It might already be two months into the new year, but in terms of hotel milestones, it’s just about to start. Just as the UAE’s residential sector is producing a much-needed surplus of property, consumers are set to benefit as this year’s hotel industry pipeline turns out a wave of audacious new developments. From a new Viceroy, Langham and Bulgari in Dubai to an Aloft in Al […]
Photo Iraqi forces attacked the Mosul airport in an offensive to take the western side of the city from the Islamic State on Thursday. Credit Ahmad Al-Rubaye/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images BAGHDAD — Iraqi forces have seized most of Mosul’s airport, an important milestone in the broader offensive to retake from the Islamic State the western half of the city, allied and Iraqi officials said on Thursday. […]
BISSAU Hundreds of people marched through the capital of Guinea Bissau on Thursday demanding the departure of President Jose Mario Vaz, a day after parliament rejected a programme submitted by his prime minister. Vaz appointed Prime Minister Umaro Mokhtar Sissoco Embalo in November after months of regional talks seeking an end to an 18-month political crisis that has paralysed the institutions of the poor West African nation […]
A HoloLens display visualization Microsoft “You take the high road and I’ll take the low road and I’ll be in Scotland before you,” assert modernized lyrics of The Bonny Banks of Loch Lomond. The 176 year-old song is a metaphor for the state of virtual reality. Scotland represents a promised land of market leadership, Oculus and HTC, with their pricey high-end products, are taking the high road, […]
Jackie Evancho, who sang the U.S. national anthem at President Donald Trump’s inauguration last month, has asked him to sit down with her and her transgender sister to learn about the challenges for students struggling with gender identity. Evancho, 16, requested the meeting in a public Twitter message to the president late on Wednesday, minutes after his administration revoked landmark guidance to public schools to let transgender […]
Rights group says the case shows how Thailand’s computer crime laws shut down investigative journalism. Bangkok: A British journalist with the BBC faces up to five years in a Thai jail after a lawyer brought a criminal defamation case against him over an investigation into fraud on a popular tourist island. Rights groups say the case is the latest example of how Thailand’s broad defamation and computer […]
By John Geddie and Elisabeth O’Leary | LONDON/EDINBURGH LONDON/EDINBURGH The Scottish government is increasingly convinced it can win a new independence referendum and is thinking seriously about calling one next year as Britain exits the European Union, sources close to the Scottish government said. Scotland voted overwhelmingly to stay inside the EU in last June’s referendum, but Britain as a whole voted to leave and British Prime […]
Frank Sorrentino used to do a lot of mortgages. But since the passage of the Dodd-Frank Act seven years ago, he has mostly shied away. Rules have been tightened so far as to make home loans uneconomic, says the chairman and chief executive of ConnectOne, a bank with $3.7bn in assets based in Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey. “Community banks used to be able to cut through the […]
By Humeyra Pamuk and John Davison | ISTANBUL/BEIRUT ISTANBUL/BEIRUT Turkey-backed rebels have seized the centre of the town of al-Bab from Islamic State, Turkish state media and rebels officials said on Thursday, marking a likely breakthrough in Ankara’s drive to wipe out the militant group in northern Syria. Turkey launched its Syrian operation, dubbed “Operation Euphrates Shield”, in August in an effort to push Islamic State from […]
For footloose international money, the safest place to hide in the European financial system may be two-year German debt. The government of Europe’s largest economy not meeting such obligations in euros is as close to inconceivable as things get. The debt is also easy and cheap to trade, which means it can be a market signal of investor angst. The price of such safety set a record […]
Three Egyptian real estate executives said on Thursday that their companies have suspended housing deals with the Saudi Arabian government amid political tensions between the two countries. Four Egyptian real estate companies had signed memorandums of understanding with the Saudi Housing Ministry during King Salman’s April visit to Cairo last year. Since then, political differences have emerged as the two Arab powers have diverged on the conflict […]
SARAJEVO The Leader of Macedonia’s Social Democrats said he expected a new government to be formed in March, after his party agreed on all key issues with ethnic Albanian parties. “Now we have to agree on distribution of ministries and future government reform platform,” Zoran Zaev told reporters in Sarajevo. Macedonia’s conservative VMRO-DPMNE party won a slight majority in December parliamentary vote but failed to reach agreement […]
By Mehreen Zahra-Malik | LAHORE, Pakistan LAHORE, Pakistan Pakistani real estate giant Rafi Group made a ten-fold profit last year from its sale of hundreds of acres of land in the remote fishing town of Gwadar, acquired soon after the government announced plans for a deep-sea port there. The windfall came after 12 years of waiting patiently for the Gwadar port to emerge as the centrepiece of […]
By Praveen Menon | KUALA LUMPUR KUALA LUMPUR Malaysia is considering expelling North Korea’s envoy to the Southeast Asian nation or shutting its embassy in Pyongyang, as tensions escalate over the killing of the estranged half-brother of the North’s leader Kim Jong Un, a senior government official said. Kim Jong Nam, 46, was killed at Kuala Lumpur International Airport on Feb. 13 with what police believe was […]
Image: Bednarczyk/Epa/REX/Shutterstock By Sohini Mitter2017-02-23 08:56:35 UTC We told you that Justin Bieber is performing in India for the first time. Understandably, there’s a lot of excitement, especially in millennials who can’t have enough of the 23-year-old pop sensation. But now there’s a problem as we discovered once the tickets went on sale. Firstly, there’s a queue. Even if you wait, you are never sure that […]
Emirates is set to launch a series of new cabin products and enhancements in 2017 for both its A380 and Boeing 777 fleet. The multi-million dollar cabin interiors upgrade programme includes an enhanced Onboard Lounge for its flagship Airbus A380 aircraft, the Dubai-based airline said in a statement. It said the A380 Lounge upgrade has been inspired by private yacht cabins, with seating space increased. Sir Tim […]
Astronomers have long been studying black holes lurking at the center of most galaxies. Scientists have also discovered a great deal of information about them, but no actual photograph of a black hole has yet been produced. Capturing Actual Image Of A Black Hole Sophisticated telescopes and instruments have allowed scientists to capture images of the sun, asteroids, and surface of other planets and moons, but all […]
For the Arab world’s largest country, February 11, 2011, was the moment the 21st-century began. Hosni Mubarak, after decades in power, was finally pushed to step down after millions of people took the streets. Many things were born in Tahrir Square that day. Hope for the future. A new politics led by youth. A revolutionary current, as H A Hellyer puts in his new book A Revolution Undone. […]
Stainless steel is regaining its shine. After falling victim like many other basic industries to the global commodities downturn, companies that specialise in the rustproof metal are enjoying a change in their fortunes. An upwards spiral in share prices, bigger profits and increased payouts to investors is helping to restore the lustre in this niche of the steel market. “It’s very clear we are now in a […]
BEIJING China’s defence ministry said on Thursday it was aware of the presence of a U.S. aircraft carrier strike group in the South China Sea and China respected freedom of navigation for all countries in the waters there. The U.S. navy said the strike group, including the Nimitz-class aircraft carrier the USS Carl Vinson, began “routine operations” in the South China Sea on Saturday amid growing tension […]
BAGHDAD U.S.-backed Iraqi security forces closing in on the Islamic State-held western half of Mosul stormed the city’s airport and a nearby military base on Thursday, state television said. Counter-terrorism service (CTS) troops and elite interior ministry units known as Rapid Response descended on the airport early on Thursday and the nearby Ghozlani military complex, CTS spokesman Sabah al-Numan told state TV. “Our forces started a major […]
Good morning. Here’s our morning roundup of all the media news you need to know. Want to get this briefing in your inbox every morning? Subscribe here. A few months ago Vice founder Shane Smith fronted a superior Vice-HBO documentary, “A House Divided,” that detailed the issues, tactics and rancor that dominated Barack Obama’s relations with a Republican-dominated Congress. Now he sees “a perfect storm” that involves […]
By Mubashir Bukhari | LAHORE, Pakistan LAHORE, Pakistan A blast at a market in Pakistan’s eastern city of Lahore killed at least five people on Thursday and wounded 21, a rescue official told Reuters. The cause of the explosion was not immediately clear. Security forces cordoned off the area and people were not being allowed to leave or enter. “Forensic teams have arrived on the scene and […]
KUALA LUMPUR Malaysia has requested Interpol to put an alert out to apprehend four North Korean suspects in the murder of Kim Jong Nam, Malaysia’s police chief Khalid Abu Bakar said on Thursday. The estranged half brother of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un was killed in Kuala Lumpur’s main airport last week, in what South Korean and U.S. officials say was an assassination carried out by […]
