, British chef Jason Atherton ran away from home at 16 to pursue a life in food. Early in his career, he trained with chefs such as Pierre Koffmann and Marco Pierre White. In 2001, he joined the Gordon Ramsay group and opened Ramsay’s restaurant Verre at the Hilton Dubai Creek. He returned to the UK in 2005 to open another Ramsay restaurant, but by […]
Hedge fund managers may be criticised for their recent returns but they have consistently displayed a razor sharp sense of timing when it comes to picking when to sell their own businesses. When Och-Ziff, the New York-based hedge fund founded by the former Goldman Sachs trader Daniel Och, decided to sell equity to the public markets it did so near the top of the market in late […]
By Caroline Valetkevitch | NEW YORK NEW YORK A U.S. stock rally fueled by optimism President Donald Trump will boost the economy may be near its peak, according to a Reuters poll of strategists who forecast U.S. shares will gain less than 3 percent between now and year-end. The run up since the Nov. 8 U.S. election has left the S&P 500 .SPX at levels many consider […]
By Maria Tsvetkova and Maria Vasilyeva | MOSCOW MOSCOW Russian high school student Roman Shingarkin had some explaining to do when he got home after becoming one of the faces of anti-Kremlin protests at the weekend. His father is a former member of parliament who supports President Vladimir Putin. At the height of a protest in Moscow on Sunday against what organisers said was official corruption, 17-year-old […]
By Elizabeth Piper | LONDON LONDON After nine months of preparation, bitter public argument and a battle with parliament, British Prime Minister Theresa May is launching talks with the European Union armed with a plan she hopes will secure a better divorce deal than many expect. But what is it? Although May has published a policy document outlining a 12-point approach to the talks that will reshape […]
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. Donald Trump is temporary ratings gold, which is either evidence of renewed civic engagement or merely the decline of Western civilization. Variety reports that Fox News “finished far and above its competition in the ratings for the first quarter of […]
So much flip-flopping from Dennis Gartman in just the past week, it is enough to make one’s head spin. After missing Friday’s move lower, on Monday morning Gartman said he was actively looking to “re-establish net short positions” when S&P futures were sharply lower to which we said “at the rate the S&P is covering its opening losses, he should be able “find a point” where the […]
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 […]
The photojournalist Ivor Prickett spent three weeks documenting the battlefront and humanitarian crisis in west Mosul. The war to drive the Islamic State from its last strongholds in western Mosul has come to this: With every advance by Iraqi forces, every missile rained down by coalition aircraft, a flood of Iraqi civilians hits the streets. It is no longer a question of waiting between salvos — there […]
LIMA Extreme floods wreaking havoc in Peru are also threatening the South American country’s rich archeological heritage and the tourism that thrives on it, a Peruvian archaeologist said on Tuesday. At least 50 archaeological sites in Peru have been damaged by the intense rains that are battering northern Peru, resulting in a drastic drop in related tourism, said archaeologist and explorer Walter Alva. Alva discovered the tomb […]
An earthquake with a preliminary magnitude of 6.9 struck near Komandorskiye Ostrava in Russia’s far east on Wednesday, the U.S. Geological Survey said. The quake struck at a depth of about 33 km (20 miles) just off the coast in the Bering Sea. It was originally recorded with a magnitude of 7.0. There was no tsunami threat after the quake, according to the Hawaii-based Pacific Tsunami Warning […]
Spring offers ideal sightseeing weather, with destinations ranging from Japan and Rome to Cuba and Australia. David Whitley rounds up where to go this Spring. newslide April 2017 Japan The spring months are when Japan turns pink, with the famous cherry blossom trees bursting into life across the country. April is the peak of cherry blossom season and hits that sweet spot where temperatures are comfortable for […]
For Bill Kochevar, paralysed from the neck down for eight years after a cycling accident, it was a personal triumph. Using his own arm and hand, he scooped forkfuls of mashed potato from a bowl into his mouth. For the team of biomedical engineers at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, Ohio, Mr Kochevar’s restored ability to feed himself was a milestone in neurotechnology. He was the […]
HAVANA Cuban President Raul Castro participated in an “intimate and simple family ceremony” on Tuesday interring the ashes of his sister Agustina del Carmen Castro Ruz, according to state television. Agustina was the youngest of the seven Castro siblings, including Raul and Fidel, who together have run the island nation for nearly 60 years. Agustina, who kept a low public profile, died on Sunday in Havana at […]
Your daily guide to community and cultural activities across the Emirates for March 29, 2017, including performances, festivals, art exhibitions, film screenings, health and fitness events, talks, classes, workshops and family fun. Ellen Fortini rounds up 10 things to do today in the UAE. Want to see your event listed here? Email us with the details and contact information at [email protected] newslide Abu Dhabi Family workshop Book […]
By Valerie Volcovici and Jeff Mason | WASHINGTON WASHINGTON President Donald Trump on Tuesday signed an order to undo Obama-era regulations to curb climate change, keeping a campaign promise to support the coal industry while calling into question U.S. support for an international deal to fight global warming. Flanked by coal miners, Trump enacted his “Energy Independence” executive order at the Environmental Protection Agency. A coalition of […]
After the biggest downturn in a generation, there are reasons to think the worst of the commodities slump might be over. The Financial Times’s Commodities Global Summit began on Tuesday in Lausanne, Switzerland. Here are the main talking points from the first day. There was no shortage of talk on Opec, which in November agreed its first reduction in supply in almost a decade. Executives from some of the world’s […]
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 […]
