DUBAI // Three men who fed a cat to hungry dogs and filmed the horrific killing on video will clean Dubai Zoo for the next three months. Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid, the Prime Minister and Ruler of Dubai, ordered the punishment be handed down to the men under new community service laws. The video, which has been widely shared on social media, shows a white cat being […]
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. Nate Silver’s “March Madness” analysis is out and, knock on hardwood, he’s not picking Hillary Clinton. I know, I know. Cheap (jump) shot. It’s that time of year when FiveThirtyEight, the ESPN-owned politics and sports data site founded by Silver, […]
Eon, the German utility, recorded a net loss of €16bn for 2016 — the largest in his history — and unveiled ambitious measures to reduce debt by €7bn through asset sales and cutting 1,300 jobs. The loss reflected impairments on Uniper, the new fossil fuel power company spun out of Eon last year, as well as payments Eon is having to make into a new state fund to cover the […]
Agricultural traders and investors are watching the debut of a new derivative product that will allow them to bet on the benchmark price of Black Sea wheat. Wheat is the largest traded grain on the international markets and Russia became the leading exporter last year. Russia, Kazakhstan and Ukraine — collectively known as the Black Sea region among grain traders — accounted for just under a third […]
It is fitting that just a few hours until the Fed’s second rate hike in two quarters, and one day after Goldman downgraded global stocks to Neutral for the next 3 months, not to mention with the results of the anticipated Dutch election due shortly, that global stocks as well as S&P futures are higher, while crude oil has finally managed to stage a rebound as the […]
By Philip Blenkinsop | AMSTERDAM AMSTERDAM The Dutch began voting on Wednesday in an election seen as a test of anti-immigrant and nationalist feeling, magnified in the last few days by a spat with Turkey, and as one of three polls this year that will gauge the strength of the ties that bind the European Union together. The centre-right VVD party of Prime Minister Mark Rutte, 50, […]
Released on March 3, the Nintendo Switch console has now reportedly managed to push 1.5 million units, which is an impressive figure for its first week, especially considering that Nintendo’s overall sales projection for March is just 2 million. The Nintendo Switch seems set to pass that mark altogether, possibly even sooner than expected. Nintendo Switch Sales Breakdown According to reports, 500,000 Switch units were sold in […]
Mahmoud Said was born into high society. His family were rich landowners from Alexandria in Egypt and his father, Mohammed Said Pasha, served as Egyptian prime minister from 1910 to 1914, and again briefly in 1919. His sister’s daughter, Safinaz Zulficar, became Queen Farida of Egypt, and her reign lasted almost 11 years. Even then, in the early 20th century, as Said simultaneously worked as a top […]
By Andrew Osborn | MOSCOW MOSCOW First, armed police seized some of its books. Next, its director was put on trial accused of stirring up ethnic hatred. And now, quietly, its shelves have been emptied and its volumes packed up, ready to be merged into another library’s collection. A year and a half after Russia’s only state-run Ukrainian language library, Moscow’s Library of Ukrainian Literature, was dragged […]
China plans to introduce a bond trading link between Hong Kong and the mainland by year-end, according to premier Li Keqiang. Dubbed “Bond Connect”, the programme would operate alongside the existing Stock Connect system that allows international and mainland investors their only direct access to each others’ markets. On Wednesday, the Chinese premier said: “We are preparing to implement for the first time this year a bond […]
NBC coined the slogan “Must-See TV” more than two decades ago; tonight, MSNBC invented “hurry-up-and-wait” TV. In an excruciatingly delayed primetime media extravaganza that was reminiscent of Geraldo Rivera’s slow-as-molasses unveiling of Al Capone’s vault in 1986, Rachel Maddow used her show Tuesday night to release a portion of President Trump’s tax returns from 2005. In doing so, the broadcast became a cautionary tale about the dangers […]
The president was expected to urge Saudi Arabia to support safe zones in Syria, which the administration has argued would be an alternative to accepting thousands of refugees from a country that has been ripped apart by six years of civil war. Continue reading the main story Mr. Trump and members of his inner circle regard Saudi Arabia as a vital component of the White House strategy […]
Wednesday 02:40 GMT Overview A rally in crude oil prices that erased the losses of the previous session failed to bolster energy stocks in Asia, as bond and currency traders also shunned major moves ahead of the US Federal Reserve’s interest rates decision later in the day. Hot topic Crude was climbing in Asia after a slide on Tuesday. Brent, the international benchmark, was up 1.3 per […]
Sony announced that the PlayStation Now streaming service will soon expand to allow gamers to stream PlayStation 4 titles on their Windows PCs, in addition to the PlayStation 4. PlayStation Now allows subscribers to stream hundreds of PlayStation 3 titles to their PlayStation 4 and Windows PC. With the announcement, PlayStation 4 titles are expected to be added to the service’s catalog soon. What Is PlayStation Now? […]
By Susan Heavey and Susan Cornwell | WASHINGTON WASHINGTON President Donald Trump and congressional leaders are weighing changes to their plan to dismantle the Obamacare health law, a White House spokesman said Tuesday, as Republicans defended their effort following an estimate that it would cause 14 million Americans to lose insurance next year. Press Secretary Sean Spicer said White House officials and leaders in the Republican-controlled U.S. […]
Photo Mahmoud Abbas, right, the president of the Palestinian Authority, met with Jason Greenblatt, President Trump’s envoy to the Middle East, in the West Bank on Tuesday. Credit Mohamad Torokman/Reuters JERUSALEM — President Trump’s new envoy to the Middle East met on Tuesday with Mahmoud Abbas, the president of the Palestinian Authority, striving in the administration’s first diplomatic undertaking here to maintain a public evenhandedness amid the […]
Oil prices have fallen almost 10 per cent in the past week to their lowest level since Opec agreed to cut output in November. Here are five factors contributing to the renewed bout of selling that could dictate whether Brent crude can hold above $50 a barrel. 1. Shale The US shale industry has come back with a bang, with oil prices back above $50 a barrel. […]
Microsoft has added LinkedIn co-founder Reid Hoffman to its board of directors. As of Hoffman’s appointment, announced March 14, Microsoft’s board is back up to 12 members.Hoffman is a partner with Greylock Partners. He cofounded LinkedIn in 2002 and before that, was an executive vice president at PayPal. Microsoft purchased LinkedIn last year for $26.2 billion. Earlier this year, Microsoft made Kevin Scott, LinkedIn’s head of engineering, […]
This weekend, New York Times Executive Editor Dean Baquet took a shot at his rival, Washington Post boss Marty Baron. During an interview at South by Southwest Sunday, an audience member asked Baquet what he thought of The Washington Post’s new slogan: “Democracy Dies in Darkness.” “‘I love our competition with The Washington Post,’ Baquet said. ‘I think it’s great. But I think their slogan — Marty […]
Singapore needs to keep a close watch on teachings or statements that are exclusivist and divisive, Deputy Prime Minister Teo Chee Hean said yesterday. These have had repercussions in other countries, he noted at a gathering of Islamic religious teachers. “Attacks claimed to be in the name of Islam have led to a rise in Islamophobia, with anti-immigration rhetoric and negative reactions among other communities,” he said. […]
Photo A damaged classroom after shelling in the rebel-held town of Hass in Idlib Province. Credit Ammar Abdullah/Reuters GENEVA — Syrian military airstrikes on rebels were responsible for severing water supplies to 5.5 million people in the Damascus region for weeks starting last December, the United Nations said on Tuesday, rebutting government claims that insurgents were to blame. In a bombing campaign to drive rebel forces from […]
Saudi Arabia, the world’s biggest oil exporter, moved to allay fears that the kingdom was backing away from its pledge to curb production, underlining its concern about a 10 per cent plunge in the crude price over the past week. The kingdom’s energy ministry rushed out a rare statement on Tuesday asserting its commitment to “stabilising the global oil market”, just as global benchmark Brent crude slipped […]
French explorer Gauthier Toulemonde has begun his journey through Oman’s deserts starting from Wilayat Adam, Al Dakhiliya governorate, where he will cross The Empty Quarter and Al Sharqiya Sands. Toulemonde said his journey will be covered through his social media accounts while he will also send postcards and letters through the mail to his friends around the world to share his experience in Oman. Having previously trekked […]
By Anthony Boadle | BRASILIA BRASILIA Former President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva on Tuesday called charges “false” that he tried to block an ongoing investigation of the biggest graft scandal in Brazil’s history, which helped end the 13-year rule of his leftist Workers Party. Addressing a packed court, a defiant Lula appeared for the first time in one of five corruption trials in which he is […]
