MEXICO CITY Mexico and Turkey will speed up negotiations to sign a bilateral trade agreement, Mexican Foreign Minister Luis Videgaray said on Friday at an event in Mexico City with his Turkish counterpart. “A point of interest for both countries is to continue dialogue to build a free trade agreement between Turkey and Mexico,” Videgaray said, flanked by Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu. “We’ve agreed to an […]
Strong winds reaching up to 80km per hour across the UAE forced major sporting events in Dubai to be postponed on Friday. The second round of the Dubai Desert Classic golf tournament was cut short with South African George Coetzee leading by one shot as winds made play impossible. The windy conditions added to a difficult day for tournament organisers following the withdrawal of former world number […]
By Lawrence Hurley | WASHINGTON WASHINGTON The U.S. Supreme Court on Friday scheduled oral arguments in a major dispute on transgender rights for March 28, when the U.S. Senate is set to be in the midst of a political fight over President Donald Trump’s nominee to a vacant seat on the bench. By March, the Republican-controlled U.S. Senate is likely to be deliberating on whether to approve […]
Dubai, UAE, 3 February 2017 Dubai Electricity and Water Authority (DEWA) has confirmed its participation in the eighth cycle of Dubai Municipality’s (DM) green initiative Car-Free Day, to be held on 5 February 2017. The initiative is organised under the patronage of HH Sheikh Hamdan bin Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Crown Prince of Dubai and Chairman of Dubai Executive Council, to raise awareness on the environmental […]
By Yeganeh Torbati | WASHINGTON WASHINGTON The United States on Friday ratcheted up pressure on Iran, putting sanctions on 13 individuals and 12 entities days after the White House put Tehran “on notice” over a ballistic missile test. The move against Iran is the first by the U.S. government since President Donald Trump took office on Jan. 20 after vowing during his 2016 campaign to get tough […]
President Trump’s administration is unconventional by any reporter’s standards, said Jeffrey Goldberg, the editor in chief of The Atlantic. But that doesn’t mean journalists should abandon basic skills and principles they’ve held onto for years. “It’s true, we are in a little bit of a knife fight with people who don’t want to have a fact-based discourse,” Goldberg said. “But you just have to stand for what […]
GENEVA A renewed assault on Islamic State fighters in the Iraqi city of Mosul could force 250,000 civilians to flee, if they can find a way out, the U.N. refugee agency UNHCR said on Friday. Such an exodus would be on top of roughly 162,000 people already displaced by Iraqi government efforts to retake the city since October. Such numbers, although high, remain well below UNHCR’s initial […]
Amazon.com Inc’s (AMZN.O) shares fell as much as 4.2 percent on Friday after the company missed Wall Street targets for its closely watched cloud computing business. Shares fell to $804 in early trading, a day after the company reported lower-than-expected fourth-quarter revenue and said it would continue to spend heavily this year, as it looks to take control of its delivery chain and expand its video service […]
The White House has said that Israel’s settlement building programme “may not be helpful”, marking the Trump administration’s first public response to a construction spree on Palestinian lands announced by the government of Benjamin Netanyahu in recent days. The statement, issued two weeks before Mr Netanyahu is due to visit President Donald Trump in Washington, is a rap on the knuckles for the Israeli prime minister, who […]
By Parisa Hafezi | ANKARA ANKARA Many Iranians who dreamt of quiet, comfortable lives after a nuclear deal with world powers in 2015 are starting to worry for the first time in decades they might be bombed in their own homes. Since taking office last month, U.S. President Donald Trump has pledged to get tough with Iran, warning the Islamic Republic after its ballistic missile test on […]
ANKARA Iran said on Friday it had barred a U.S. wrestling team from participating in the Freestyle World Cup competition in retaliation for an executive order by President Donald Trump banning visas for Iranians, state television reported. The Freestyle World Cup, one of the sport’s most prestigious events, is scheduled for Feb. 16-17 and USA Wrestling has previously said it would send a team to the competition, […]
Trumps Vision of a Militarized America President Trump wont, of course, be starting from scratch in his urge to further elevate the military in foreign and domestic affairs. Hes building on a process thats already well under way, explains William D. Hartung. Erdogan: A Classic Case Of How Power Corrupts Turkish President uses every lever […]
MANILA The Maoist-led New People’s Army (NPA) has engaged in guerrilla warfare in the Philippines for nearly five decades, with more than 40,000 people killed in a conflict that has stunted growth in resource-rich areas. Following is a look at the background of one of the world’s longest-running communist insurgencies. – Jose Maria Sison, a political science professor, founded the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) in […]
Dubai, UAE, 3 February 2017: Dubai Electricity and Water Authority (DEWA) annually celebrates the National Environment Day on 4 February, along with the public and private sectors and civil society organisations, to express their continuous interest and obligation to protect the environment and achieve the sustainable development. This adheres to the UAE Vision 2021, to create a sustainable environment in terms of air quality, conserving water resources, […]
In a potential boost to Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s “Make in India” initiative, tech giant Apple Inc. is nearing a deal with Taiwanese contract manufacturer Wistron Corp. to start making products in the southern state of Karnataka, a senior state official said. “The contractual agreement between the two companies is on the verge of being signed,” the Karnataka government official who has direct knowledge of the matter […]
MOSCOW The Kremlin said on Friday that allegations made by British Defence Secretary Michael Fallon, who accused Russia of spreading lies and attacking critical infrastructure with hackers, were “baseless” and a source of regret. Fallon said on Thursday night that President Vladimir Putin had chosen to become a strategic competitor of the West since the 1991 collapse of the Soviet Union. “We express regret for this hostile […]
European stocks and S&P futures rose modestly ahead of January US payrolls data, along with the dollar, while Asian shares dropped after China returned from a week-long holiday. Bonds slid, oil rose while the JGB intervened in the bond market to prevent a bond rout, in one of two major surprises during the Asian session. As reported last night, having closed at 0.109% yesterday the 10y JGB […]
The vital survival skills taught to young British merchant marine cadets during the Second World War through the Outward Bound educational initiative might seem redundant in the safe harbour of the UAE, but its newest international chapter is already delivering unique, life-changing experiences to young people from across the Emirates. Outward Bound UAE was set up in December 2016 to provide Emirati and expatriate youth with practical […]
SEOUL Besides being the deputy ambassador, North Korea’s number two diplomat in London was the man appointed to spy on embassy colleagues and report signs of disloyalty to the feared secret police. But last August, it was Thae Yong Ho himself who defected. He said in an interview in Seoul that one of his jobs was to report to the “bowibu”, North Korea’s Stasi-like State Security Department, […]
By Michel Rose and Elizabeth Pineau | PARIS PARIS A French soldier on Friday shot and wounded a man armed with a knife after he tried to enter the Louvre museum in central Paris carrying a suitcase, police sources said. One source said the man had been trying to get into the museum’s shopping mall and had attacked another soldier before being shot and seriously wounded. Police […]
Middle East-based airlines posted the strongest annual traffic growth in the world for the fifth year in a row last year, according to the International Air Transport Association (IATA). IATA said in a statement that demand, measured in revenue passenger kilometres (RPKs), rose by 11.8 percent, consolidating the region’s position as the third-largest market for international passengers. It added that capacity growth (13.7 percent) continued to outstrip […]
Samsung Electronics is discussing a battery supply deal with Japan’s Murata Manufacturing for batteries for its upcoming Galaxy S8, Nikkei reports. According to the report, Murata last July announced that it will acquire Sony’s battery operations, with the deal to be completed in April. Samsung was reportedly impressed with the performance and reliability of Sony’s lithium-ion batteries. The South Korean tech giant last month announced the findings […]
By Neil Jerome Morales | MANILA MANILA The Philippine government will on Friday withdraw from a ceasefire with communist rebels, President Rodrigo Duterte said, as he ordered soldiers to get ready to fight and declared there would be no peace with the insurgents for a generation. Duterte had made a nationwide peace process one of the priorities of his administration but showed frustration over demands made by […]
Panama on Tuesday suspended a probe into the so-called Panama Papers, a trove of documents that brought to light widespread tax avoidance among some of the world’s most powerful leaders, prosecutors said. Attorney General Kenia Porcell said a legal challenge on constitutional grounds required the suspension, adding that it was now in the hands of the Supreme Court to decide whether to reactivate the investigation. “The investigation […]
