NEW YORK / WAM The UAE has outlined its efforts in constructing a strong and sustainable space sector that contributes to regional and international efforts to promote space exploration, and its development of advanced technologies to enhance the quality of life and contribute to the overall achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals at the United Nations General Assembly. The UAE’s ...
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Sri Lanka turmoil deepens as parliament suspended
Bloomberg Sri Lankan President Maithripala Sirisena suspended parliament, deepening a power struggle that has led to the return of former strong-man president Mahinda Rajapaksa and could herald closer ties with China. On Friday evening, Sirisena unexpectedly dismissed Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe and appointed Rajapaksa—who ruled between 2005 and 2015—as his replacement. Wickremesinghe is contesting his removal and is likely to ...
Read More »China still poring over little-noticed Pence speech weeks later
Bloomberg In Washington, Vice President Mike Pence’s October 4 speech ripping China was largely lost amid the uproar over the midterms and Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh’s confirmation. In Beijing, however, Pence’s address is still reverberating. Some in China’s foreign policy community continue to study it, comparing the rhetoric with Winston Churchill’s “Iron Curtain†speech in 1946, and trying to ...
Read More »Trump vows to end violence in wake of ‘bombing attempts’
Bloomberg Donald Trump vowed to end political violence in the US after the arrest of a suspect in a string of bombing attempts aimed at the president’s critics, then used the moment to complain about hostility directed at him. “We must never allow political violence to take root in America,†Trump said at the White House, shortly after the arrest. ...
Read More »German state vote tests Merkel’s authority
Bloomberg A German state election is putting Angela Merkel’s chancellorship on the line on Sunday as rarely before. Voters in Hesse, a state that includes the nation’s financial center of Frankfurt, are going to the polls amid public antipathy to the bickering coalition government in Berlin. It’s the last electoral test of Merkel’s standing before a Christian Democratic Union convention ...
Read More »Super Typhoon Yutu threatens Philippines
Bloomberg Super Typhoon Yutu could rip into eastern Luzon in the Philippines on Tuesday, extending the toll of destruction it left in the US Northern Mariana Islands earlier this week. Yutu was about 731 miles east of Luzon with winds of about 155 miles per hour, equivalent to a Category 4 storm on the five-step Saffir-Simpson scale, early Saturday US ...
Read More »Energy giants woo China with $24bn spree in old pirate lair
Bloomberg A Chinese archipelago that served as a pirate’s den in centuries past and was governed by President Xi Jinping in the new millennium is luring the world’s energy giants. State-run Saudi Arabian Oil Co. and US behemoth Exxon Mobil Corp. were among firms that signed $24 billion in preliminary deals last week at the International Petroleum and Natural Gas ...
Read More »Trump approves first oil production facility from manmade island
Bloomberg The Trump administration has authorized Hilcorp Energy Co.’s plan to build an artificial gravel island in the Beaufort Sea north of Alaska and use it to extract crude — marking the first approval of an oil production facility in federal Arctic waters. The Interior Department’s conditional approval — subject to seasonal restrictions and other required permits — represents a ...
Read More »Adani goes green in coal country for first Australian project
Bloomberg Adani Enterprises Ltd., best known in Australia for its stalled Carmichael coal project, is nearing completion of a solar power farm in the Bowen Basin in Queensland, a region closely associated with coal mining. Commissioning of the first phase of the Rugby Run solar project will begin in December and power will be delivered from early next year, Adani ...
Read More »China, Japan vow to cooperate as Trump hits both on trade
Bloomberg China and Japan capped a restoration of ties with agreements on everything from currency swaps to ocean rescue, a thaw that comes as President Donald Trump seeks better trade terms with both nations. Shinzo Abe became the first Japanese prime minister to pay an official visit to China in seven years, as Asia’s two largest economies sought to play ...
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