ATHENS Thousands of Greeks evacuated their homes in the second-biggest city of Thessaloniki on Sunday to allow experts to defuse a World War Two bomb. The 250 kg (550 lb) bomb was discovered about 5 metres (16 feet) below ground during excavation works at a petrol station last week. Up to 72,000 residents living within a 2 km (1.2 miles) radius of the bomb site were asked […]
Ford’s autonomous vehicle platform runs this Fusion Hybrid. Image via Ford. Ford has just announced a $1 billion investment in artificial intelligence startup Argo AI to bolster the automaker’s self-driving car technology. The acquisition-sized investment will make Ford the majority shareholder of Argo AI, though Ford plans to spread out the funds over a five-year period. Argo AI was founded (somewhat recently) by Brian Salesky, the former […]
Good morning. Critique by “Sid Vicious” not pretty If things had gone differently, Washington would now be gossiping about the role of Sidney Blumenthal within a Clinton White House. A congressional inquisition over his much-publicized emails with then-Secretary of State Clinton, his longtime friend, now seems so distant, doesn’t it? But it’s still fitting the journalist-activist and historian should weigh in on Donald Trump. A cerebral but […]
SEOUL South Korea and the United States agreed to explore all possible options to rein in North Korean provocations during a phone call between U.S. National Security Advisor Michael Flynn and his South Korean counterpart Kim Kwan-jin, South Korea’s presidential Blue House said. Flynn had requested the call with Kim after North Korea test-fired a ballistic missile early on Sunday, the Blue House said in a statement. […]
ERBIL, Iraq Western-backed Syrian forces should isolate Islamic State’s de facto capital in Syria “by the spring” before an offensive on the city itself, British Defence Secretary Michael Fallon said on Saturday. The Syrian Democratic Forces, which includes the powerful Syrian Kurdish YPG militia, launched the campaign on Raqqa in November. It announced this month the start of a new phase in the offensive, aiming to complete […]
By Nidal al-Mughrabi | GAZA GAZA In Ramadan Odwan’s barbershop in Gaza, hair isn’t just blow-dried, it’s blowtorch-dried. “People have gone crazy about it, many people are curious to go through the experience and they are not afraid,” he told Reuters. “People here love adventures.” Odwan, 37, is not the first stylist in the world to use flame to straighten hair, but his craft is unique in […]
TOKYO Japanese conglomerate Toshiba Corp probably suffered a group net loss of about 400 billion yen ($3.52 billion) in the nine months through December, the Nikkei reported on Sunday. The loss is largely due to a goodwill impairment of around 600 billion yen on a U.S. nuclear unit that came to light in late 2016. During the year-earlier period, Toshiba lost a similarly significant 479.4 billion yen. […]
Your daily guide to community and cultural activities across the Emirates for February 12, 2017, including performances, festivals, art exhibitions, film screenings, health and fitness events, talks, classes, workshops and family fun. Ellen Fortini rounds up 10 things to do today in the UAE. Want to see your event listed here? Email us with the details and contact information at [email protected] newslide Abu Dhabi Concert Get tickets […]
The European government bond market had what is known in technical circles as a minor freak-out this week. Yet as yields in eurozone bonds diverged sharply, the markets for stocks, corporate debt and currencies carried on regardless. The Cac 40 index of large French-listed companies was barely changed on the week. The euro weakened per cent against the US dollar, but at the same time the dollar […]
Mr. Kushner, on something of a crash course in diplomacy, has been speaking with Arab leaders in recent weeks. But he is a mystery to most Middle Eastern officials. He has no experience in government or international affairs. His up-close exposure to the Arab world amounts to little more than trips to a handful of Persian Gulf countries and a star-studded jaunt to Jordan. Continue reading the […]
With the news cycle clearly far less interested in Trump’s golf game or Abe’s handicap, just before 8am local time (6pm ET), North Korea decided to provide CNN with some “exciting” news when it fired a ballistic missile into the sea off its east coast, South Korea’s military said, in what was the latest test of Trump’s resolve to retaliate to North Korean provocations. This was the […]
MANILA The Philippine police have sacked nearly 100 policemen since the start of the year because they were found to be drug users, a top official said on Saturday, in a clean-up of the ranks after President Rodrigo Duterte halted police anti-drug operations. More than 7,700 people have been killed since Duterte unleashed his bloody war on drugs seven months ago, about 2,500 in police operations, while […]
Feb 10, 2017 11:23 am IST Indian Institutes of Technology were ranked fourth for educating students who went on to create billion-dollars startups, a report by Sage, a U.K-based accounting software firm said this week. Stanford University was the source of the largest number of unicorn founders, followed by Harvard University and the University of California. So what is the secret at the IITs? An impossibly competitive […]
ISTANBUL A Turkish court on Saturday remanded in custody an Uzbek national accused of killing 39 people in an Istanbul nightclub on New Year’s Day, state-run media said, an attack the authorities blamed on Islamic State. Abdulgadir Masharipov, who was caught in a police raid in Istanbul on Jan. 16, was formally charged with membership of an armed terrorist group, multiple counts of murder, possession of heavy […]
WASHINGTON President Donald Trump pushed back early on Saturday on assertions that the wall he wants built on the U.S. border with Mexico would cost more than anticipated and said he would reduce the price. Trump made his comments in two Twitter posts but did not say how he would bring down the cost of the wall. Reuters on Thursday published details of an internal report by […]
ABU DHABI // It’s OK to be Muslim and hold doubts. That’s the message Omar Ghobash, author of Letters to a Young Muslim, delivered on Saturday to a packed audience at the MoxieZone in twofour54 media zone. “Every child has asked their parent or a teacher, what does God want, how do you know God exists,” said Mr Ghobash. “We shouldn’t be afraid of very simple questions.” […]
The numbers attached to Jean-Michel Jarre’s decades-long electronic music career are almost too large to comprehend. The Frenchman – whose works include the wildly successful albums Oxygene (1976) and Equinoxe (1978) – has sold more than 80 million records since the release of his first solo album, Deserted Palaces, in 1972. His live performances are the stuff of legend – and world records. He was responsible for […]
Angels: OPEN Maybe they’re kidding themselves, but the Angels haven’t acted like a team in retreat. With Albert Pujols still slugging and Mike Trout still sublime, they have quietly improved the lineup with Danny Espinosa, Cameron Maybin and Luis Valbuena, players whose defense should prop up a shaky pitching staff. It’s a long shot, but with Trout in his prime and few top prospects coming, the Angels […]
By Nick Tattersall and Gulsen Solaker | ISTANBUL/ANKARA ISTANBUL/ANKARA Turkey will hold a referendum on April 16 on replacing its parliamentary system with the stronger presidency long sought by incumbent Tayyip Erdogan, electoral authorities announced on Saturday. The proposed constitutional reform would mark one of the biggest changes in the European Union candidate country’s system of governance since the modern republic was founded on the ashes of […]
President Trump has had a long and stormy relationship with BuzzFeed. Three years ago, when Trump was considering a run for president, BuzzFeed ran a lengthy and dismissive profile that said he would “not be king.” As his bid for president gained momentum, he tried (unsuccessfully) to freeze BuzzFeed out, putting the company on his media blacklist and calling it all kinds of names. Then, after BuzzFeed […]
DUBAI Iran’s supreme leader said on Saturday the United States and Western powers are regarded with suspicion in the Middle East because of their interference, but that Sweden has a good name among Iranians and is seen as a reputable economic partner. Iran has had relatively good relations with neutral Sweden which has over the years been often critical of the foreign policy of the United States, […]
In a centrally planned economy decisions on what to produce, how to produce and for whom are taken primarily by the government. The term is usually associated with communist economies. However, since US President Franklin D. Roosevelt implemented a robust range of government policies in the 1930s to counter the effects of the Great Depression, using principles that would be popularized by UK economist John Maynard Keynes, […]
The headline this week emblazoned across The Telegraph, one of the UK’s best newspapers, read: “Facebook is a ‘tool for evil’, says judge as mother trolled over fake claims she tried to kill a baby is found dead.” The woman, a 23-year old warehouse worker, was actually arrested after one of her online enemies planted a false confession in her timeline. Eventually, the provocateur was […]
By Foo Yun Chee | BRUSSELS BRUSSELS NATO accused Russia of escalating a disinformation campaign since the Kremlin’s 2014 seizure of Ukraine’s Crimea region, saying Russian websites such as Sputnik and RT had posted false stories, the alliance’s spokeswoman said on Saturday. There is increasing concern among senior NATO and European Union officials over Russia’s ability to use television and the Internet to spread what they say […]
