September, 2017

• 9 September

  Supercomputers to help predict weather

  Bloomberg India’s ability to predict the sort of devastating deluge that struck Mumbai last week is set to get a major boost next year. The heaviest rainfall since 2005 killed a dozen people in India’s financial capital, disrupted stock and bond trading and halted a suburban train network that carries about 8 million people a day. Local residents and civic ...

  Read More »
• 9 September

  US calls for UN vote on fresh sanctions on North Korea

  

  Bloomberg The US said it would seek a vote on Monday on a draft United Nations Security Council resolution on North Korea, as it pushes for fresh sanctions against the regime after its recent nuclear test. The US informed the Security Council of its plan to call the vote, the State Department said in a brief statement, adding it would ...

  Read More »
• 9 September

  Turkey says EU turning talks into ‘children’s game’

  

  TALLINN / Reuters Turkey said the European Union was making a “child’s game” out of its membership talks, wrangling over threats to end them, and reminded the bloc of its strategic importance abutting Middle Eastern conflict zones. After trading bitter barbs for months with President Tayyip Erdogan, largely over Turkey’s human rights record, German Chancellor Angela Merkel said it was ...

  Read More »
• 9 September

  Saudi: Qatar continues to distort facts

  DUBAI / Reuters Saudi Arabia on Saturday suspended any dialogue with Qatar, accusing it of “distorting facts”, just after a report of a phone call between the leaders of both countries suggested a breakthrough in the Gulf dispute. Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman spoke by the telephone with Qatar’s Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani when they discussed ...

  Read More »
• 9 September

  Syrian army advances on IS in Deir al-Zor

  BEIRUT / Reuters US-backed militias and the Syrian army advanced in separate offensives against IS in eastern Syria on Saturday, piling pressure on shrinking territory the group still holds in oil-rich areas near the Iraqi border. The Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), a US-backed alliance of mostly Arab and Kurdish fighters, launched a new operation against the extremists in the north ...

  Read More »
• 9 September

  Violence flares in Zimbabwe as Mugabe readies election bid

  

  Bloomberg Political violence has flared in Zimbabwe as the southern African nation gears up for elections next year that may see a united opposition seek to end President Robert Mugabe’s near four-decade rule. The Zimbabwe Peace Project recorded attacks on 745 people last month, up from 435 in July. The ruling party, military, police and intelligence services were responsible for ...

  Read More »
• 9 September

  In US, the middle-class comeback is for real!

  

  On Labor Day, the American middle class survives. Indeed, it’s expanding. That’s not the conclusion of some arcane scholarly study. It’s the judgment of Americans themselves, though it hasn’t received much attention from politicians or the media. Most Americans have moved beyond the fears bred by the Great Recession. The middle-class comeback may be the year’s most underreported story. Public ...

  Read More »
• 9 September

  Asia’s taxi companies give banks real competition

  

  In Southeast Asia, mobile banking is taking on a whole new meaning. Last week, Grab, one of the region’s top ride-hailing companies, announced that users of its app can start sending credits—used to pay for rides—to each other. By the end of the year, they’ll be able to use those credits at more than 1,000 restaurants and retailers. If all ...

  Read More »
• 9 September

  How to close the gender gap in technology

  

  In the weeks since the now-infamous Google memo first stirred global controversy, too little light has been shed on the underlying issue — the large and undeniable gender gap in computer science, engineering and the technology business in general. Let’s begin with the proposition that this gap is a bad thing. At least three times as many men as women ...

  Read More »
• 9 September

  Putin’s Ukraine peace offer is a Trojan horse

  No, Vladimir Putin has not suddenly become a man of peace. His recent overture in Ukraine should be seen for what it is — an effort to further his own interests — and treated as such. After the Russian president called for bringing United Nations peacekeepers into the Ukraine conflict, Germany’s foreign minister said he was “very glad” about the ...

  Read More »