April, 2016

• 16 April

  Is al-Qaeda Back in Afghanistan?

    Catherine Putz SPECIAL TO EMIRATES BUSINESS Al-Qaeda is ostensibly the reason the United States got involved militarily in Afghanistan more than a decade ago. But as the war in Afghanistan progressed, al-Qaeda receded as a target and seemingly as an active player. When Osama bin Laden was killed in 2011 in neighboring Pakistan, the group seemed to be at ...

  Read More »
• 16 April

  Australia and China: All About ‘optimism’ for PM Turnbull

    Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull was in China Thursday and Friday for a fly-by visit that lasted just over 36 hours. Nonetheless, it was an important trip – as Turnbull’s first visit to China since assuming office last fall, it was important to set the tone for the Australia-China relationship under his administration. And that tone was relentlessly upbeat, ...

  Read More »
• 16 April

  The human cost of China’s manufacturing slowdown

  

  Matthew Sedacca SPECIAL TO EMIRATES BUSINESS Lowering his voice nervously, Yang Kechao confessed that over half of his workers at Huaxinyuan Steel Company are on vacation. The employees did not leave the factory owner with stations half-filled to go bask in the warm weather of Hejin, Shanxi, a North China province where the plant is based. Nor did they head ...

  Read More »
• 16 April

  Is Laos’ ASEAN chairmanship a threat to Southeast Asian regionalism?

    Laos is a country that is usually described in accordance with one of two narratives. The first portrays a Buddhist Shangri-La — the ‘real,’ ‘hidden,’ and ‘untouched’ Indochina dreamed of in Western backpacker fantasies — while the second depicts a highly impoverished country in desperate need of foreign aid and technical assistance. Both depictions have some merit. Laos is ...

  Read More »
• 16 April

  The 10 best VR experiences

  

    Relaxnews After spending time with the recently released consumer editions of the Oculus Rift and HTC Vive virtual re.ality systems, here are the 10 best VR titles out now: Adr1ft If the film “Gravity” was a video game, it would be “Adr1ft.” The weightless saga for Oculus casts players as an astronaut struggling to survive while exploring a shattered ...

  Read More »
• 16 April

  GoPro teams with developers to spur camera sales

  

    AFP GoPro has announced it is teaming up with outside developers to make it easy to use the company’s mini cameras with apps or synch them with other devices. The effort to make GoPro products more versatile and, ideally, more tempting to buyers was revealed a day after the California-based company announced that it hired away an Apple veteran ...

  Read More »
• 16 April

  The wild side of technology

  

    Protecting nature? There are apps for that AFP Apple set out to inspire people to protect nature with a special collection of apps whose proceeds will go toward doing just that. The technology powerhouse behind the iPhone and the iPad worked with the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) and developers from around the globe to launch Apps for Earth at ...

  Read More »
• 16 April

  Roll up for LG’s new mobile keyboard

  

    Relaxnews The Rolly Keyboard 2, has unveiled, offers the productivity-conscious access to a full-size keyboard with five rows of keys that can connect wirelessly to a phone or tablet. The new accessory is powered by a single, replaceable AAA-size battery and when it’s not in use rolls up (hence the name) into a hexagonal shape. LG is by no ...

  Read More »
• 16 April

  Facebook pushes Internet to more corners of the world

  

  AFP Facebook ramped up its challenge to Twitter-owned Periscope with upgrades to the social network’s live video broadcasting feature. After taking to the air with drones to provide Internet to remote spots, Facebook has unveiled new land-based systems to provide connectivity to people in urban settings. “We are really going at this problem from every possible angle,” Facebook co-founder and ...

  Read More »
• 16 April

  Gabon wants to rejoin OPEC oil group

    REUTERS The African nation of Gabon wants to rejoin OPEC after more than two decades, two OPEC sources said, becoming the second former member in a year to seek a return to the oil exporters’ group just as it is taking the first steps in years to prop up prices. If it returned, Gabon would be the smallest producer ...

  Read More »