WASHINGTON U.S. President Donald Trump told a national prayer breakfast on Thursday that the world is in trouble, the United States is being taken advantage of, and that he was having “tough phone calls” as he worked to address issues. “The world is in trouble, but we’re going to straighten it out, OK? That’s what I do – I fix things,” Trump said after saying that freedom […]
With Google and Facebook gobbling up marketing budgets, it’s worth noting where the social networking giant is going and the burning issues for decision makers looking to leverage the platform. Facebook’s fourth quarter results were strong across the board with engagement surging and a lot of executive chatter about video. Here are the key takeaways to note. Video. Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg said video on the network […]
KINSHASA The death on Wednesday of Congo’s opposition leader Etienne Tshisekedi leaves opponents of President Joseph Kabila seriously weakened in their bid to force Kabila to quit power after he defied constitutional term limits to stay on last year. Democratic Republic of Congo has never experienced a peaceful transition of power and Kabila’s refusal to stand down when his final term expired in December has raised fears […]
The Cohort is Poynter’s bi-monthly newsletter about women kicking ass in digital media. Earlier this week, I wrote a piece about whether journalists should participate in political demonstrations and online conversations. While the guidance has always been fairly straightforward (simply put: no), the events of the past few weeks and number of political protests have reignited the debate in newsrooms. More often than not, the answer is […]
PARIS French investigators have widened a probe into allegations that presidential candidate Francois Fillon paid large sums of money to members of his family for work they may not have done, to include two of his children, sources said on Thursday. The sources, who are close to the inquiry, said the investigation was being extended to look at work carried out by Marie and Charles Fillon for […]
Boston Dynamics is showing off its latest creation: a “nightmare-inducing” robot equipped with two wheels called Handle. At the Abundance360 event in Los Angeles, company founder Marc Raibert took the stage to unveil the machine via a video, and he had this to say as an introduction: “This is the debut presentation of what I think will be a nightmare-inducing robot, if you’re anything like me.” Looking […]
ABU DHABI // Fatima Al Marzouqi is helping to steer the next generation of Emiratis toward careers in science, technology, engineering and maths. As head of Mubadala’s education and training division, she plays a crucial and direct role in developing academic programmes that introduce pupils to Stem, and professional training opportunities that offer students and recent graduates hands-on experience with major engineering and manufacturing companies at home […]
In Cultural Amnesia, Clive James’s A-Z anthology of those responsible for moving and shaking the 20th century, we find in section “H” a sobering essay on a man who needs no introduction – Adolf Hitler – and an enlightening piece on a woman who does. Ricarda Huch (1864-1947) was a groundbreaking historian, novelist and philosopher. Thomas Mann called her the First Lady of Germany. James introduces her […]
Targeting the weak The us-versus-them dynamic is “easy for many people to rally around,” said Jonathan D. Weiler, a political scientist at the University of North Carolina. Targeting feared or unpopular minorities is a way of “setting a boundary,” said Sheri E. Berman, a political scientist at Barnard College — a way to distinguish between “us” deserving of protection, and “them” who are a threat. Continue reading […]
Chocolate industry executives breathed a collective sigh of relief earlier this year after the impact of the bankruptcy of a key cocoa industry player at the end of 2016 remained muted as a result of a weak cocoa market. Expectations of bumper supplies from west Africa, the leading regional producer of cocoa beans, have been weighing on bean prices of the key chocolate ingredient. This has helped […]
Grab has announced plans to invest US$700 million in Indonesia over the next four years, as part of efforts to increase its footprint in a market where it has seen growth. The Southeast Asian ride-sharing operator said Thursday the new investment would support the Indonesian government’s ambition of becoming the region’s largest digital economy by 2020. It would include plans to set up a research and development […]
PARIS Pressure on French presidential candidate Francois Fillon to pull out of the election race grew on Thursday as some lawmakers in his own camp urged him to abandon his bid in the face of a fake work scandal to save the conservatives from defeat. The scandal, which surfaced a week ago when a newspaper said the wife of the 62-year-old ex-prime minister, Penelope, had been paid […]
It’s like straight from a psychological thriller, as retired policeman Brian Thomas remembers the shocking tales he heard from victims of the Malaysian serial rapist. PETALING JAYA: A retired police officer who was tasked with investigating Malaysian serial rapist Selva Kumar Subbiah more than two decades ago has warned that he still poses a threat upon his return to Malaysia. “If he were to stay in Malaysia […]
TOKYO Sony Corp on Thursday cut its full-year outlook for operating profit on Thursday after the Japanese TV-to-gaming group took a $1 billion writedown on its struggling movie business. Sony forecast group operating profit of 240 billion yen ($2.13 billion) for the year ending in March, down from a previous estimate of 270 billion yen. It also said October-December operating profit fell to 92.4 billion yen from […]
This worldview borrows from the “clash of civilizations” thesis of the political scientist Samuel P. Huntington, and combines straightforward warnings about extremist violence with broad-brush critiques of Islam. It sometimes conflates terrorist groups like Al Qaeda and the Islamic State with largely nonviolent groups such as the Muslim Brotherhood and its offshoots and, at times, with the 1.7 billion Muslims around the world. In its more extreme […]
Almost a decade on from the financial crisis, a global deadline for reform of the $544tn derivatives market has triggered a last-minute scramble by hundreds of small banks, insurers and pension funds. Many of these institutions use bespoke derivatives such as swaps to protect their operations from sudden changes in asset prices. In a month’s time they face higher costs and regulatory burdens. Plenty are not ready. […]
Dubai Carbon’s District Waste Proposal Reach Final Interview Round in Spring Version of Dubai Future Accelerators 2017; Dubai Carbon’s New Waste Value Chain Aims At Turning a Household Cost into an Economic Value of 10,000 AED. 02 February 2017 Dubai, United Arab Emirates: Dubai Carbon’s District Waste Proposal has made it to the final round of interview in the Spring Version of Dubai Future Accelerators 2017, […]
Designs have been unveiled for largest tertiary children’s hospital, the largest hospital of its kind in the world, which is to be built in Kuwait. Design firm SSH was appointed by Kuwait’s Ministry of Health and Ministry of Public Works last year, with the project being undertaken by SSH in association with global architects HKS and engineering firm WSP. The hospital will feature a total of 792 […]
Image: Rick Rycroft/AP/REX/Shutterstock/@JohnJohnsonson By Ariel Bogle2017-02-02 06:27:02 UTC Telstra probably hoped the hashtag #TelstraOutage would be left behind in 2016. Sorry honey, no such luck. On Thursday afternoon, Australia’s largest phone network went down for some users following a fire at a Chatswood exchange, which impacted mobile and fixed services. While the outage was genuinely disruptive, many could not resist making the joke of the day. And […]
Authored by Paul Craig Roberts, President Trump says he wants the US to have better relations with Russia and to halt military operations against Muslim countries. But he is being undermined by the Pentagon. The commander of US forces in Europe, General Ben Hodges, has lined up tanks on Poland’s border with Russia and fired salvos that the general says are a message to Russia, not a […]
Telstra has said that as a result of a fire at its Chatswood exchange, it is possible that customers’ SMS messages have been delivered to people other than the intended recipients. “As a result of the Chatswood exchange fire today, it’s possible some SMS messages have been incorrectly delivered,” a Telstra spokesperson said. “As mentioned previously, customers won’t be receiving SMS messages in the short term while […]
The Turkish government is trying to shut down two journalists who left the country to publish their work. But they’re not giving up without a fight. Last week, journalists Can Dündar and Hayko Bağdat launched a website called Özgürüz that aims to publish independent journalism about Turkey from the relative safety of Germany. It’s a kind of pirate radio for Turkish journalists, informing the public amid a […]
A heart failure team is using big data to kick-start a project that is working to improve communication across the continuum of care, and ultimately reduce readmissions for heart failure patients. (via WSJ)
Seeking a new way to make electricity, scientists at the Iowa State University have developed a tree-like device whose artificial leaves sway in the wind to generate electricity. The device’s design was pioneered by Michael McCloskey, associate professor of genetics. He said conceptually it is not a replacement for wind turbines. However, in the long term, the technology can create a specialized market for small machines that […]
