One minute I’m in an office in Dubai’s Jumeirah Lakes Towers; the next, I have been transported to the grounds of a villa in the Sheikh Zayed Housing Programme. I scan the garden – there’s a ball by my feet, so I pick it up and toss it out of the way. Next, I teleport myself just inside the front door. I take a wander around the […]
The warning highlights growing tensions over the vote, which is coming down to two candidates with diametrically opposed ideologies. The incumbent, President Hassan Rouhani, is promising greater freedom and more interaction with the world, while his principal rival, Ebrahim Raisi, is a hard-line cleric arguing for self-sufficiency as a way to fix Iran’s ailing economy. Continue reading the main story The divisions are playing out in provincial […]
Appear Here, a marketplace for short-term retail space that originally launched to ride the ‘pop-up’ shop craze, has raised $12 million in Series B funding. Leading the round is Octopus Ventures, with participation from Simon Venture Group, and existing investors Balderton, MMC, Meyer Bergman and Playfair Capital. It brings total funding for the company to $21.4 million, according to CrunchBase. Founded in London in 2013 by then-20-year-old […]
An Islamic Shariah court in Indonesia’s conservative Aceh province has sentenced two gay men to public caning for the first time, further undermining the country’s moderate image after a top Christian politician was imprisoned for blasphemy. The court, whose sentencing Wednesday coincided with International Day Against Homophobia and Transphobia, said the men, aged 20 and 23, would each be subjected to 85 lashes for having sexual relations. […]
If America’s political system were working as it should, Donald Trump would be on his way out. Either Congress would have started impeachment, or people around the president would have declared him unfit for office. But Mr Trump retains an ace up his sleeve. No elected Republican dares cross him. Any who think of standing up to him know they would risk an electronic lynching that could […]
Over the years, although the government has remained broadly authoritarian, it has oscillated among degrees of democracy. Those fluctuations, while subtle, have often coincided with elections like Friday’s. Photo Ayatollah Khomeini, the leader of the Iranian revolution, returning to Tehran in 1979 after his exile in France. Credit Gabriel Duval/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images Islamic Republic: Yes or No? After throwing off their government in 1979, Iranians […]
Market research company Kantar has published the latest statistics on mobile market share in Australia, revealing that despite competition, Telstra has yet again increased its mobile market share to a total of 41.4 percent. As of March 31, Telstra’s post-paid market share grew by 2 percentage points for a total of 42.8 percent, although prepaid fell by 2.8 percentage points down to 38.9 percent of the market. […]
PalFest in print The remarkable Palestine Festival of Literature celebrates its 10th anniversary this week, but the fun will not end tomorrow. Next month, Bloomsbury will publish This Is Not A Border, an anthology of “reportage and reflection” from the festival. Edited by PalFest co-founders Ahdaf Soueif and Omar Robert Hamilton, it features poems, stories and essays from a wide range of writers, including Mohammed Hanif, Teju […]
The Associated Press quoted unidentified Sudanese sources as saying earlier on Tuesday that Mr. Bashir had been invited to the Saudi summit. His invitation was first reported last week in the Sudanese news media. Continue reading the main story The official Saudi Press Agency reported on May 1 that a senior Saudi representative had visited Sudan and met with Mr. Bashir, but the Saudis have not announced […]
DUBAI // Thirty-four Indian sailors and four Pakistani crew have been stranded aboard two oil tankers for more than two months off the coast of Kandla, in west India, because of unpaid wages and a legal dispute between ship owners and a UAE chartering company. One sailor tried to jump into the sea on Tuesday distressed that he had not sent money home because he had not […]
The first time China attempted to build a large passenger jet, it tried — and failed — to reverse-engineer a Boeing 707 that crash-landed in Xinjiang in 1971. The latest vehicle for China’s aviation dream, the Comac C919, has just completed its first test flight after Beijing decided to take a different path: buying parts from European and US aviation companies rather than stealing their technology. After […]
“It’s a huge burden on the American psyche to have a president go abroad when a sword of Damocles is hanging over them at home,” said Douglas Brinkley, a professor of history at Rice University and an expert on the presidency. “It turns our president, instead of representing the best of America on the road, into a traveling can of worms.” Continue reading the main story Mr. […]
Members for presentation of Dawn Leaks report Zahid Chaudhary Islamabad The National Assembly on Tuesday rejected the Panama Papers Inquiries Bill 2016 tabled by the opposition.Minister for Law Zahid Hamid strongly opposed the bill saying there is no need for such proceedings as the Supreme Court has already given its judgment on the matter.He maintained that the bill, framed by the opposition, is discriminatory in nature and […]
BEIJING China hopes that Sri Lanka can create a good legal, security and public opinion environment for its investment projects in the Indian Ocean country, Premier Li Keqiang told his visiting Sri Lankan counterpart Ranil Wickremesinghe. Chinese investment in Sri Lanka has been controversial. President Maithripala Sirisena is struggling to contain popular opposition to land acquisition for a huge Chinese industrial zone next to Hambantota port in […]
For years we’ve written about the fact that Americans, young to old, are lousy savers (see “Retirement Crisis Looms As Average U.S. Household Has Saved $2,500 For Retirement“). Of course, they have to be because how else can a mature economy continue to grow unless every single person levers every asset they own to the maximum extent possible and then spends all of that money? Anything less […]
Saudi Aramco plans to sign agreements with at least 10 companies including General Electric Co. and oil field-service businesses Schlumberger Ltd. and Halliburton Co. when President Donald Trump visits Saudi Arabia, according to two people familiar with the matter. The world’s biggest crude oil exporter plans to sign accords also with Baker Hughes, KBR Inc., Jacobs Engineering Group Inc., Nabors Industries Ltd., Weatherford International Plc, McDermott International […]
Most transistors are silicon-based and silicon technology has driven the computer revolution. In some applications, however, silicon has significant limitations. Silicon devices are prone to faltering and failing in difficult environments. Addressing these challenges, scientists describe new work developing diamond-based transistors. (via WSJ)
Mr. Erdogan praised Mr. Trump for the “legendary triumph” he had achieved in the election and declared that his first meeting with the new president would be a “historical turn of tide” in the Turkish-American relationship. Continue reading the main story “We are committed to fighting all forms of terrorism, without any discrimination whatsoever, that impose a clear and a present threat upon our future,” Mr. Erdogan […]
By Kirsti Knolle and Francois Murphy | VIENNA VIENNA Austria’s main parties agreed to hold an early parliamentary election on October 15, Chancellor Christian Kern said on Tuesday, in a vote that might bring the far-right Freedom Party into government. In the autumn of a year that will have seen Dutch, French, British and German general elections, the Alpine republic will decide its future course on immigration, […]
In the meeting with the Russian ambassador and foreign minister, Mr. Trump disclosed intelligence about an Islamic State terrorist plot. At least some of the details that the United States has about the plot came from the Israelis, the officials said. Continue reading the main story The officials, who were not authorized to discuss the matter and spoke on the condition of anonymity, said that Israel previously […]
British world boxing heavyweight champion Anthony Joshua looks set to fight again in November, with both Dubai and Doha being considered as possible venues, according to the fighter’s promoter. Joshua scored a stunning 11th round knockout win against former heavyweight champion Wladimir Klitschko at Wembley last month, and it now looking towards his next bout. Speaking to media at a press conference this week, the fighter’s promoter […]
Fake news stories are often extremely easy to debunk. Fact-checking “Pope Francis endorses Donald Trump” required little more than an analysis of papal interviews and an email to the Vatican press office. Some fakers don’t even bother writing up an article to back up their hoax headlines. Yet by the time fact-checkers arrive on the scene of a fake, it may be too late to correct the […]
By Yashaswini Swamynathan The S&P 500 and the Nasdaq drifted higher to hit record intraday levels on Tuesday, supported by gains in technology and consumer staple stocks. As the first-quarter earnings season wraps up, investors’ attention will turn to developments in Washington that could overshadow Republican legislative priorities such as tax reform, healthcare and simpler regulations. Investors were wary after reports that President Donald Trump disclosed highly […]
President Donald Trump‘s controversial travel ban has reached the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals, with a three-judge panel discussing its constitutionality on Monday, May 15. Trump first issued a travel ban preventing people from six Muslim-majority countries from entering the United States. Affected countries included Iran, Iraq, Syria, Sudan, Yemen and Somalia. The ban stirred great controversy and opposition, and a U.S. judge granted emergency stay. Faced with […]
