By Andreas Rinke | BERLIN BERLIN Former foreign minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier was elected Germany’s president on Sunday, the 12th person to hold the largely ceremonial post in the post-war era. Steinmeier, a Social Democrat who had served as foreign minister until last month, won 931 of the 1,239 valid votes by lawmakers and representatives of Germany’s 16 federal states. There 103 abstentions and 14 votes were invalid. […]
Sarah Tew iPad sales are awful. Truly awful, and while CEO Tim Cook might be bullish about the tablet’s future, Apple desperately needs to do something to turn sales around if it’s going to come off life support. Must read: Does your iPhone have a battery drain problem? “We’ve got some exciting things coming on iPad,” Cook said during Apple’s last financial conference call, “and I’m optimistic […]
As Comcast last year conducted secret talks about a potential acquisition of DreamWorks Animation, five Chinese investors — including an elderly couple in Beijing — acquired an enormous stake in the storytelling studio. Over a three-week period ending on April 25, those five accounts purchased more than 2.1m DreamWorks shares, amounting to nearly 17 per cent of all trading in the stock, according to the Securities and […]
Photo Residents walked through the destruction in eastern Aleppo last month, after it was brought back under the control of government forces. Credit Hassan Ammar/Associated Press President Bashar al-Assad of Syria suggested in an interview published Friday that he could foresee cooperation with the Trump administration and might even countenance the deployment of American soldiers in the country one day. The remarks by Mr. Assad appeared to […]
PNC Menon is a busy man — it takes several months to lock an interview into his diary. But on the day of our meeting in Dubai, the Indian-born real estate developer exudes characteristic warmth and courtesy, refusing to allow Arabian Business to leave without a bowl of Middle Eastern halva and repeatedly asking whether we have enough milk in our tea. A long-term UAE resident and […]
ISTANBUL President Tayyip Erdogan said on Sunday the final goal of a Turkish incursion into Syria was not just to retake the city of al-Bab from Islamic State, but to cleanse a border region including Raqqa of the jihadists. Turkish-backed Syrian rebels are pressing a major offensive on al-Bab, 30 km (20 miles) south of the Turkish border. The advance risks putting them in direct conflict with […]
If you’ve been dreaming for years about having your own R2-D2 or BB-8, get ready. Just don’t expect your new robot companion to do too much, because you might be disappointed. A new generation of personal robots and devices is in the works and several are slated to head to homes beginning later this year. Among the more notable is Kuri, a robot developed by Redwood City, […]
One day after vowing to pursue a courtroom battle over his controversial travel ban, President Donald Trump on Friday said he may rewrite the executive order that threw the nation’s airports into chaos. The president told reporters travelling with him aboard Air Force One that he was considering a new order to address objections raised in several legal challenges. Mr Trump offered no details of potential changes […]
WASHINGTON President Donald Trump pushed back early on Saturday on assertions that the wall he wants built on the U.S. border with Mexico would cost more than anticipated and said he would reduce the price. Trump made his comments in two Twitter posts but did not say how he would bring down the cost of the wall. Reuters on Thursday published details of an internal report by […]
Angels: OPEN Maybe they’re kidding themselves, but the Angels haven’t acted like a team in retreat. With Albert Pujols still slugging and Mike Trout still sublime, they have quietly improved the lineup with Danny Espinosa, Cameron Maybin and Luis Valbuena, players whose defense should prop up a shaky pitching staff. It’s a long shot, but with Trout in his prime and few top prospects coming, the Angels […]
In a centrally planned economy decisions on what to produce, how to produce and for whom are taken primarily by the government. The term is usually associated with communist economies. However, since US President Franklin D. Roosevelt implemented a robust range of government policies in the 1930s to counter the effects of the Great Depression, using principles that would be popularized by UK economist John Maynard Keynes, […]
“Now we have all the prospects of a fresh start,” Ilnur Cevik, a senior adviser to Mr. Erdogan, said during an interview at the presidential palace in Ankara, the Turkish capital. “We have an opening with Mr. Trump.” Continue reading the main story Turkish-American relations frayed over differing views on the war in Syria and the widespread belief in Turkey that the United States played a role […]
By Maher Chmaytelli and Saif Hameed | BAGHDAD BAGHDAD An Iraqi policeman was killed and seven others wounded in clashes with protesters loyal to prominent Shi’ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr who had gathered in Baghdad on Saturday to demand political reforms, the interior ministry said. Thousands had gathered in the square to demand an overhaul of the commission that supervises elections ahead of a provincial vote due in […]
As I predicted a few months ago, Twitter has been given a new lease on life by becoming our new form of official state media. Every American who wants to be up-to-date needs to watch Twitter right now, because that’s where the President expresses his unfiltered thoughts and where many people first respond to him. But watching Twitter doesn’t mean participating in Twitter, and that’s […]
BEIJING Sri Lanka aims to finalise a free trade agreement with China this year and the country’s prime minister will visit Beijing in May, the Sri Lankan ambassador said on Saturday, amid rising concern in the South Asian nation about Chinese investment. Hundreds of Sri Lankans clashed with police at the opening last month of a Chinese-invested industrial zone in the south, saying they would not be […]
Every time I take a spin through my Facebook or Twitter feeds, I’m reminded that there’s only one big story right now: Trump, Trump, Trump. For news organizations that wrestle with what coverage their community is most likely to consume, this is one of those rare moments when the mystery is solved. Give ‘em Trump. Love him or loathe him, they can’t get enough. But if the […]
Far from the palm-fringed beaches of the usual offshore tax havens, Canada has quietly become a go-to destination for international tax cheats eager to exploit the country’s twin benefits of a sterling reputation and rules that allow private companies to keep their ownership secret. A joint investigation by CBC/Radio-Canada and the Toronto Star has found dozens of cases where tax advisers around the world are touting shell companies […]
New Yorkers march against Trump executive order on immigration. INQUIRER/Elton Lugay NEW YORK—When nurse practitioner Cristina Pajara saw a post on an alleged travel ban to include the Philippines, she wasted no time in canceling her scheduled trip to the homeland next month. “Nothing is certain under this new government, I don’t want to take my chances,” Pajara, a nurse practitioner based in Las Vegas told INQUIRER.net. She is among many Filipino Americans who are skeptical about traveling to the Philippines during these “uncertain […]
By William Shaw Law360, London (January 30, 2017, 8:30 PM GMT) — A major European Parliament committee will next month investigate the role played by lawyers, accountants and bankers in the tax evasion networks revealed in last year’s Panama Papers leaks, the European Union legislative body said Monday. The Committee of Inquiry into Money Laundering, Tax Avoidance and Tax Evasion will take testimony from investigative journalists and […]
By Parisa Hafezi | ANKARA ANKARA Many Iranians who dreamt of quiet, comfortable lives after a nuclear deal with world powers in 2015 are starting to worry for the first time in decades they might be bombed in their own homes. Since taking office last month, U.S. President Donald Trump has pledged to get tough with Iran, warning the Islamic Republic after its ballistic missile test on […]
I recently wrote about an agenda to mitigate the threats of insecure devices on the Internet of Things. One of the requirements expressed in that agenda is “For every product sold, there is a way that security researchers can responsibly disclose vulnerabilities found”. In this post I want to reflect on the issue of responsible disclosure from the perspective of the Collaborative Security approach, how responsible security […]
Videos of new robot advancements typically throw the Internet into full buzz mode, complete with headlines about Terminators and “robot overlords.” While some of these bleeding-edge bots are terrifying, it’s not for the reasons all the click-bait headlines would have you believe. If you’re even a casual follower of the Internet’s viral videosphere, you’ve undoubtedly stumbled across the latest clip from Boston Dynamics, the Alphabet-owned […]
MANILA Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte said on Thursday he intended to write an executive order that would allow the military to help in his fight against illicit drugs, which he said was a national security threat. Duterte reiterated he had no need to declare martial law, as he has threatened to do on numerous occasions. The Philippines on Monday suspended all police operations in the drug crackdown, […]
Nintendo wants the Switch to be the first thing you reach out when you wake up in the morning and the very thing you hold on to for rest of your day. Its Super Bowl ad has made the case for it while promoting The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild in the process. Why Switch The 30-second clip will not claim any award, and it certainly […]
