Muscat, December 06, 2016 Bank Sohar endeavours to provide its customers with the highest possible level of banking security at all times. The recent introduction of ‘Chip and Pin’ technology into its Excel Debit Cards comes as part of this commitment and the distribution of these cards to customers is now well under way across the Bank’s branch network. Customers still using the older magnetic stripe cards […]
The federal government has handed out the first round of its AU$8 million Women in STEM kitty in a bid to encourage more female involvement in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM)-based careers. The AU$3.9 million in funding will be spread across 24 organisations to roll out projects aimed at building interest in STEM for primary school age students, supporting post-graduates and women already pursuing STEM careers, […]
Facebook, Google, Microsoft and Twitter on Monday announced they had joined forces in an attempt to curb explicit terrorist imagery online. The move follows criticism from Brussels that big US social media groups have made insufficient effort to clamp down on hate speech. In a statement, the technology groups said they were building new technology that would identify extremist content, including terrorist recruitment videos and images of […]
A parliament packed with lawmakers who oppose wage cuts and taxes, and who want to keep Kuwait’s sumptuous welfare state intact, is threatening the government’s attempts to close a gaping budget deficit. Opposition candidates won about 24 out of 50 seats last month in a parliamentary election seen by Kuwaitis as a referendum on austerity measures aimed at dealing with the 2016/17 shortfall, forecast at 9.5 billion […]
Yet now, on the eve of his second season as the coach at the Patrick School, Rice may be well positioned to continue his career rehabilitation in a major way: with a job on a much bigger stage. His Patrick School team, which opens the season Dec. 16 at the City of Palms tournament in Florida, is loaded with talent and will appear in several nationally televised […]
MANILA – Reuters submitted five questions to the Presidential Communications Office of Rodrigo Duterte for the news agency’s investigation into police killings of drug suspects. The questions and replies are reproduced here in full, edited only for spelling and punctuation: 1. In anti-drug operations in which police say they kill suspects in self-defense (2,004 deaths), almost none of the suspects survive. Why is that? Answer: THE DRUG […]
Italy’s president has asked Matteo Renzi to stay on as Italy’s prime minister until the country’s budget law is passed in parliament, extending his stay at the helm of the Italian government for possibly a week. At a meeting in the presidential palace in Rome, Mr Renzi expressed his intention to resign after suffering a bruising defeat in a constitutional reform referendum held on Sunday. But Sergio […]
Bahrain, 5 December 2016 DHL Express, the world’s leading express and logistics provider, has renewed its long-standing partnership with the Muharraq Club, one of Bahrain’s most reputed sports clubs and one of the oldest and most recognised in the GCC region. The two entities signed an agreement during a small ceremony held at the DHL Regional Office Muharraq, under which DHL extended its sponsorship support for the […]
Islamic finance experts have developed new rules for gold transactions, they said on Monday, potentially opening the way for Islamic institutions to trade gold and silver much more actively. Gold transactions must be fully backed by physical metal and settled on the same day, the developers of the new guidance said, to observe Islam’s distinction between real economic activity and speculation. Traditionally, gold has played a very […]
The stable version of the Android 7.1.1 Nougat was previously reported to be launching on Dec. 6. The operating system update is said to coincide with the December security patch. However, a report claims that Google has started to roll out Android 7.1.1 Nougat earlier than the mentioned date, which means that owners of the devices who will receive the update can expect it to arrive very […]
By Dominic Evans and Ahmed Rasheed | BAGHDAD BAGHDAD Western-backed Iraqi forces have begun shelling parts of west Mosul, residents said, in preparation for a new front against Islamic State seven weeks into a difficult campaign to drive the militants from the city. Federal police forces, stationed a few miles (km) south of Mosul, on the west bank of the Tigris river that divides the city, have […]
Photo Destroyed buildings dominate an eastern Aleppo neighborhood as pro-government troops advanced toward the area on Monday. Credit George Ourfalian/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images BEIRUT, Lebanon — With the Syrian rebel enclave of eastern Aleppo shriveling, Russia said on Monday that it would start talks with the United States this week on a deal for holdout insurgents to leave, and that any who refused would be regarded […]
Good morning. Here’s our daily summary of all the media news you need to know. Want to get this briefing in your inbox every morning? Subscribe here. Fake news is not the sole province of slimeball digital practitioners in faraway lands enabled by the righteous souls at Facebook and Google. There’s also — as has ever been so — the government. “Police investigating a notorious gang in […]
ABU DHABI // Pupils at Indian curriculum schools in the UAE outperform those in Kerala but are less able to handle stress, and less socially active and independent, a new study suggests. Psychologists Dr Sreethi Nair and Dr Smitha Dev interviewed and observed more than 400 pupils in their final years of high school in Abu Dhabi, Dubai, Sharjah, Umm Al Quwain and Ajman, and youngsters from […]
By Michael Holden | LONDON LONDON The British government’s appeal against a legal ruling that it needs parliamentary approval to trigger the formal process of leaving the European Union is being heard in the country’s top court this week. Prime Minister Theresa May has announced that she will invoke “Article 50” of the EU’s Lisbon Treaty by the end of March and begin the formal Brexit negotiations […]
The Amazon Go concept store in Seattle. Amazon on Monday unveiled Amazon Go, a new brick-and-mortar concept store that replaces cashiers and checkout lines with computer vision and artificial intelligence. In a video describing the project, Amazon said Amazon Go relies on technology similar to that of a self-driving car: computer vision, deep learning algorithms and sensor fusion. To make the technology more palatable for non-technical folk, […]
Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg introduces a new messenger platform at the F8 summit in San Francisco, California, on March 25, 2015 Facebook on Monday began letting interactive “bots” inside its Messenger service tap into analytic capabilities once reserved for the social network, ramping up the potential to earn money from e-commerce. The move comes as Facebook is under pressure to profit from services such as Messenger, WhatsApp […]
Monday, December 5, 2016 Alwaleed Philanthropies (AP), chaired by HRH Prince Alwaleed Bin Talal Bin Abdulaziz AlSaud, has announced its partnership with ‘Energies Pour L’Afrique’ headed by Jean-Louis Borloo, previous Leader of the Union of Democrats and Independents, and previous Minister of Ecology, Energy, Sustainable Development and Town and Country Planning, in aims to mobilize its network in increasing access to clean energy. Access to energy is […]
A relevant molecular link has been discovered between a rare childhood genetic disease and a major cancer gene. This connection could pave the way for better treatments for people who suffer from cancer, as it sheds new light on the factors that contribute to cancer development. The research was published online in Scientific Reports on Nov. 7. Fanconi Anemia Connected To PTEN Gene The study connects the rare genetic […]
In the United States, too, I found resistance to the idea that Brexit was a harbinger of a Trump victory. I was assured over and over by liberal friends that Trump would never be president. American voters were too sensible to fall for his hateful demagogy. Trump, I was told, was a product of peculiarly American strains of populism that flare up periodically, like the anti-immigrant nativism […]
India’s transport ministry has proposed allowing drivers to sign up for organ donation in case they become some of the hundreds of thousands of people who die after being caught up in accidents on the country’s roads. The South Asian nation has a huge gap in demand and supply of organs. Many people are unwilling to donate relatives’ organs due to religious beliefs, because they don’t understand […]
By Se Young Lee and Hyunjoo Jin | SEOUL SEOUL The heads of nine of South Korea’s top conglomerates controlling revenue equivalent to half the country’s economy face an unprecedented televised grilling by lawmakers on Tuesday, as the glare from a widening political scandal falls on Korea Inc. A parliamentary panel is investigating whether the so-called chaebol, which include the heavyweight Samsung and Hyundai Motor Groups, were […]
A new battle is breaking out among the titans of cloud computing, as competition in the fast-growing sector shifts to a fresh arena: artificial intelligence. Amazon is the latest tech company to join the fray, boosting its focus on artificial intelligence at a time when Amazon Web Services, its cloud computing division, is locked in competition with Microsoft and Google. AWS, which sells computing and data storage […]
Nissan Motor Co.’s Leaf, with no one inside, scoots during a demonstration of their Intelligent Vehicle Towing system at Nissan Oppama plant in Yokohama, near Tokyo Monday, Dec. 5, 2016. Nissan Motor Co. is testing out self-driving cars at one of its plants in Japan to tow vehicles on a trailer to the wharf for loading without anyone behind the steering wheel.(AP Photo/Koji Sasahara) Nissan Motor Co. […]
