BENTONG: Police arrested 48 participants for going naked during a supposedly sporting event held at a resort near here on Saturday. The participants, aged between 19 and 23, were allegedly taking part in a game at a motivational camp, organised by a private company. The game was conducted at the playground within the resort’s compound. Bentong district police chief Supt Mohamad Mansor Mohd Nor said the department […]
Survey after survey has revealed that, despite torrents of digital opportunities, enterprises are experiencing threats to both business success and the credibility of their IT organisations because they struggle to respond to those opportunities quickly enough. A solution to this existential dilemma exists – in the cloud. Digital-first development It goes almost without saying that the correct response to speeding the dev-test cycle involves switching the approach […]
By Rania El Gamal and Vladimir Soldatkin | VIENNA VIENNA A committee of OPEC and non-OPEC countries responsible for monitoring compliance with a global agreement to reduce oil output is set to meet for the first time in Vienna on Sunday. The committee is expected to discuss how to best monitor compliance with the deal reached late last year as well as what level of compliance would […]
Hundreds of thousands of protesters have taken to the streets of Washington and other major US cities in one of the biggest US political demonstrations in recent memory and a stark rebuke to Donald Trump at the start of his presidency. More than half a million protesters are estimated to have descended on the US capital to take part in the Women’s March on Washington, according to event organisers, […]
By Tom Perry and Laila Bassam | BEIRUT BEIRUT Islamic State is fighting hard to reinforce its presence in Syria as it loses ground in Iraq, deploying fighters to seize full control of a government-held city in the east while at the same time battling enemies on three other fronts. It underlines the residual strength of Islamic State even after its loss of a cluster of cities […]
By Brenda Goh and Muyu Xu | SHANGHAI/BEIJING SHANGHAI/BEIJING With 6 million Chinese tourists expected to travel abroad over the Lunar New Year break, China’s January 27 to February 2 holiday is crucial for Taiwan tour agency operator Li Chi-yueh, who relies on mainland visitors for a third of his revenue. But Li’s hopes are not high this year, after the number of mainland tourists plummeted 36 […]
Screw you. That was the direct message to the media from President Trump and his spokesman Saturday, using both CIA headquarters and the White House briefing room to underscore that there’s a new and combative sheriff in town. They accused the press of “deliberately false” reporting and intentionally trying to undermine him by lowballing the crowd at his inauguration. Even to some politically conservative observers, it appeared […]
Researchers are on a quest to look for life in a nearby exoplanet which is in the “Goldilocks zone.” This is basically the area in the galaxy where the conditions are apt for water’s existence, a key element for life to be around. The latest research is being spearheaded by Stephen Kane, an astronomer, who has shared new information on the “Super-Earth” aka Wolf 1061c. This Super-Earth […]
China’s ruling Communist party has closed the website of a prestigious economist as it launches a campaign against “nihilist” interpretations of former leader Mao Zedong that is stirring up ghosts of the Cultural Revolution. Chairman Mao’s legacy has became a battleground for “leftists” and “rightists” over the past year, fifty years after he launched the chaotic and violent Cultural Revolution. The rancorous debates come as current president […]
“I’m sorry,” said Ms. Najjar, 26, wiping her eyes. Hisham, who is shy and has large dark brown eyes, left the room to play with balloons. “It’s just that I almost lost him, not to violence or to war, but to diabetes.” A few birds singing in their cages brighten the grim space where Hisham’s family lives. But they also remind the family of what it left […]
ASTANA, Kazakhstan: Syria’s government and opposition fighters will on Monday sit down at the negotiating table for the first time in nearly six years of war, the latest diplomatic push to end hostilities. Hosted in the Kazakh capital Astana, the talks will see an opposition delegation composed exclusively of opposition groups negotiating with the regime of Bashar Assad in an initiative sponsored by opposition backer Turkey […]
By Michael Georgy | MOSUL MOSUL Residents of east Mosul held up their children and took selfies with Iraqi counter-terrorism commander Lieutenant General Abdul-Wahab al-Saadi after his men cleared Islamic State fighters from their neighbourhoods. But his tour on Saturday of homes once occupied by the militants was a reminder of the dangers ahead as security forces prepare to expand their offensive against the Sunni militants into […]
TRIPOLI A car bomb exploded late on Saturday close to the recently re-opened Italian embassy in the Libyan capital, a security official said. It was not clear who was responsible for the blast. Two charred bodies were recovered from the car, according to a statement on a social media page run by a local branch of the Red Crescent, but the identity of the occupants was unknown. […]
By Ola Lanre | RANN, Nigeria RANN, Nigeria Around 15 Boko Haram fighters were killed when the jihadists attacked a town in northeastern Nigeria, two days after the air force accidentally killed dozens of people there, local and military officials said. On Tuesday, the air force said it had bombed Rann in Borno state, epicentre of Boko Haram’s seven-year-long attempt to create an Islamic caliphate in the […]
“We will spend what we need to spend to get this job done,” former prime minister Tony Abbott declared in March 2014, shortly after the multi-country effort to find recently downed Malaysia Airlines flight MH370. When do you give up on a mystery? The torturous MH370 question Anguish in Beijing as relatives learn MH370 has gone missing on March 9, 2014. Photo: Feng Li/Getty Danica Weeks, whose […]
Rumors and leaks pertaining to the Samsung Galaxy J7 (2017) have been swirling online as the device’s unveiling nears. Close on the heels of news that the smartphone has received the FCC certification, as well as a purported case for the device being listed online on Amazon, comes the rumor that the Galaxy J7 (2017) will be making its way to U.S. carrier AT&T. AT&T will not […]
For hundreds of years, fishing and pearl diving were vital to the people who lived around the Arabian Gulf. Along with trade, it was these two activities that allowed communities to flourish in the days before the discovery of oil. While pearl diving is largely a thing of the past, fishing remains a major industry – perhaps too major. Like many other seas, the Arabian Gulf is […]
When it comes to the future of bitcoin, the “holy grail” has emerged as becoming the first to have a bitcoin ETF approved by the SEC. Over three years ago, in 2013, the company of the Winklevoss twins, Cameron and Tyler, Winklevoss Capital Management LLC, launched the first proposed bitcoin ETF, the Winklevoss Investment Trust, looking to trade on the HFT-dominated BATS exchange. The SEC is expected […]
Zverev might have beaten Nadal in Indian Wells last year if he had not missed a high forehand volley into the net when he held match point. On Saturday, the outcome was still very much in doubt with Zverev serving at 2-2 and deuce in the fifth set. He went on to win the longest rally of the match — a 37-shot spectacle — but when Nadal’s […]
By Jeff Mason and Warren Strobel | WASHINGTON WASHINGTON On the first full day as U.S. president, Donald Trump will head to CIA headquarters on Saturday, signaling an effort to mend fences after he slammed spy agencies for their investigation into Russian hacking during the presidential election. Trump engaged in an unprecedented feud with the CIA and U.S. intelligence agencies before his inauguration, but his spokesman Sean […]
While the rest of the developed world woke up in a cold sweat on the first official morning of the Trump presidency, the Kremlin said that Russia’s Vladimir Putin was ready to meet President Trump but preparations for the possible meeting may take months, not weeks, according to Putin spokesman Dmitry Peskov. “This will not be in coming weeks, let’s hope for the best – that the […]
KUALA LUMPUR: Four women detained by the police to facilitate investigations into the abuse of three children at a nursery in Bangi near here, have been remanded until tomorrow. The suspects were picked up yesterday. Kajang police chief ACP Othman Nanyan said the suspects were the nursery employees and owner. Two days ago, pictures of the children whose hands and feet were tied up and their mouths […]
By Stephen Addison and Shadia Nasralla | LONDON/VIENNA LONDON/VIENNA Thousands of women took to the streets of European capitals to join “sister marches” in Asia against newly installed U.S. President Trump ahead of a major rally in Washington expected to draw nearly a quarter of a million people. Waving banners with slogans like “Special relationship, just say no” and “Nasty women unite,” the demonstrators gathered outside the […]
While the year ahead could prove to be a bumpy one for global financial markets amid ongoing political and policy risks, there is reason for optimism over the outlook for stocks in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region. Compared to 2016, a number of structural tailwinds should give investors greater confidence in MENA’s fundamentals. The implementation of major fiscal and capital market reform throughout the […]
