Foreigners scramble out of Iraqi Kurdistan ahead of retaliatory flight ban

Foreigners scrambled to leave Iraqi Kurdistan on Friday hours before the start of a flight ban imposed by Baghdad in retaliation for an independence referendum that has sent regional tensions soaring.

Iraq's central government has ordered a halt to all international flights to and from the autonomous region from 6:00 pm (local time) on Friday after Iraqi Kurds overwhelmingly voted for independence.

Washington has said it would be willing to facilitate talks between the Iraqi Kurdish authorities and Baghdad to calm escalating tensions over the 92-percent "yes" vote, as a top Shiite cleric called for solving the crisis in an Iraqi court.

Neighbouring Turkey and Iran also strongly opposed the vote, fearing it would inflame the separatist aspirations of their own sizable Kurdish population.

Ankara has threatened a series of measures including blocking crucial oil exports from the region via Turkey.

The Kurds have condemned the flight suspension as "collective punishment".

Today, Iraqi Kurdistan's transport ministry sent a letter to Baghdad asking to "open negotiations" on flights but was still awaiting a reply, a ministry spokesman said.
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Trump met former Fed governor Kevin Warsh on potential Fed chairman job

President Donald Trump met with former Federal Reserve Governor Kevin Warsh to discuss potentially being nominated as Fed chairman, a source familiar with the meeting said on Friday.

The White House would not confirm the topic of the conversation, saying only that the president met on Monday with Warsh at the White House.

Trump is considering a variety of choices to replace current Fed Chair Janet Yellen, whose term on the Fed expires on Jan. 31.
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Sergio Aguero rushed to hospital after car crash in Netherlands

Manchester City star striker Sergio Aguero was rushed to hospital after being injured in a car accident in the Netherlands.

The incident took place when the 29-year-old was returning from a concert in Amsterdam featuring Colombian singer Maluma.

He was travelling to the airport to fly back to Manchester when his taxi was involved in an accident leaving the Argentinian with suspected broken ribs.

Aguero, who was reportedly wearing his seat belt, suffered broken ribs after the taxi carrying the City star apparently crashed into a pole.

City defender, who has been in fine form at the start of the 2017-18 campaign, is likely to be ruled out for an extended period of time, goal.com reported.

Aguero, who has scored seven goals in eight appearances he made in all competitions so far, is expected to miss a number of City's Premier League and Champions League games if the striker is ruled out of action for an extended period.

He is also likely to miss Argentina's crucial final two World Cup qualifiers against Peru and Ecuador.
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Taxes on sugary beverages are not enough to halt march of obesity in Asia

Facing declining markets in Western countries, multinational food companies are targeting Africa, Asia, and Latin America as new consumers of packaged foods, in a move that may worsen the global epidemic of chronic illness related to diabetes. Governments are striking back at obesity risk factors, including unhealthy foods. Singapore, which might have as many as one million residents with diabetes by 2050, now requires soda producers to reduce sugar content. Obesity and other lifestyle-related diseases have now become a “silent’ long-term challenge that will cost governments in healthcare liabilities and lost productivity.

But improving public health requires more than piecemeal legislation; governments must promote lifestyle changes through education and improve access to healthy foods.
Not a ‘rich only’ disease

Across Asia, rural populations accustomed to active farming jobs are migrating in increasing numbers to urban areas, where they occupy more sedentary manufacturing or service sector jobs. Due to time constraints and easy availability of affordable high-calorie foods, these migrant populations are also changing their eating habits. A recently published study of 98,000 adults in China argues that linking obesity only to affluence is simplistic, and that geographic variations in China’s "nutritional transition” explain differences in public health.
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Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi to ISIS militants: Have patience, step up your attack

The leader of the Islamic State group urged followers to burn their enemies everywhere and target "media centers of the infidels," according to an audio recording released Thursday that the extremists said was by Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi.

The reclusive leader of Islamic State, who has only appeared in public once, also vowed to continue fighting and lavished praise on his jihadis for their valor in the battlefield — despite the militants' loss of the northern Iraqi city of Mosul in July.

The recording was released by the Islamic State-run al-Furqan outlet, which has in the past released messages from al-Baghdadi and other top figures of the extremist group. The voice in the over 46-minute-long audio sounded much like previous recordings of al-Baghdadi. His last previous purported message was released in November, also in an audio recording.

"You soldiers of the caliphate, heroes of Islam and carriers of banners: light a fire against your enemies," said al-Baghdadi, a shadowy cleric who has been surrounded by controversy since the Sunni terror group emerged from al-Qaida in Iraq, its forerunner.

Russian officials said in June there was a "high probability" that al-Baghdadi had died in a Russian airstrike on the outskirts of the Syrian city of Raqqa, the group's de facto capital. US officials later said they believed he was still alive.

Al-Baghdadi's whereabouts are unknown but he is believed to be in Islamic State' dwindling territory in eastern Syria. The Islamic State-held cities of Raqqa and Deir el-Zour are under siege and likely too dangerous for him to hide in. Some Islamic State leadership is believed to have gone to the nearby town of Mayadeen, and the group still holds a stretch of the Euphrates River from Deir el-Zour to the Iraqi border, as well as remote desert areas along the border.
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Five assumptions we make about North Korea - and why they're wrong

In the 2004 comedy film Team America, Kim Jong-un’s father, Kim Jong-il, is illustrative of a popular view of North Korea that both feeds and is fed by the perception that the Kim regime is irrational, crazy and evil.

This caricature is a poor foundation on which to build a North Korea policy.

Proponents of this view point to the Kim regime’s horrendous human rights record and the Orwellian social controls put in place to maintain the Kims at the head of North Korea’s unique authoritarian political system.
While the regime’s coercive arms have been responsible for crimes against the North Korean people that could be considered “evil”, this does not suffice as an explanation for why it engages in these practices.

The “why” is important. It feeds information into risk analyses and pinpoints leverage points for strategic interactions with North Korea.

We don’t have to like this logic or agree on its strategic utility to see there is rational strategy at work. We need to locate Kim and his regime within the context of the complex incentives and constraints of North Korea’s interwoven political, economic, cultural and ecological systems.

It is useful to step back from the whirlwind of recent developments to place the current situation in the broader context of North Korea’s regime survival strategy.
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Saudi decree allowing women to drive cars is about politics, not religion

In an unexpected move that surprised everyone, including his own people, King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al-Saud of Saudi Arabia has suddenly passed a royal decree permitting women to drive. His stunning decision comes after years of the ban, which was justified using Islam as a pretext.

The Council of Senior Religious Scholars, which is close to the royal family and is crucial for shoring up its legitimacy, seems to have strongly supported the move, stressing that the decision was in the interest of Saudi society – this despite the fact these same religious leaders have opposed women’s right to drive for decades, accusing any women who dare to take the wheel of having lost their virginity and integrity. Similarly, the official Saudi media portrayed the decree as a historic step – but presented it as a favour or a royal benevolence boosted upon women, not a legitimate right long overdue.
Despite the noise that accompanied the decree, this move is not some bold initiative to present a new religious interpretation of the issue. Theologically speaking, the ban has no basis in the Quran or Hadith, and should never have been imposed in the first place. Saudi Arabia was the only country in the region that banned women from driving cars, and its claims to religious and cultural legitimacy were baseless. The denial of this basic right was not only blatantly against the precepts of Islam, but has tainted the name of Islam in a country that flatters itself as the defender of the true faith.

So there are plenty of questions to answer. Why exactly was the decree finally issued – and why now? Is Saudi society ready to accept it? And what will be the social, political and religious implications at home and across the Middle East?
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Ryanair crisis: Aviation expert warns 600,000 new pilots needed in 20 years

Ryanair’s announcement that it is cancelling 18,000 flights between November and March has understandably evoked the ire of the 400,000 customers affected. And, hot on the heels of news that it was cancelling up to 50 flights a day from mid-September to the end of October, it is facing a PR nightmare and trouble with regulators.

Amid the outrage, the reason for the cancellations has been largely lost. The airline said it “messed up in the planning of pilot holidays”. But this is part of a major industry-wide problem. Ryanair might be one of the first to feel the pinch in Europe, but there is a global pilot shortage which has been a long time in the making.
The industry currently employs 500,000 professional pilots worldwide and reportedly needs another 600,000 in the next 20 years to cover the retirement of pilots and the 6% growth of another 35,000 airliners entering the global market. Shortfalls of pilots have already hit US airlines this year, starting with small regional ones, and have been visible in India and China for a while now. Ryanair is the first European airline to be hit.

The food chain of aircraft type, airline, salary, benefits and personal lifestyle preferences for pilots determines where they look to work. Long gone are the times where pilots were employed for life by one airline. Like employees in most industries these days, pilots are choosing and managing their careers.
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Hugh Hefner, Playboy, and being a man during the Cold War

As news broke today that Hugh Hefner, founder of Playboy, had died aged 91, many were quick to point to the complicated legacy of both the magazine and the man behind it. Now popularly associated with his bevy of young lovers and infamous parties at the Playboy mansion, it would be easy to dismiss Hefner as merely an enduring barrier to the fight for gender equality. Yet to do so would to overlook the significant cultural impact of both Hefner and Playboy, particularly during the 1950s under the shroud of Cold War anxieties.

Born April 9, 1926 in Chicago, Illinois, Hefner’s entry into the world of journalism came as a teenager writing for a military magazine during World War II. After graduating from the University of Illinois, he began working as a copy-editor for men’s magazine Esquire, before a pay dispute motivated him to leave the magazine in 1952.

He took out a mortgage and borrowed money from his mother to launch Playboy in 1953. The first issue, which famously featured Marilyn Monroe in the centrefold, indicated the magazine’s explicit engagement with matters of sex, fun, and consumerism. In doing so, it challenged the idea of masculinity that had evolved around the nuclear family, and that held particular purchase in the early years of Cold War America.
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Surprising connection between 'take a knee' protests and Citizens United

Citizens United, the Supreme Court ruling that some fear is destroying American democracy, may also be showing us how to heal it.

The most recent example of this is the reaction to President Donald Trump’s comments suggesting that sports owners should fire players who kneel during the national anthem. As the president does so often, he placed business leaders in the difficult position of deciding whether to speak out at the risk of alienating customers and courting further controversy.
In this case, many league officials and owners chose to do just that, labeling Trump’s words “divisive” and defending their players’ right to “express themselves freely on matters important to them.” Some owners “took a knee” alongside their players.

While corporate speech is often assumed to favor only conservative causes, my research on attorney advertising reveals the extent to which free speech rights for companies also advances causes important to liberals.

I would argue that Citizens United – a Supreme Court opinion that has produced bitterly partisan reactions – ironically offers a pluralistic vision of corporate speech as well as a full-throated defense of the kind of political speech we are now witnessing from business leaders.
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Donald Trump waives shipping restrictions for storm-hit Puerto Rico

US President Donald Trump on Thursday waived shipping restrictions to help fuel and supplies reach storm-ravaged Puerto Rico, the White House said.

"Trump agreed to waive the Jones Act, which will temporarily lift shipping restrictions on Puerto Rico and enable the hurricane-ravaged island to receive necessary aid," a statement said on Twitter.
The waiver from the shipping law, which requires American-made and operated vessels to transport cargo between US ports, will only last for 10 days and goes into effect immediately, the Hill magazine reported.

"At @ricardorossello request, @POTUS has authorized the Jones Act to be waived for Puerto Rico. It will go into effect immediately," White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders wrote on Twitter, referring to Puerto Rico Governor Ricardo Rosselló.

Lawmakers in Congress since Monday had been pushing for a one-year waiver from the rules in an order to help speed up deliveries of food, fuel and other critical supplies to Puerto Rico, which was battered by two hurricanes last month.

Officials estimate that the island could be without power for six months.

The administration faced fierce backlash for not immediately lifting the law for Puerto Rico, after it issued a two-week waiver for Texas and Florida after hurricanes Harvey and Irma.

White House Homeland Security Adviser Tom Bossert said on Twitter early morning that the waiver was granted "immediately" after Rosselló had petitioned Trump for the exemption on Wednesday night.
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More than 500,000 Rohingya refugees have fled to Bangladesh: UN

The number of Rohingya refugees who have fled to Bangladesh since violence broke out in Myanmar's Rakhine state on August 25 has exceeded half a million, the United Nations said on Thursday.

The new figure of 501,800 -- up from around 480,000 -- was due mainly to the counting of refugees not previously included in the tally rather than a dramatic increase in arrivals.
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Toddler shoots 2 three-year-old children at Michigan day care, says police

Police say a toddler accidentally shot and injured two other children at a home day care facility in suburban Detroit.

Dearborn Police Chief Ronald Haddad says a preliminary investigation has revealed the toddler "accessed a handgun and the weapon discharged" about 10:20 am yesterday.

The wounded children both are believed to be three years old. They have been hospitalised in critical, but stable condition.

Haddad says the gun was kept in the Dearborn home, west of Detroit. Several other children were at the home at the time of the shooting. Those children were taken to the police station to be reunited with their parents.

The shooting remains under investigation. No one has been charged.
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Roku connects with investors in debut, shares up 17%

Shares of Roku Inc, a Fox-backed video streaming firm, rose as much as 16.6 percent in their market debut on Thursday, giving the US IPO market a much-needed shot in the arm.

The US IPO market is struggling to finish 2017 on a high note even though it has already raked in more money so far this year than it did in 2016.

Snapchat owner Snap Inc, and meal-kit delivery company Blue Apron Holdings Inc, which listed in the first-half of the year are trading well below their listing prices.

At $16.33, Roku had a market capitalization of $1.55 billion.

A pioneer in helping consumers cut the cord from traditional cable, Roku made one of the first devices to offer streaming content such as Netflix over TVs.

But the market has since become more competitive, with Apple Inc, Alphabet Inc's Google, Amazon.com Inc and others offering their own devices.

To compete better, the California-based firm has opened its platform to more TV apps than its peers, including Amazon Prime Video, Hulu and Google Play, allowing it to offer over 3,000 channels internationally.
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Microsoft to release Office 2019 next year with better mobile linking power

Microsoft has announced that Office 2019 would be available in the second half of 2018.

The 2019 suite is said to be for people who don't want their apps and services in the cloud, the CNN reports.
The suite will include the standard apps like Word, Excel, PowerPoint and Outlook, and server versions of Microsoft Exchange, SharePoint and Skype for Business.

The company, at its Microsoft Ignite conference in Orlando, Florida, said that Office 2019 will include more IT features and server upgrades to improve usability, voice and security,

The apps will also come with better linking capabilities for mobile devices, such as pressure sensitivity and tilt effects.

The last major update to the suite was Microsoft Office 2016, which came out in 2015.
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Regret dismissing fake news' influence: Zuckerberg after Trump attacks FB

Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg has responded to United States President Donald Trump after he claimed that "Facebook was always anti-Trump."

"Trump says Facebook is against him. Liberals say we helped Trump," Zuckerberg said in a statement posted on Facebook.
"Both sides are upset about ideas and content they don't like. That's what running a platform for all ideas looks like," he added.

Zuckerberg added that he regrets his earlier comments dismissing the idea that "fake news on Facebook" shaped the outcome of the 2016 presidential election.

"After the election, I made a comment that I thought the idea misinformation on Facebook changed the outcome of the election was a crazy idea. Calling that crazy was dismissive and I regret it," he said.
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Driving ban lifted: I am my own guardian, say Saudi women on Twitter

Overjoyed Saudi women celebrated on Wednesday after King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud issued a historic decree allowing them to drive in the Kingdom.

The decree is slated to take effect from June 2018.
The announcement was reported late Tuesday by the state-run Saudi Press Agency and state TV. Praise for the move poured in from inside the Saudi kingdom as well as abroad.

Until now, only men were issues licences and women who drove in public risked being arrested and fined.

Manal al-Sharif, an organiser of the Women2Drive campaign who was earlier imprisoned for driving, said on Twitter that Saudi Arabia would "never be the same again", reports the BBC.

The hashtags "I am my own guardian" and "Saudi Women Can Drive" quickly gained traction on social media.

US President Donald Trump said it was a positive step towards promoting women's rights. US State Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert called the move "a great step in the right direction".

UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres echoed that sentiment.

Saudi activist Loujain al-Hathloul, who was detained for 73 days in 2014 for flouting the ban, tweeted "thank God".
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Terrorists kill BSF jawan Ramzan Parray, injure family members in Kashmir

Militants on Wednesday stormed the home of a Kashmiri BSF constable on vacation, shooting him dead and inflicting gunshot wounds on four of his family members in Hajjan in north Kashmir, police said.

Rameez Parrey (30) belonged to the 73rd battalion of the BSF.

The militants, after forcing their way into the house in Parrey Mohalla, fired indiscriminately at the family.

The jawan died on the spot. Four of his family members -- his father, two brothers and an aunt -- suffered gunshot wounds, police said.

The condition of the jawan's aunt was stated to be serious, while that of the three others was stable.

The Director General of Jammu and Kashmir Police, S P Vaid, termed the incident as "barbaric and inhumane" and said the guilty would be punished.

Parrey served the BSF for six years.

The BSF, India confirmed the news on Twitter: "Prahari Pariwar stands by the family of one of our member Constable Md Ramzan who was cowardly killed by terrorists today.He was on leave"

Nitish Kumar, who heads the police in North Kashmir, tweeted that the four were "critically injured".
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Trump's massive tax cut stirs concerns on deficit, favouritism towards rich

President Donald Trump proposed on Wednesday the biggest US tax overhaul in three decades, calling for tax cuts for most Americans, but prompting criticism that the plan favours business and the rich and could add trillions of dollars to the deficit.

The proposal drew a swift, sceptical response from Senator Bob Corker, a leading Republican “fiscal hawk,” who vowed not to vote for any federal tax package financed with borrowed money.

“What I can tell you is that I’m not about to vote for any bill that increases our deficit, period,” Corker, who said on Tuesday he would not seek re-election in 2018, told reporters.

Trump said his tax plan was aimed at helping working people, creating jobs and making the tax code simpler and fairer. But it faces an uphill battle in the US Congress with Trump’s own Republican Party divided over it and Democrats hostile.

The plan would lower corporate and small-business income tax rates, reduce the top income tax rate for high-earning American individuals and scrap some popular tax breaks, including one that benefits people in high-tax states dominated by Democrats.

Forged during months of talks among Trump’s aides and top congressional Republicans, the plan contained few details on how to pay for the tax cuts without expanding the budget deficit and adding to the nation’s $20 trillion national debt.

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Blackstone, Apollo may be teaming up to bid for Westinghouse

Private equity firms Blackstone Group LP and Apollo Global Management LLC have teamed up to bid for the business of bankrupt U.S. nuclear power plant services firm Westinghouse Electric Co, people familiar with the matter said.

A successful deal would limit the financial hit to Japan's Toshiba Corp <6502.T>, the owner of Westinghouse. Westinghouse filed for bankruptcy in March, hit by billions of dollars of cost overruns at four nuclear reactors under construction in the U.S. Southeast.
Westinghouse is working with investment bank PJT Partners Inc on a sale process, which is still at its early stages, the people said this week. A deal could value Westinghouse at close to $4 billion, the sources added.

Other private equity firms are also considering forming consortia to bid for Westinghouse. Buyout firm Cerberus Capital Management LP is in talks with U.S. nuclear power plant component provider BWX Technologies Inc about submitting a joint bid for Westinghouse, the sources said, cautioning that no offer was certain to materialise.

Other bidders are also expected to emerge. However, the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS), a government panel which scrutinizes deals for potential national security risks, could make an acquisition of Westinghouse by a foreign buyer more difficult, according to the sources.
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By concealing identities, cryptocurrencies fuel cybercrime

When hackers hold their victims’ data for ransom, as happened in the WannaCry and NotPetya ransomware attacks that spread across the globe in mid-2017, a key to the criminals’ success is getting away with the money. That often means they use cryptocurrencies like bitcoin to collect payment, hoping to remain hidden behind a digital mask.

The WannaCry hackers went a step farther, though. They converted their bitcoins into Monero, another e-currency designed to offer even stronger privacy.

At the Initiative for Cryptocurrencies and Contracts, we have explored the ways cryptocurrency systems protect users’ anonymity. Anonymity in cryptocurrencies is fueling crime by enabling criminals to evade identification by law enforcement. We believe that this problem will get worse as cryptocurrencies evolve stronger privacy protections and become more flexibly programmable. We also believe there’s no simple solution.

Masking criminal identities

All cryptocurrency systems work in roughly the same way. Groups of computers receive transaction information directly from users who want to send each other money. The computers order and permanently record these transactions in a public ledger so that anyone can read them. The public ledger also makes it possible to keep track of how much currency individual users own. Developers tweak the code in different cryptocurrency systems to add additional features, like fast transaction processing or improved anonymity.
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Puerto Rico's bankruptcy will make hurricane recovery brutal - here's why

The United States had already seen its share of disasters, from back-to-back hurricanes that devastated Texas, Florida and the U.S. Virgin Islands to roaring wildfires in the West.

Then, after battering the rest of the Caribbean, Hurricane Maria left the island of Puerto Rico facing a humanitarian crisis. About a dozen people died in the Sept. 21 storm and the island was plunged into darkness.

Now, some 3.4 million Puerto Ricans – which is to say, 3.4 million American citizens – are confronting life without electricity, gas, cellular service and, in many cases, a home.

After a decade of fiscal decline and a May 2017 bankruptcy, Puerto Rico has become exceptionally vulnerable to disasters like Maria. As both a policy analyst and the daughter of Puerto Rican immigrants, I’m concerned about how austerity-related reforms are now threatening the survival of not just my family there but everyone on the island.

Though food insecurity, poor health care and resource-starved public transit all predate the hurricane, the result of both damaging U.S. policy and deepening financial crisis, these three problems will dramatically complicate Puerto Rico’s recovery.
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US not at war with North Korea, such a suggestion is absurd: White House

The White House today rejected claims that the United States has declared war on North Korea as "absurd" in the latest exchange of barbs and insults between the two nuclear powers.

"We have not declared war on North Korea and frankly the suggestion of that is absurd'" said White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders.

North Korea's foreign minister today accused US President Donald Trump of declaring war against his country and said Pyongyang was ready to defend itself by shooting down US bombers.

The latest threats stoked a week-long war of words that began when the American leader threatened in his address to the United Nations General Assembly to "totally destroy" North Korea if it launches an attack.

Sanders also took issue with the suggestion that Pyongyang would have the right to shoot down US planes near North Korean airspace.

"It's never appropriate for a country to shoot down another country's aircraft when it's over international waters," she said.
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Qatar Airways steps up orders for Boeing aircraft, looks for US investment

Qatar Airways Chief Executive Akbar Al Baker said on Monday the carrier plans to expand its fleet, stepping up orders for Boeing Co aircraft and accepting four Airbus aircraft that it had cancelled in July because of delays due to supplier problems.

Al Baker, who spoke at an event in which he formally accepted delivery of Qatar Airways' first Boeing 747-8 freighter, disclosed plans to acquire the four 777-300 aircraft, which can accommodate up to 396 passengers depending on the seating configuration.

In addition, Qatar Airways will order all 60 of the Boeing 737 airplanes for which it signed a letter of intent last year, he said.

Al Baker said in an interview that all of Qatar's options and purchase rights for the narrowbody jets "will be exercised."

In June, Qatar Airways confirmed an order for 20 Boeing 737 jets and said at the time it was waiting on next steps in its possible expansions in Italy and India before deciding whether to exercise further options.

Last year, Qatar Airways signed a letter of intent for as many as 60 narrowbody 737 jets, worth $6.9 billion at list prices.

Qatar Airways has pressed efforts to expand despite a trade dispute with U.S. airlines that have accused the Middle Eastern carrier of improperly relying on government subsidies. Qatar Airways has also had to contend with fallout from a boycott against Qatar by four Arab nations that cut ties in June.
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Digital transformation should not degrade humanity: Satya Nadella

With organisations across the globe going through an unprecedented level of digital transformation to enhance productivity, Microsoft's India-born chief Satya Nadella today cautioned that new technologies should not "degrade" humanity but provide new levels of inclusiveness.

In his keynote address at Microsoft's Ignite conference in Orlando, Florida Nadella spoke about the upcoming quantum computing era and gave examples of how it could help solve some of the planets biggest challenges.

"We want more productivity and efficiency but we do not want to degrade humanity," Nadella said at the conference being attended by some 25,000 technology experts and analysts.

"We want technology to provide new levels of inclusiveness," Nadella said, as his Ignite keynote was being translated for the first time in 12 languages with the use of artificial intelligence.

"As we talk about technology, one of the things we need as technologists and decision makers is keeping in mind the timeless values that drive what we do," he said, adding that the most critical thing "for us is to bring all of us, across our functional roles, across all our expertise and skills," to support this process of continuous change and renewal.

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Wall Street falls on North Korea comments, tech selloff

US stocks fell sharply in late morning trading on Monday after North Korea accused the United States of declaring war and a selloff in technology stocks accelerated.

North Korea's foreign minister said President Donald Trump had declared war on North Korea and that Pyongyang reserves the right to take countermeasures.

The five tech giants — Facebook, Amazon, Apple, Netflix and Alphabet — were down between 3.7 per cent and 1.05 per cent, weighing on the three major indexes.

The S&P technology index slid 1.37 per cent, on track for its worst single-day percentage loss since August 17. The index, however, has climbed 23 per cent so far this year, outperforming the 11.5 per cent gain in the broader S&P index.

"Technology stocks have been outperformers for a while, so it could be a slight amount of profit taking," said Randy Frederick, vice president of trading and derivatives for Charles Schwab in Austin, Texas.
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Deloitte hit by cyber attack, says 'very few' clients affected

Global accountancy firm Deloitte said on Monday it had been hit in a cyber attack that had compromised the data of a small number of its clients but gave few details about how its systems had been breached.

Attackers had accessed data from the company's email platform, the company said in a statement, confirming a report by the Guardian newspaper.

Deloitte, one of the "big four" accountants, said it had mobilised a team of cyber-security experts to review its systems and to discover what information had been put at risk.

It said the review had found "only a very few clients" had been affected.

"No disruption has occurred to client businesses, to Deloitte's ability to continue to serve clients, or to consumers," a spokeswoman said in a statement.

The firm, which provides auditing, tax advice and consultancy to multinationals and governments, did not say when the attack occurred or how its defences had been breached.

The Guardian said the firm discovered the hack in March, but the cyber attackers could have had hacked into its systems as long ago as October or November 2016.
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Wall Street opens flat as investors await Fed decision

Wall Street opened little changed on Wednesday as investors waited for the conclusion of the two-day Federal Reserve meeting for indications of a third interest rate hike this year.

The policy statement and projections are due to be released at 2 p.m. ET (1800 GMT). Fed Chair Janet Yellen will hold a press conference half an hour later, which will be closely watched for views on inflation.

The central bank is likely to keep interest rate unchanged and say that it will start unwinding its holdings of about $4.2 trillion in bonds and mortgage-backed securities.

"Fed will likely be a non-event, but if they are slightly more dovish in their language, I think you could see a reversal in the banks, but I don't see a lot of activity," said Aaron Clark, portfolio manager at GW&K Investment Management.

"The Fed is being extremely transparent, so they don't want to surprise the market with the normalization process."

The plan will limit the amount of maturing bonds used each month to purchase new ones. The initial cut will be $10 billion per month, probably beginning in October.

Inflation has remained stubbornly below the Fed's 2-percent target rate, but a recent data showed uptick in domestic consumer prices, which raised the chances of a December rate hike by more than 50 percent.
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Khalid Latif banned for 5 years, fined in PSL spot-fixing case

Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) has imposed a five-year ban and a fine of one million rupees on batsman Khalid Latif for his involvement in spot-fixing during the PSL.

In a short order released today, the three-member Tribunal of PCB headed by a former High Court judge Asghar Haider found Khalid guilty on all six breaches of the Cricket Board's anti-corruption code.

It said all the penalties imposed on Khalid will run concurrently with the maximum being five years and a fine of one million rupees to be recovered by the PCB.

Khalid's lawyer Badr Alam, however, outrightly rejected the verdict and said the tribunal was not authorised to take such a decision.

"We don't accept this decision and we have already filed a challenge in the Supreme Court against the tribunal," he said.

The same tribunal had last month imposed a five-year ban on another Pakistani batsman Sharjeel Khan for similar offences in the Pakistan Super League (PSL) played in February in Dubai.

But while the tribunal has kept half of Sharjeel's five- year ban suspended, it didn't show any leniency on Khalid.

Khalid and his lawyer were involved in a continuous run- in with the tribunal since the start of the hearings in April.
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Oil prices set for biggest third-quarter gain in 13 years

Oil rose was on course for its largest third-quarter gain in 13 years as prices rose on Wednesday after the Iraqi oil minister said that OPEC and its partners are considering extending or deepening output cuts aimed at reducing a global supply glut.

Brent crude futures were up 48 cents at $55.62 a barrel by 1020 GMT, while US. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures rose 54 cents to $50.02.

The oil price is on course for a rise of 15.5 percent this quarter, which would make this year's performance the strongest for the third quarter since 2004.

"An improving macroeconomic backdrop should spur oil demand growth over the next couple of quarters, and if OPEC increases its adherence to production cuts, higher prices will come," ANZ Research said in a note.

"All things being equal, we still expect oil prices to test new highs (for 2017) by the end of the year."

The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and other producers are considering a range of options, including an extension of cuts, but it is premature to decide on what to do beyond the agreement's expiry in March, Iraqi oil minister Jabar al-Luaibi told an energy conference on Tuesday.
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Toshiba to sell chip unit to Bain Capital for around $18 bn

Japan's Toshiba Corp said on Wednesday it has agreed to sell its prized semiconductor business to a group led by US private equity firm Bain Capital LP, a key step in keeping the struggling Japanese conglomerate listed on the Tokyo exchange.

Toshiba said in a nighttime announcement through the exchange it had signed a contract for the deal worth about 2 trillion yen ($18 billion), the latest and perhaps final twist in a deal that only hours earlier had seen the company leading toward an agreement with its US joint venture partner Western Digital Corp.

The decision to sell the world's No. 2 producer of NAND memory chips, first reported by Reuters on Wednesday, was made at a board meeting earlier in the day.

Toshiba said the agreement assumed the deal would weather legal challenges raised by Western Digital. A Western Digital spokeswoman said the company did not have an immediate comment.
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At UN, Trump singles out 'rogue' nations North Korea and Iran

Leaders from around the globe took the lectern at the United Nations General Assembly on Tuesday — a particularly big moment for President Trump, who addressed the gathering for the first time.

In his speech, Mr. Trump vowed to “totally destroy” North Korea if it threatened the United States or its allies. “If the righteous many don’t confront the wicked few, then evil will triumph,” he said.

He also called Iran a “rogue nation” and said the United States was “prepared to take further action” on Venezuela.

President Emmanuel Macron of France countered those remarks in his own address, saying that the nuclear deal with Iran was “essential for peace” and that his country would “not close any door to dialogue” with North Korea.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel agreed with Mr. Trump’s assessment of Iran, however, saying, “Imagine the danger of hundreds of nuclear weapons in the reins of a vast Iranian empire, with the missiles to deliver them anywhere on Earth.”
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With combative style and epithets, Trump takes America first to the UN

President Trump brought the same confrontational style of leadership he has used at home to the world’s most prominent stage on Tuesday as he vowed to “totally destroy North Korea” if it threatened the United States and denounced the nuclear agreement with Iran as “an embarrassment” that he may abandon.

In his first address to the United Nations General Assembly, Mr. Trump framed the conflicts as a test of the international system. The bombastic flourishes that generate approving roars at political events were met by stony silence, interrupted a few times by a smattering of applause, as Mr. Trump promised to “crush loser terrorists,” mocked North Korea’s leader as “Rocket Man” and declared that parts of the world “are going to hell.”

The president’s tone carried real-world implications for the future of the United Nations and the escalating confrontations with international outliers. In the space of 42 minutes, he upended decades of rhetorical support by the United States for the collective philosophy of the United Nations as he defended his America First policy. He repeatedly extolled “sovereignty” in a setting where the term traditionally has been brandished by nations like Russia, China, Iran and North Korea to deflect criticism.

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Saudi Arabia to lift ban on WhatsApp, Skype, other internet calling apps

Saudi Arabia will lift its ban on internet calling applications today, authorities said, easing restrictions online as the conservative kingdom faces new criticism over censorship.

Voice and video calling apps such as WhatsApp and Skype will be "widely available to users", a government statement said yesterday, in a move aimed at improving business confidence as the kingdom transitions into a post-oil era.

"Access to VoIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) will reduce operational costs and spur digital entrepreneurship," the statement said, citing a directive from the communications and technology ministry.

"Digital transformation is one of the key kick-starters for the Saudi economy, as it will incentivise the growth of internet-based businesses, especially in the media and entertainment industries."

The announcement comes a day after Al Jazeera lashed out at Snapchat for blocking the Qatari broadcaster from its app in Saudi Arabia at the request of Saudi authorities.
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Trump's speech at UN: Time to expose nations that finance al-Qaeda, Taliban

Vowing to stop "radical Islamic terrorism," US President Donald Trump warned on Tuesday of strong action against countries that support or finance organisations like the Taliban.

"It is time to expose and hold responsible those countries who support and finance terror groups like Al Qaeda, Hezbollah, Taliban and the others that slaughter innocent people," he said in his first speech to the the General Assembly.

But he stopped short of naming countries other than Iran unlike in the last month's speech outlining the Afghan strategy when he named Pakistan saying it had much to lose by harbouring terrorists.

Read the full speech below:

Mr Secretary General, Mr. President, world leaders, and distinguished delegates, welcome to New York. It is a profound honor to stand here in my home city as a representative of the American people to address the people of the world. As millions of our citizens continue to suffer the effects of the devastating hurricanes that have struck our country, I want to begin by expressing my appreciation to every leader in this room who has offered assistance and aid. The American people are strong and resilient, and they will emerge from these hardships more determined than ever before.
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Trump at UN: Threatens to 'destroy' North Korea if US, allies are attacked

US President Donald Trump on Tuesday vowed to “totally destroy” North Korea unless Pyongyang backs down from its nuclear challenge, mocking North Korean leader Kim Jong Un as a “rocket man” on a suicide mission.

It was Trump’s most direct threat to attack North Korea for belligerent acts that have included launching ballistic missiles over Japan and conducting underground nuclear tests.

His comments rattled the world leaders gathered before him in the green-marbled UN General Assembly hall, where minutes earlier UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres had appealed for statesmanship.

“The United States has great strength and patience, but if it is forced to defend itself or its allies, we will have no choice but to totally destroy North Korea,” Trump said.

"The United States is ready, willing and able. But hopefully, this will not be necessary. That's what the United Nations is all about. That's what the United Nations is for. Let's see how they do.
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Over 60 dead after 7.1-magnitude earthquake hits Mexico

At least 65 people were killed today when a powerful, 7.1-magnitude quake hit Mexico, authorities said, increasing a previous toll given after confirming more 16 deaths in and around Mexico City.

The state of Morelos, just south of the capital, was hardest hit with 42 deaths, according to its governor.

Puebla, a town southeast of Mexico City, saw 11 deaths, while Mexico state, to the west of the capital, recorded eight deaths.

Four deaths were confirmed in Mexico City itself according to official reports, but more were feared there as rescue crews and volunteers clawed through the rubble of several collapsed buildings. The megapolis is home to 20 million people.
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Strong 7.1-magnitude earthquake strikes Mexico City

A powerful earthquake shook Mexico City today, causing panic among the megalopolis' 20 million inhabitants on the 32nd anniversary of a devastating 1985 quake.

The US Geological Survey put the quake's magnitude at 7.1 while Mexico's Seismological Institute said it measured 6.8 on its scale.

The institute said the quake's epicenter was seven kilometers west of Chiautla de Tapia, in the neighboring state of Puebla.

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Pakistan anti-graft court indicts ex-PM Ashraf, 8 others in hiring scam

An accountability court in Pakistan on Tuesday indicted former Prime Minister Raja Pervaiz Ashraf and eight others in a case related to illegal recruitment in the Gujranwala Electric Power Company (Gepco).

According to the National Accountability Bureau, Ashraf recruited as many as 437 people without taking merit into consideration.

The court has summoned witnesses to record their statements. Ashraf while speaking to the media rejected all charges filed by the NAB, Geo TV reported.

Along with the Gepco scam, Ashraf was already indicted by another accountability court in Islamabad in the rental power case. All accused, including the former federal mister for water and power, pleaded not guilty.

Ashraf is accused of misusing his authority during his tenure as minister to get approval from the Economic Coordination Committee for an increase in the down payment to the rental power companies from 7 per cent to 14 per cent, amounting to about Rs 22 billion.
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Asus eyes startups with $50m fund

$6 billion gadget maker Asus is eyeing up startup investments with a $50 million fund, it announced this week.

“This is a strategic fund for Asus,” says Anis Uzzaman, general partner at Fenox, which is managing the fund. “Asus wants to invest in startups in the areas of AI, IoT, big data, cloud computing, AR, VR, and other related technologies that require hardware-software integration and can benefit from collaboration with Asus.”

While the fund might pocket some returns, the phone and laptop specialist is aiming mainly to latch onto startups “that can collaborate with them both in business and technology areas,” Uzzaman tells Tech in Asia.

The fund is scanning for startups around the world, but it will focus on Asia, Europe, and the US.

“We plan to invest from a few hundred thousands – for early stage startups – to a few million dollars for late stage startups,” says Uzzaman. “We are also planning to do follow-on investments into startups as they grow. So, we will provide hands-on support to the startups as we invest in them from this Asus Fund.”
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Tencent, Alibaba now dominate online food delivery space in China

Last month, Baidu sold its O2O food delivery service, Baidu Waimai, to Ele.me. This means that now, the Alibaba-backed Ele.me and Tencent-backed Meituan dominate the space.

This deal speaks volumes about the state of Chinese internet in 2017. Here are the three big trends:

Convergence is continuing

China’s internet giants- Alibaba, Tencent, and Baidu- are continuing to move into each others’ spaces. This is a big change from a few years ago when Tencent mostly stayed in gaming and messaging, Alibaba in e-commerce, and Baidu in search.

As Alibaba and Tencent now dwarf Baidu in market cap, the latter’s exit from food delivery implies that it’s tired of being caught between much larger competitors.

China-specific solutions weigh more

The Chinese O2O food delivery trend created an army of delivery people on scooters. They race around streets, alleys, parks, and sidewalks and congregate outside storefronts and subways.

What all of these have in common is that they all offer China-specific solutions.

The Chinese market is so big that creative solutions in small niches can mean big businesses.
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Hurricane Maria: Storm wreaks devastation in Caribbean island of Dominica

Hurricane Maria smashed into the eastern Caribbean island of Dominica on Tuesday, with its prime minister describing devastating damage as winds and rain from the storm also hit territories still reeling from Irma.

Maria, which has been fluctuating in intensity between a Category Four and Category Five hurricane on its path through the Caribbean, hit Dominica with winds of up to 257 kilometres per hour, the US National Hurricane Center (NHC) said.

"We have lost all what money can buy and replace," Dominica's premier Roosevelt Skerrit posted on Facebook, saying there were initial reports of "widespread devastation".

"My greatest fear for the morning is that we will wake to news of serious physical injury and possible deaths as a result of likely landslides triggered by persistent rains."

Earlier, he said his roof had been blown off and house flooded, leaving him "at the complete mercy of the hurricane".

After being rescued, Skerrit appealed for "help of all kinds" but noted specifically that authorities would need helicopters to survey the damage.
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Donald Trump vows to 'totally destroy' North Korea if it doesn't relent

US President Donald Trump said on Tuesday that the United States will be forced to “totally destroy” North Korea unless Pyongyang backs down from its nuclear challenge, mocking North Korean leader Kim Jong Un as a “rocket man” on a suicide mission.

Loud murmurs filled the green-marbled UN General Assembly hall when Trump issued his sternest warning yet to North Korea, whose ballistic missile launches and nuclear tests have rattled the globe.

Unless North Korea backs down, he said, “We will have no choice than to totally destroy North Korea.”

“Rocket man is on a suicide mission for himself and his regime,” he said.

North Korea’s mission to the United Nations did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Trump’s remarks. A junior North Korean diplomat remained in the delegation’s front-row seat for Trump’s speech, the North Korean UN mission said.

In his first appearance at the annual gathering of world leaders, the president used a 41-minute speech to take aim also at Iran’s nuclear ambitions and regional influence, Venezuela’s collapsing democracy and the threat of Islamist extremists.
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Rohingya crisis a great opportunity for India to set its house in order

If India fails to stand with the Rohingya today, will it be able to claim tomorrow that it is rightfully with the people of Baluchistan or Tibet?

If a nation’s resilience is tested by its response to the crisis in its surroundings, then India isn’t the super power it tries to project itself as. A superpower must have enough will to, as Uncle Ben suggested to Spiderman, take “great responsibility,” and should not just assemble state-of-the-art artilleries to flex in its Republic Day parades.

India’s typical response to the Rohingya crisis shows that it still has to build a moral compass to navigate its foreign policy and its foreign policy has hardly changed since the 1990s, even superficially, in the manner in which it deals with urgent humanitarian crises in its neighbourhood and beyond. Like now, India, in the 1990s, had failed to defend the rights of the Bhutanese people of Nepalese origin when they were chased out by the royal government. It even gave tacit support to the Bhutanese royalty by ignoring several appeals by human right groups and activists. The Bhutanese refugee crisis wasn’t an out of the blue thing but a build-up of a series of events since 1988 when Bhutan conducted its southern population census targeting its Nepalese population. With the census, Bhutan re-classified several thousands of its citizens as illegal migrants.

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Google's digital payment app 'Tez' launched: Here's how it works

Tech giant Google on Monday joined the bandwagon of Unified Payment Interface (UPI) -based payment apps launching its "Tez" app.

Tez, which means fast in Hindi, is a standalone payments app that can be downloaded on Android and iOS devices.

It is based on UPI -- a payments protocol built by government-backed National Payment Corporation of India (NPCI).

Apart from English and Hindi, "Tez" app supports various Indian languages such as Bengali, Gujarati, Marathi, Kannada, Tamil and Telugu.

The user interface is fairly simple and the user is asked to sign into the application using the mobile number that is registered with the bank account.

The user then receives an OTP via SMS and the registration is completed after an email id is provided.

The app lets the user pay bills, send money and receive payments directly into their bank accounts (after the app is linked to their bank account to verify ownership).

There is also an option to send a text message from their registered phone number through Google "Tez" app.
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EU anti-trust row: Google offers to treat rivals equally via auction

Google has offered to display rival comparison shopping sites via an auction, as it aims to stave off further EU antitrust fines, four people familiar with the matter said.

Google is under pressure to come up with a big initiative to level the playing field in comparison shopping, but its proposal was roundly criticised by competitors as inadequate, the sources said.

EU enforcers see the antitrust case as a benchmark for investigations of other areas dominated by the U.S. search giant, such as travel and online mapping.

Google has already been fined a record 2.4 billion euros ($2.9 bln) by the European Commission for favouring its own service, and could face millions of euros in fresh fines if it fails to treat rivals and its own service equally.

In its proposal submitted to the European Commission on Aug. 29, the company said it would allow competitors to bid for any spot in its shopping section known as Product Listing Ads, the sources said.

EU competition chief Margrethe Vestager said it was too early to say if the offer would be accepted.

"It is at this point in time of course impossible to say what will happen but obviously market reactions will be one of the things that we'll be taking under consideration," she told reporters in Washington on Monday.
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Conflicts across India as states create land banks for industry, investment

In June this year, about a hundred people from Nuagaon village near India’s east coast marched towards a wall that the Odisha government is building around a 1,700 hectare piece of land on the village’s periphery. The wall would mark the inclusion of the land–1,253 hectares of which is forest land and is under dispute–in the state government’s land bank, thereby restricting locals’ access to an area where they have traditionally harvested betel leaves, rice and fish.

Faced with heavy police deployment, the villagers turned back to consider a change of strategy. In 2011, they had successfully fought off South Korean steel giant POSCO’s plan to set up a steel plant on the same piece of land. No sooner had POSCO announced in March 2017 that it would return the land to the state government than the government announced it would put the land into a land bank–not return it to the villagers.

When the government began to wall off the contested land in May 2017, the simmering discontent erupted.

The face-off in Nuagaon village finds echoes in land conflicts brewing across the country. State governments are rushing to build land banks, using both private and common lands, in an effort to attract investment in manufacturing and infrastructure. Up to 2.68 million hectares of land–an area larger than the state of Meghalaya–have been set aside in land banks in the eight states that declare these statistics, data from state government websites show.
These are: Andhra Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh, Odisha, Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu and Uttar Pradesh.
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Govt may soon be able to seize assets of economic offenders who flee India

The law ministry has given its concurrence to a draft bill that will give powers to the government to confiscate property of economic offenders and defaulters who flee India, albeit with a new provision, official sources said.

It wants a "Saving Clause" to be incorporated in the Fugitive Economic Offenders Bill 2017 before it is introduced in the Lok Sabha in the ensuing winter session of Parliament, they said.

A saving clause provides for certain exception(s) in a statute. It enables the repealed law to be in force with respect to some existing rights.

The proposed law will be applicable in cases where the value of offences is over Rs 100 crore.

The bill flows from Finance Minister Arun Jaitley's 2017 -18 Budget speech promising legislative changes or even a new law to confiscate the assets of such fugitives. It seeks to deter economic offenders from evading the process of Indian law by fleeing the country.

The bill proposes to allow the Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU), the premier technical snoop wing under the finance ministry, to file an application for the declaration of fugitive economic offender for confiscation of their assets.

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News digest: M&M-Ford pact, PM to review economic situation today, and more

M&M partners Ford in drive for e-cars

Homegrown utility vehicle major Mahindra & Mahindra (M&M) and Ford have decided to collaborate again, after a 1995 tie-up to facilitate the American carmaker’s entry into India ended in 2005. This time, the firms would explore joint development of products, especially electric and connected vehicles. The partnership will look to expand Ford’s reach in the fast-growing Indian market and improve M&M’s access to global markets. At present, both have a single-digit share in a market dominated by Maruti Suzuki and Hyundai Motor.
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10,000 finance jobs in UK affected in first Brexit wave, reveals survey

Around 10,000 finance jobs will be shifted out of Britain or created overseas in the next few years if the UK is denied access to Europe’s single market, according to a Reuters survey of firms employing the bulk of workers in international finance.

Frankfurt was by far the most popular destination for the new roles, the survey showed, with Paris a distant second.

The results from 123 firms came from the first comprehensive public survey to ask the biggest banks, insurers, asset managers, private equity firms and exchanges in Britain about the specific details of their plans so far in case of a so-called “hard” Brexit.

Canvassing was conducted by email and telephone interviews between Aug. 21 and Sept. 15, weeks after companies submitted detailed plans on their Brexit preparations to the Bank of England as required on July 14. The Bank declined to comment on the results of that survey.

Nearly half of the companies surveyed told Reuters they would have to move staff or restructure their businesses because of Brexit, which is due to take place in March 2019. Another third said it would have no impact, and the remainder said they were still deciding on their plans or declined to comment.
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