BEIJING A Chinese general is being investigated for suspected bribery, the defence ministry said on Thursday, a man connected to the jailed former domestic security chief and one of the most senior incumbent military officials to be targeted for graft. Military prosecutors had already opened a case into Wang Jianping, a deputy chief of the joint staff department under the powerful Central Military Commission, ministry spokesman Yang […]
A new study just released from Public Health England concludes that 4 out of 5 Brits between the ages of 40 – 60 are fat, lazy and/or alcoholics, characteristics which the study shockingly found to be having an adverse effect on the group’s long-term health. The study, which compared data collected from 40 – 60 year olds between 2011 – 2013 to similar data collected 20 years […]
MANILA Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte has threatened corrupt government officials with the prospect of being thrown out of a helicopter mid-air, warning he has done it himself before and had no qualms about doing it again. The fiery-tempered former prosecutor said he once hurled a Chinese man suspected of rape and murder out of a helicopter. “If you are corrupt, I will fetch you using a helicopter […]
This year has been tough-going in more ways than one and, by most accounts, Singapore’s economy is expected to be heading for rougher seas in 2017. According to a survey by the Singapore Business Federation, 63 percent of local companies said the economic climate worsened in 2016 and 48 percent believed the downward spiral would continue in the new year. The Monetary Authority of Singapore also warned […]
For France, 2016 ends as it began, with the nation under a state of emergency following terrorist outrages and in anticipation of more to come. The warnings of French leaders of potential further attacks have come gloomily true. Even last month, as the French centre-right party Les Républicains was choosing the Thatcherite Francois Fillon as its candidate in the presidential elections, ISIL was attempting to inflict further […]
Almost all – nine in 10 – Middle East workers believe that employee loyalty is tied to higher productivity, but ‘loyalty’ for them is no longer about remaining in the same company for a long period of time, a survey suggests. Recruitment website Bayt.com surveyed 8,223 respondents from countries including the UAE, Algeria, Egypt, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Morocco, Oman, Tunisia, Qatar, KSA and Yemen between November and […]
ABU DHABI // Large dumpsters are to be replaced by bins for segregated waste to ensure that the target of reducing landfill by 85 per cent is met. Tadweer, the waste management company for Abu Dhabi, said it would introduce black bins for general waste and green bins for recyclables for all residential buildings in city. It will also send out separate bin lorries to pick up […]
If there is one thing that unites Middle Eastern leaders these days, it is concern over what Donald Trump might do in 2017. A true political outsider, Trump will arrive in the White House next month with no track record and no political markers that might give an indication. The list of policy problems is certainly long, yet his list of policy ideas, as mooted during his […]
Some of the biggest law firms on Wall Street are scrambling to shore up their defences against cyber attacks, in the wake of a raid by Chinese hackers which led to millions of dollars of profits from insider trading. Preet Bharara, US attorney for the southern district of New York, this week charged three individuals who he said infiltrated law firms over a period of about 18 […]
Based on Samsung’s staggered announcements, it appears that the South Korean company is going to inundate CES with a host of new products. After revealing fresh projects baked in its Creative Lab, it has now confirmed three more gadgets: the H7 Wireless Speaker, a new soundbar, and a UHD Blu-ray Player. The trio is being touted as the future of audio on the strength of the so-called […]
While the opening of the archives was not expected to provide a conclusive end to the chapter for many of the families, given the partial and sometimes contradictory information in the files, the government hoped to at least dispel the notion that it was hiding information, and to perhaps bring some relief. Continue reading the main story “Today we are correcting an historic injustice of disregard or […]
Arguably the biggest newspaper business story of 2016 was Gannett’s failed (for now) bid to take over Tronc. What the broken deal says about the industry, however, is more than a little ambiguous. For starters, consider that 2016 was a particularly hard year financially, with advertising revenue losses that started bad and got even worse in the fall. Both Gannett and Tronc are profitable on a cash […]
Sony could launch an edge-less smartphone in 2017, presumably called the Xperia XZ (2017), according to a new leak. The smartphone market has become increasingly fierce and heated competition is forcing OEMs to come up with new ways to stand out from the crowd and set their smartphones apart from rivals. Apple and Samsung still dominate the smartphone market, but Sony wants a bigger slice of the […]
By Orhan Coskun and Ellen Francis | ANKARA/BEIRUT ANKARA/BEIRUT Turkey and Russia have prepared an agreement for a ceasefire in Syria, Turkey’s foreign minister said on Wednesday, adding that Ankara would not give up its opposition to President Bashar al-Assad staying on as leader. The five-year-old Syrian civil war raged on, with heavy casualties reported in the siege of a town held by Islamic State, and the […]
By Andrew Osborn and Orhan Coskun | MOSCOW/ANKARA MOSCOW/ANKARA Syria would be divided into informal zones of regional power influence and Bashar al-Assad would remain president for at least a few years under an outline deal between Russia, Turkey and Iran, sources say. Such a deal, which would allow regional autonomy within a federal structure controlled by Assad’s Alawite sect, is in its infancy, subject to change […]
In the latest snub of president Obama and the US State Department, on Wednesday Turkey and Russia reached an agreement for a ceasefire in Syria, Turkey’s foreign minister said, and according to Anadolu News Agency, will aim to put it into effect by midnight. Anadolu, citing sources, said the two countries have reached a consensus that will be presented to participants in the conflict on expanding the […]
DUBAI // A manager who was awarded Dh684,500 compensation from his employer put in an appeal for more money – and ended up with nothing. The manager had been put on trial at Dubai Criminal Court after his employer accused him of breach of trust. He was found not guilty and the court ordered he receive compensation for the salary he should have been paid while he […]
MOSCOW Russian investigators said on Wednesday they had opened a criminal case into a group of men who filmed themselves crushing a bear to death by repeatedly driving over it in off-road vehicles in the Siberian tundra. A video posted on YouTube on Monday, apparently shot on a mobile phone, showed men in two heavy trucks shouting “Crush him! Crush him!” and poking the bear as it […]
RAMALLAH: The Palestinian president said Tuesday that he hopes the upcoming Mideast conference in France will set a timetable to end settlements, as Israel advances plans for thousands of new homes in parts of Jerusalem claimed by the Palestinians, despite the recent UN Security Council resolution condemning construction there.The developments came just days after the United States broke with past practice and allowed the UN Security Council […]
Nearly half of all new mobile device and app activations across the United States during the week leading up to Christmas and the beginning of Chanukah were for the Apple iPhone, according to analyst firm Flurry. Flurry reported that during the week, 44 percent of all new phone and tablet activations involved Apple devices, while just 21 percent were across Samsung smartphones and tablets, with the latter […]
Several reports of Nexus 6P units have recently been surfacing online, pitting the handsets with an alarming battery problem after the Android 7.0 Nougat update. The issue causes the phone to turn off even when the battery is still at 10 to 60 percent capacity level. How prevalent the shutdown issue remains to be determined, but the main thread has garnered close to 900 comments as of Tuesday, Dec. […]
CBC’s I-Team tackles a wide variety of stories in any given year. There are hidden camera shoots, accountability interviews, court cases, long hours on the phone with tipsters who want to remain anonymous, dozens upon dozens of freedom of information requests, and data-mining on all manner of topics. This year, the investigative team tackled everything from health and safety issues in the nail salon industry to doctors who […]
At this late date, weeks ahead of the inauguration of Mr. Trump, who openly lobbied on Israel’s side against the United Nations resolution, it is unclear what Mr. Kerry hopes to achieve from the speech, other than to leave a set of principles that he believes will one day emerge as the basis for talks, if and when they resume. Continue reading the main story Mr. Kerry, […]
BEIJING The Vatican should take steps to improve relations with China, the Chinese head of religious affairs said on Tuesday, a week after the Roman Catholic Church said it was hoping for “positive signals” from Beijing. Pope Francis is trying to heal a decades-old rift with China where Catholics are divided between those loyal to him and those who are members of a government-controlled official church. One […]
