An unabashed Donald Trump called for warmer US relations with Russia on Wednesday as his firing of FBI director James Comey sparked pressure from Democrats for an independent probe of his election campaign’s alleged ties to Moscow. Mr Comey’s dismissal shook Washington, igniting the biggest crisis of Mr Trump’s presidency as opponents amplified allegations throughout the day that the president was seeking to frustrate the FBI probe. […]
By Dustin Volz | WASHINGTON WASHINGTON A U.S. far-right online activist credited with initially sharing on Twitter hacked emails from the French presidential campaign of centrist Emmanuel Macron is the latest conservative media figure to receive White House access from the Trump administration. Jack Posobiec, a Washington-based writer at the Rebel Media, a Canadian online political and social news commentary platform, attended the daily press briefing on […]
By Mark Hosenball and David Shepardson | WASHINGTON WASHINGTON The Trump administration is likely to expand a ban on laptops on commercial aircraft to include some European countries, but is reviewing how to ensure lithium batteries stored in luggage holds do not explode in midair, officials briefed on the matter said on Wednesday. Any expansion of the ban could impact U.S. carriers such as United Airlines (UAL.N), […]
Senators from both sides of the aisle wrote to President Donald Trump on Wednesday urging him to take a tougher line with Beijing in the South China Sea, calling for more U.S. naval patrols to uphold navigation rights in the disputed waterway. The appeal, backed by three Republicans and four Democrats, reflects growing concern in Congress that the Trump administration could be ceding strategic ground to China […]
PARIS Several French news companies, including Le Monde and Le Figaro, said their websites went temporarily offline on Wednesday because a company that helps speed delivery of their content was hit by a cyber attack. The company, Cedexis, said it had come under a “unique and sophisticated” distributed denial of service attack, which is when hijacked and virus-infected computers target networks with data requests until they can […]
Three women from London, including a mother and daughter, were charged on Wednesday with preparation of a terrorist act and conspiracy to murder, police said. Khawla Barghouthi, 20, of northwest London, Rizlaine Boular, 21, of central London, and her mother Mina Dich, 43, of southwest London, are due to appear at Westminster Magistrates’ Court on Thursday, the Metropolitan Police said. The three were arrested last month. Britain […]
The latest version of Opera is called “Reborn” and it aims to rethink the browser, adding a special new sidebar for messaging. The new sidebar has baked-in shortcuts for WhatsApp, Facebook Messenger, and Telegram, allowing users to handle messages quickly and easily without having to open a separate tab or leave their current tab. The messaging sidebar is built right into the browser interface and once users […]
The Emir of Kuwait, Sheikh Sabah al Ahmad al Sabah, and the President of Turkey, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, on Tuesday officially inaugurated the start of heavy construction of Kuwait International Airport’s new passenger terminal. The new KD1.31 billion ($4.27 billion) passenger terminal is currently being built by the Turkey-based construction company Limak Insaat, and will have the capacity to handle 25 million passengers per year and accommodate […]
Jes Staley, chief executive of Barclays, has apologised to shareholders for the “error” he admitted he had made in trying to uncover the identity of a whistleblower. In an attempt to take the sting out of the bank’s annual meeting on Wednesday, the Barclays CEO said: “I feel it is important that I acknowledge to you, our shareholders, that I made a mistake in becoming involved in […]
BEIRUT Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei warned on Wednesday that any attempts to disrupt the presidential election on May 19 would be dealt with harshly. The vote has shaped up to be primarily a contest between incumbent president Hassan Rouhani, a pragmatist who has campaigned on a platform of opening up the country to the West and easing social restrictions, and hardline rival Ebrahim Raisi, who […]
Adobe has patched a number of vulnerabilities in Flash Player and Adobe Experience Manager (AEM) Forms in the company’s latest round of patch updates. According to the tech giant’s latest security advisory, seven critical issues (CVE-2017-3068, CVE-2017-3069, CVE-2017-3070, CVE-2017-3072, CVE-2017-3073, CVE-2017-3074) have now been resolved in Flash. Six of the bugs are memory corruption issues and the seventh problem (CVE-2017-3071) is a use-after-free vulnerability. All of the […]
SEOUL South Korea President Moon Jae-in, announcing his first cabinet and presidential staff appointments, named an expert on North Korean affairs to head the National Intelligence Service (NIS), the presidential office said on Wednesday. Suh Hoon worked at the NIS for 28 years, during which time he planned and took part in negotiations for two summit meetings between North and South Korea, the Blue House said in […]
It took Richard Nixon five months to fire the man investigating him. It took Donald Trump less than four. The difference is that Mr Nixon did little to conceal his motive — to save his presidency. Mr Trump, on the other hand, says he fired James Comey for having mishandled last year’s email investigation into Hillary Clinton. Even by Mr Trump’s standards, this stretches credulity. Mr Trump […]
The World Health Organization, the public health arm of the United Nations, reported 2,022 suspected cases of cholera and acute watery diarrhea in Yemen from April 27 to this past Sunday, including at least 34 deaths. Continue reading the main story Cholera has long been an underlying risk in Yemen, but it subsided during the cold winter months this year. With the sudden spike of cases, health […]
By Girish Gupta and Christian Veron | CARACAS CARACAS Venezuela’s opposition protests on Wednesday may be the messiest in a six-week wave of unrest as demonstrators prepare to throw faeces at security forces, adding to the customary rocks, petrol bombs and tear gas. The new tactic has been dubbed the “Poopootov” in a play on the Molotov cocktail often seen at streets protests in Venezuela. “They have […]
By Steve Holland and Jeff Mason | WASHINGTON WASHINGTON U.S. President Donald Trump on Tuesday abruptly fired FBI Director James Comey in the fallout over Comey’s probe of Democrat Hillary Clinton’s emails last year, saying Comey was no longer able to effectively lead the law enforcement agency. Comey had been leading an FBI investigation into allegations of Russian meddling in the 2016 U.S. presidential election and possible […]
Microsoft is continuing to tweak its Windows as a Service updating and patching strategy. Company officials announced some of the latest adjustments during last week’s Ask Me Anything (AMA) about Windows as a Service on the Microsoft Tech Comunity site. Microsoft officials have been hinting that the company is working to align the patching and updating strategies for Windows 10 and Office, moving forward. It turns out […]
By Se Young Lee and Ju-min Park | SEOUL SEOUL South Korea’s liberal leader Moon Jae-in will take the oath of office as president on Wednesday, tasked with navigating the country out of rising geopolitical tensions over North Korea’s nuclear programme and the risk of a rift with the United States. Moon, 64, is expected to announce major cabinet and presidential staff appointments as early as Wednesday […]
Turkey was informed of Mr. Trump’s decision, according to an American official who spoke on the condition of anonymity because he was discussing private diplomatic communications. Continue reading the main story The Turkish government had no immediate reaction, with officials declining to comment before Mr. Erdogan’s office did. But the move was likely to anger Mr. Erdogan, who has been pressing the United States to lessen its […]
By Allison Lampert | MONTREAL MONTREAL A United Nations agency has launched efforts to craft global guidance for the use of laptops and other portable electronics in aircraft passenger cabins after selective bans by the United States and Britain, made in response to security threats, angered some passengers and Middle East airlines. The International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) has pushed forward with the plan after certain countries […]
JEDDAH: Syrian Foreign Minister Walid Al-Moallem said on Monday his country would reject any UN role in monitoring the implementation of four “de-escalation” zones.“We do not accept a role for the UN or international forces to monitor the agreement,” Al-Moallem told reporters in Damascus.Regime backers Russia and Iran and opposition supporter Turkey reached a deal on Thursday on four “de-escalation zones” in Syria where the regime and […]
Moon Jae-in has triumphed in the South Korean presidential election with over 40 percent of the vote, according to exit polls. But the liberal leader’s solid victory can’t patch over deeper political wounds. Just as the United Kingdom’s vote to leave the European Union left British society divided and Donald Trump’s election polarized Americans, the impeachment of Park Geun-hye has split South Korea. While more than 75 […]
A ransomware attack against any business could be potentially devastating, but there are some sectors which are more at risk from file-encrypting attacks than others, as cybercriminals prey on industries which can’t afford to not have access to their networks. Ransomware has boomed over the last 18 months, growing from an annoyance which targeted home PC users with moderate ransom demands, to a billion-dollar industry, with cybercriminals […]
BEIJING China’s military has conducted live-fire drills and weapons tests in the northeastern Bohai Sea close to the Korean peninsula, the country’s defence ministry said on Tuesday. In a brief statement late on Tuesday, the ministry said the tests of new missiles and weapons were carried out by the People’s Liberation Army’s Rocket Force “in recent days” and were designed to raise operational capability so as to […]
