US gives $181 million in additional relief aid to Iraq ahead of Mosul attack
Baghdad (AFP) Sept 14, 2016 -
The United States on Wednesday announced it was providing $181 million (160 million euros) in additional humanitarian assistance to Iraq ahead of an operation to retake the jihadist hub of Mosul.
The announcement was made by US Deputy Secretary of State Antony Blinken shortly after he arrived in Baghdad for meetings, including with Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi.
"Today I am please ...
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US 'surprised' at Chinese influence-buying in Australia
Sydney (AFP) Sept 14, 2016 -
The US envoy to Canberra has raised concerns about China buying political influence in Australia, after a raft of revelations over Beijing's financial support for influential figures.
Political donations from foreign sources have become a highly sensitive issue in Australia, which last week saw the resignation of a leading opposition senator after he admitted taking payments to cover expense ...
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German, French FMs push peace bid in war-torn Ukraine
Slavyansk, Ukraine (AFP) Sept 15, 2016 -
The German and French foreign ministers made their first visit to Ukraine's war-torn east on Thursday, saying they wanted to push a new bid for peace after a recent surge in violence.
Frank-Walter Steinmeier and his French counterpart Jean-Marc Ayrault visited the Donetsk region and viewed a bridge destroyed in fighting between separatist and government forces in the city of Slavyansk.
A ...
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Sweden re-militarises Baltic island of Gotland; NATO, Russia hold 'risk reduction' talks
Stockholm (AFP) Sept 14, 2016 -
Sweden's Baltic Sea island of Gotland is once again home to a permanent military presence, the military said Wednesday, amid speculation over the country's ability to defend itself against a more assertive Russia.
The Swedish government decided in March 2015 to remilitarise the country's biggest island, where the last barracks were decommissioned in 2005.
The move to make the troops perm ...
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DARPA announces Aerial Dragnet drone monitoring program
Washington (UPI) Sep 15, 2016 -
The U.S. Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency announced this week it is seeking proposals for its Aerial Dragnet program, a new initiative that seeks to monitor drones flying below 1,000 feet in large cities.
The program seeks to map small drones in urban terrain using innovative technologies that would provide persistent, wide-area surveillance, the agency said in a statement. ...
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Boeing challenges Denmark's choice of fighter jets
Copenhagen (AFP) Sept 15, 2016 -
Boeing accused the Danish government Thursday of overseeing a "fundamentally flawed" process to replace its fleet of fighter jets which saw the US defence giant lose out to competitor Lockheed Martin.
In June, Denmark decided to replace its ageing fleet of F-16s with 27 US-built Lockheed Martin F-35A Lightning II fighters in a deal valued at 20 billion kroner (2.69 billion euros, $3.02 billi ...
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Hollande says France 'cannot be alone' on EU defence
Bratislava (AFP) Sept 16, 2016 -
France can take the lead in European defence cooperation, but cannot do it all on its own, French President Francois Hollande said Friday as EU leaders held crunch post-Brexit talks.
"France is making the main effort on European defence but it cannot be alone and does not want to be alone," Hollande said as he went into the summit in Bratislava with security top of the agenda.
Hollande, ...
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Pakistan may be building new nuclear site: analysts
Islamabad (AFP) Sept 16, 2016 -
Pakistan, estimated to have the world's fastest-growing nuclear stockpile, could be building a new uranium enrichment complex according to commercial satellite imagery analysed by Western defence experts.
The construction of a new site, based in the town of Kahuta some thirty kilometres (miles) east of Islamabad, provides fresh evidence of how Pakistan is seeking to boost its atomic arsenal ...
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Scotland keeps eye on EU, touts oil and gas performance
Edinburgh, Scotland (UPI) Sep 14, 2016 -
While keeping its eyes on the European Union, the Scottish government touted the performance of North Sea energy in the era of lower oil prices.
The government said the oil and gas industry is adjusting to a market where oil has hovered in the mid- to upper-$40 range for the better part of a year. Those prices are down about 50 percent from two years ago, though Scotland said North Sea ...
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UN demands South Sudan cooperate on regional force
United Nations, United States (AFP) Sept 15, 2016 -
The UN Security Council on Wednesday urged South Sudan's government to take immediate steps to allow a new regional force to deploy in Juba as it weighed imposing an arms embargo.
Following a closed-door meeting, New Zealand Ambassador Gerard van Bohemen, who holds the council presidency, said it was time for "actions, not words" from President Salva Kiir's government.
The council voted ...
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Oil downturn nearly over, Norway says
Oslo, Norway (UPI) Sep 15, 2016 -
Though crude oil prices aren't expected to hit the $60 range until 2019, the Norwegian government said its economy has started to move out of a standstill.
The Norwegian government's statistics office said weak economic growth in the latter half of 2016 has replaced an economic standstill, with gains in home-building and exports expected to provide a lift through early 2017.
"The ...
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Hong Kong Airlines buys 9 Airbus aircraft for $2.31 bn
Hong Kong (AFP) Sept 15, 2016 -
Hong Kong Airlines said Thursday it had bought nine Airbus aircraft, for a catalogue price of $2.31 billion, seeking to bolster its Asian network as an expanding Chinese middle class takes to the skies.
The Hong Kong-based airline, which serves a wide range of mainland Chinese cities as well as international routes, said the nine A330-300 aircraft would cover a wide range of destinations in ...
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Apple's iPhone 7 launches; sold-out models leave some disappointed
Sydney (AFP) Sept 16, 2016 -
Apple's iPhone 7 launch generated trademark queues and brisk sales Friday that defied gloomy expectations, with some enthusiasts left empty-handed after lining up for hours as the company announced some models had sold out.
The new phone comes with an improved camera, no headphone jack, and a water resistant body as the US tech giant seeks to reverse declines in sales amid increased competit ...
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Apple, Samsung struggle in face of Chinese competition
Beijing (AFP) Sept 16, 2016 -
The global launch of the iPhone 7 on Friday is crucial to Apple's fortunes in China, but both it and its biggest rival Samsung, hit by a recall over exploding batteries, are struggling in the face of upstart local competitors.
The US and South Korean firms were relegated to fourth and fifth place respectively in the Asian giant's smartphone market in the first half of this year, according to ...
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China new bank loans more than double in August
Shanghai (AFP) Sept 14, 2016 -
Lending by Chinese banks more than doubled month-on-month in August, reversing from a sharp fall in July, the central bank said Wednesday, another sign of stabilisation in the world's second-largest economy.
New loans extended by banks jumped to 948.7 billion yuan ($141.8 billion) last month, up from the 463.6 billion yuan in July, the People's Bank of China (PBoC) said.
The figure was b ...
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Wearable tech market cools, as consumers step back
Washington (AFP) Sept 15, 2016 -
Wearable tech, which was seeing sizzling sales growth a year ago, is cooling this year amid consumer hesitation over new devices, a survey showed Thursday.
The research firm IDC said it expects global sales of wearables to grow some 29.4 percent to some 103 million units in 2016.
That follows 171 percent growth in 2015, fueled by the launch of the Apple Watch and a variety of fitness ban ...
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Malaysia confirms Tanzania debris came from MH370
Kuala Lumpur (AFP) Sept 15, 2016 -
A piece of aircraft wreckage found in June off Tanzania has been confirmed as coming from the doomed airliner MH370, Malaysia said on Thursday.
The debris, found on Pemba Island off the Tanzanian coast, is the latest piece of wreckage to be linked to the Malaysia Airlines jet, whose disappearance remains a mystery.
Malaysia's transport ministry said the piece of debris, which had been t ...
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Apple seeks fresh momentum with iPhone launch
San Francisco (AFP) Sept 15, 2016 -
With new iPhones hitting the markets Friday, Apple is seeking to regain momentum and set new trends for the smartphone industry and tech sector.
The newest versions of the California-based technology giant's lifestyle-changing iPhone aim to win over users with sophisticated camera technology, water resistance, more power and other improvements.
But Apple has raised eyebrows by eliminatin ...
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Twitter expands video role with streaming TV apps
San Francisco (AFP) Sept 14, 2016 -
Twitter on Wednesday moved deeper into video, announcing a new application that will offer free content on major streaming TV services.
The new app for Apple TV, Amazon Fire TV and Microsoft's Xbox One will allow anyone with these devices to get content from Twitter's media partners.
That will include 10 National Football League games, Bloomberg News and others.
Users can also view T ...
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One year on, can Volkswagen leave 'dieselgate' behind?
Frankfurt (AFP) Sept 16, 2016 -
One year ago, Volkswagen's cheating on emissions tests for millions of its diesel cars erupted into public view, leaving the mammoth carmaker battling an unprecedented crisis.
Barely a week has passed since that has not seen a fresh twist in the saga, which has tarnished Germany's proud auto industry and called the future of diesel as a whole into question.
Volkswagen has sought to make ...
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China says grain subsidies meet WTO rules; 13 nations take aim at fishing subsidies
Beijing (AFP) Sept 14, 2016 -
China's rice, wheat and corn subsidies are in line with WTO rules, Beijing's commerce ministry said after Washington launched legal action against what it says are "unfair" trade incentives worth $100 billion.
The United States alleges China, the world's largest producer of wheat and rice, doled out "market price support" for the grains above levels agreed at the Geneva-based WTO, making Chi ...
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Uber launches groundbreaking driverless car service
Pittsburgh (AFP) Sept 14, 2016 -
Uber launched a groundbreaking driverless car service Wednesday, jumping ahead of Detroit auto giants and Silicon Valley rivals with technology that could revolutionize transportation.
In an ambitious experiment, a fleet of cars laden with lasers, cameras and other sensors - but with no one's hands on the wheel - were deployed by the web-based ride service on the challenging roads of Pitt ...
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Testing the driverless Uber -- first nerves, and then acceptance
Pittsburgh (AFP) Sept 14, 2016 -
It was driverless Uber's turn to veer left across a four-way stop, but the driver opposite apparently didn't think so.
He jumped out into the intersection, cutting us off, making the person sitting behind the Uber wheel for safety both try to take over steering and hit the panic button.
But it was all unnecessary. The Uber-computer saw the looming crash, hit the brakes itself and then, ...
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Is nuclear crucial to climate change targets?
Paris (AFP) Sept 15, 2016 -
As Britain greenlights its first new nuclear power plant in more than 20 years, experts diverged Thursday on the role of nuclear energy in the quest to cap global warming at less than two degrees Celsius.
The broad challenge in meeting that goal - the cornerstone of the Paris Agreement inked in December by 195 nations - is decarbonising the world economy as quickly as possible.
"We nee ...
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The Golden State gets greener with Interior decision
Palm Desert, Calif. (UPI) Sep 15, 2016 -
A federal decision to use 10 million acres of land in the California desert is an example of how renewable energy planning should be done, the Sierra Club said.
U.S. Interior Secretary Sally Jewell announced the federal government approved plans to set aside 10.9 million acres of land it manages in the California desert for conservation and renewable energy development.
A decade ...
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