August, 2016

• 9 August

  Gaming may boost teens’ school results: Study

  

    Sydney / AP Playing online games may boost teenagers’ school results while spending time on social networks such as Facebook could do the opposite, according to an Australian study. The research, based on the performance of 15-year-old Australians in the globally recognised Program for International Student Assessment (PISA) tests, looked at the relationship between internet usage and educational outcomes. …

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• 9 August

  Twitter to sublease part of San Francisco headquarters

  

    Bloomberg Twitter Inc. is offering about a quarter of the space at its San Francisco headquarters complex for sublease, adding to a growing amount of excess offices available in the city as the technology industry cools. About 78,800 square feet (7,320 square meters) is listed for sublease on the seventh floor of 1355 Market St., a renovated 1930s furniture …

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• 9 August

  Qualcomm signs up Vivo tech

  

    Bloomberg Qualcomm Inc., which has struggled to get paid licensing revenue in China, said it signed up phonemaker Vivo Communication Technology Co., helping cement its position in the world’s largest phone market. Vivo, the third-biggest smartphone maker in China, agreed to pay Qualcomm for technology used in 3G and 4G phones, the US chipmaker said. The deal with Vivo …

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• 9 August

  Heading for the hills

  

    Bloomberg As Japanese prepare to climb the mountains on Thursday for their inaugural Mountain Day holiday, retailers and tourism operators are gearing up for an $8 billion windfall. They’re counting on customers like school teacher Ayako Kobayashi. The 33-year-old spent more than $700 on a sleeping bag, mattress, backpack and trekking food to climb Mount Kita near Nagano last …

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• 9 August

  Dedication digs ancient Roman town from German soil

  

    Mainz / DPA Archaeologist Daniel Markovic ascends from the dig in this ancient city on the river Rhine sweaty and covered in dirt. “I’m completely exhausted after a whole day of hacking, shovelling and carrying,” he says at the end of one of the hottest days in Germany this summer. Markovic has been exposing an ancient wall for scientific …

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• 8 August

  ‘Mamsha Al Saadiyat’ progresses

    Abu Dhabi / WAM The Tourism Development and Investment Company (TDIC), master developer of major tourism, cultural and residential destinations in Abu Dhabi, announced on Monday that the construction of Mamsha Al Saadiyat, the first residential development within the Saadiyat Cultural District, is well underway. The project was awarded in April of this year to a joint venture between …

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• 8 August

  70 die as suicide bomber strikes Pakistan hospital

  

    Quetta / AFP A Taliban suicide bomb packed with ball bearings tore through a Pakistani hospital on Monday and killed at least 70 people, as witnesses described tearful staff rushing towards the smoking blast site to help the wounded. The bomber struck a crowd of some 200 people gathered at the Civil Hospital in the Balochistan provincial capital Quetta …

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• 8 August

  Hundreds join crucial battle for Aleppo

  

    Beirut/ AFP Syrian regime forces and rebel factions sent hundreds of reinforcements to Aleppo on Monday as opposition fighters announced an all-out offensive to take the country’s second city. The battle for Syria’s former economic powerhouse is intensifying after an opposition advance at the weekend broke through a three-week government siege of the city’s rebel-held east, dealing a major …

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• 8 August

  Iran ex-prez demands US$2bn of frozen assets from USA

  

    Tehran / AFP Former Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, rumoured to be planning a political comeback, has asked Barack Obama to return $2 billion of assets frozen in the US in a letter made public on Monday. Ahmadinejad wrote that despite early promises by the US president to improve ties with Iran “the same hostile policies along with the same …

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• 8 August

  Clinton widens lead over Trump to 8 points: Poll

    Washington / AFP Democrat Hillary Clinton has widened her lead over White House rival Donald Trump to eight points after both parties’ nominating conventions, according to a Washington Post-ABC News poll out Sunday. Clinton led Trump 50 to 42 percent among registered voters, according to the telephone survey carried out August 1-4. She got a strong bounce in the …

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