Muscat, December 06, 2016 Bank Sohar endeavours to provide its customers with the highest possible level of banking security at all times. The recent introduction of ‘Chip and Pin’ technology into its Excel Debit Cards comes as part of this commitment and the distribution of these cards to customers is now well under way across the Bank’s branch network. Customers still using the older magnetic stripe cards […]
U.S. President-elect Donald Trump said on Monday he would name retired neurosurgeon Ben Carson as secretary of the Department of Housing and Urban Development. The following is a list of Republican Trump’s selections for top jobs in his administration. All the posts but that of national security adviser require Senate confirmation: DEFENCE SECRETARY: JAMES MATTIS Mattis is a retired Marine Corps general known for his tough talk, […]
By Roberta Rampton and Ben Blanchard | WASHINGTON/BEIJING WASHINGTON/BEIJING The White House said on Monday it had sought to reassure China after President-elect Donald Trump’s phone call with Taiwan’s leader last week, which the Obama administration warned could undermine progress in relations with Beijing. The statement from a spokesman for U.S. President Barack Obama highlighted concerns about the potential fallout from Trump’s unusual call with Taiwan President […]
By Michelle Nichols | UNITED NATIONS UNITED NATIONS Russia and China on Monday vetoed a U.N. Security Council resolution that would have demanded a seven-day truce in Syria’s Aleppo, with Russia arguing it would allow rebels to regroup and that time was needed for talks between Washington and Moscow. It was the sixth time Russia has vetoed a Security Council resolution on Syria since the conflict started […]
The stable version of the Android 7.1.1 Nougat was previously reported to be launching on Dec. 6. The operating system update is said to coincide with the December security patch. However, a report claims that Google has started to roll out Android 7.1.1 Nougat earlier than the mentioned date, which means that owners of the devices who will receive the update can expect it to arrive very […]
By Dominic Evans and Ahmed Rasheed | BAGHDAD BAGHDAD Western-backed Iraqi forces have begun shelling parts of west Mosul, residents said, in preparation for a new front against Islamic State seven weeks into a difficult campaign to drive the militants from the city. Federal police forces, stationed a few miles (km) south of Mosul, on the west bank of the Tigris river that divides the city, have […]
ATHENS A Greek court ruled against the extradition to Turkey of three Turkish soldiers who fled to Greece after an abortive coup attempt against President Tayyip Erdogan in July, their lawyer and court officials said on Monday. Turkey said the soldiers, eight in total, were involved in a July 16 coup attempt, an allegation they have denied. “I am very pleased with the ruling, they shouldn’t have […]
BEIJING Iran’s nuclear deal with six major powers should continue regardless of changes in the internal situation of participant nations, China’s Foreign Minister Wang Yi told Iran’s visiting foreign minister during a meeting in Beijing on Monday. The future of the deal to curb Iran’s nuclear programme has been thrown into jeopardy with U.S. President-elect Donald Trump set to take office next month. During his election campaign […]
Jayaram Jayalalithaa, the chief minister of the southern state of Tamil Nadu and one of India’s most powerful politicians, was in “very critical” condition Monday, a day after she suffered a cardiac arrest, according to authorities at the hospital where she is being treated. Ms. Jayalalithaa, who has a cult-like following, was on life support systems, Apollo Hospitals said in statement Monday afternoon. Four doctors from New […]
BEIJING China’s Foreign Ministry expressed displeasure on Monday after President Barack Obama blocked a Chinese investment fund from acquiring the U.S. business of German semiconductor equipment maker Aixtron (AIXGn.DE). Obama’s executive order barring China’s Fujian Grand Chip Investment Fund (FGC) from completing the acquisition of a German company with American assets was one of only a few such instances in which a U.S. president has blocked a […]
By Idrees Ali | ABOARD A US MILITARY AIRCRAFT ABOARD A US MILITARY AIRCRAFT While the fight to retake the Iraqi city of Mosul from Islamic State is going to be difficult, it is “possible” it could be complete before President-elect Donald Trump takes office, U.S. Defense Secretary Ash Carter said on Monday. Some 100,000 Iraqi government troops, Kurdish security forces and mainly Shi’ite militiamen are participating […]
In late July, Moussa Aksar, the director of Niger’s L’Évènement newspaper, answered his phone and heard a familiar voice warning him that he was, once again, in danger. “Be careful,” a friendly source told Aksar. “Look out for yourself and be careful what you say on the phone.” Aksar had just published Niger’s first exposé from the Panama Papers, the investigation based on a leak of documents […]
Following a successful listing on the Australian Securities Exchange (ASX) on November 17 with a market capitalisation of AU$23 million, conversational commerce company Flamingo is now looking at Australia as a key market, with online lending marketplace DirectMoney being announced as its first local client. Born in Australia and based in the US, Flamingo is a software-as-a-service (SaaS) company that provides an “intelligent guided selling platform” to […]
The Department of Human Services (DHS) has implemented an online compliance system that is using automation to help locate funds owed to the Commonwealth. Approximately AU$4.5 million that has gone awry is being pointed to each day by the online compliance system, allowing DHS to kick off the process to reclaim the funds. Before the new system, only AU$295,000 in missing funds was highlighted every 24 hours. […]
BEIRUT As Syrian government forces advanced into Aleppo’s rebel-held al-Sakhour district, Hasan al-Ali said he faced the choice of staying put and being caught by the army, or fleeing into a shrinking rebel enclave under relentless bombardment. A father of three children, he opted for the latter, though food, fuel, water and medicine are running critically low in rebel-held areas, such is his fear of the Syrian […]
Boston Dynamics has already developed a robot that can maintain its balance in uneven terrain involving a four-legged robot called BigDog. Now, the company through a third-party technology has just achieved the same feat but this time it involves a humanoid robot. IHMC Algorithm The new development is attributed to an algorithm developed by the Institute for Human and Machine Cognition Robotics Lab in Florida, which allows humanoid […]
By Ali Sawafta | RAMALLAH, West Bank RAMALLAH, West Bank Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas kept a strong grip on his Fatah movement in an election in which his loyalists remained dominant in its top decision-making body, final results showed on Sunday. The outcome of the voting, held on Saturday during the first congress of Abbas’s Fatah party for seven years, signalled no change in a policy of […]
By Saif Hameed and Ulf Laessing | BAGHDAD/BARTELLA, Iraq BAGHDAD/BARTELLA, Iraq Islamic State fighters retreating in the face of a seven-week Iraqi military assault on their Mosul stronghold have hit back in the last two days, exploiting cloudy skies which hampered U.S.-led air support and highlighting the fragile army gains. In a series of counter-attacks since Friday night, the jihadist fighters struck elite Iraqi troops spearheading the […]
Italians and Austrians headed to the polls in closely watched votes on Sunday that will gauge the strength of Europe’s populist and extreme right political parties. Italy’s constitutional referendum on Sunday will determine the political future of prime minister Matteo Renzi and test anti-establishment parties in the eurozone’s third-largest economy. The plebiscite on Mr Renzi’s flagship overhaul — which would shrink the powers of the Italian senate […]
LONDON British Prime Minister Theresa May is cracking down on unauthorised leaks by ministers and civil servants on her Brexit plans, a leaked memo to the Mail on Sunday newspaper said. Cabinet Secretary Jeremy Heywood has written to senior officials to tell them that May wants to “urgently tighten security processes” and that anyone found to have leaked sensitive information will be dismissed, according to the memo. […]
Microsoft Ventures, Microsoft’s venture-funding group, has been adding more companies to its investment portfolio over the last couple of months. In May, Microsoft announced plans to create Microsoft Ventures, a small early-stage investment group targeting startups in the cloud, security and machine-learning markets. In October, Microsoft created a new site for its Ventures arm that listed 10 concerns in which it had invested to date. (At that […]
By Sanjeev Miglani | AMRITSAR, India AMRITSAR, India Afghan President Ashraf Ghani said on Sunday that the Taliban insurgency would not survive a month if it lost its sanctuary in neighbouring Pakistan, urging its neighbour to take on militant groups on its soil instead of giving Kabul financial aid. Ghani’s remarks, made at an international conference in the northern Indian city of Amritsar not far from the […]
India is an interesting country when it comes to Internet access. On the one hand, India has the second most Internet subscribers in the world. There are over 450 million people online here. On the other hand, we also have the largest number… Date published 02 December 2016 The UK’s Information Commissioner, Elizabeth Denham, has been in post just under four months, but already the differences between […]
There is an old adage that trust takes years to build, seconds to break, and forever to repair. When it comes to the Internet and its users, the same holds true. For average Internet users, trust in the Internet has to be built. They have to gain confidence in the safety of their private information online. When a user’s private online information is made public, they lose […]
