Kong: Skull Island Director: Jordan Vogt-Roberts Starring: Tom Hiddleston, Brie Larson, Samuel L Jackson, John Goodman, John C Reilly Three stars One of cinema’s most iconic monsters, King Kong has been regularly reprised by filmmakers, most recently by Peter Jackson in his 2005 film. This latest incarnation pushes the action forward a few decades, to the early 1970s and the end of the Vietnam War. Satellite mapping […]
Continue reading the main story But the agent has his passport and has refused to refund his recruitment fee, he said. He has no money for a plane ticket. “There is a huge dependence on migrant workers who have employment terms that are no different than indentured servitude,” said Sarah Leah Whitson, director of the Middle East and North Africa division of Human Rights Watch, an advocacy […]
By Mica Rosenberg and Dan Levine The state of Hawaii can sue over President Donald Trump’s new executive order temporarily banning the entry of refugees and travellers from six Muslim-majority countries, a federal judge ruled on Wednesday. U.S. District Court Judge Derrick Watson in Hawaii said the state could revise its initial lawsuit, which had challenged Trump’s original ban signed in January. The state is claiming the […]
While many have blamed today’s spike in yields for the broader underperformance of the REIT sector, which sent the Bloomberg North American REIT index down 1.4%, its biggest one-day drop since December in a widespread selloff across all property sectors with 194 of the 214 stocks in the index lower today, it’s more than just the jump in rates that is slamming the rate-sensitive sector. While longs […]
Nike Inc (NKE.N) will launch a hijab for female Muslim athletes early next year, becoming the first major sports apparel maker to offer a traditional Islamic head scarf designed specifically for competition, the company said on Wednesday. The head covering, marketed under the “Pro Hijab” brand, is designed to allow athletes to observe the traditional Islamic practice of covering the head without compromising performance. Made from a […]
By Susan Cornwell and Yasmeen Abutaleb | WASHINGTON WASHINGTON Democrats mounted a fierce uphill battle on Wednesday to thwart a Republican plan backed by President Donald Trump to overhaul the U.S. healthcare system, even as the legislation also drew fire from a top medical group and dissatisfied conservatives. Two House of Representatives committees began debating the bill and considering amendments two days after it was unveiled by […]
LONDON An animatronic leopard stopped Londoners in their tracks on Wednesday in Trafalgar Square, where it sat roaring as part of satellite TV channel Nat Geo Wild’s Big Cat Week campaign. Called “Lily,” the robotic leopard is intended to raise awareness about threats to the habitat of real leopards, who increasingly have to co-exist with humans. “These animals are roaming the streets in places like Mumbai because […]
Even though the Nintendo Switch is flying off of shelves, many gamers are disappointed that the home and portable gaming console doesn’t include support for Netflix and other streaming services. But all that is about to change—in time. President and COO of Nintendo of American Reggie Fils-Aime revealed that streaming services could launch on its console in the future. The reason why support for Netflix and the […]
ABU DHABI // A former Russian diplomat said on Wednesday that dialogue was the key to strong international relations and that his country was capable of being good friends with GCC states and Iran. Veniamin Popov, a former Russian ambassador to Yemen, Libya and Tunisia, said in Abu Dhabi that president Vladimir Putin wanted to see an end to all conflict in the Middle East and hoped […]
The launch of the Nike Pro Hijab, a lightweight, breathable, adjustable, competition-worthy garment for hijab-wearing athletes, reflects both consumer demand and the growing number of elite female Muslim athletes. In the 2016 Rio Olympics, for example, 14 Muslim women – four of them in hijab – won medals. “Sports is one of the few platforms that brings people together, and the more big brands are noticing the […]
George Osborne will earn £650,000 a year for working four days a month at BlackRock, more than ten times what he is paid as an MP once expected share awards from the world’s largest fund manager are included. The detail of Mr Osborne’s pay at BlackRock, which he agreed to join as an adviser earlier this year, was disclosed in the register of members’ financial interests at […]
By John Walcott and Andrea Shalal | WASHINGTON/BERLIN WASHINGTON/BERLIN U.S. intelligence and law enforcement officials said on Wednesday that they have been aware since the end of last year of a security breach at the CIA that led to anti-secrecy group WikiLeaks publishing agency documents on its hacking tools. The officials, who asked not to be identified, told Reuters that they believed that the documents published by […]
By Gabriela Baczynska | BRUSSELS BRUSSELS European Union leaders will discuss on Thursday their agreed plan to cut immigration from Libyan shores to Italy but they increasingly fear that calmer spring weather will bring a new surge of arrivals from Africa. Arrival numbers from lawless Libya are already higher than last year. Some 9,000 people made the perilous voyage in January and February last year, compared with […]
ROME A prize-winning racehorse dubbed the “Blonde Bombshell” and a thoroughbred colt were stolen from their stables in Italy on Tuesday, in a blow for an industry reeling from years of crisis. The abduction of the chestnut mare, called Unicka, and the colt, named Vampire Dany, was discovered by the horses’ trainer at the Wave stables near Pisa, northern Italy, when he went to feed them on […]
By Marja Novak | LJUBLJANA LJUBLJANA The Slovenian government on Wednesday agreed to raise doctors’ wages by a total of as much as 50 million euros per year, and the move prompted other public-sector trade unions to seek wage increases, as well. The move was agreed in talks with the doctors’ trade union, Fides, which followed a partial two-week strike by doctors in November. Finance Minister Mateja […]
The Ivanka Trump boycott appears to have backfired. One month after several brand name retailers announced they would no longer carry the 35-year-old’s clothing and accessories, Ivanka Trump’s women’s fashion line has seen record February sales. The collection said they had some of the highest performing weeks since the brand was launched last month. “Since the beginning of February, they were some of the best performing weeks […]
VIENNA The U.N. nuclear agency’s 35-nation Board of Governors on Wednesday backed the agency’s chief, Yukiya Amano, for a third term as director general after he ran unopposed on a platform of continuity in dealing with issues like Iran’s nuclear programme. Amano, a 69-year-old career diplomat from Japan, has headed the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) since 2009, including the years leading up to Iran’s nuclear agreement […]
By Yashaswini Swamynathan U.S. stocks were little changed on Wednesday as investors focused on Friday’s crucial nonfarm payrolls report after a better-than-expected private hiring report strengthened chances of a rate increase next week. Financial stocks rose after the ADP National Employment report showed that the U.S. private sector added 298,000 jobs last month, blowing past economists’ average estimate of 190,000. The S&P 500 financial index .SPSY rose […]
The award judges noted that the project “exposed offshore hideaways tied to mega-banks, corporate bribery scandals, drug kingpins, arms traffickers and a network of people close to Russian President Vladimir Putin that shuffled as much as $2 billion around the world.” Judges also noted that since the probe, “governments and corporations in 79 countries have opened at least 150 inquiries, audits or investigations.” Along with the recognition […]
DUBAI // The UAE has cracked the top 20 list of countries with the most billionaires for the first time. The Emirates is home to 21 ultra-rich individuals, giving it a ranking of 19, according to the China-based Hurun Global Rich List 2017. “The world today has 5,000 dollar billionaires, assuming that for every one we have found we have missed at least one,” said Rupert Hoogewerf, […]
“Talk is cheap, implementation is difficult,” said Fadel Gheit, a senior oil company analyst at Oppenheimer & Company. “They will have to recreate books that never existed.” Photo Khalid A. al-Falih, Saudi Arabia’s energy minister and chairman of Saudi Aramco, speaking at a conference in Houston on Tuesday. Credit Melissa Phillip/Houston Chronicle, via Associated Press As a prize, there are fewer bigger than Saudi Aramco. The Saudis […]
Dubai, United Arab Emirates Delta Partners, the leading advisory and investment company, specialised in the telecoms, media and digital (TMD) space, has been officially recognised as one of the ‘Top Companies to Work for in the UAE’ in 2017 by Great Place to Work®, a global research, training and consultancy firm that identifies the best workplaces in over 50 countries worldwide. The official list, which was announced […]
By Fatos Bytyci | PRISTINA PRISTINA Kosovo signalled on Wednesday it would turn its security force into a national army, plans opposed by its ethnic Serb minority that drew immediate criticism from NATO and the territory’s biggest foreign supporter, the United States. Nearly two decades after the Kosovo war, relations between Belgrade and Pristina remain strained and Serbia continues to regard Kosovo, which declared independence in 2008, […]
Bahrain’s national carrier has announced an expansion to its bundle of pre-paid services, adding seat selection, excess baggage and lounge access. Gulf Air said in a statement that passengers can now purchase these services in advance of their travel, adding that its prepaid excess baggage rates are 20 percent lower than standard airport rates. The airline said it will be introducing this facility to its official website […]
