It’s still hard to believe Orlando is home to the worst mass shooting in U.S. history. Even six months later, it’s surreal to think 49 people were killed at a club I pass every day on my way to work. The shooting changed Central Florida forever and with it, transformed our newsroom and reporters. The news was unbelievable. It made no sense. Even veteran journalists were in […]
Your daily guide to community and cultural activities across the Emirates for December 20, 2016, including performances, festivals, art exhibitions, film screenings, health and fitness events, talks, classes, workshops and family fun. newslide Abu Dhabi Fitness event Women can enjoy exercising outdoors in the cooler weather every Wednesday at GoYas. Daman Activelife presents the ladies-only event that lets you walk, jog or bike around the shortened 3km […]
By Patricia Reaney | NEW YORK NEW YORK The United States lost some literal and figurative pioneers in 2016 with the deaths of famed sons and daughters from John Glenn, the first American to orbit Earth, to Gwen Ifill, the first black woman to co-anchor a major U.S. television newscast. The year also saw the deaths of stars of sports, the arts and politics, including former heavyweight […]
It started off as one of those typical conversations you have when you’re in a foreign country and the taxi driver recognizes you to be a foreigner. “Where are you from?,” he asks, soon after I get into the bright yellow taxi cab, to which I reply “Sri Lanka.”“Beautiful country,” he responds.“Have you been there?” I ask him politely.“No, but my friend went there for a holiday. He […]
Facebook faces a potential fine after the European Commission accused the social network of being misleading during the approval process of its $19bn takeover of WhatsApp. In a “statement of objections” on Tuesday, the European Commission charged the Silicon Valley giant with inaccurately claiming during the 2014 takeover that it was technically impossible to combine automatically user information from Facebook and WhatsApp. Facebook surprised its users this […]
It’s a hot July day in Bethlehem, and white-robed pilgrims from Nigeria stand in the courtyard entrance to the ancient church, singing and beating drums. They’ve travelled more than 3,500 kilometres to enter the church’s low wooden door, pass through a nave under restoration and down one of the staircases in the sprawling church, to the grotto. There, they will kneel in prayer and devotion at the […]
Your daily guide to community and cultural activities across the Emirates for December 20, 2016, including performances, festivals, art exhibitions, film screenings, health and fitness events, talks, classes, workshops and family fun. newslide Abu Dhabi Art exhibition No White Walls continues at Fairmont Bab Al Bahr, where you can see works created by professional artists in the UAE as part of an initiative to develop the art […]
Reliance Jio is a great, big, and savvy Indian python that has recently slithered into the telecom space, threatening to swallow the lunch of existing incumbents like Airtel and Vodafone. The question is, will it end up swallowing itself tail-first as well? As I wrote a few months ago, and as you probably may well know, Mukesh Ambani, India’s oil to telecom billionaire who is not known […]
19 December 2016 The real estate markets of the two main emirates of the UAE exhibited differing trends over the course of November 2016. While the pleasant weather and cool breeze apparently had a galvanizing effect on the Dubai realty market, things seemed to be cooling down in neighbouring Abu Dhabi. Bayut.com noticed an upward movement of both rents and prices of apartments in Dubai, but apartments […]
Amazon’s Echo Dot, a hands-free voice-controlled Alexa-enabled device, has enjoyed pretty rave reviews upon its release, simply because the device, a minute puck-shaped plaything, is far more capable than what its size suggests. Yes, the tiny flat cylinder sports Amazon’s proprietary voice-enabled virtual assistant Alexa, which is by and large its headline feature. It hears its owners, even when outputting loud music from its speakers, and it […]
Our annual collection of media corrections is, undoubtedly, an excuse to chuckle at our industry’s missteps. But it’s also a recognition of an honorable practice that not everyone follows. Outlets that mark their corrected articles clearly or collect them in one easily searchable section (for example, The Guardian) may be over-represented in this list, but they should be commended. A note on selection: This is a list of media […]
Yoga Book (Credit: Lenovo) As Microsoft prepares once again to embrace ARM processors in the name of thinner and lighter computing devices, the Lenovo Yoga Book may be a hint of things to come. In some ways, the device — available in Android and Windows versions and coming soon in a Chromebook variant — represents a hybrid between the original Yoga and the original Surface. True to […]
By Michelle Nichols | UNITED NATIONS UNITED NATIONS The United Nations Security Council on Monday unanimously called for U.N. officials and others to observe the evacuation of people from the last rebel-held enclave in Aleppo and monitor the safety of civilians who remain in the Syrian city. The 15-member council overcame long-held divisions – that have pitted Syrian ally Russia and China against western powers over the […]
About nine months before George W. Bush became president I, along with about 70 others, were asked to join an independent tech advisory board to help Bush, then governor of Texas, understand the role of tech in the new decade and help craft a tech policy should he become president. Our first meeting took place in Austin, and from that came various subcommittees to research […]
By Letitia Stein | ATLANTA ATLANTA Inside a sunny classroom at a church decorated with rainbow flags, two transgender teenagers exploded into giggles during a dance break from math at Pride School Atlanta. They are among a handful of lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender (LGBT) youth who have found a haven at the school, which opened this fall at a time when the number of discrimination complaints […]
If you are an emerging market investor, things at least look a little rosier than they did 12 months ago. Then sentiment was souring thanks to doubts about China’s economy, a slumping oil price and plenty of political upheaval. There is, of course, much to concern the EM universe going into 2017, notably a rising dollar, the prospect of higher interest rates in the US and president-elect […]
With Tesla’s success and financial muscle, its CEO Elon Musk is free to explore new ventures such as his SpaceX and the solar roof project he has just unveiled. His latest interest seems to have zoomed in on tunnels. Musk vs. Traffic This came after an exasperated Musk posted at Twitter that the traffic is driving him nuts so he is going to build a machine that will bore […]
On a clear afternoon on September 28, 2008, Elon Musk was on the verge of a nervous breakdown. Years earlier he had sunk most of his internet fortune into a commercial space company – SpaceX – and was now vying for a lucrative deal with NASA to resupply the International Space Station. There was only one problem: the last three attempts to send a rocket into space […]
Not everyone has the time or budget to keep up a gym membership, so having a fitness tracker, smart wearable device, or even simply a fitness application in your smartphone are all good ways to keep one’s health in check. Luckily, there are many available apps that offer basic to customized fitness plans and allow us to reach our goals. Since it is already the middle of […]
Your daily guide to community and cultural activities across the Emirates for December 19, 2016, including performances, festivals, art exhibitions, film screenings, health and fitness events, talks, classes, workshops and family fun. newslide Abu Dhabi Film screenings Catch two film screenings as part of the Cinema Space series. The Patience Stone (pictured), a film in Dari (Afhgan Persion) with English subtitles, is about a young woman in […]
Senior American officials and top commanders in the Middle East say the brutal urban fight for Mosul is succeeding — however slowly — but is proving to be tougher than expected. These officials predict that the battle to oust the Islamic State from Iraq’s second-largest city could last two to four more months. Continue reading the main story Brett H. McGurk, President Obama’s envoy to the international […]
Image: Sarah Tew/CNET Every week, we sound off on the most important technology trends in our Monday Morning Opener. Looking back on 2016, we’ve identified the five tectonic plate shifts that have made the biggest impact on the industry and our readers who use these tools to drive the progress of the planet. So, without further ado, here are the five big tech trends of 2016 according […]
In his characteristic third-person style, One River Asset Management’s Chief Investment Officer Eric Peters takes on all-comers in his latest letter to investors; lamenting the rapidity of losses, juxtaposing Michelle Obama’s “hopeless” America with the US equity markets’ near-record “hope”, and denouncing the scourge of risk managers everywhere – central bankers… Hope all goes well… “No one has real risk on,” said the CIO, dizzy. “We’ve all […]
By Sarah N. Lynch | WASHINGTON WASHINGTON President-elect Donald Trump’s incoming White House chief of staff on Sunday played down the prospect that Trump would revisit Washington’s decades-old “one China” policy, even though he suggested as much a week ago. Since 1979, the United States has acknowledged Taiwan as part of “one China” but Trump prompted a diplomatic protest from Beijing after he accepted a congratulatory phone […]
