Akamai has published its Q4 2016 State of the Internet/Security report As always, an interesting read and an opportunity to look at trends in attacks. Not all trends are up and to the right. As the report states, Q4 2016 was “the third consecutive quarter where we noticed a decrease in the number of attack triggers”. Still, “the overall 2016 attack count was up 4% as compared […]
By Frank Jack Daniel | MEXICO CITY MEXICO CITY An emboldened Mexico hardened its opposition to President Donald Trump on Friday by saying it would retaliate if the United States imposed a border tax and that it can afford to lose financial aid that might be pulled to pay for a border wall. Foreign Minister Luis Videgaray said Mexico could respond to any tax the United States […]
European equity funds attracted their largest weekly inflows in more than a year as institutional investors bet on a recovery taking hold across the continent. Investors added $1.1bn to funds investing in European stocks in the seven days to February 22, a haul that nearly matched the inflows of the preceding four weeks combined, according to data from EPFR. This was despite outflows from dedicated French stock […]
The fact that we infer other people’s emotions based on their facial expressions isn’t entirely new. With that in mind, however, a pair of researchers from New York and Colorado have set out to investigate how exactly these expressions communicate so many complex mental and emotional states. How We Read Emotions Daniel H. Lee and Adam K. Anderson used photos of faces taken from databases and created average […]
So much for sticking “nuclear weapons” in carriers’ dumb pipes. Shine, last year’s enfant terrible of mobile ad blocking is pivoting (again!) — in both tone of voice and business model. It’s also rebranding to, er, Rainbow. So, to keep tabs, since 2011 this Disrupt startup battlefield alum has moved from trying to sell mobile antivirus (Shine Security), to threatening network-level mobile ad blocking (Shine Technologies), to — its latest pivot — […]
That leaves many governments invested in vague hopes that such a settlement, however rickety or superficial, will somehow stop the metastasis of the Syrian crisis and ease fears of Islamic State terrorism — often conflated with concerns about ordinary Syrian refugees — that have fueled the rise of right-wing politicians. Photo Syrian refugees live in makeshift tent settlements in Lebanon’s Bekaa Valley. Credit Diego Ibarra Sanchez for […]
BISSAU Hundreds of people marched through the capital of Guinea Bissau on Thursday demanding the departure of President Jose Mario Vaz, a day after parliament rejected a programme submitted by his prime minister. Vaz appointed Prime Minister Umaro Mokhtar Sissoco Embalo in November after months of regional talks seeking an end to an 18-month political crisis that has paralysed the institutions of the poor West African nation […]
Jackie Evancho, who sang the U.S. national anthem at President Donald Trump’s inauguration last month, has asked him to sit down with her and her transgender sister to learn about the challenges for students struggling with gender identity. Evancho, 16, requested the meeting in a public Twitter message to the president late on Wednesday, minutes after his administration revoked landmark guidance to public schools to let transgender […]
Many fear electronic voting machines can be hacked and tampered with. Image: iStock The hacking campaign around the US presidential election, cyberattacks against Ukrain’s power grid, and even the internet crippling Mirai botnet DDoS attack all demonstrate how cyberattacks have grown to threaten the very fabric of society itself, NATO has warned. Citing the impact of high profile incidents like these, Jamie Shea, deputy assistant secretary general […]
Political uncertainty is slowing trade growth, a World Bank report has concluded, indicating that the rise of Donald Trump may already be casting a shadow over the global economy. Major international institutions such as the IMF, the OECD and World Bank have recently upgraded their forecasts of global economic growth largely due to expectations that tax cuts, rising infrastructure spending and a wave of deregulation will boost the […]
By Robin Emmott | BRUSSELS BRUSSELS U.S. President Donald Trump sent top U.S. officials to Europe with a familiar warning from Washington that allies must spend more on defence, this time with the ultimatum “or else”. But Europeans have tried to deflect the threats with the argument that a commitment to security is not just about spending targets, which diplomats said that U.S. officials did not challenge, […]
Having come under pressure to address an uptick in incidents targeting Jewish institutions across the US, President Trump denounced anti-Semitism Tuesday when during a tour of the National Museum of African-American History and Culture he said that “Anti-Semitism is horrible and it’s going to stop and it has to stop.”. Trump: Anti-Semitic incidents are “horrible and painful” https://t.co/QmRTDXgq5E — Daniella Diaz (@DaniellaMicaela) February 21, 2017 Further, the […]
Ann Ravel on Sunday fulfilled her promise to quit the Federal Election Commission by May. In doing so, Ravel — who directed her resignation letter at President Donald Trump and including unsolicited advice for new president — leaves behind an agency the outspoken Democratic commissioner says she at once considers “essential” to American democracy and as useful, in its current state, as “men’s nipples.” But Ravel tells […]
DUBAI // A salesman who threatened to kill his ex-fiancée and show her parents a video of them having sex if she did not marry him has been sentenced to three months in jail. The 32-year-old from Lebanon was convicted of issuing threats by Dubai Criminal Court. The defendant was engaged to the Iranian victim, 27, for three years before they broke up after she discovered he […]
By Michael O’Boyle and Ana Isabel Martinez | MEXICO CITY MEXICO CITY Mexico’s central bank faces difficult decisions as it balances a spike in inflation against an expected economic slowdown, Deputy Governor Alejandro Diaz de Leon said on Monday. “We are in an especially complex environment,” Diaz de Leon told Reuters in an interview. Diaz de Leon pointed to the heightened risk of inflation from a weak […]
The UAE Navy on Sunday signed a multi-million-dollar deal to buy US-based Raytheon Company’s rolling airframe missiles (RAMs) for protection of its ships. RAM Block 2 is a supersonic, lightweight, quick-reaction, fire-and-forget weapon that is designed to protect ships against anti-ship missiles, helicopters, aircraft and surface craft. The amount of the deal was not disclosed amount. Chris Davis, president of Raytheon International, UAE, said: “The UAE wants […]
The Brazilian government is taking the first steps towards the development of a national information security policy for the public sector. According to an official note published by the Institutional Security Cabinet of the federal government on Friday (17), a working group has been created to debate the topic and the creation of standard security guidelines for governmental bodies. special feature Cyberwar and the Future of Cybersecurity […]
ABU DHABI // The British royal navy is strengthening its presence in the Arabian Gulf after it took command of US Task Force 50 – the first time it has led a US force in the Middle East. The force, which has assisted in battling ISIL in Iraq and Syria, plays an important role in the region because it allows free passage of trade throughout the Gulf […]
By Carl O’Donnell | NEW YORK NEW YORK U.S. food company Kraft Heinz Co (KHC.O) withdrew its proposal for a $143-billion merger with larger rival Unilever Plc (ULVR.L), the companies said on Sunday, raising questions about whether Kraft could turn its focus to another target. Kraft had made a surprise offer for Unilever to build a global consumer goods behemoth that was flatly rejected on Friday by […]
MUNICH: Iran’s foreign minister on Sunday stepped up efforts to improve ties with Gulf Arab Sunni states urging them to work with their Shiite rival to address “anxieties” and violence across the region.Iranian President Hassan Rouhani last week traveled to Oman and Kuwait to try improve ties, his first visit to the Gulf states since taking power in 2013.The six Arab members of Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC), […]
Finnish Prime Minister Sauli Niinistö made it clear to CNBC last week that while Russia’s actions involving Crimea must come to a peaceful resolution, the most important issues facing Europe right now are terrorism and migration. Despite Finland pledging $55 Million Euros to NATO, Niinistö also made it clear that European nations need to ultimately be responsible for their own security. I think that Europeans start to understand […]
By Laila Bassam and Angus McDowall | BEIRUT BEIRUT (Story corrects headline and paragraph 1 to show source said Hezbollah speeches aimed to draw “red lines” to prevent action against Lebanon, removes reference to hitting U.S. interests by targeting Israel which the source did not say.) The Hezbollah leader’s harsh words for Israel and U.S. President Donald Trump this week were aimed at drawing “red lines” to […]
By Syed Raza Hassan | SEHWAN SHARIF, Pakistan SEHWAN SHARIF, Pakistan Wailing Sufi devotees thronged a blood-stained shrine in southern Pakistan on Friday, shouting at police a day after a suicide bomber killed at least 77 people in an attack claimed by a regional branch of Islamic State. The bombing of the famed Lal Shahbaz Qalandar shrine in Sindh province was Pakistan’s deadliest attack in two years […]
By Steve Holland | WASHINGTON WASHINGTON The first gripe came three minutes into President Donald Trump’s first solo news conference on Thursday, when he accused reporters of ignoring a poll showing him with a 55 percent approval rating – a figure at odds with most other surveys. From there, the president’s criticism of the media went from barbed to personal in a cutting assessment of what he […]
