Early last year Olivier Leprêtre signed a new lease on a €2.7m fishing boat. Then the UK voted to leave the EU — and the trawlerman from Boulogne-sur-Mer on the other side of the Channel is already regretting his decision. “If I’d known Brexit would happen, I never would have signed,” he says, gesturing towards the British coastline just 50km away. “It could crush us.” His fears […]
A voracious thirst for petroleum makes the US one of the largest importers of oil. But for the past two weeks it has also scaled the ranks of exporters. Outbound shipments of crude have surpassed 1.2m barrels a day, more than last month’s daily production of Algeria, Ecuador or Qatar, each a member of Opec. The foreign sales underscore how the US has become more integrated into […]
Mobile apps designed to keep teens safe online are overwhelmingly focused on parental control, which may be only a short-term solution that hinders a teen’s ability to learn coping strategies in the long run. In a study of 74 Android mobile apps designed to promote adolescent online safety, the researchers said that 89 percent of security features on the apps are focused on parental control, while about […]
The Australian Communications Consumer Action Network (ACCAN) will continue to be funded as the peak body representing telecommunications consumers, following a review of section 593 of the Telecommunications Act 1997. In October 2016, the Department of Communications said it would be looking into the “effectiveness” of section 593 of the Act, pointing to “dramatic changes” that have occurred in the Australian telecommunications landscape over the last 20 […]
SHANGHAI An undisclosed buyer has placed the largest overseas order for China’s home-developed military drones, the Xinhua news agency has reported, in a boost for the Chinese arms industry’s efforts to increase export volumes. The order for the Wing Loong II was placed before the next-generation unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) successfully completed its maiden flight, Xinhua said late on Monday, citing the system’s developer Chengdu Aircraft Design […]
Light introduced through an optical fiber can determine whether a patient’s blood is coagulating by measuring the vibration of red blood cells. Credit: Andrii Pshenychnyi A University of Central Florida professor has invented a way to use light to continuously monitor a surgical patient’s blood, for the first time providing a real-time status during life-and-death operations. The technology developed by UCF scientist Aristide Dogariu uses an optical […]
Qatar’s January trade surplus increased by 62.2 percent from a year earlier, according to data released by the country’s Ministry of Development, Planning and Statistics. The country’s surplus rose to AED10.9 billion ($3 billion) in January from QR10.7 billion in December and up from QR6.7 billion in January 2016. Qatar’s December trade surplus, which increased 21.7 percent from a year earlier, was its only monthly rise in […]
As NASA prepares for its journey to Mars, one researcher is investigating why so many astronauts suffer from poorer vision after they return to Earth. (via WSJ)
The UAE is one of the world’s leading food and beverage markets, worth Dh52.4 billion in 2015, according to global market research group Euromonitor. Dubai alone has about 7,500 places to eat, from street cafes and fast-food outlets to fine-dining and high-end restaurants established by big-name chefs. Many will showcase their best dishes during Dubai Restaurant Week, which ends on Saturday. Click here for our guide. Jean-Luc […]
Narrowband Internet of Things (NB-IoT) and 5G are Huawei’s biggest opportunities for growth in Australia, according to the Chinese network technology giant, which is pushing into the IoT space via research programs and project partnerships. Speaking at Mobile World Congress (MWC) in Barcelona on Monday, Huawei Australia chair John Lord said providing NB-IoT solutions for such businesses as the agricultural sector, wineries, cattle stations, and energy utilities […]
Researchers examined whether new industrial applications could be developed for various types of sludge and fly ash generated by the paper and board industry. (via WSJ)
If your name is Fred, do you look like a Fred? You might — and others might think so, too. New research has found that people appear to be better than chance at correctly matching people’s names to their faces, and it may have something to do with cultural stereotypes we attach to names. (via WSJ)
Marking a significant technology breakthrough in tracking the interactions between RNA and DNA, scientists at the University of California have evolved a new technique. Known as Mapping RNA Genome Interactions, the tool “MARGI” renders full data of the entire spectrum of RNA molecules that interact with segments of DNA in a single analysis. The combination of RNA molecules with specific DNA sequences leads to regulated protein production […]
When Turkey’s children returned to school in September, there was something new on the curriculum: a week-by-week syllabus, mandated by the minister of education, celebrating what many call Turkey’s “second revolution”. Course materials included two slickly produced patriotic videos laced with references to President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s success in putting down the attempted coup on July 15. The first opens with an image of Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, […]
A group of researchers has developed the world’s first system for flexibly providing high-performance computation by cloud computing. (via WSJ)
Saudi Arabia may increase its domestic gasoline prices by 30 percent from July, industry sources said, part of a reform plan by the world’s top oil exporter to align its fuel prices with global benchmark levels. In December 2015 the kingdom raised the price of 95 octane gasoline to 0.90 riyal ($0.24) per litre from 0.60 riyal. However, that still kept Saudi Arabia among the countries with […]
Arto Nummela, Chief Executive Officer at HMD Global, shows the new re-launched Nokia 3310 phone, ahead of Monday’s opening of the Mobile World Congress wireless show in Barcelona, Spain, Sunday, Feb. 26, 2017. Finland-based HMD Global is re-launching the simple Nokia 3310 model along with unveiling three new devices at Mobile World Congress in Barcelona. (AP Photo/Emilio Morenatti) Samsung’s product showcase Sunday is notable for what’s missing: […]
Researchers have found that people who live in neighborhoods with a lot of birds, trees, and shrubs were less likelier to suffer from stress, anxiety, and depression. In a study published in the journal BioScience, researchers from the University of Queensland, the British Trust for Ornithology, and the University of Exeter showed that benefit was observed regardless if the subjects lived in urban or leafier suburban communities […]
On Tuesday evening, Donald Trump will head to Capitol Hill to deliver an address to both houses of Congress. Such speeches have provided the US president’s predecessors with the opportunity to convey three main messages: their assessment of the country’s overall situation, the domestic legislative programme they hope Congress will pass in coming months and the main areas of global focus — all this in the context […]
Researchers has succeeded in measuring the brightnesses and temperatures of Saturn’s rings using the mid-infrared images taken by the Subaru Telescope in 2008. They reveal that, at that time, the Cassini Division and the C ring were brighter than the other rings in the mid-infrared light and that the brightness contrast appeared to be the inverse of that seen in the visible light. The data give important […]
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. Anti-Trump fervor is especially rampant along the Acela Corridor, and now our most famous paper surfaces with a provocative — if belated — ad campaign at a time of marketing need. On Thursday, The New York Times announced a campaign […]
Photo Marine Corps jets flew over the pyramids of Egypt during a military exercise in 1999. Credit Staff Sgt. Jim Varhegyi/United States Air Force CAIRO — The top commander of American military operations in the Middle East said during a visit here on Sunday that the United States wanted to resume a major military exercise with Egypt that President Barack Obama had canceled in 2013 to protest […]
Monday 08:50 GMT Overview European stock markets are making gains, tracking another set of record highs for Wall Street’s main equities gauges. The rally reaches the region even after Asia missed out, with banking and commodity stocks leading a sell-off there. Hot topic US equity futures are pointing to further gains after a late rally on Friday pushed the S&P 500 up 0.2 per cent while the […]
Submitted by Alex Gorka via The Strategic Culture Foundation, The rifts within the EU continue to widen as Poland and Hungary join together in opposition to the EU bureaucracy. Soon after Poland’s ultra-conservative Law and Justice (PiS) party came to power in October 2015, the Polish parliament passed a law allowing the government to appoint the judges of its choosing to the highest court and not recognize […]
