PARIS Manuel Valls, who launched a bid for France’s presidential election on Monday, would not gather enough support to go through to its second round, according to an opinion poll published on Wednesday. Valls, President Francois Hollande’s prime minister since the spring of 2014, quit this week to run for president after Hollande himself decided against seeking a second term. If Valls were to win the Socialist […]
Qatar Airways on Tuesday announced that it will offer daily non-stop flights between Doha and Dublin, the capital of the Ireland. Qatar Airways Group CEO Akbar Al Baker said the airline will operate a Boeing 787 Dreamliner on the route which will launch on June 12, 2017. He said: “Qatar Airways has seen unprecedented growth in recent times and continues to launch new destinations on our global […]
SEOUL South Korea’s antitrust watchdog said on Wednesday it will file criminal complaints against several executives at Volkswagen AG’s South Korean unit and fine the company a record 37.3 billion won ($31.87 million) for false advertising over its vehicle emissions. The fine, a record for false advertising in the Asian country, indicates South Korean authorities are in no mood to soften their particularly tough line on the […]
By Idrees Ali | TOKYO TOKYO U.S. Defense Secretary Ash Carter said on Wednesday the United States has “enduring” interests in the Asia-Pacific region and is working for an orderly transfer of power to the administration of President-elect Donald Trump. Carter is in Japan to try to soothe anxieties caused by the victory of Trump, who has called for allies to pay more to sustain U.S. forces, […]
The Nation The Police Shooting of a Philippine Mayor in His Jail Cell Was Murder, Investigators SayTIMEThe Philippines National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) said Tuesday that the police killing of provincial mayor Rolando Espinosa in his jail cell was a “rubout” and said that it could be part of a much larger conspiracy. Tuesday’s landmark ruling …Philippine police murdered mayor: investigatorsNew Straits Times OnlineNBI says Leyte mayor […]
Investment in Manufacturing Innovative Medicines Supports the Kingdom’s “Vision 2030” Aspirations 06 December 2016 Merck Sharp & Dohme (MSD), known as Merck & Co, Inc. in the US and Canada, has today highlighted the initiation of the manufacturing investment agreement with Pharma Pharmaceutical Industries (PPI). This deal enables PPI to exclusively manufacture many of the MSD medicines approved by the Saudi Food & Drug Authority and distributed […]
“I thought it would be a great opportunity to treat it like a college professor taking a sabbatical,” he said. Continue reading the main story So Thibodeau attended training camp with the Houston Rockets. He sat backstage with the performance troupe known as the Golden State Warriors. He hit the road with the Sacramento Kings. He met with coach after coach, trading ideas and jotting notes on […]
CARACAS Venezuela’s opposition said on Tuesday talks with President Nicolas Maduro’s administration were off until the leftist government keeps promises on elections and foreign aid, casting further doubt on Vatican-brokered attempts to alleviate the country’s deep political crisis. The formal talks, which began in October with facilitators from the Vatican, appeared to have led to the release of a handful of detained activists, but hopes for real […]
ABU DHABI // The UAE has held on to its top ranking for the region in a survey of pupils’ proficiency, but experienced a drop in its global placings for two subjects. Results from the Programme for International Student Assessment (Pisa) released on Tuesday also show that UAE pupils continue to fall below the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development average in the three subjects tested – […]
By Phil Stewart and Amy Tennery | WASHINGTON/NEW YORK WASHINGTON/NEW YORK U.S. President-elect Donald Trump urged the government on Tuesday to cancel an order with Boeing Co (BA.N) for a revamped Air Force One – a prominent symbol of the U.S. presidency – complaining that costs were out of control. It was the latest example of Trump using his podium, often via brief Twitter messages, to rattle […]
By Hani Amara | SIRTE, Libya SIRTE, Libya Libyan forces backed by U.S. air strikes finished clearing the last Islamic State holdout in Sirte on Tuesday after a near seven-month battle for the militant group’s former North African stronghold. The forces gained full control over a final patch of ground in Sirte’s Ghiza Bahriya district after hours of clashes. Several dozen women and children who had been […]
A big name in the antitrust world, Kevin Arquit, is on the move from Simpson Thacher & Bartlett LLP to Weil, Gotshal & Manges LLP, his new firm said Tuesday. Mr. Arquit, a former general counsel at the Federal Trade Commission and director of its bureau of competition, departs after 14 years at Simpson, where he led the New York firm’s competition practice. He’s expected to join Weil […]
SYDNEY An earthquake with a magnitude of 6.8 struck 130 km (80 miles) southeast of Banda Aceh in northern Sumatra, Indonesia, the United States Geological Survey said. The quake struck at a depth of 33 km (21 miles)at 2203 GMT, the USGS said. No tsunami warning for Indonesia was immediately issued. (Reporting by Tom Westbrook; Editing by Chris Reese and Jonathan Oatis) ‘); $(‘.second-article-divide’).append($(‘.slider.slider-module’)); $(‘.third-article-divide’).append(”); var median […]
BEIRUT, Lebanon — A court in Saudi Arabia sentenced 15 men to death on Tuesday for spying on behalf of Iran, after a trial that a Western human rights organization characterized as a “travesty of justice.” The sentences came as the sectarian and political rivalry between Saudi Arabia and Iran is fueling conflicts across the Middle East, including in Iraq, Syria and Yemen. Both Saudi Arabia, a […]
By Lawrence Hurley | WASHINGTON WASHINGTON President Barack Obama’s legal defence of some key initiatives including his signature healthcare law is collapsing as courts put cases on hold until after President-elect Donald Trump, hostile to the policies, assumes office on Jan. 20. The pending conservative legal challenges could undo important elements of Obama’s presidential legacy if Trump, as expected, opts not to defend the Obama policies in […]
ABU DHABI // The UAE Space Agency issued the Arab world’s first national space policy in the capital on Tuesday – the first step to formulating laws for the industry. “The policy is just like a torch guiding us to where we have to go,” said Dr Mohammed Al Ahbabi, the agency’s director general. “Our space laws will have elements designed for tomorrow’s technologies and industries, such […]
Speaking at the session were H.E. Saeed Al Tayer, MD and CEO of DEWA; H.E. Dr. Aisha Butti bin Bishr of the Smart Dubai Office; Academic Researcher Vivek Wadhwa; and Bibop G. Gresta and Dirk Ahlborn of Hyperloop Transportation Technologies, Inc. Dubai, December 6, 2016 A panel discussion exploring “Future Cities” and the role that knowledge plays in that regard concluded the sessions of day one of […]
Your daily guide to community and cultural activities across the Emirates for December 7, 2016, including performances, festivals, art exhibitions, film screenings, health and fitness events, talks, classes, workshops and family fun. newslide Abu Dhabi Festive market Head to the annual Swiss Christmas Market and experience a traditional European festive event featuring 44 wooden chalets selling an array of seasonal gifts and decorations. Try Swiss culinary favourites […]
By Patricia Zengerle | WASHINGTON WASHINGTON The U.S. failure to retaliate strongly for the 2014 cyber attack against Sony Pictures may have helped inspire Russian hackers who sought to interfere in the 2016 U.S. election, a senior congressional Democrat said on Tuesday. “Russia may have concluded that they could hack American institutions and there’d be no price to pay,” Representative Adam Schiff, the top Democrat on the […]
The US Supreme Court has thrown out a $399m patent damages award against Samsung to Apple, in a unanimous verdict in favour of the Korean electronics group. The five-year-old case between the two smartphone market leaders could now continue for much longer, after the justices ordered the lower Federal Circuit court of appeals to reconsider the basis upon which the damages were originally calculated. While the decision does not […]
A Turkish-Arab fund plans to spend up to about 300 million euros ($322 million) to redevelop a luxury seaside resort outside Greece’s capital Athens, bringing significant foreign investment into the cash-strapped country, the fund said on Tuesday. Greece concluded in October the sale of a 90 percent stake in the Astir Palace hotel complex to the Jermyn Street Real Estate Fund as part of a key privatisation […]
DUBAI An investigative body set up by the Saudi-led coalition fighting in Yemen said on Tuesday it should apologise for a deadly attack on a Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) hospital in August that the group said killed 11 people. But the Joint Group to Assess Incidents found the coalition was not responsible for or had legitimately targeted fighters in four other incidents that rights groups blamed on […]
A man holds up his mobile phone showing a M-Pesa mobile money transaction page for the photographer at an open air market in Kibera in Kenya’s capital Nairobi (Reuters/Noor Khamis). This post features a conversation with Georgia Levenson Keohane, executive director of the Pershing Square Foundation, adjunct professor of social enterprise at Columbia Business School, and author of Capital and the Common Good: How Innovative Finance is […]
Hedge fund manager Pierre Andurand has returned almost 15 per cent this year by betting on a recovery in oil prices and he forecasts the rally has further to run after Opec’s agreement last week to cut supplies. The French founder of Andurand Capital, which has grown to be one of the world’s largest oil funds, returned 6.1 per cent in November as he positioned for crude’s […]
