GENEVA — Deliveries of lifesaving aid to Syrian civilians trapped in besieged areas are at their lowest level in almost a year, despite a cease-fire that has curbed fighting across much of the country, the United Nations said on Thursday. In Idlib Province, residents of some towns are dying for want of medical care. Armed opposition groups and government forces “are routinely doing what they can, all […]
By Ian Simpson | WASHINGTON WASHINGTON Washington turned into a virtual fortress on Thursday ahead of Donald Trump’s presidential inauguration, with police ready to step in to separate protesters from Trump supporters at any sign of unrest. Some 900,000 people, both Trump backers and opponents, are expected to flood Washington for Friday’s inauguration ceremony, according to organizers’ estimates. Events include the swearing-in ceremony on the steps of […]
CIUDAD JUAREZ, Mexico Notorious Mexican drug lord Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman has been extradited from a prison in northern Mexico to the United States, the Mexican government said on Thursday, one day before Donald Trump assumes the U.S. presidency. Guzman was one of the world’s most wanted drug kingpins until he was captured in January 2016. Six months earlier, he had broken out of a high-security penitentiary […]
Lawmakers, government officials, and aid workers are bracing themselves for a broad offensive from President-elect Donald Trump against federal programs that support family planning and gender equality around the world. As one of his first acts in the Oval Office, the Republican president-elect plans to restore the “Mexico City policy” as soon as Sunday, a congressional staffer told Foreign Policy. Also known as the “global gag rule,” […]
Submitted by Peter Schiff via Euro Pacific Capital, There is much we don’t know about how the Trump presidency will play out. Will the Wall get built? Who will pay for it? Will it have at least some fencing? Will repeal and replace happen at exactly the same time? Will Trump throw a ceremonial switch? Will there be a Trump National Golf Course in Sochi? It’s anyone’s […]
PARIS France will scale back preventive slaughtering of ducks to counter bird flu after the culling of 800,000 birds this month helped slow the spread of the disease in the southwest, the country’s agriculture minister said on Thursday. France resorted to a mass cull after the highly contagious H5N8 strain of bird flu started spreading among farms in the southwest, the country’s main production zone for the […]
By Ayesha Rascoe and Julia Edwards Ainsley | WASHINGTON WASHINGTON Donald Trump is ready to begin taking executive actions on his first day in the White House on Friday to move quickly on his pledge to crack down on immigration, build a wall on the U.S.-Mexican border and roll back outgoing President Barack Obama’s policies. Trump, a Republican elected on Nov. 8, arrived in Washington on a […]
ZTE captured the spotlight at the CES 2017 by announcing the release of its new Blade phones. With the launch of the Blade V8 Pro in the U.S market, the company is targeting budget conscious buyers keen on a robust handset. Earlier in January, the company opened up preorders for the Blade V8 Pro and now the smartphone can be purchased from several retailers in the U.S. like Amazon, […]
Donald Trump has chosen Woody Johnson, the billionaire owner of the New York Jets American football team and veteran Republican political donor, as his ambassador to Britain. Speaking to Republicans at a lunch in Washington ahead of his inauguration on Friday, Mr Trump revealed that he had chosen the owner of the sports team as ambassador, as he kept his penchant for announcing appointments of his team […]
The release of the newly available primary documents, which include information not discussed in a 500-page executive summary of the Senate Intelligence Committee’s investigation into the C.I.A. torture program that was released in 2014, comes at the same time as an urgent legal battle is unfolding over the potential fate of the still-classified, 6,700-page full version of that report. Continue reading the main story Lawyers for two […]
By Roberto Mignucci | PENNE, Italy PENNE, Italy Hopes of finding survivors dwindled on Thursday more than 24 hours after an avalanche struck a luxury mountain hotel in Italy burying up to 30 people under tonnes of snow and debris. The Civil Protection department said just two bodies had been recovered but its chief said the search for victims and possible survivors would continue through the night. […]
BRASILIA A plane carrying Brazilian Supreme Court Justice Teori Zavascki, who is overseeing a massive corruption investigation, crashed into the sea off the coast of Rio de Janeiro state on Thursday, a judicial source said. The small aircraft left Sao Paulo and crashed into the sea near the tourist town of Paraty, airforce and civil aviation sources said. A press representative for the Supreme Court had earlier […]
5936 25 by Shannon K. O’Neil January 18, 2017 A dye factory worker suns fabric after washing them in Narayanganj near Dhaka, Bangladesh, December 25, 2016 (Reuters/Mohammad Ponir Hossain). In late December, tens of thousands of Bangladeshi garment workers went on strike, shutting down over fifty factories making fast-fashion clothes for international brands including Gap, H&M, and Zara. What started as a walkout in support of 121 […]
YENAGOA, Nigeria The Nigerian military said on Thursday it is deploying troops to Gambia as part of a West African coalition force, aiming to uphold the result of December’s presidential elections. “The Nigerian military will deploy its assets as part of (a) standby force to protect the people of the Gambia and maintain sub regional peace and security,” the armed forces said in a statement. Adama Barrow […]
An example question from the Raven’s Progressive Matrices standardized test. The test taker should choose answer D because the relationships between it and the other elements in the bottom row are most similar to the relationships between the elements of the top rows. Credit: Ken Forbus A Northwestern University team developed a new computational model that performs at human levels on a standard intelligence test. This work […]
While some scientists believe that the world can achieve significant dematerialization through improvements in technology, a new study finds that technological advances alone will not bring about dematerialization and, ultimately, a sustainable world. The researchers found that no matter how much more efficient and compact a product is made, consumers will only demand more of that product and in the long run increase the total amount of […]
WASHINGTON President-elect Donald Trump’s spokesman said on Thursday there will be an announcement on whether the United States will move its embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem. “Stay tuned,” incoming White House spokesman Sean Spicer told reporters, asked about the issue at a briefing the day before Trump takes office. “There’ll be a further announcement on that.” While campaigning for the presidency, Trump pledged to switch the […]
A bonus of $250,000 is on offer to any runner who can break the world record at Friday’s Standard Chartered Dubai Marathon. The bonus is in addition to the first prize of $200,000 and underlines the status of the popular IAAF Gold Label race as the richest marathon in the world. Ethiopia’s Kenenisa Bekele, whose personal best is just six seconds outside the world record of 2h:02m:57s […]
In an exciting announcement for sports enthusiasts, Fox Sports has revealed that it will offer a non-authentic live stream for the Super Bowl LI. The game will be streamed on Fox Sports Go. The stream will be free and viewers will not have to pay for watching the game. Viewers can watch the game, scheduled for Feb. 5, 2017, on FoxSportsGo.com through their Android, iOS, Windows or Amazon […]
After starring in the West End production of Miss Saigon in London, Filipino performers Rachelle Ann Go, Eva Noblezada and Jon Jon Briones moved to New York City this week to begin rehearsals for the Broadway revival of the hit musical, which will return to the stage there on March 1. Noblezada, 20, will reprise the lead role of Kim, while Go will play Gigi Van Tranh. […]
By Elisabeth O’Leary | NORTH BERWICK/KIRKINTILLOCH, Scotland NORTH BERWICK/KIRKINTILLOCH, Scotland The Brexit vote has made a new referendum on Scottish independence more likely, says First Minister Nicola Sturgeon, but despite Scots’ misgivings about leaving the European Union there is no sign of increased enthusiasm for secession. Scotland rejected independence in 2014 by 55 to 45 percent, but circumstances have changed since then because Scots voted emphatically last […]
When it comes to smartphones, Apple’s iPhone is the device that’s been setting the standards for almost a decade. But there are plenty of areas where Apple is lagging behind the competition. See also: It’s time to stop dreaming: iOS and Android have won the mobile war CES 2017 recap Big trends, top products, and wackiest tech On the CNET Stage at CES 2017, ZDNet and TechRepublic […]
By Isabel Coles | MOSUL, Iraq MOSUL, Iraq Most Islamic State (IS) commanders in Mosul have been killed in battles with Iraqi government forces that raged over the past three months in the eastern side of the city, an Iraqi general said on Thursday. The fight to take the western side of Mosul, which remains under the jihadists’ control, should not be more difficult than the one […]
The Afghan Taliban has sought to reassure the United Arab Emirates that it was not behind an attack in the southern city of Kandahar that killed five UAE diplomats and injured the ambassador, senior Taliban officials said on Thursday. More than a dozen Afghan and foreign officials were killed last week by a bomb hidden under a couch in the Kandahar governor’s residence in an attack Afghan […]
