Yemen, one of the poorest countries in the Arab world, has been convulsed by civil strife for more than two years. In the west, Houthi rebels ousted the government of President Abdu Rabbu Mansour Hadi, the United States’ main counterterrorism partner in the country, and have been fighting a Saudi-led coalition of mostly Sunni Arab countries that back Mr. Hadi. Continue reading the main story In the […]
WASHINGTON President Donald Trump’s Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin used his first senior staff meeting last month to tell his new aides he would not tolerate leaks to the news media, three sources familiar with the matter said. Current and former officials said that in a departure from past practice, access to a classified computer system at the White House has been tightened by political appointees to prevent […]
Ismail, a 20-year-old Emirati, has rarely ever stepped into a bank branch. “You won’t believe I haven’t visited my branch for over a year. All my transactions are done online,” he says, as he clicks an app on his phone to make a payment. “I just paid my bill and that’s how it works for me. All the services are at my fingertips and I save immense […]
KUALA LUMPUR Malaysia on Saturday rejected claims it may have violated sanctions imposed by the United Nations on North Korea, after a Reuters report this week said North Korea-linked firms were running an arms network in the country. “Malaysia categorically rejects any such insinuation,” the country’s foreign ministry said in a statement. The statement said Malaysia has provided required responses to queries raised by the United Nations […]
Image copyright Reuters Image caption Ri Jong Chol arrived in Beijing early on Saturday The North Korean suspect questioned in connection with the death of Kim Jong-nam has said he was the victim of a conspiracy by the Malaysian authorities. Ri Jong Chol said his detention was a “plot” to “damage the honour of the republic”, Reuters news agency reports. He made the comments outside the North […]
By Tulay Karadeniz | ANKARA ANKARA Turkish leaders condemned Germany on Friday for cancelling rallies of Turkish residents due to be addressed by Ankara’s ministers and accused Berlin of giving “shelter” to Turkey’s enemies. As the diplomatic spat between the two countries became increasingly angry, Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan said a German journalist being held in Turkey was a “German agent” and a member of an armed […]
WASHINGTON U.S. Vice President Mike Pence on Friday said there was “no comparison whatsoever” between his use of a private email account for state business while he was governor of Indiana and the email woes of former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. Clinton’s use of a private email server during her time in government became a major point of criticism against her as the Democratic nominee during […]
Johnson & Johnson said on Friday that a state court jury in Missouri had returned a verdict in its favor in the latest trial to arise out of thousands of lawsuits alleging the company’s talc-based products can increase the risk of ovarian cancer. The jury sided with Johnson & Johnson and talc supplier Imerys Talc in a lawsuit by Tennessee resident Nora Daniels, who alleged that she […]
Three GCC-based retailers have been named in a new list of the world’s top 250, with the UAE’s Emke Group ranked the Middle East’s biggest. Emke, which runs the Lulu chain on hypermarkets and earlier this month announces major expansion plans in Saudi Arabia, posted sales revenue of $6.2 billion. Dubai mall operator Majid Al Futtaim saw revenue of $6 billion while Saudi-based food firm Savola posted […]
The National staff ABU DHABI // About 1,650 people have been given a range of medical assistance in Tanzania as part of the UAE’s Zayed Giving humanitarian drive. Children and elderly people were treated by the UAE’s team of medical volunteers. The initiative was carried out under the supervision of the UAE-Tanzanian voluntary medical team. The Zayed Giving convoys have now completed the first phase of its […]
ABU DHABI // Rock singer Rod Stewart made a public apology this weekend after being filmed carrying out a prank execution in the Abu Dhabi desert during his latest world tour. A video posted on his wife Penny Lancaster’s Instagram account, which has since been removed, showed the 72-year-old carrying out a mock beheading, mimicking real murders by ISIL terrorists. Stewart said he and his friends were […]
Evan Spiegel gazed out over the floor of the New York Stock Exchange, where onlookers were recording him with his company’s retro-cool, video-enabled sunglasses, then rang the opening bell on Snap’s first day as a public company. Breaking the tech titan’s dress code in his suit and tie, he grinned and, unlike his biggest rival, made no grand proclamations about his company’s world-changing potential. Nearly five years […]
Banksy, who rarely comments on his work and keeps his real identity a secret, has made trips to the West Bank for years and has previously, under cover of night, painted the barrier itself. On a recent trip, he painted a mural on the barrier, just steps from his current project, showing a girl being pulled aloft by balloons. Continue reading the main story Last year, four […]
BEIJING Ri Jong Chol, a suspect in the murder of the estranged half-brother of North Korea’s leader, said in Beijing that he was a victim of a conspiracy by Malaysian authorities attempting to damage the honour of North Korea. Ri, a North Korean, accused Malaysia of using coercion to try to extract a confession from him, he told reporters outside the North Korea embassy in Beijing on […]
By Julia Edwards Ainsley | WASHINGTON WASHINGTON Women and children crossing together illegally into the United States could be separated by U.S. authorities under a proposal being considered by the Department of Homeland Security, according to three government officials. Part of the reason for the proposal is to deter mothers from migrating to the United States with their children, said the officials, who have been briefed on […]
AMSTERDAM The Dutch government said on Friday it opposed plans by Turkish authorities to hold a referendum campaign rally in Rotterdam, saying it would inform Ankara of its opposition to the “undesirable” move. Earlier, the leader of an association of Dutch Turks said Turkish foreign minister Mevlut Cavusoglu was planning to attend the March 11 rally, hoping to persuade the Netherlands’ hundreds of thousands of dual citizens […]
Former UKIP leader Nigel Farage couldn’t get elected member of UK parliament, so he became a member of European Parliament. He also couldn’t get knighted by the Queen of England, so he naturally opted for the next best thing: Being knighted by a young girl with a plastic sword on Russia-funded television network RT. You can watch the heartwarming ceremony here: The ceremony didn’t stop with the plastic sword, […]
France, which gave the world one of the most enduring symbols of World Expos, the Eiffel Tower, has become the latest country to confirm its participation in Expo 2020 Dubai. The European country officially confirmed its commitment in a letter from Prime Minister Bernard Cazeneuve to Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai. The letter was […]
BRUSSELS, March 03, 2017 – The Panama Papers scandal has highlighted how certain financial intermediaries and other providers of financial and tax advice appear to have actively helped their clients to conceal money offshore. It is against this backdrop that ALDE MEPs Petr Ježek (PANA Co-Rapporteur) and Michael Theurer (ALDE PANA Coordinator) hosted a high-level seminar Thursday, bringing together experts on this field, both at the technical […]
Dubai, UAE, 3 March 2017 As part of Dubai Electricity and Water Authority’s (DEWA) efforts to provide customers with services that exceed their expectations, DEWA launched the fifth phase of its ‘Beyond Customers Expectations programme’, which provides staff with a comprehensive framework focused on the highest quality standards in service provision and customer happiness. 61 employees from DEWA’s Customer Care Centre, 63 employees from DEWA’s Customer Happiness […]
GENEVA The Syrian opposition has provisionally accepted 12 principles given to delegates by the United Nations at the end of an eight-day round of peace talks, chief negotiator Nasr al-Hariri said. The general principles on the future of Syria were derived from points set out by U.N. mediator Staffan de Mistura last year, Hariri told reporters after the final meeting of the round of U.N.-led talks in […]
NBCUniversal has ramped up its partnership with Snap, investing $500m in the owner of disappearing messaging app Snapchat’s initial public offering. The Comcast-owned television group bought shares at $17 apiece this week. With shares jumping 44 per cent in their first day of trading on Thursday, and rising a further 14 per cent on Friday, NBCU’s stake is now worth more than $820m. The stake is the […]
As NPR pointed out in 2015, “every new automatic device that enters our lives, from automatic doors to escalators, has had to face this awkward moment where people are skeptical and maybe scared.” When the first public railway opened in England in 1825, for example, people thought the human body wasn’t made to withstand travel at speeds of 30 miles per hour for long periods […]
COLOMBO Tourist arrivals in Sri Lanka fell in February for the first time since a nearly three-decade-long civil war ended in May 2009, government data released on Friday showed. It snapped a 93-month streak of tourist increases on the island, popular for its Indian Ocean beaches and varied wildlife. Tourism accounts for close to 5 percent of Sri Lanka’s economy. Arrivals in February edged down 0.4 percent […]
