By JODI RUDOREN May 31, 2015 JERUSALEM — Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel said on Sunday that his country faces “an international campaign to blacken its name” based not on his policies toward the Palestinians but “connected to our very existence,” likening the mounting boycott movement to anti-Semitic “libels” of earlier eras. Speaking to his cabinet after Israel’s successful diplomatic blitz to block a Palestinian bid to suspend […]
The word ‘password’ is pictured on a computer screen in this picture illustration taken in Berlin May 21, 2013. Reuters/Pawel Kopczynski/Files WASHINGTON At 3:59 p.m. EDT on Sunday, the National Security Agency and telecommunications companies will begin mothballing a once-secret system that collected Americans’ bulk telephone records, shutting down computers and sealing off warehouses of digital data. If the U.S. Congress fails to act, key provisions of […]
Japanese Defense Minister Gen Nakatani (L-R), Japanese Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry and U.S. Secretary of Defense Ash Carter shake hands following a news conference as part of the U.S.-Japan Security Consultative Committee (2+2) meeting… Reuters/Andrew Kelly/Files TOKYO The United States will extend its cyber defense umbrella over Japan, helping its Asian ally cope with the growing threat of online attacks against […]
Diane Foley in August after ISIS beheaded her son, James. She has taken part in a review of government policy on hostages. By JULIE HIRSCHFELD DAVIS May 29, 2015 WASHINGTON — When President Obama met recently with the mother of James Foley, the American hostage beheaded last August by the Islamic State, she said, he told her that freeing her son and the other American hostages held with him had […]
UAE. Etihad Airways, the national airline of the United Arab Emirates, achieved its strongest financial results to date in 2014, posting a net profit of US$ 73 million on total revenues of US$ 7.6 billion, up 52.1 per cent and 26.7 per cent respectively over the previous year. 2014 PEFORMANCE SUMMARY OF ETIHAD AIRWAYS *The above results represent the standalone airline business within the newly formed Etihad […]
ABU DHABI // Amid the sound of screeching tyres, the roar of engines and the smell of burnt rubber and petrol, cars line up for head-to-head races on the drag strip. Spectators excitedly watch from the stands, while other drivers in their souped-up sports cars and 4x4s line up, waiting for their turn. This is the scene at the Yas Drag Nights, which take place twice a […]
The site of an explosion near a Shiite mosque in Dammam, Saudi Arabia, on Friday. By BEN HUBBARD May 29, 2015 BEIRUT, Lebanon — A suicide bomber dressed in women’s clothing detonated his explosive belt near the entrance to a Shiite mosque in eastern Saudi Arabia on Friday, killing three other people, according to Saudi state media. The Islamic State jihadist group claimed responsibility, as it did just a […]
Given the lukewarm response received so far to wearable technology, it makes sense that Google would want to expand the definition of the term. So the company has introduced Project Soli, an attempt by its Advanced Technology and Projects (ATAP) division to harness the power of hand and finger manipulation to make it easier to interact with ever-smaller devices and screens. The idea behind the technology, introduced […]
Tech giant Apple has acquired Metaio, a company that creates tools for authoring, rendering and managing augmented-reality applications, for an undisclosed sum, according to legal documents filed in Germany. A notarized registration form filed in a Munich court indicates that 29,121 Euros (around $32,000) in shares held by Metaio were transferred to Apple last week. Based in Munich, Metaio was founded in 2003. The company grew out […]
Avago Technologies Ltd (AVGO.O) agreed on Thursday to buy Broadcom Corp (BRCM.O) for $37 billion in the largest merger of chipmakers ever, turning a lesser known company run by a ferocious dealmaker into one of the biggest industry players. Avago, which serves the wireless and industrial markets, is offering Broadcom shareholders $17 billion in cash and Avago shares valued at $20 billion. Broadcom is best known for […]
Op-Ed Contributor By NICHOLAS MCGEEHAN May 28, 2015 LONDON — On May 11, the Lebanese artist Walid Raad was turned away at the airport when he tried to enter the United Arab Emirates, where the government is making a big investment in art with the Saadiyat Island project. The project, in the capital, Abu Dhabi, will include branches of the Louvre and the Guggenheim as well as a campus […]
Mosed Shaye Omar, 64, a naturalized American citizen since 1978, sued the State Department and Secretary John Kerry, claiming he was coerced into acknowledging that he had a name different from what was on his passport. By LIZ ROBBINS May 27, 2015 For nearly five hours on Jan. 21, 2013, in a windowless room at the United States Embassy in Sana, Yemen, an American citizen and Brooklyn grocery store […]
Travel tech firm moves to Microsoft Azure cloud technology DUBAI, 22 days ago Microsoft has signed a strategic deal with Illusions, a Dubai-based travel tech firm, to support the transfer of the company’s entire business operating platform onto Microsoft’s cloud technology, Azure, an initiative aimed at enhancing productivity and client satisfaction. The move to Azure will incorporate the existing system on which Illusions operates to provide services […]
By RICK GLADSTONE May 27, 2015 France challenged Iran’s supreme leader on Wednesday over a disputed element of the Iranian nuclear talks, asserting that it would not sign any pact unless Iran allowed all its nuclear installations, including military sites, to be inspected. The French position was stated by the foreign minister, Laurent Fabius, just as negotiations reconvened in Vienna with the aim of reaching a final agreement by […]
As virtual-reality enthusiasts await the first consumer edition of Oculus Rift next year, Facebook, which owns the game and the firm that makes it, is beefing up its talent roster. Oculus Wednesday said it acquired a trio of 3D reconstruction experts from computer vision firm Surreal Vision. The three founders of the UK-based immersive technology company will be moving over to Oculus: Richard Newcombe, the inventor of […]
A motorcyclist rides past the entrance of the headquarters of Hon Hai, which is also known by its trading name Foxconn, in Tucheng, New Taipei city, December 24, 2013. Reuters/Pichi Chuang/Files GUIYANG, China Taiwan’s Foxconn Technology, the world’s largest contract electronics manufacturer, is aiming to develop 10-12 facilities in India, including factories and data centres, by 2020, Chairman Terry Gou said on Tuesday. The company could spend […]
JORDAN. Technology will be a “game changer” in tackling youth unemployment in the Middle East and North Africa’s emerging Digital Economy, but only if the government, private, and people sectors collaborate effectively, according to a new report released on the eve of the World Economic Forum on the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) 2015. The report “Re-Dynamizing the Job Machine: Technology-Driven Transformation of Labor Markets in […]
|By Alaa Alghamdi|I feel very proud of our King that, several weeks ago, he took a stand in favour of equality and against racism, even when it meant alienating a family member. King Salman promptly forbade his kin to appear in televised media, as he considered him a poor spokesperson for the royal family and for our country. King Salman made a judicious decision. Perhaps he, like […]
ABU DHABI // A family of children as young as 8 is living in squalor and deprivation, with social services powerless to intervene because they have no legal authority to do so. The 10 children, the eldest of whom is 24 and mentally ill, sleep on the floor in two outdoor rooms reeking of urine and faeces and littered with rubbish. Their kitchen overflows with dirty dishes […]
An anonymous painting of Turkish Emperor Mahmud II leading his troops. By DAVID MOTADEL May 23, 2015 CAMBRIDGE, England — THE last several months have brought a dramatic escalation in conflict across the Middle East, almost all of it involving tensions between Sunni and Shiite Muslims — which are in turn fueled by a power struggle between Shiite Iran and Sunni Saudi Arabia for regional supremacy. Tehran runs a […]
Buildings that were destroyed during the 50-day war last year between Israel and Hamas militants in the Gaza Strip. By DIAA HADID May 22, 2015 RAMALLAH, West Bank — Gaza’s war-battered economy is on the “verge of collapse,” dragged down by soaring unemployment rates that followed last summer’s war with Israel, border restrictions and government dysfunction, the World Bank says in a new report. Infighting between Gaza’s Islamist Hamas […]
UAE. The findings of a new study by The Boston Consulting Group (BCG), a global management consulting firm and the world’s leading advisor on business strategy, shows that mobile technologies are creating immense value for consumers – value that greatly exceeds the costs of owning a mobile device. In fact, consumers worldwide value mobile technologies at 11 to 45 percent of their income – well above what […]
UAE. Landmark real estate regulatory changes including the UAE-wide Federal Mortgage Cap and Dubai’s doubling of Property Registration Fees last year, which was aimed at curbing speculative activity, have together gradually and successfully contained a market that was in danger of overheating with the level of transactional activity now dramatically reduced, according to latest research released by international real estate consultancy Cluttons. Cluttons Spring 2015 Dubai Residential […]
