WASHINGTON/RIYADH Saudi Arabia’s King Salman, in a phone call on Sunday with U.S. President Donald Trump, agreed to support safe zones in Syria and Yemen, a White House statement said. Trump, during his presidential campaign last year, had called for Gulf states to pay for establishing safe zones to protect Syrian refugees. A statement after the phone call said the two leaders agreed on the importance of […]
President Donald Trump’s most far reaching action since taking office plunged America’s immigration system into chaos on Saturday, not only for refugees but for legal US residents who were turned away at airports and feared being stranded outside the country. Immigration lawyers and advocates worked through the night trying to help stranded travellers find a way back home. Lawyers in New York sued to block the order, […]
QUEBEC CITY Five people were killed after gunmen opened fire in a Quebec City mosque during evening prayers, the mosque’s president told reporters on Sunday. Earlier, a witness told Reuters that up to three gunmen fired on about 40 people inside the Quebec City Islamic Cultural Center. Police put up a security perimeter around the mosque and declined to comment to reporters about the incident. “Why is […]
ABU DHABI // Donald Trump’s decision to impose swingeing restrictions on travel to the US is not only an effective ban for thousands, but also leaves many in a bureaucratic limbo. For Sudanese Lubna Hakim, whose mother Maryam has permanent residency in the US, the president’s executive order is effectively a locked gate. Her mother travelled home to Sudan to visit family for an extended holiday. But […]
The continuing conflict in Syria was high on the agenda at the Sundance Film Festival this year. Three films – Cries from Syria, City of Ghosts and Last Men in Aleppo – examined different aspects of the conflict, with one of them rewarded with one of the festival’s main prizes. With diplomatic efforts to end the almost six-year war stalling, and UN estimates of the death toll […]
The world’s largest technology companies condemned Donald Trump’s executive order on immigration after coming under pressure to speak out from employees. Leaders of companies including Apple, Google and Facebook sent emails to their workforces attacking the move to block refugees and entry to the US from seven Muslim-majority countries. Tim Cook, Apple chief executive, said the company had told the White House the company did not support the policy. […]
The president detailed his intentions during an interview with the Christian Broadcasting Network on Friday, saying his administration is giving priority to Christians because they had suffered “more so” than others, “so we are going to help them.” Continue reading the main story But if Mr. Trump had hoped for Christian leaders to break out in cheers, that is, for the most part, not what he has […]
Is “mobile-first” really the key takeaway for SEO in 2017? The message for SEO in 2017 is loud and clear: Design your website in a fashion that makes mobile users the priority. If you listen closely, you can almost hear Google whisper, “Or be left behind, mwah ha ha…” Now, where you may have been focusing very little (if at all) on mobile up to this point, […]
By Jonathan Allen and Brendan O’Brien | NEW YORK NEW YORK After immigration agents detained two Iraqis on Saturday at New York’s John F. Kennedy International Airport, their lawyers and two U.S. representatives accompanying them tried to cross into a secure area – and were stopped themselves. “Step back! Step back!” the agents shouted at them. A few minutes later, Heidi Nassauer, chief of passenger operations for […]
By Alexander Cornwell | DUBAI DUBAI Emirates airline has changed pilot and flight attendant rosters on flights to the United States following the sudden U.S. travel ban on seven Muslim-majority countries, highlighting the challenges facing airlines to deal with the new rules. The world’s largest long-haul carrier, which flies daily to 11 U.S. cities, has made “the necessary adjustments to our crewing, to comply with the latest […]
MANILA, Philippines >> Philippine airstrikes have killed 15 Muslim militants linked to the Islamic State group, including a suspected Indonesian militant, while one of Southeast Asia’s top terror suspects was seriously wounded in the country’s south, the military chief said Sunday. Military Chief of Staff Gen. Eduardo Ano said the body of the suspected Indonesian militant, known by his nom de guerre Mohisen, was recovered by troops […]
By Doina Chiacu and Steve Holland | WASHINGTON WASHINGTON U.S. President Donald Trump fought back on Sunday amid growing international criticism, outrage from civil rights activists and legal challenges over his abrupt order for a halt on arrivals of refugees and people from seven Muslim-majority countries. He and senior aides sought to defend the policy and play down the chaos sparked by Friday’s order. But confusion persisted […]
ABU DHABI // UAE residents were outraged by the “unfair” travel ban issued on Friday that prevents many of them from travelling to the United States. US president Donald Trump issued an executive order barring citizens from Sudan, Yemen, Syria, Libya, Somalia, Iran and Iraq from entering the country for 90 days. “I really believe this is unfair because there are many Somalis across the world who […]
One of the most thought-provoking installations at the current edition of the Kochi-Muziris Biennale in southern India is by French-Indian artist Chittrovanu Mazumdar. Spread out over four rooms, the interactive artwork invites the visitor to walk through dark tunnels and wider spaces featuring tangled wires, suspended lights inside metal bowls and boxes stuffed with metal and scraps. With time the key theme, the work is intended to […]
Mr. Musa, 60, now shares a blue-and-white tent with nine family members whose only crime was to have a relative who had joined the Islamic State, also known as ISIS, ISIL or Daesh. Continue reading the main story Several women evicted from their homes and trucked to the Shahama camp said Iraqi security forces demolished their houses with explosives after accusing their sons or husbands of joining […]
By Nate Raymond and Mica Rosenberg Federal judges in three states followed one in New York in barring authorities from deporting travelers affected by U.S. President Donald Trump’s executive order imposing restrictions on immigration from seven Muslim-majority nations. The judges in Massachusetts, Virginia and Washington state issued their rulings late on Saturday or early on Sunday. Earlier on Saturday, U.S. District Judge Ann Donnelly in New York […]
Bahraini entrepreneur Mohamed Anwar Sheikhaldeen considers an opportunity to sell technology developed in Bahrain to Japanese clients among the major milestones achieved by EXA.iO, his Manama-based start-up which provides an affordable high-speed rendering service. Sheikhaldeen explains that EXA.iO, a cloud 3D processing service for architects, studios, interior designers and engineers to accelerate their 3D and VR processing workflows at a fraction of the cost, is the first […]
MANILA Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte accused the United States on Sunday of risking regional stability by building permanent arms depots in his country, and threatened to respond by scrapping a security treaty between them. Duterte, who has made no secret of his disdain for the U.S. troop presence in the Philippines, said Washington was bringing weapons into three provinces of his country to store permanently, which he […]
CAIRO/ERBIL, Iraq Fuad Sharef and his family waited two years for a visa to settle in the United States, selling their home and quitting jobs and schools in Iraq before setting off on Saturday for a new life they saw as a reward for working with U.S. organisations. But Sharef, his wife and three children were prevented from boarding their connecting flight to New York from Cairo […]
By Parisa Hafezi | ANKARA ANKARA Duke University professor and Iranian dissident Mohsen Kadivar left his home in North Carolina 10 days ago to attend a fellowship programme in Germany. Now, stranded in Berlin as a result of new U.S. immigration rules, the longstanding critic of Iran’s ruling clerical establishment does not know whether or when he can rejoin his wife and two children in […]
By Sinead Carew | NEW YORK NEW YORK In an ordinary world, a U.S. Federal Reserve meeting, jobs data and a hefty number of earnings reports next week would provide investors with welcome distraction from speculation about the U.S. president’s policy plans. But the current world is less than ordinary. In the second week after Donald Trump’s inauguration, issues such as his controversial immigration policies will likely […]
Unbeknownst to some, Mount Kilimanjaro and Mount Kenya house some of the world’s centuries-old glaciers. Unfortunately, a large percentage of the ice mass has been significantly reduced due to warming temperatures. Now, however, new research is suggesting that the effects of future warming may even be greater than initially predicted. A team of researchers from Brown University has presented a 25,000-year reconstruction from Mount Kenya in East […]
DUBAI // As professional cycling teams power through the streets of Dubai this week, one group of riders will carry a special message of hope for the country’s many diabetics. Team Novo Nordisk is making its third appearance in the Dubai Tour, which begins from the Marina Club on Tuesday with a 181-kilometre opening stage. The team is the world’s first all-diabetic professional cycling outfit and was […]
Photo Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel at a weekly cabinet meeting in Jerusalem on Sunday. He said before the meeting, “Jerusalem is the capital of Israel, and it is proper that not only should the American Embassy be here, but all embassies should come here.” Credit Abir Sultan/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images JERUSALEM — Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel, who had been closemouthed on the […]
