LONDON Talks aimed at averting a planned Christmas strike by British Airways (ICAG.L) cabin crews will be held on Monday, conciliation service Acas said. Last week, British Airways said the Unite trade union had called a strike involving one of its five cabin crew fleets on Christmas Day and Boxing Day, Dec. 26. More than 2,500 Unite members who serve as crews on long- and short-haul routes […]
Six new species of marine animals have been discovered on the sea floor of Indian Ocean, living close to a bunch of hot springs. In a robot led survey, scientists from the Southampton University, Natural History Museum in London and University of Newcastle explored hydrothermal vents in the seabed. Their expedition in November 2011 yielded valuable data and led to the discovery of new organisms living on the […]
The Federal Reserve will wait six months before raising interest rates again, according to a survey of top economists that suggests policymakers will maintain a cautious approach to tightening policy until they see the economic package US president-elect Donald Trump has promised. Officials will raise the Fed’s key short-term rate just twice in 2017, starting with a move in June, an FT survey of 31 Wall Street […]
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 […]
BENGHAZI, Libya At least seven people were killed and eight wounded when a suicide bomber targeted forces loyal to Libya’s eastern government in Benghazi on Sunday, medical and security officials said. Islamic State said it carried out the bombing, in the besieged district of Ganfouda. The area is one of the last pockets of resistance holding out against the Libyan National Army (LNA), a self-styled force loyal […]
Iran has shown commitment to the deal on its nuclear programme agreed with world powers, the head of the United Nations atomic energy watchdog said on Sunday, following complaints by Tehran over what it calls a US violation of the accord. The White House said on Thursday that a bill extending US sanctions against Iran for 10 years would become law without President Barack Obama’s signature, adding […]
MANILA, Philippines – Hours after threatening to scrap the country’s Visiting Forces Agreement (VFA) with the United States after the US-led Millennium Challenge Corp. deferred voting on its assistance to the Philippines, President Duterte imposed one condition on Washington if it would want the deal retained. “You want to come back here? You pay us. You want bases here? Pay us. Transaction tayo, pera-pera na lang tayo, […]
DNCE DNCE (Republic) Three-and-a-half stars In any other year, the reinvention of Joe Jonas might have been quite a story, rather than just more 2016 weirdness. When Kanye is suddenly posing with president-elect Donald Trump, a Jonas brother turning cool seems positively predictable. The Jonas Brothers, for anyone who managed to miss them, were a Disney-backed trio who made Hanson look edgy in comparison, until they disbanded […]
David Cameron began 2016 in 10 Downing Street and ended it at DePauw University in a small Indiana town, speaking for a reported £120,000 an hour. The former British prime minister is now paid almost as much for a 60-minute speech as he used to earn in a year, as he tries to make sense of his own historic failure: Brexit. Whatever he says now, Mr Cameron’s […]
Kickstarter campaigns sometimes never deliver, Pebble Time 2 and Pebble Core, but we also see successfully funded products that end up providing what was promoted. The Ticwatch 2 campaign began in late July and reached its funding goal of $50,000 in just 10 minutes. While I surprisingly did not back this new smartwatch, I was recently sent an evaluation Ticwatch 2 Active to test out. I’ve used […]
By Norihiko Shirouzu and Natalie Thomas | BEIJING BEIJING Authorities in Tianjin grounded dozens of flights and closed most highways on Sunday after severe smog blanketed the city, one of more than more than 40 in China’s northeast to issue pollution warnings in the past 48 hours. Air quality index (AQI) readings at some monitoring stations in Tianjin, a port and industrial city southeast of Beijing, peaked […]
Apple’s competitors have clearly got a bit of an obsession with the MacBook Air. Following the ASUS ZenBook UX330UA, which blatantly copied the fruity ultraportable’s design, Acer has now released the TravelMate X349-M, a more affordable alternative with a similarly familiar look about it. With prices starting at less than £600 (inc. VAT), the TravelMate X349 inevitably lacks some of the finer features and superior performance of […]
It’s been a big month in theme parks in the UAE, with the official opening of Dubai Parks & Resorts in Dubai Sunday, news that IMG Worlds of Adventure are opening yet another venue, Legends, and Miral announcing that SeaWorld is coming to Abu Dhabi. By the time the Expo comes to the UAE in the year 2020, almost every popular movie and animation brand you can […]
Wall Street is bathing in nostalgia. This week the cover of Barron’s, the bible of US retail investors, proclaimed “Dow 20,000”. Presenters on CNBC are wearing Dow 10,000 caps first donned in 1999. And each day the thinning crowds on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange have watched the boards to see if the Dow Jones Industrial Average, having passed 19,900, can top the 20,000 […]
By Lisa Barrington and Stephanie Nebehay | BEIRUT/GENEVA BEIRUT/GENEVA The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) hopes to resume the evacuation of civilians and wounded from the Syrian enclave of east Aleppo on Sunday, a spokeswoman said. Thousands of people are left in Aleppo, some sleeping on the streets in freezing temperatures, after the evacuation of the rebel-held areas ground to a halt on Friday following […]
Digitizing analog processes can have steep learning curve. Robin Harris Even as a kid, I could see the visual difference between TV sitcoms – shot on videotape – and films. Video had a jarring sharpness that, paradoxically, made the picture less real. Films, with much higher resolution than video, looked more real, even though the motion blur and background softness – among other artifacts – are a […]
Many stakeholders are now coming home after a productive week at the 2016 Internet Governance Forum (IGF) in Guadalajara, Mexico. As the first IGF since its 10 year mandate renewal by the UN General Assembly, this was a key edition to set the stage for multistakeholder cooperation in the next few years, and to identify the issues that will have to be addressed by the global Internet community now […]
By Stanley White and Izumi Nakagawa | TOKYO TOKYO Japanese workers put up with long hours and unpaid overtime under pressure from cost-saving companies, and figures from government, which wants more money in workers’ pockets to boost consumer spending, appear to underestimate the problem. Prime Minister Shinzo Abe is trying to enact labor reforms as part of his “Abenomics” plan to end decades of stagnant growth and […]
Designer-to-the-stars Furne One, from the label Amato, rarely talks about his many achievements. Despite having found worldwide success dressing celebrities including Jennifer Lopez, Beyoncé and Katy Perry, the Dubai-based Filipino couturier’s reputation for being self-effacing precedes him. Seeking to shine a light on his talent is Los Angeles film producer, and founder of the Fashion News Lifestyle (FNL) network , Rocco Leo Gaglioti. His film, Inside Amato, […]
UNITED NATIONS: The UN Security Council will vote Sunday on a French proposal to send observers to the flashpoint Syrian city of Aleppo to monitor evacuations and report on the protection of civilians, diplomats said.The council will meet at 10 a.m. (1500 GMT) to decide on the draft resolution, despite resistance from Russia, Syria’s ally and a veto-wielding Security Council member.France circulated a draft text late Friday […]
(Image: file photo) An advisor working for financial planning giant Ameriprise has inadvertently exposed hundreds of investment portfolios, worth tens of millions of dollars. The data was found on an internet-connected backup drive at the advisor’s home, which was set to synchronize over the internet with his primary backup drive at his office. But neither drive had a password, allowing anyone to view sensitive client data. The […]
Facebook on Thursday unveiled a multi-part plan to fight fake news that includes teaming up with fact-checkers in the United States to cut down on the reach of bogus stories. The plan (which Poynter’s International Fact-checking Network is involved with) represents the first time Facebook has given fact-checkers the ability to verify news on its platform, and comes after months of public debate about the social media […]
18 December 2016 Dubai: The Ministry of Finance (MoF) signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Dubai Islamic Economy Development Centre to exchange experiences and coordinate on matters related to the strategic plan for ‘Dubai the Capital of Islamic Economy 2017-2021’, in order to strengthen the UAE’s position and enhance the Emirate of Dubai as the capital of the Islamic economy. The Dubai Islamic Economy Development Center […]
US planemaker Boeing is working to resolve certain issues with IranAir to finalise a $16.6 billion aircraft deal, and the manufacturer plans to commence the the first delivery in 2018, a senior company official told Arabian Business. The deal for 80 Boeing passenger jets, announced on Sunday, includes 50 narrow-body 737 MAX aircraft and 30 long-haul 777s, split equally between the 777-300ER, and the 406-seat 777-9, which […]
