By Jane Ross | LOS ANGELES LOS ANGELES A baby girl from the Ivory Coast born with four legs and two spines has been successfully separated from a parasitic twin in a rare and complex surgery at a Chicago hospital. Ten-month-old Dominique underwent a six-hour procedure involving five surgeons at the Advocate Children’s Hospital in Park Ridge, Illinois, on March 8. She is now thriving with the […]
By Robin Emmott | BRUSSELS BRUSSELS U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson’s decision to miss his first meeting with NATO foreign ministers has unsettled European allies who fear the no-show reopens questions about President Donald Trump’s commitment to the alliance. Reuters exclusively reported on Monday that Tillerson would stay at home to attend Trump’s expected April 6-7 talks with Chinese President Xi Jinping in Florida, skipping the […]
By Luke Baker | JERUSALEM JERUSALEM Russia and other world powers must move to limit Iran’s growing military strength in Syria because it poses a regional threat, the director-general of Israel’s Intelligence Ministry told Reuters in an interview. Israeli officials estimate Iran commands at least 25,000 fighters in Syria, including members of its own Revolutionary Guard, Shi’ite militants from Iraq and recruits from Afghanistan and Pakistan. It […]
At the start of March we showed a fascinating chart from Rystad Energy, demonstrating how dramatic the impact of technological efficiency on collapsing US shale production costs has been: in just the past 3 years, the wellhead breakeven price for key shale plays has collapsed from an average of $80 to the mid-$30s… … resulting in drastically lower all-in breakevens for most US shale regions. Today, in […]
MANILA The Philippines plans to file a strong protest against China after it announced preparatory work for an environmental monitoring station on a disputed shoal in the South China Sea, a Cabinet minister said on Tuesday. China five years ago started blockading the Scarborough Shoal, a rocky outcrop within the Philippines’ 200 mile exclusive economic zone (EEZ), and the United States has warned Beijing against carrying out […]
Nobel Prize-winning writers would almost certainly baulk at the faintest idea that they might work to a “mission statement”. But when St Lucian poet Derek Walcott wrote, “I seek/ As climate seeks its style, to write/ Verse crisp as sand, clear as sunlight/ Cold as the curled wave, ordinary/ As a tumbler of island water,” in his breakthrough 1962 collection In A Green Night, it served as […]
BRUSSELS The European Union’s 27 leaders will meet at the end of April to agree their negotiating lines for Brexit talks, after London sends in a formal notification that it wants to leave the EU on March 29th, three sources in Brussels said on Tuesday. The meeting is a necessary step before the negotiations between Britain and the 27 remaining EU states can start formally. (Reporting by […]
The Middle East is not Silicon Valley, nor should it aim to be, according to venture firm Wamda Capital’s Khaled Talhouni. Speaking at the Arabian Business Startup Academy yesterday, Talhouni said the region should aim to create a system that works for its circumstances, instead of mimic an existing one in the West. “I couldn’t disagree more that the Middle East is like Silicon Valley, not because […]
PARIS A junior French minister backed Emmanuel Macron’s presidential campaign on Tuesday, the first member of the government to do so, just hours after he consolidated his status as favourite in the first of a series of TV debates. The backing of ecology party lawmaker and biodiversity minister Barbara Pompili is expected to be followed by more defections from the government of Socialist President Francois Hollande, in […]
Smart Voice & One Remote Making TVs “smart” is one thing, but being able to use them smartly and to their full potential is another. Smart TVs have come a long way since Samsung first introduced theirs as a “connected-TV” back in 2009. In 2011, Samsung was the first to use the term “Smart TV” that converged the computer and its integrated internet, a conventional TV, and […]
Image: Cultura/REX/Shutterstock By Yvette Tan2017-03-21 07:53:00 UTC What’s the first thing you do upon waking up? If your answer’s brushing your teeth or taking a shower, chances are you’re already using a product developed by Givaudan. The Swiss firm is the world’s largest player in the flavour and fragrance industries. It develops scents and flavours across food products as well as household items. That means it’s probably […]
BELFAST Martin McGuinness, a former Irish Republican Army commander who was deputy first minister of Northern Ireland for a decade, has died aged 66, his party, Sinn Fein, announced on Tuesday. A key figure throughout five decades of conflict and peace in the UK province, McGuinness had announced on January 19 that he was bowing out of politics and would not lead his nationalist party into elections […]
DUBAI The United Arab Emirates arrested political activist Ahmed Mansoor on charges of spreading sectarianism and hatred on social media, state news agency WAM reported on Tuesday, in a move criticised by rights groups. Mansoor, an electrical engineer and poet, had used social media “to publish false information and rumours as well as promoting (a) sectarian and hate-incited agenda,” WAM quoted the public prosecutor on Tuesday as […]
TOKYO Asian shares hit 21-month highs on Tuesday while the dollar and U.S. bond yields were on the backfoot on the prospect of a less hawkish than previously expected Federal Reserve policy trajectory. MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan .MIAPJ0000PUS rose 0.3 percent in its eighth consecutive day of gains with tech-heavy Seoul and Taipei shares .KS11 .TWII hitting two-year highs while Hong Kong’s Hang […]
The two defectors, who live in an undisclosed location abroad, made their case on Monday to small group of human rights experts and reporters in a private meeting at the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, and in a brief interview afterward. Neither photographs nor recordings of the session were allowed, to help protect their identity. They and their extended family are presumed to be at risk from […]
The most expensive watch sold in Dubai went for $500,000 at an auction this week. Christie’s March auctions, which realised a total of $13,437,688 (AED49,343,190) in sales, sold a Patek Philippe for a little less than $500,000, making it the most expensive vintage watch sold at auction in the Middle East. The top lot of the sales was Mahmoud Saïd’s Assouan – ile et dunes oil painting, […]
MOSCOW Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov said on Tuesday he had not heard about a potential visit to Russia by U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, news agency Interfax reported. On Monday sources told Reuters Tillerson planned to skip a meeting with NATO foreign ministers in April in order to stay home for a visit by China’s president and go to Russia. “I don’t know anything […]
Chinese networking giant Huawei will be constructing and opening a datacentre in New Zealand within two years as well as expanding its research centre in Wellington and opening another one in Christchurch, it has been reported. According to a report by Stuff NZ, Huawei will be spending around NZ$400 million over the next five years in an effort to source products and services in addition to opening […]
21 March 2017 Dubai, United Arab Emirates – HH Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President and Prime Minister of UAE and Ruler of Dubai, has inaugurated the 200 megawatt (MW) second phase of the Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum Solar Park. The project reflects a new era in the excellence and leadership of the UAE, as it increases the share of clean and renewable energy. […]
By David Shepardson and Mark Hosenball | WASHINGTON WASHINGTON Passengers travelling on certain U.S.-bound foreign airline flights will have to check electronic devices larger than a cell phone once U.S. authorities formalise a new ban in response to an unspecified terrorism threat, U.S. officials told Reuters on Monday. The new rule is expected to be announced Tuesday by the Department of Homeland Security, the officials said, adding […]
By Arshad Mohammed and John Walcott | WASHINGTON WASHINGTON U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson plans to skip a meeting with NATO foreign ministers next month in order to stay home for a visit by China’s president and will go to Russia later in April, U.S. officials said on Monday, disclosing an itinerary that allies may see as giving Moscow priority over them. Tillerson intends to miss […]
TOKYOJapan’s cabinet on Tuesday approved legislation that would penalise criminal conspiracies, a move critics say threatens civil liberties, but officials say is needed to prevent terrorist targeting events like the 2020 Tokyo Olympics. Proponents say the steps are vital in a security climate where terrorism risks have grown and in order to ratify a U.N. Treaty aimed at battling international organised crime. “Considering the current situation regarding […]
Augmented reality will soon be part of everyday life, if we are to believe Tim Cook. Cook, Apple’s CEO, is excited about the future of augmented reality and Apple together. He is psyched that the company is exerting its technological resources to research, develop, and apply AR technology on Apple products, particularly its flagship iPhone. If that happens, then AR can be Apple‘s “next big thing.” While […]
The UAE has pledged US$15 million (Dh55m) to a historic alliance to protect cultural heritage sites threatened by war and extremism. The Emirates was among the world donors that pledged more than $75m during a conference at the Louvre Museum in Paris, attended by Sheikh Saif bin Zayed, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Interior, French president Francois Hollande and other officials. The conference established the International […]
