Aden /AFP Scattered clashes between rebels and pro-government forces undermined a fragile ceasefire in Yemen on Thursday as global pressure intensified for a lasting truce in a country where millions are homeless and hungry. The ceasefire, for an initial period of three days, took effect shortly before midnight on Wednesday under a United Nations plan which aims to allow ...

  Tehran/ AFP Iran denied reports from Washington that it played a part in failed missile attacks on US naval vessels off Yemen, saying on Thursday that the claims were “false and paranoid”. “The vague and contradictory remarks by American officials these past days are false, paranoid and inappropriate,” foreign ministry spokesman Bahram Ghasemi told the official IRNA news agency. ...

  Making predictions three weeks before the U.S. election is risky, but the likeliest bet right now is that the center will hold in American politics and Hillary Clinton will be elected president. That’s important for lots of reasons, the biggest of which is that it could begin to stabilize a very unsettled world. Nate Silver, a leading polling guru, ...

  Thanks to the vagaries of geography and currents, sea levels in the northeastern U.S. are rising faster than almost anywhere in the world. By 2040, the federal government expects the ocean to rise at least one foot along the coast of New Jersey, putting almost 9,000 homes permanently underwater and exposing many more to ever-worsening storms and flooding. Hurricanes ...

  What a misfortune it is that Hillary Clinton was able to coast through three presidential debates without being pressed significantly on any of her weaknesses. At this point, I’m out of ways to express outrage at Donald Trump, who almost certainly will not become president. But let’s get this next part out of the way, at least, in reaction ...

  Women are the drivers of the nation’s economy, pointed out HH Dr. Sheikh Sultan bin Mohammed Al Qasimi, the Ruler of Sharjah, at the inauguration of the ‘Investing in the Future’ (IFFMENA) conference on Wednesday. Women’s participation in economic activities is crucial as it ensures that they play a huge role in the decision-making process and implement policies effectively. ...

  This week, Samsung representatives are standing by at some of the world’s busiest airports, ready to exchange Galaxy Note 7 phones for something new and less combustible. After dozens of fires, two recalls and the complete cancellation of the product, the U.S. government on Saturday warned that anyone knowingly bringing a Galaxy Note 7 and its potentially explosive battery ...

  In autumn 2007, Jorma Ollila, who had stepped down the year before as Nokia’s chief executive officer but was still the chairman, polled 12 top company executives on whether they thought Apple’s new iPhone posed a big threat. Two said no, Ollila recalls in “Against All Odds,” a surprisingly engrossing memoir first published in Finland in 2013 but just ...

  What do you do when you’ve been given a death sentence? Do you live your remaining time to the fullest, or do you spend that time taking long-shot chances at a cure? No, this isn’t a column about cancer. It’s a column about businesses whose core industries are doomed. The perennial staple of such discussions is the venerable buggy-whip ...

  DUBAI / Reuters Saudi Arabia’s stock market rose sharply on Thursday as banks rallied after the kingdom’s mammoth international bond sale, which could help to unclog liquidity bottlenecks in the economy. Egypt bounced as investors bought into recent dips. The Saudi index gained 2.3 percent in sharply higher turnover as all but one of the banks advanced, with Samba ...