Over the years, we’ve seen technologies push the envelope on reality. When the Iranians shot off a bunch of missiles in 2008, for example, it was quickly discovered that they fired only one missile and just Photoshopped the rest in. More recently, on social media, it can be difficult to know fact from fiction. Now we have Lyrebird, a Montreal-based startup that says it can […]
Modest dress is enjoying a renaissance. Fashion brands are increasingly embracing the long-held view shared by those in region that style does not have to equate to revealing a lot of flesh. Building on the foundations of sensuality over sexuality, and demure over décolletage, the West is finally catching up with the Middle East in terms of tasteful dressing. Women in the Middle East have long expressed […]
Twitter on Thursday rallied more than 11 per cent in pre-market activity, after it announced better than expected earnings and revenues, and significantly increased its active userbase on the platform. The social media company posted first quarter revenues of $548m, down 8 per cent year over year, marking the first fall in sales on record, but still exceeding estimates. It recorded a net loss of $62m, significantly […]
A Boston Dynamics Spot robot—speakers at the TED conference believe in the future intelligent machines will help humans look after the elderly Intelligent machines of the future will help restore memory, mind your children, fetch your coffee and even care for aging parents. It will all be part of a brave new world of the not-so-distant future, in which innovative smart machines, rather than being the undoing […]
At the start of his opinion in the Panama case, Justice Khosa mentions the novel ‘The Godfather’ which he says was made into an acclaimed film. The original film was followed by another: ‘The Godfather Part II’. This sequel is widely regarded to be better than the original. Will the follow-up verdict by the Supreme Court in the Panama case enjoy a similar fate? Before reading out […]
Credit Suisse has launched a SFr4bn ($4bn) share issue and said it will abandon plans to list its Swiss division in an attempt to draw a line under capital fears that have dogged the bank since chief executive Tidjane Thiam took over two years ago. Investors expected the bank’s quarterly earnings on Wednesday to feature only limited news on its much-anticipated capital plans since it is not […]
By Manuel Mogato | MANILA MANILA Southeast Asian nations would adopt a softer than usual tone about South China Sea disputes at a leaders’ summit on Saturday in Manila, and exclude references to militarisation or island-building, according to a draft of the chairman’s statement. Although some Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN) leaders will express “serious concern” over the “escalation of activities” in the disputed sea, […]
Authored by Gaius Publius via Down With Tyranny blog, “We don’t want a unified Korean peninsula … We [also] don’t want the North Koreans to cause more trouble than the system can absorb.” —Hillary Clinton, 2013, speech to Goldman Sachs Our policy toward North Korea is not what most people think it is. We don’t want the North Koreans to go away. In fact, we like them […]
Eight current and former Fox News employees, including presenter Kelly Wright, have joined a racial discrimination lawsuit against the cable channel alleging “plantation-style management” by top executives. Kelly Wright, a two-time Emmy award winner, alleges that he was sidelined from programming and passed over for plum assignments that were given to white colleagues. The lawsuit, which adds eight plaintiffs to the three Fox News employees who previously […]
He was supposed to have been charged yesterday, but action was put off A WARRANT of arrest is out for a politician in Malacca implicated in a multimillion-ringgit corruption scandal. The man was supposed to be charged yesterday with at least 10 counts of offences related to money laundering, but the highly-anticipated court appearance did not materialise. The New Straits Times was made to understand that the […]
ANKARA Turkey will not wait at Europe’s door forever and is ready to walk away from EU accession talks if rising Islamophobia and hostility from some member states persist, President Tayyip Erdogan told Reuters in a wide-ranging interview on Tuesday. Speaking at the presidential palace less than two weeks after winning sweeping new powers in a referendum, a relaxed Erdogan said a decision by a leading European […]
Oil traders banking on a sustained market recovery in 2017 are growing impatient. As the price of Brent crude falls towards $50 a barrel, Opec, energy analysts and some of the most powerful banks in the commodities sector are urging traders to maintain their composure. After a production cut deal between the cartel and rivals such as Russia was agreed late last year, prices began 2017 $10 […]
Pollution levels are increasing each day with new air and water pollutants being emitted into the environment via automobiles and large scale factories. However, it was thought that at least underground water or groundwater was unaffected. A new study reveals that this may not be the case. Scientists have found a baffling trace of present-day rain water in one particular groundwater reserve. Groundwater Pollution Groundwater contains rainwater and […]
Archaeological finds made on an island near the capital in 1959 proved pivotal in defining and promoting the UAE’s relics and antiquities. Sheikh Zayed, the nation’s Founding Father, was one of the first to spot their importance. In the spring of 1959, the Ruler of Abu Dhabi at the time, Sheikh Shakhbut bin Sultan, made one of several visits to an island 20 kilometres from his ancestral […]
A federal court has blocked President Donald Trump’s executive order on sanctuary cities on the grounds that it is unconstitutional, in another legal setback for the administration. The nationwide injunction granted on Tuesday by a federal judge in San Francisco will prevent the executive order, signed just days after Mr Trump’s inauguration, from being enforced while its legal merits are debated. “This is a very aggressive use […]
Several months ago, when it was still conventional wisdom that Trump wanted to replace Janet Yellen – at least until Trump’s famous WSJ interview in which he flipped on this and various other issues – with a hawk once her turn runs out in 2018, the financial punditry was busy coming up with potential replacement names, a practice which gradually faded away once it emerged that Trump […]
The public should be able to freely access the names of the people behind the ownership of assets and bank accounts in order to boost transparency and stop secret shell companies being used for criminal activity. This is the key contention of a host of submissions to Treasury as part of the federal government’s plans to increase transparency of the beneficial ownership of companies following the Panama Papers revelations. Play […]
SEOUL The U.S. military has started moving parts of the controversial THAAD anti-missile defence system into a planned deployment site in South Korea, Yonhap news agency reported on Wednesday, amid high tensions over North Korea’s missile and nuclear programmes. The United States and South Korea have agreed to deploy THAAD in response to the threat of missile launches by North Korea but China says it will do […]
By Aleksandar Vasovic | BELGRADE BELGRADE Thousands protested in central Belgrade on Tuesday against Prime Minister Aleksandar Vucic’s government and demanded a probe into a multi-billion euro riverside building project in the Serbian capital. A yellow duck, a symbol of the movement “Let’s Not Let Belgrade Drown” opposing the project, was displayed under flags marking the area along the Sava river where the Dubai-style residential buildings, hotels […]
By Andrew Chung | WASHINGTON WASHINGTON The U.S. Supreme Court on Tuesday appeared poised to clamp down on where corporations can be sued, a potential setback for plaintiffs’ lawyers who strive to bring cases in courts and locales they consider friendly. The nine justices in two separate cases heard appeals of lower court rulings allowing out-of-state injury lawsuits against drug maker Bristol-Myers Squibb Co(BMY.N) and BNSF Railway […]
Around 300 million tons of plastic is manufactured each year globally. Plastic is not naturally biodegradable and pollutes the environment. Environmental researchers have been persevering to find a way to dispose of the huge amounts of plastic and plastic products in an effective manner, without harming the Earth. A new study has found that a caterpillar commonly bred for fish bait can chew through polyethylene (plastic) products […]
Uber is making its vertical take-off and landing (VTOL) plans more concrete, via new partnerships announced today during its Elevate conference focused on the VTOL industry. The partnerships are with established aeronautics and emerging VTOL players, including Aurora Flight Sciences, Embraer, Bell Helicopter, Pistrel Aircraft, Mooney and ChargePoint, and will focus on two markets initially, including Dallas in the U.S. and Dubai abroad. The partners will provide […]
ANKARA President Tayyip Erdogan told Reuters on Tuesday that Turkey would reconsider its position on joining the European Union if it was kept waiting much longer and if the current hostile mentality of some member states persists. Erdogan said a decision on Tuesday by the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, a leading human rights body, to put Turkey on a watch list was “entirely political” […]
By Patpicha Tanakasempipat and Panarat Thepgumpanat | BANGKOK BANGKOK A Thai man filmed himself killing his 11-month-old daughter in two video clips posted on Facebook before committing suicide, police said on Tuesday. People could access the videos of the child’s murder on her father’s Facebook page for roughly 24 hours, until they were taken down around 5 p.m. in Bangkok (1000 GMT) on Tuesday, or about a […]
