ABU DHABI // The country is working on a system to monitor and record its greenhouse gas emissions, says the new director general of the Global Green Growth Institute. Frank Rijsberman, who was on a two-day visit to the UAE for the World Future Energy Summit, said that although there was room for improvement, the UAE had become a leader in the renewable energy sector. “We’ve been […]
He was the president who took out Osama bin Laden but was blindsided by Isis; who made Asia his priority but saw his trade deal for the region stymied; who built bridges with once sworn enemies in Cuba and Iran but who sparred with allies in Israel and Saudi Arabia. The mixed and sometimes messy foreign policy legacy of Barack Obama includes a climate change agreement and […]
ROME McDonald’s received a lukewarm reception when it opened a new branch just steps from St. Peter’s Square last month, but on Monday the fast food giant accepted a challenge to adopt one of Pope Francis’s cherished principles – feeding the hungry. The new restaurant, whose opening in a Vatican-owned building on Dec. 30 upset some purists, donated dozens of meals on Monday to a charity which […]
Workers likely to be impacted first by automation include those in manufacturing and retail trade. Image: Getty Images/iStockphoto Today’s technology could be used to automate half of all work activities by 2055 but it could end up taking far longer than that, according to a report from McKinsey Global Institute. It’s likely that one day your skills could be made obsolete by technology aided by advances in […]
By Isabel Coles | MOSUL, Iraq MOSUL, Iraq Iraqi special forces battled Islamic State militants in districts near the Tigris river in Mosul on Monday as they sought to bring more of the east of the city back under government control. The latest clashes occurred in the neighbouring Shurta and Andalus districts. At least three Islamic State suicide car bombs targeted Iraqi forces in Andalus. There was […]
The family of an 18-year-old woman is fighting in court for access to a new tuberculosis drug that doctors say may be her only hope of survival, in a case that is being closely watched by TB experts and health workers in India and around the world. The family of the young woman, whose name her lawyer asked to keep confidential, filed a petition in Delhi’s High […]
By Alessandra Prentice | KIEV KIEV Outgoing U.S. Vice President Joe Biden called on Monday for sanctions on Russia to stay, urging the world to stand up to its “coercion and aggression” after President-elect Donald Trump mooted ending the measures under a possible deal with Moscow. Speaking on a swan song visit to Kiev, Biden said the G7 nations and European Union should lift the sanctions only […]
Driverless: Intelligent Cars and the Road Ahead • By Hod Lipson and Melba Kurman • MIT Press • 328 pages • ISBN: 978-0262035224 • £19.95 / $29.95 There is an old joke that has Bill Gates, then CEO of Microsoft, boast to the CEO of General Motors that if Microsoft built cars, they would cost $25 and get 1,000 miles per gallon. The GM CEO is supposed […]
By Noah Barkin | DAVOS, Switzerland DAVOS, Switzerland A trade war between the United States and China and a strengthening dollar are among the biggest threats to a brightening global economic outlook, according to leading economists at the World Economic Forum in Davos. As political leaders, businessmen and bankers converge on the resort in the Swiss Alps this week, they can draw hope from a more benign […]
Nearly everyone who’s played Super Mario Bros. knows instinctively what the first level looks like. Mario is left-of-center, he moves to the right, the screen pans around the platform, there’s the first question block — gleaming subtly, which is important, but more on that later — and then a goomba trundles toward Mario. This point in the game is crucial. The player either loses a life upon […]
BEIRUT Fighting between Islamic State and the Syrian army has killed dozens since Saturday in Deir al-Zor, where the militant group has launched an assault to capture a government enclave in the city, a monitoring group reported. At least 82 people have been killed in the fighting, which is the heaviest in the city for a year, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said on Monday. The […]
Celebrity photographer Anthony Horth is using his most persuasive Australian charm and flattery to keep Paula, a Brazilian model, relaxed and smiling during their first shoot together. Paula looks a picture of elegance as she sits on a “wedding throne” at Emirates Palace, surrounded by white tulips and draped in more than US$4 million (Dh14.6m) of diamonds. But it is not the jewels that former Vogue photographer […]
By Stephen Kalin | MOSUL, Iraq MOSUL, Iraq When four rockets crashed into his east Mosul home in November, Abu Abdel Malik’s 60-year-old step-mother was killed instantly. But she wasn’t properly buried for more than a month. Fighting in Zuhur district and surrounding areas was too intense during that period to transport the body to the main cemetery in the suburb of Gogjali, just 5 km (3 […]
ANKARA The mass shooting at an Istanbul nightclub on New Year’s Eve was carried out professionally with the involvement of an intelligence organisation, Turkish Deputy Prime Minister Numan Kurtulmus said on Monday. “It appears the Reina attack is not just a terrorist organisation’s act, but there was also an intelligence organisation involved. It was an extremely planned and organised act,” Kurtulmus said during an interview with broadcaster […]
Source: United Nations University Hong Kong and Singapore in 2015 produced the highest volume of e-waste in the region, generating 21.7kg and 19.95kg, respectively, per capita. At 19.13kg per capita, Taiwan rounded up the top three e-waste producers, while China more than doubled its production between 2010 and 2015–at 107 percent–to 6.7 million tonnes. Across East and Southeast Asia, the average e-waste generation per capita was 10kg […]
16 January 2017 Oman Insurance Company (OIC), one of the UAE’s leading insurers, has become the first insurer in the Middle East to establish a corporate alliance with the Association of Certified Fraud Examiners (ACFE). The ACFE is recognized as the world’s largest and premier anti-fraud organization and has partnerships with numerous Fortune Global 500 organizations. Its role is to support the implementation of anti-fraud best practices […]
China on Monday approved the resignations of two of Hong Kong’s top officials, including its financial secretary, paving the way for them to contest a March election to become the next chief executive of the financial hub. China’s State Council has accepted the resignations of financial secretary John Tsang, and of Carrie Lam, the city’s chief secretary, the official Xinhua news agency said. The former British colony […]
Gastronomes can dig into the world cuisines and culinary workshops when the Dubai Food Festival returns next month. The next edition will be a 17-day programme of events, activities, promotions and celebrity chef appearances from February 23. Organised by Dubai Corporation for Tourism and Commerce Marketing (DCTCM), the festival bring together the best eats, fine dining, hole-in-the-wall and hidden gems from the emirate and shed light on […]
France held the first session of the conference in June, after the United States and others effectively gave up. Talks had broken down, and Mr. Netanyahu’s government had drawn international anger with its continued settlement activity in the West Bank and East Jerusalem, a red line for the process set out years before by Secretary of State John Kerry and other leaders. Continue reading the main story […]
The pound has fallen below the $1.20 mark for the first time since the October “flash crash”, ahead of a speech on Tuesday when UK prime minister Theresa May is expected to signal that Britain will fully break out of the EU’s common market after Brexit. The UK currency fell as much as 1.6 per cent to a low of $1.1986 against the dollar in early Asian […]
BEIRUT Syrian rebel groups have decided to attend peace talks backed by Russia and Turkey in Kazakhstan to press for implementation of a widely violated ceasefire, rebel officials said on Monday, in a boost for Moscow-led diplomacy. Rebel groups took the decision at meetings that are underway in Ankara, and are now working to form a delegation that will be different to one sent to peace talks […]
SEOUL South Korean conglomerate Samsung Group said on Monday it could not accept the special prosecutors’ accusations that its leader, Jay Y. Lee, paid bribes to further his succession or the merger of two affiliates in 2015. “It is difficult to understand the special prosecution’s decision,” Samsung Group said in an email statement in response to the special prosecutors’ decision to request an arrest warrant for Lee, […]
SEOUL South Korea’s special prosecutor’s office said on Monday that Samsung Group leader Jay Y. Lee had paid bribes totaling 43 billion won ($36.42 million) to Choi Soon-sil, the friend of President Park Geun-hye at the centre of an escalating corruption scandal. The prosecutor’s office said on Monday it will seek a warrant to arrest Lee on charges of bribery and embezzlement. Lee Kyu-chul, a spokesman for […]
DUBAI/TEHRAN: Iran will not renegotiate its nuclear agreement with world powers, even if it faces new US sanctions after Donald Trump becomes president, Deputy Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said on Sunday.US “hostility” to Iran is growing day by day despite Tehran’s nuclear deal, the senior Iranian official said, ahead of the first anniversary of the historic accord.“The United States has done whatever it can do (to) slow […]
