European stocks and S&P futures rose modestly ahead of January US payrolls data, along with the dollar, while Asian shares dropped after China returned from a week-long holiday. Bonds slid, oil rose while the JGB intervened in the bond market to prevent a bond rout, in one of two major surprises during the Asian session. As reported last night, having closed at 0.109% yesterday the 10y JGB […]
The successor of Samsung Galaxy J7 (2016) – dubbed the Galaxy J7 92017) has been spotted on GFXBench, which offers a peek into the impending handset. This is not the first time, the smartphone has leaked online. The latest leak of the Galaxy J7 (2017) offer more insight into the handset. The listing on the benchmarking database reveals that Samsung Galaxy (J7 2017) carries the model number […]
Russia is to spend more than Rbs113bn ($1.9bn) during the next month in an effort to weaken the rouble, marking a reversal from the 2014 foreign exchange shock that forced it to intervene heavily to stop the currency falling too far. The country’s central bank will spend Rbs6.3bn a day on forex transactions from February 7 to March 6, the finance ministry said in a statement on […]
SEOUL Besides being the deputy ambassador, North Korea’s number two diplomat in London was the man appointed to spy on embassy colleagues and report signs of disloyalty to the feared secret police. But last August, it was Thae Yong Ho himself who defected. He said in an interview in Seoul that one of his jobs was to report to the “bowibu”, North Korea’s Stasi-like State Security Department, […]
SEOUL Two years ago, Thae Yong Ho, North Korea’s former deputy ambassador in London, received an unexpected phone call from the ruling Workers’ Party Central Committee in Pyongyang telling him to get ready to receive a very important e-mail. “Please go to the Albert Hall and buy four tickets,” said the cryptic message from a disposable e-mail address designed to throw off Western intelligence agencies. But the […]
Panama on Tuesday suspended a probe into the so-called Panama Papers, a trove of documents that brought to light widespread tax avoidance among some of the world’s most powerful leaders, prosecutors said. Attorney General Kenia Porcell said a legal challenge on constitutional grounds required the suspension, adding that it was now in the hands of the Supreme Court to decide whether to reactivate the investigation. “The investigation […]
By Tom Westbrook and Jane Wardell | SYDNEY SYDNEY Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull might receive a short-term boost after his infamous phone call with U.S. President Donald Trump but is likely to be the long-term political loser, analysts and rights advocates said on Friday. Languishing in opinion polls and vulnerable to attacks from within his own conservative party, Turnbull at least woke on Friday to domestic […]
Domestic consumption of desalinated water in the region is not only carbon-intensive but contributes to making the Arabian Gulf one of the world’s most salty and potentially most uninhabitable bodies of water, experts say. According to the Ministry of Climate Change and Environment, 96 per cent of domestic consumption of water – from drinking water to showers – comes from one of the 70 desalination plants located […]
Employees select and dispatch items in the huge Amazon ‘fulfilment centre’ warehouse.Image: Getty Images/oli scarff By Patrick Kulp2017-02-03 04:33:17 UTC Amazon just had its best holiday season ever, pulling in the highest quarterly sales in the company’s history and capping off a year in which it tripled profits from the previous one. Wall Street greeted this news with a definitive “meh.” The online shopping behemoth’s stock fell […]
As an expectant crowd of couples, families, retirees and grizzled world trekkers wait to board our Antarctic-bound ship, the mood is overwhelmingly one of anticipation. Talk is of when the first orca or iceberg will be sighted, and trepidation at the state of the Drake Passage, the notoriously rough sea that sits between us and the pristine ice of Antarctica. As we leave the docks of the […]
“96 million really wanting a job and they can’t get (it). You know that story. The real number — that’s the real number.” Donald Trump cited this highly misleading statistic in his first press conference after the election. It was a claim with scant evidence, but he said it anyway. But what if someone could stop a world leader during a speech and demand proof? It may […]
Looking for a show about money, power, greed, and scandal? Then look no further than the Showtime original series Billions starring Paul Giamatti and Damian Lewis. And now is the time to catch up on all episodes since its season 2 premiere is about to air this month. While the hit series will come on after new episodes of Homeland, there are plenty of other fresh titles […]
By David Ljunggren and Rod Nickel | OTTAWA/WINNIPEG OTTAWA/WINNIPEG Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is taking a low key approach to dealing with U.S. President Donald Trump, seeking to avoid clashes while indirectly signalling the two leaders’ differences to a domestic audience. Insiders acknowledge the cautious strategy could anger progressives whose support helped bring Trudeau to power in 2015 but say for now, he has no choice […]
La Villette, a corrugated iron convention hall on the northern rim of Paris, was meant to be François Fillon’s launch pad towards the French presidency after winning the centre-right nomination in a landslide. But on Sunday he stood in the packed venue, days after claims emerged that the Republican candidate had allegedly employed his wife in a fake parliamentary job for years and, suddenly, victory seemed to […]
An international team of researchers has developed a new blue-phase liquid crystal that could enable televisions, computer screens and other displays that pack more pixels into the same space while also reducing the power needed to run the device. The new liquid crystal is optimized for field-sequential color liquid crystal displays (LCDs), a promising technology for next-generation displays. (via WSJ)
KINSHASA The death on Wednesday of Congo’s opposition leader Etienne Tshisekedi leaves opponents of President Joseph Kabila seriously weakened in their bid to force Kabila to quit power after he defied constitutional term limits to stay on last year. Democratic Republic of Congo has never experienced a peaceful transition of power and Kabila’s refusal to stand down when his final term expired in December has raised fears […]
In Cultural Amnesia, Clive James’s A-Z anthology of those responsible for moving and shaking the 20th century, we find in section “H” a sobering essay on a man who needs no introduction – Adolf Hitler – and an enlightening piece on a woman who does. Ricarda Huch (1864-1947) was a groundbreaking historian, novelist and philosopher. Thomas Mann called her the First Lady of Germany. James introduces her […]
Targeting the weak The us-versus-them dynamic is “easy for many people to rally around,” said Jonathan D. Weiler, a political scientist at the University of North Carolina. Targeting feared or unpopular minorities is a way of “setting a boundary,” said Sheri E. Berman, a political scientist at Barnard College — a way to distinguish between “us” deserving of protection, and “them” who are a threat. Continue reading […]
Grab has announced plans to invest US$700 million in Indonesia over the next four years, as part of efforts to increase its footprint in a market where it has seen growth. The Southeast Asian ride-sharing operator said Thursday the new investment would support the Indonesian government’s ambition of becoming the region’s largest digital economy by 2020. It would include plans to set up a research and development […]
It’s like straight from a psychological thriller, as retired policeman Brian Thomas remembers the shocking tales he heard from victims of the Malaysian serial rapist. PETALING JAYA: A retired police officer who was tasked with investigating Malaysian serial rapist Selva Kumar Subbiah more than two decades ago has warned that he still poses a threat upon his return to Malaysia. “If he were to stay in Malaysia […]
Authored by Paul Craig Roberts, President Trump says he wants the US to have better relations with Russia and to halt military operations against Muslim countries. But he is being undermined by the Pentagon. The commander of US forces in Europe, General Ben Hodges, has lined up tanks on Poland’s border with Russia and fired salvos that the general says are a message to Russia, not a […]
The banking caucus Economic stability and improved bank safety haven’t stopped supporters of the Choice Act from moving forward with tearing down Dodd-Frank. The bill was introduced in September by Rep. Jeb Hensarling, a Texas Republican who is a deregulation crusader and friend of Vice President Mike Pence; Pence represented Indiana in the House from 2001 to 2013 and was a critic of Dodd-Frank when the law […]
Telstra has said that as a result of a fire at its Chatswood exchange, it is possible that customers’ SMS messages have been delivered to people other than the intended recipients. “As a result of the Chatswood exchange fire today, it’s possible some SMS messages have been incorrectly delivered,” a Telstra spokesperson said. “As mentioned previously, customers won’t be receiving SMS messages in the short term while […]
The Turkish government is trying to shut down two journalists who left the country to publish their work. But they’re not giving up without a fight. Last week, journalists Can Dündar and Hayko Bağdat launched a website called Özgürüz that aims to publish independent journalism about Turkey from the relative safety of Germany. It’s a kind of pirate radio for Turkish journalists, informing the public amid a […]
