The barbarians at the gate have claimed a victory in the battle for control over China Vanke, the country’s largest retail property developer, after the company called off a deal to take on a new majority shareholder. Shares in Vanke fell more than 6 per cent to HK$18.22 in Hong Kong on Monday morning after the home builder said on Sunday that it had dropped plans to […]
On a clear afternoon on September 28, 2008, Elon Musk was on the verge of a nervous breakdown. Years earlier he had sunk most of his internet fortune into a commercial space company – SpaceX – and was now vying for a lucrative deal with NASA to resupply the International Space Station. There was only one problem: the last three attempts to send a rocket into space […]
On Saturday morning, the Pentagon was eager to announce that China would return a U.S. Navy underwater drone after its military scooped up the submersible in the South China Sea late this week and sparked a row that drew in President-elect Donald Trump. As previously reported, Pentagon spokesman Peter Cook said that “through direct engagement with Chinese authorities, we have secured an understanding that the Chinese will […]
By Brenda Goh, Allison Lampert and Brad Haynes | SHANGHAI/MONTREAL/SAO PAULO SHANGHAI/MONTREAL/SAO PAULO New rules governing Chinese airline startups are fueling hopes at Embraer SA (EMBR3.SA), Bombardier Inc (BBDb.TO) and other regional jet makers for a spike in orders next year, but local competition and doubts about size restrictions still loom as major obstacles. The new policy is aimed at encouraging fledgling carriers to boost domestic flights […]
Ireland has laid out the grounds for its appeal against the European Commission’s demand that it claw back €13bn of state aid from Apple, accusing Brussels of interfering with national sovereignty. The Irish finance ministry said the EU’s executive arm had misunderstood both Irish law and the relevant facts of the case, and also that the commission had exceeded its powers. “Ireland does not do deals with […]
Senior American officials and top commanders in the Middle East say the brutal urban fight for Mosul is succeeding — however slowly — but is proving to be tougher than expected. These officials predict that the battle to oust the Islamic State from Iraq’s second-largest city could last two to four more months. Continue reading the main story Brett H. McGurk, President Obama’s envoy to the international […]
In this Dec. 8, 2016 photo, Steve Burke and Jim Besha of Albany Engineering Corp. stand at the site of an abandoned iron mine in the Adirondacks, in Mineville, N.Y., where they’re seeking a federal permit to build an underground hydroelectric pumped storage project. The hills behind them are “tailings” leftover from crushing ore to extract iron from the mine that closed in 1971. (AP Photo/Mary Esch) […]
Six new species of marine animals have been discovered on the sea floor of Indian Ocean, living close to a bunch of hot springs. In a robot led survey, scientists from the Southampton University, Natural History Museum in London and University of Newcastle explored hydrothermal vents in the seabed. Their expedition in November 2011 yielded valuable data and led to the discovery of new organisms living on the […]
A flagship of the settler enterprise, Amona, established 20 years ago, is testing how far Israel’s right-wing government is willing to go to protect the 100 or so outposts that were built without authorization across the West Bank. The case of Amona has also stretched the country’s democratic system, with right-wing politicians pushing to flout the 2014 Israeli Supreme Court order to demolish the outpost, and advancing […]
In his characteristic third-person style, One River Asset Management’s Chief Investment Officer Eric Peters takes on all-comers in his latest letter to investors; lamenting the rapidity of losses, juxtaposing Michelle Obama’s “hopeless” America with the US equity markets’ near-record “hope”, and denouncing the scourge of risk managers everywhere – central bankers… Hope all goes well… “No one has real risk on,” said the CIO, dizzy. “We’ve all […]
By Stephen Kalin | ERBIL, Iraq ERBIL, Iraq Seven-year-old Anas lies in a hospital bed in the northern Iraqi city of Erbil, his little body wrapped in bandages following four surgeries to remove shrapnel that shredded his intestines. He is considered lucky for being alive. Two of his brothers did not survive the Islamic State mortar attack three weeks ago on their family’s home in Mosul. One […]
AMMAN, Jordan — Four Jordanian police officers and a Canadian tourist were shot and killed by gunmen in the southern city of Karak on Sunday, according to a statement from the Public Security Department. The violence began when a police patrol was sent to check on reports of a house on fire. When the police arrived on the scene, they were met with a barrage of gunfire […]
While an overseas buying spree by Chinese companies has grabbed headlines, more mundane activity such as trade finance and corporate cash management are a much bigger strain on China’s foreign exchange reserves, analysis of official data shows. The dominance of bank lending and portfolio investment as a source of Chinese capital outflows casts doubt on whether Beijing’s recent clampdown on big-ticket foreign deals by the likes of Dalian […]
By Norihiko Shirouzu and Natalie Thomas | BEIJING BEIJING Authorities in Tianjin grounded dozens of flights and closed most highways on Sunday after severe smog blanketed the city, one of more than more than 40 in China’s northeast to issue pollution warnings in the past 48 hours. Air quality index (AQI) readings at some monitoring stations in Tianjin, a port and industrial city southeast of Beijing, peaked […]
Famous U.S. treasure hunter, Tommy Thompson found a trove of gold coins and bars on the floor of the Atlantic ocean back in 1988. The treasure came from the SS Central America, which sank to the bottom of the sea during a hurricane in 1857, along with at least three tons of California gold and its 425 crewmembers. The gold lay on the ocean floor for 180 […]
AMMAN Unidentified armed gunmen fired at several police patrols in drive-by shootings in the southern Jordanian city of Karak with reports of several casualties, security sources said. They said the attackers were being pursued in an ancient castle in the mountainous city where some of the assailants had taken cover after shooting at a nearby police station. Police dispatched special forces to hunt the attackers with an […]
It’s been a big month in theme parks in the UAE, with the official opening of Dubai Parks & Resorts in Dubai Sunday, news that IMG Worlds of Adventure are opening yet another venue, Legends, and Miral announcing that SeaWorld is coming to Abu Dhabi. By the time the Expo comes to the UAE in the year 2020, almost every popular movie and animation brand you can […]
Wall Street is bathing in nostalgia. This week the cover of Barron’s, the bible of US retail investors, proclaimed “Dow 20,000”. Presenters on CNBC are wearing Dow 10,000 caps first donned in 1999. And each day the thinning crowds on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange have watched the boards to see if the Dow Jones Industrial Average, having passed 19,900, can top the 20,000 […]
By Lisa Barrington and Stephanie Nebehay | BEIRUT/GENEVA BEIRUT/GENEVA The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) hopes to resume the evacuation of civilians and wounded from the Syrian enclave of east Aleppo on Sunday, a spokeswoman said. Thousands of people are left in Aleppo, some sleeping on the streets in freezing temperatures, after the evacuation of the rebel-held areas ground to a halt on Friday following […]
Many stakeholders are now coming home after a productive week at the 2016 Internet Governance Forum (IGF) in Guadalajara, Mexico. As the first IGF since its 10 year mandate renewal by the UN General Assembly, this was a key edition to set the stage for multistakeholder cooperation in the next few years, and to identify the issues that will have to be addressed by the global Internet community now […]
Venezuelans are bracing for Christmas without cash after the country’s highest denomination banknote was withdrawn from circulation with new larger bills not due until January, as many fear that the country is spiralling towards hyperinflation. Embattled President Nicolás Maduro this week announced plans to scrap the ubiquitous 100 bolívar bill, which makes up about half the country’s banknotes but is increasingly worthless as annual inflation is forecast […]
UNITED NATIONS: The UN Security Council will vote Sunday on a French proposal to send observers to the flashpoint Syrian city of Aleppo to monitor evacuations and report on the protection of civilians, diplomats said.The council will meet at 10 a.m. (1500 GMT) to decide on the draft resolution, despite resistance from Russia, Syria’s ally and a veto-wielding Security Council member.France circulated a draft text late Friday […]
ADEN A suicide bomber killed at least 30 soldiers in the southern Yemeni port city of Aden on Sunday, officials there said, a week after an attack by the militant Islamic State group killed 50 troops nearby. The officials said the soldiers were queuing to collect salaries near a military base in the Khor Maksar district when the attacker blew himself up. Forty other troops were wounded, […]
By David Stanway | PINGDINGSHAN, China PINGDINGSHAN, China China has ordered state firms to smash the decades-old system of providing cradle-to-grave welfare support, known as the country’s “iron rice bowl”. But the order, part of a plan to reduce financial pressure on bloated and heavily indebted state-owned enterprises (SOEs), is likely to be easier said than done as cities navigate the social and financial wrenches the changes […]
