November, 2016

• 29 November

  Shout in other languages through new Japan megaphone

  

    Bloomberg Japan’s obsession with keeping order and tech prowess has reached its natural conclusion with an intelligent megaphone that can issue commands in Chinese, English and Korean. Panasonic Corp. recently unveiled the device—essentially a smartphone paired with a handheld loudspeaker—betting that police, event organizers and transport staff seeking to control crowds will be eager to get their hands on ...

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• 29 November

  BMW hides technology under the hood in Tepid 5-Series redesign

  

    Bloomberg BMW AG’s new 5-Series sedan can drive itself at speeds as fast as 210 kilometers (130 miles) per hour, turn up the radio with the wave of a hand and warn other cars of fog. But you might not know it has all that gadgetry by looking at it. While BMW has packed one of its biggest profit ...

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• 29 November

  Heaven and hull for kayaking monk

  

    Nagano / AFP Rising silently before dawn to slip on his monastic robes and begin the solemn duties of a Buddhist monk, Kazuki Yazawa is not your average Olympic athlete. Bowing his shaved head in prayer five times a day as part at the ancient Zenkoji Daikanjin Temple, Yazawa is so committed to his faith very few people would ...

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• 29 November

  Art of carving ships’ figureheads

  

  Harriersand / DPA Claus Hartmann works with enormous logs of up to 4 metres in length. First he traces out his design on the wood and then he takes a chainsaw and begins to cut out the head and shoulders of a figurehead for a ship. After a week of work in his garden on the river island of Harriersand ...

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• 28 November

  Mubadala, HNA Group ink pact to expand collaboration

    ABU DHABI / WAM Mubadala Development Company and the HNA Group, a global Fortune 500 company specialising in tourism, logistics and financial services, signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) to expand investment collaboration between the two sides. Following a series of senior leadership meetings in Abu Dhabi, the companies agreed to explore co-development and co-investment opportunities across a range ...

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• 28 November

  Cubans throng Revolution Square to pay homage to Castro

  

    WEST PALM BEACH / AP Throngs of Cubans began streaming to Havana’s iconic Revolution Square to pay tribute to Fidel Castro on Monday, kicking off an emotional, week-long farewell to the divisive Cold War titan. Mourners, many of whom had lined up before dawn, began filling the square as soon as it opened with a salvo of 21 cannon ...

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• 28 November

  Kazakh protesters get 5-yr jail after land unrest

    Astana / AFP A court in Kazakhstan on Monday convicted two men of sowing unrest around a controversial land reform and sentenced each to five years in jail. Max Bokaev and Talgat Ayan were both arrested in April as protests against proposed land code amendments rippled across the vast Central Asian country, threatening the 27-year rule of strongman President Nursultan ...

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• 28 November

  China complains to Singapore over ‘armoured vehicles’

    Beijing / AFP China has lodged a diplomatic protest with Singapore after a shipment of Singaporean military armoured vehicles being brought back from Taiwan was seized in Hong Kong, Beijing’s foreign ministry said on Monday. Beijing stated its opposition to “any form of official exchanges with Taiwan, including military exchanges and cooperation”, foreign ministry spokesman Geng Shuang told reporters, ...

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• 28 November

  Germany wary of Fillon’s cozy attitude to Russia

  

    Berlin / AFP Francois Fillon, frontrunner to become France’s next president, has sparked unease in Germany with his friendly attitude toward Russia, which could make him an uncomfortable ally for Chancellor Angela Merkel. Fillon secured the nomination of the French conservative Republicans on Sunday with a resounding victory over his more moderate challenger Alain Juppe. Opinion polls currently predict that ...

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• 28 November

  UN looks to revive Cyprus talks after ‘high hopes’

    Nicosia / AFP UN envoy Eden Barth Eide held separate talks with rival Cypriot leaders on Monday to try to revive peace negotiations after “very high hopes” of a breakthrough were dashed last week. “What we are working on is to see how we can re-establish the momentum we had, but this has to be a decision made by ...

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