LONDON (Thomson Reuters Foundation) – As university students mill around a bright and airy study hall in London, Eiad Zinah converses in his native language Arabic with a female student from Germany. It is the first time the pair have met for a language tuition session – and it is the Syrian refugee who is running the tutorial today, not the other way around. “It’s an amazing […]
Ken Miller Crunch Network Contributor Ken Miller is an investor, writer, and advisor to several technology companies and Venture Capital firms. Previously he was an Executive at PayPal and Intuit, and early Advisor to Square. More posts by this contributor: How to join the network Pundits and Monday morning quarterbacks have spent much of the last two months lost in a fog of speculation and assertions as […]
(UPDATED) Forced evacuation has been ordered in several flood- and landslide-prone barangays. Some parts of the city are in neck-deep water. Bobby Lagsa Published 2:15 AM, January 17, 2017 Updated 2:37 AM, January 17, 2017 STRANDED. Vehicles and commuters have been stranded in Cagayan de Oro since Monday night, January 16, after nonstop rains triggered flash floods across the city. Photo by Bobby Lagsa/Rappler CAGAYAN DE ORO, […]
He was the president who took out Osama bin Laden but was blindsided by Isis; who made Asia his priority but saw his trade deal for the region stymied; who built bridges with once sworn enemies in Cuba and Iran but who sparred with allies in Israel and Saudi Arabia. The mixed and sometimes messy foreign policy legacy of Barack Obama includes a climate change agreement and […]
Turkey’s biggest headache, its crashing currency which the central banks appears unable to contain due to an Erdogan order not to hike rates, could soon translate into another major problem. According to two senior economy officials, Turkish inflation could reach double digits in the first quarter for the first time in almost five years as a result of the lira’s falls, putting more pressure on the central […]
By Isabel Coles | MOSUL, Iraq MOSUL, Iraq Iraqi special forces battled Islamic State militants in districts near the Tigris river in Mosul on Monday as they sought to bring more of the east of the city back under government control. The latest clashes occurred in the neighbouring Shurta and Andalus districts. At least three Islamic State suicide car bombs targeted Iraqi forces in Andalus. There was […]
By Alessandra Prentice | KIEV KIEV Outgoing U.S. Vice President Joe Biden called on Monday for sanctions on Russia to stay, urging the world to stand up to its “coercion and aggression” after President-elect Donald Trump mooted ending the measures under a possible deal with Moscow. Speaking on a swan song visit to Kiev, Biden said the G7 nations and European Union should lift the sanctions only […]
An electricity crisis that has caused protests and unrest in the Gaza Strip eased on Monday after Qatar donated $12 million to buy fuel for the Palestinian enclave’s lone power plant, officials said. For weeks, Gaza’s population of 2 million has been making do with barely a few hours a day of electricity – less than half its usual supply. The Energy Authority run by the enclave’s […]
Driverless: Intelligent Cars and the Road Ahead • By Hod Lipson and Melba Kurman • MIT Press • 328 pages • ISBN: 978-0262035224 • £19.95 / $29.95 There is an old joke that has Bill Gates, then CEO of Microsoft, boast to the CEO of General Motors that if Microsoft built cars, they would cost $25 and get 1,000 miles per gallon. The GM CEO is supposed […]
Nearly everyone who’s played Super Mario Bros. knows instinctively what the first level looks like. Mario is left-of-center, he moves to the right, the screen pans around the platform, there’s the first question block — gleaming subtly, which is important, but more on that later — and then a goomba trundles toward Mario. This point in the game is crucial. The player either loses a life upon […]
Fraugster, a German and Israeli startup that has developed Artificial Intelligence (AI) technology to help eliminate payment fraud, has raised $5 million in funding. Earlybird led the round, alongside existing investors Speedinvest, Seedcamp and an unnamed large Swiss family office. The new capital will be used to add to Fraugster’s headcount as it expands internationally. Founded in 2014 by Max Laemmle, who previously co-founded payment gateway company […]
SEOUL South Korean conglomerate Samsung Group said on Monday it could not accept the special prosecutors’ accusations that its leader, Jay Y. Lee, paid bribes to further his succession or the merger of two affiliates in 2015. “It is difficult to understand the special prosecution’s decision,” Samsung Group said in an email statement in response to the special prosecutors’ decision to request an arrest warrant for Lee, […]
DUBAI/TEHRAN: Iran will not renegotiate its nuclear agreement with world powers, even if it faces new US sanctions after Donald Trump becomes president, Deputy Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said on Sunday.US “hostility” to Iran is growing day by day despite Tehran’s nuclear deal, the senior Iranian official said, ahead of the first anniversary of the historic accord.“The United States has done whatever it can do (to) slow […]
PRIEN, Germany Some 30 swimmers braved the frosty waters of Germany’s Chiemsee over the weekend, racing to be crowned “Ice King” of the famous lake near Munich. In driving snow, with air temperatures around freezing and water temperatures around 4 degrees Celsius, men and women competed in several disciplines such as breast stroke and freestyle in a 50 m course off the town of Prien. The lake […]
SYDNEY Plans to provide government support to keep open a 30-year-old aluminum smelter in Australia owned by Alcoa (AA.N) have made “progress”, parties involved in talks said on Monday without giving details. The government is offering financial support to help supply the Portland smelter in southern Australia with sufficient power in the wake of a blackout late last year that left it running at only one-third of […]
Your daily guide to community and cultural activities across the Emirates for January 16, 2017, including performances, festivals, art exhibitions, film screenings, health and fitness events, talks, classes, workshops and family fun. newslide Nationwide New movie In Into the Forest, sisters Nell and Eva (Ellen Page (pictured) and Evan Rachel Wood) find themselves in a battle to survive on their own at their isolated home in the […]
Seldom have such small chips carried such a heavy load. China’s fledgling semiconductor industry, after a messy birth, now finds itself in the crosshairs of conflicting political goals in Beijing and Washington. Chips are a key plank of China’s industrial plans, attracting a massive $150bn government subsidy. This reflects national angst over reliance on overseas markets — it spends more on importing semiconductors than oil — and […]
The Sea-based X-Band Radar has deployed out of Pearl Harbor after North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un recently said his country was in the “final stages” of test-launching an intercontinental ballistic missile. Media sources reported that the SBX was being sent about 2,000 miles northwest of Hawaii to watch for a possible North Korean launch in coming months. The Pentagon downplayed the floating radar’s Monday departure. As […]
By Richard Balmforth | PARIS PARIS Former Prime Minister Manuel Valls, long tipped to win the left-wing ticket for France’s presidential election this spring, trailed his rivals after a debate on Sunday where his immigration policies came under fire. In the televised debate, Valls faced six other contenders ahead of a Socialist primary starting on Jan. 22 to pick a candidate who can keep next May’s presidential […]
The media was rife with ‘I told you so’ headlines yesterday, after reports from more unnamed sources said the first order of business for the Trump administration was to hold a summit with Vladimir Putin, in Iceland, just like Reagan did with Gorbachev, circa 1986. The headlines were smug and the Twitterati of newly born left wing militarist war mongers were resplendent with calls for martial law or […]
Human rights organizations from all over the world have flooded American President Barrack Obama’s office with more than a million signatures asking the president to pardon NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden. Edward Snowden, former employee of the NSA in the U.S., copied and leaked classified information from the agency, disclosing illegal mass surveillance on Americans. The pardon request comes at a vital time in U.S. political history as […]
Happy New Year! Along with the excitement and expectations each new year brings, 2017 marks a significant milestone for the Internet Society. This year, we celebrate 25 years of dedication to an open, secure Internet that benefits all people throughout the world. We all know how far the Internet has come since the early 1990’s, but today our work has never been more important. As the Internet […]
Image: Carnival The cruise industry is following the high-tech wave with the introduction of a new machine-learning wearable device for passengers that Carnival CEO Arnold Donald announced at CES 2017. A lot has been written about the move and it’s shaping up to be one of the most significant Internet of Things projects of 2017. We’ve covered it extensively on ZDNet and TechRepublic and here we’ve broken […]
BANGKOK Thailand faces more hardship from unseasonable floods that have killed 40 people in its south, with more rain expected in the major rubber-producing and tourist region in coming days, a top disaster agency official said on Sunday. Persistent heavy rain well into what should be the dry season has triggered floods across the south, cutting road and rail links, threatening crops and affecting about 1.6 million […]
