OIAPOQUE, Brazil – Deep beneath the waters of the Atlantic off Brazil’s most northern coast, French major Total SA is hunting for what it hopes will be Latin America’s next big oil discovery. Metal drill bits, pipes and containers filled with equipment sit in the tropical port of Belém, near the mouth of the vast Amazon River, ready to sink the first exploratory wells 120 km (75 […]
BANGKOK Thailand’s new King Maha Vajiralongkorn attended an annual ploughing ceremony on Friday where sacred oxen predicted a bountiful harvest, auguring well for the world’s second largest rice exporter’s hopes of selling more this year. The royal ploughing ceremony is an ancient Brahminical rite which heralds the start of the new rice growing season. Broadcast on state television, the rite is celebrated in Thailand as a national […]
By Ayesha Rascoe | WASHINGTON WASHINGTON The United States and China will expand trade in beef and chicken and increase access for financial firms, as part of a plan to reduce the massive U.S. trade deficit with Beijing, U.S. Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross said on Thursday. The deals are the first tangible results of trade talks that began last month after U.S. President Donald Trump and Chinese […]
Aldar Properties has signed a partnership agreement with Al Fahim Group to bring the world’s first Mercedes-Benz and AMG showroom and express service centre to Yas Island. Construction is scheduled to start in the fourth quarter of 2017, with handover to Al Fahim Group in early 2019, Aldar said in a statement. The 5,900 sq m Mercedes-Benz and AMG showroom represents a sizable portion of the gross […]
BUENOS AIRES A witness in Brazil’s “Operation Car Wash” corruption scandal involving construction companies told Argentine prosecutors on Thursday that President Mauricio Macri’s spy chief received bribes, a judicial source present at the hearing told Reuters. Former Odebrecht SA [ODBES.UL] official Leonardo Meirelles’ testimony comes as the company, which has admitted to paying bribes in 12 mostly Latin American countries, is striving to improve its image in […]
The welcome I arrive using the minivan shuttle service that runs between the Monte Carlo SBM’s four hotels every 20 minutes. Travelling from the five-star Hermitage, with its old-world beauty dating from 1900, to the Monte Carlo Bay Hotel & Resort, a four-star, 10-storey structure opened in 2005, is less jarring than expected – the newer hotel is both inviting and more laid-back. Check-in is done quickly […]
My interest in networking began during my time as a professor and head of the telecommunications lab at the University of Los Andes, in Merída, Venezuela, where we began experimenting with computer networks. I was one of the earliest Internet enthusiasts at our university. Our university was the first in Venezuela to get direct access to the Internet backbone in Homestead, Florida, by means of an antenna […]
This image shows the stage of the Microsoft Build developers conference in Seattle, Washington on May 11, 2017, where the tech giant unveiled new hardware for “mixed reality” computing Microsoft on Thursday debuted hardware for reaching into virtual worlds powered by its technology as it looked to “mixed reality” as the next big computing platform. An update coming to Windows 10 operating system later this year will […]
MADRID Dozens of protesters against Venezuela’s socialist President Nicolas Maduro massed outside a cultural centre in Madrid on Thursday evening as the country’s ambassador to Spain, who was stuck inside, decried what he called a “kidnapping” by demonstrators. Several hundred people gathered outside the extension of the Venezuelan embassy at around 1630 GMT. By 2100 GMT, dozens of protesters were still chanting “Venezuela, freedom!” at the site […]
Michael Dell at Dell EMC World Image: Asha McLean/ZDNet Although Dell EMC operates in approximately 180 countries, not all of the products and services from the company’s bag of tricks are available everywhere. When it comes to Australia, however, Michael Dell told ZDNet that Australia is pretty high up on the priority list, giving local organisations access to almost the entire Dell EMC stack ahead of many […]
While China growth has been slowing, and monetary conditions tightening, few (if any) have predicted any prolonged deflation (let alone a recession), yet overnight – for the first time ever – the $1.7 trillion Chinese bond market inverted, flashing a warning signal to the world that something is wrong. Early on Thursday, the five-year yield rose to 3.71%, breaking above the 10-year yield for the first time […]
By Ju-min Park and Christine Kim | SEOUL SEOUL South Korea’s new president launched international efforts to defuse tension over North Korea’s weapons development on Thursday, urging both dialogue and sanctions while also aiming to ease China’s anger about a U.S. anti-missile system. Moon Jae-in, a liberal former human rights lawyer, was sworn in on Wednesday and said in his first speech as president he would immediately […]
By Jonathan Allen | NEW YORK NEW YORK New York City public defenders on Thursday criticized a proposal by Mayor Bill de Blasio to deny free legal counsel to immigrants in deportation hearings if they had been convicted of serious crimes in the past, saying the plan would deny them due process. In his proposed annual budget, De Blasio allocated $16.4 million to legal services for immigrant […]
Washington // The US state department has approved the sale of 160 missiles to the UAE for an estimated US$2 billion (Dh7.35bn), the Pentagon said on Thursday. The UAE government has requested the possible sale of 60 Patriot PAC-3 missiles with canisters made by Lockheed Martin and 100 Patriot guidance enhanced missiles made by Raytheon, among other military equipment, according to a department of defence statement. It […]
By Brad Brooks and Anthony Boadle | SAO PAULO/BRASILIA SAO PAULO/BRASILIA Former Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva’s combative testimony before a federal judge this week did little to dismantle the graft case against him and improve his chances of securing a new term in office. Lula, a founder of the leftist Workers Party (PT) that controlled Brazil’s presidency from 2003 until last year, can only […]
The scene at the Rouhani campaign rally in Tehran on Tuesday has been replicated in other cities in recent days. In what appeared to be a warning that they not get out of hand, Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, said on Wednesday that anyone who disrupted the elections would get a “slap in the face.” Continue reading the main story Mr. Rouhani’s supporters did not care […]
King Abdullah II of Jordan, Algerian President Abdelaziz Bouteflika and Niger’s Mahamadou Issoufou are among leaders invited by Saudi King Salman for a summit with US President Donald Trump. The Arab-Islamic-American Summit will be among a series of talks expected to be held in Riyadh on May 20-21, Saudi officials said. Trump has frequently been accused of fuelling Islamophobia but aides described his decision to visit Saudi […]
ROME An Italian court has said divorce settlements should no longer guarantee spouses their previous standard of living but rather simply make sure they were financially independent. The top appeals court ruling could bring an end to the huge settlements seen in some break-ups, such as the 1.4 million euros ($1.5 million) a month that former prime minister Silvio Berlusconi has to pay his ex-wife, Veronica Lario. […]
Manama Bahrain, 11th May 2017 Bahrain Cinema Company, market leaders in the entertainment industry in the Kingdom of Bahrain, announced the launch of the second branch of the authentic Indian and Chinese cuisine restaurant, Takatak, along with a first of its kind Indian street food cuisine restaurant, Chaat & Chai, at Lulu Mall, Hidd on 11th May 2017. A number of exclusively invited VIPs attended the launch […]
Scientists unveiled a lightweight, robotic, outer “skeleton” Thursday that can detect when someone loses their balance, correct their gait, and prevent their fall. Designed to limit stumbles among the elderly, the device has sensors that can discern in real time when a limb starts to buckle or flail, and lightweight motors which exert instant force on both legs to restore balance. “Wearable machines that enhance your […]
By Patricia Zengerle and Arshad Mohammed | WASHINGTON WASHINGTON President Donald Trump blasted ousted FBI chief James Comey as a “showboat” and “grandstander” on Thursday even as the agency’s acting leader contradicted the president’s account that the FBI had been in turmoil before he fired Comey. In testimony before the Senate Intelligence Committee, acting Federal Bureau of Investigation director Andrew McCabe promised to tell the panel of […]
A pioneering new study uncovering the ‘primitive atmosphere’ surrounding a distant world could provide a pivotal breakthrough in the search to how planets form and develop in far-flung galaxies. (via WSJ)
MINSK Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, in an interview with Belarusian TV Channel ONT aired on Thursday, said he will not back down from fighting his enemies. He pledged to defend de-escalation zones, brokered by Russia, and crush, with the support of Iran and Hezbollah, those who will try to breach them. Assad also told the TV channel that the de-escalation zones give chance for insurgents to hand […]
The lead actors of Disney and Cameron Mackintosh’s hit musical, “Mary Poppins”, were pictured in their full costume at Burj Khalifa, the world’s tallest tower. Having flown onto the Dubai Opera stage for the first time last week, the international hit musical “Mary Poppins” is currently running on the Dubai Opera stage until May 25. Leading the cast in the role of “Mary Poppins” is Zizi Strallen, […]
