ALGIERS German Chancellor Angela Merkel postponed a visit to Algeria because President Abdelaziz Bouteflika is suffering from acute bronchitis, state news agency APS said, quoting a statement from the presidency. Merkel was due to arrive in Algeria on Monday as part of a trip to North Africa. “The visit will be reprogrammed at a date that is suitable for the two parties,” the presidency said. In Berlin, […]
Submitted by Michael Shedlock via MishTalk.com, I am unsure who first came up with the idea of taxing robots, but the proposal has been embraced by academia, socialists, and in general, the radical Left. Today, entrepreneur Bill Gates, founder of Microsoft, endorsed the idea. What does Gates want to do with the money collected? Here’s the answer: Flush it down the toilet. In a Quartz interview, Bill […]
Some of the world’s biggest sovereign wealth funds are increasingly striking their own private equity deals rather than relying on external fund managers, in a drive to cut costs and gain more control. With some $6.5 trillion in assets, sovereign investors already account for 19 percent of capital committed to private equity, according to data from research firm Preqin. But mega-funds such as the Abu Dhabi Investment […]
In this age of highly realistic computer games and increasingly popular social networks, social exclusion in virtual worlds is becoming more and more socially significant, as is demonstrated by the growing number of “cyber mobbing” cases. However, up until now, very little research has been carried out into the impact of social exclusion in the digital world upon real-life social behavior, and hardly any that addresses the […]
By Stephen Kalin and Maher Chmaytelli | SOUTH OF MOSUL/BAGHDAD, Iraq SOUTH OF MOSUL/BAGHDAD, Iraq U.S.-backed Iraqi forces fought Islamic State fighters on Monday to clear the way to Mosul’s airport, on the second day of a ground offensive on the jihadists’ remaining stronghold in the western side of the city. Federal police and elite interior ministry units known as Rapid Response are leading the charge toward […]
By Mubasher Bukhari | LAHORE, Pakistan LAHORE, Pakistan Pakistan will seek the help of a paramilitary border-security force to crack down on Islamist militants in Punjab province, Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif’s power base, after attacks that killed more than 100 people last week, a government spokesman said on Monday. On Sunday, days after a suicide bomber killed 13 people in the Punjabi city of Lahore, the provincial […]
For President Trump, the designation debate is an election promise made good. He has made no bones about taking an approach to the Middle East that is narrowly focused on counterterrorism, and that plays to domestic supporters who view all Islamist movements — or even all Muslims — as potentially hostile. Continue reading the main story In much of the Middle East, though, the rapid pace and […]
By Mirwais Harooni | KABUL KABUL As many as 50 people have died in storms over the past three days in Afghanistan, including 25 shepherds lost in a blizzard, a government disaster management official said on Monday. Also among the dead were 11 people killed in separate incidents in roof collapses in heavy rain in Kabul province, said Omar Mohammadi, a spokesman for the Afghanistan National Disaster […]
KUALA LUMPUR The son of Kim Jong Nam, the estranged half-brother of the North Korean leader who was murdered in Kuala Lumpur last week, will arrive in the Malaysian capital late on Monday, according to an airline source and a media report. An airline source said Kim Han Sol was arriving in Kuala Lumpur on an AirAsia flight from Macau. Malaysian authorities have said they will release […]
PCLinuxOS 2017.02 KDE Desktop Image: J.A. Watson One of my oldest ‘friends’ in the world of Linux distributions is PCLinuxOS. I have watched it change over the years from a group of add-on packages for Mandake Linux to its own distribution, and seen it become one of the most solid, stable, and best community-supported distributions available today. I have seen the founder and primary moving force behind […]
In this Thursday, Jan. 26, 2017 photo, a driverless shuttle bus retraces its tracks while on display at the Riverside EpiCenter in Austell, Ga. Self-driving vehicles could begin tooling down a bustling Atlanta street full of cars, buses, bicyclists and college students, as the city vies with other communities nationwide to test the emerging technology. (AP Photo/David Goldman) Self-driving vehicles could begin tooling down a bustling Atlanta […]
By Ben Blanchard and Philip Wen | BEIJING BEIJING With the suspension of all North Korean coal imports, China has wielded a big stick against its reclusive neighbour, but there is no sign it will cut off all critical links and Beijing is still promoting talks to solve the dispute over Pyongyang’s programme to develop nuclear weapons. China has been getting increasingly fed up with what it […]
BRUSSELS U.S. Vice President Mike Pence told senior European Union officials in Brussels on Monday that the Trump administration was looking at ways to “deepen our relationship” with the EU. President Donald Trump alarmed EU leaders by endorsing Britain’s decision to leave the bloc and by suggesting last month that other states might follow. Pence spent the weekend in Germany seeking to reassure Europeans that Trump was […]
LONDON Shares in Anglo-Dutch consumer goods group Unilever (ULVR.L) (UNc.AS) dropped 8 percent on Monday after U.S. rival Kraft Heinz Co (KHC.O) abruptly ditched its surprise $143 billion merger proposal. Backed by Warren Buffett and the private equity firm 3G, Kraft had wanted to buy Unilever to build a global consumer goods giant but its offer was flatly rejected on Friday by the maker of Lipton tea […]
Two Filipino films are screening at this week’s Glasgow Film Festival, which opened in the Scottish city yesterday (February 15) and will run until February 26. Lav Diaz’s acclaimed film, Ang Babaeng Humayo (The Woman Who Left) will screen as part of the festival’s CineMasters section, which features works by renowned veteran directors from across the globe. Shot in black-and-white, The Woman Who Left won the Golden […]
Photo Defense Secretary Jim Mattis, left, with Col. Terry L. Anderson, the military attaché, in Munich on Thursday. Credit Sven Hoppe/DPA, via Agence France-Presse — Getty Images BAGHDAD — Defense Secretary Jim Mattis arrived in Baghdad on Monday, promising that, despite what President Trump said last month, the administration would not try to seize Iraq’s oil. Nor, he said, would the administration repay Iraqis who have worked […]
Australia and the UAE will explore closer defence ties after a meeting on Sunday between a senior Australian government minister and Abu Dhabi Crown Prince Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed al-Nahyan. Australia’s Defence Industry Minister Christopher Pyne and Sheikh Mohammed, who is also Deputy Supreme Commander of the UAE Armed Forces, met on the sidelines of the biennial International Defence Exhibition and Conference (IDEX) in Abu Dhabi. The […]
Chinese technology giant Huawei has opened a narrowband Internet of Things (NB-IoT) lab in Australia to provide research and development opportunities around applications, smart devices, and sensor networks. The lab is situated within James Cook University in Cairns, Queensland, with Huawei kitting it out with IoT technology and giving the university funding for research. Its positioning within northern Australia will see it focus on smart applications for […]
India’s government is allowing app developers to use its biometric database of more than a billion citizens as part of an initiative called “India Stack.” The developers can use customers’ fingerprint and iris scans to compare against records stored as part of the government’s vast biometric data-collection program, to create new ways to access insurance, banking, healthcare and employment. As outlined in a Wall Street Journal article, […]
By Rozanna Latiff | KUALA LUMPUR KUALA LUMPUR Footage from airport cameras purportedly showing the assault on the half-brother of the North Korean leader emerged on Monday as a row between Malaysia and North Korea escalated over the handling of the investigation into the killing of Kim Jong Nam. Malaysia recalled its envoy from Pyongyang and summoned North Korea’s ambassador in Kuala Lumpur, who again cast doubt […]
OTTAWA One in four Canadians say Ottawa should have adopted a temporary halt on Syrian refugees in response to the United States’ controversial travel ban, though the majority supported the government’s current immigration plan, an Angus Reid Institute poll showed on Monday. Sixty percent of those surveyed in an online poll said the Canadian government had done a good job of resettling Syrian refugees since the Liberals […]
By Lesley Wroughton and Yeganeh Torbati | WASHINGTON WASHINGTON One of Rex Tillerson’s first directives as U.S. secretary of state was an order to senior staff that his briefing materials not exceed two pages. It was a reflection of Tillerson’s management style honed at the helm of Exxon Mobil, an oil company known for its relentless focus on efficiency, and one reason his closest aides at the […]
Newly appointed New South Wales Minister for Finance, Services and Property Victor Dominello has said he plans to bring his data-driven expertise to his new portfolio, rewarding government agencies with an “innovation bonus” if they move away from a silo-ridden approach to IT and service delivery. Speaking at the Gartner 2017 APAC Data & Analytics Summit in Sydney on Monday, Dominello said he had his eye on […]
ITP Media Group is hosting the UAE’s first Influencer Marketing Summit this morning at the Grosvenor House Hotel in Dubai Marina, chaired by the BBC broadcaster Andrew Neil. The event will see high profile social media stars such as Joelle Mardinian giving the first keynote speech, while also examining how influencers and brands can work together, and issues of transparency and legislation. (Refresh the page for updates) […]
