A Clash of Civilizations
Trump to become first foreign leader to dine in Forbidden City since founding of modern China
Donald Trump will receive an honor in Beijing not granted to any US President since the founding of the People's Republic of China....
China rolls out the red carpet to Trumps
President Xi escorts visiting American leader to the Forbidden City, business deals worth $9 bn signed.
Tweeting in 280 Characters? Now You Can Do It, Too
Most tweets will now fit 280 characters, up from 140. The new limit will roll out to Twitter users in almost all 40 languages Twitter supports.
Billionaire Builds and Donates World’s Largest Yacht to Clean Up Ocean Platic Trash
Kjell Inge Røkke announced recently his plan to donate most of his multi-billion dollar fortune toward building the Research Expedition Vessel (REV). REV, a future mega-yacht, will be able to vacuum up 5 tons of plastic per day from the ocean and melt it down.
President Donald Trump's noteworthy tweets
President Donald Trump uses Twitter to break news, share his views and feud with critics and celebrities....
Thursday, 9 November 2017
Justice League movie review: The Ben Affleck and Gal Gadot starrer is lighter on its feet than Batman vs Superman
Justice League movie cast: Ben Affleck, Gal Gadot, Henry Cavill, Ezra Miller, Jason Momoa, Ray Fisher, Jeremy Irons, Ciaran Hinds
Justice League movie director: Zack Snyder
Justice League movie rating: 2 stars
Justice League movie rating: 2 stars
Batman vs Superman: Dawn of Justice concerned itself laboriously and lengthily with “man playing god”. And then, Superman died. What is to be done then but to resurrect him? All the concerns of the previous film forgotten now, Justice League goes about doing precisely that, down to immersing Clark Kent’s body, baptism-like, in an amniotic fluid.
Superman (Cavill) isn’t the only one reborn as Snyder returns with a shorter, if not any less chaotic, film. So is ‘Steppenwolf’, a monster who had been banished many years ago by gods and men combined, and has returned to destroy Earth. He is tall, scaled, horned, and has clearly some mother issues — in that last aspect, many characters of Justice League are united, as they were in Batman vs Superman. The casting list tells us Steppenwolf is played by the talented Hinds, but really there is no way to tell which actor hides behind that exterior, or if one was needed at all. Among other things, Steppenwolf is after three “mother boxes”, “the source of creation, destruction and power”.
Justice League’s battle consists of Batman (Affleck) assembling Wonder Woman (Gadot), Flash (Miller), Acquaman (Momoa) and Cyborg (Fisher) — later joined by Superman — to stop Steppenwolf.
That amount of superpowers in one room can be daunting for anyone, even if Marvel has made it look easy with Avengers. Plus, Snyder is coming into Justice League bearing the dead weight of Batman vs Superman as well as the expectations that come from a reported $300 million budget (putting the film in the category of one of the most expensive ever). It’s hard to tell where that money has been spent — if not on just creating and destroying the clumsy and boring Steppenwolf — but Snyder at least keeps Justice League lighter on its feet than Batman vs Superman.
Contributing to this lightness are Gadot and Miller. Flash is the nervous, twitchy, teenage new-kid-on-the-block, and Miller mostly gets it right. The Aquaman and Cyborg, on the other hand, appear half-conceived and present only to fill up the screen. The film’s smartest move is to recognise that Gadot is the beating heart of this enterprise. And given that this enterprise rests on a fairly straightforward idea, that a dark world needs hope above all else, you can’t do much better than giving people the luminescent Israeli with the wide smile and twinkley eyes. Batman, played with as much surliness as before by the grim-jawed Affleck, tells Wonder Woman as much — to be the leader she needs to be. A sound ground for a third film.
It’s unfortunate then that Justice League doesn’t feel the need to have actual people around, to be led or to be saved. As our superheroes and an incomprehensible villain cross swords and blasts, only one family is in any real danger. A Russian family with two small children, living in a place where once a “nuclear meltdown” happened. Why go looking any further?
US Navy to run rare 3-carrier military exercise in Pacific
The USS Ronald Reagan, based in Japan; the USS Theodore Roosevelt, based in San Diego; and the USS Nimitz, based at Naval Base Kitsap at Bremerton, Washington, will commence the strike force exercise in the Western Pacific Saturday through next Tuesday.
Units assigned to the strike force will conduct coordinated operations in international waters to demonstrate the U.S. Navy’s unique capability to operate multiple carrier strike groups as a coordinated strike force effort.
The three aircraft carriers are expected to link up in the Sea of Japan later this week off the Korean Peninsula, a U.S. defense official tells Fox News.
“It is a rare opportunity to train with two aircraft carriers together, and even rarer to be able to train with three,” said U.S. Pacific Fleet Commander, Adm. Scott Swift. “Multiple carrier strike force operations are very complex, and this exercise in the Western Pacific is a strong testament to the U.S. Pacific Fleet’s unique ability and ironclad commitment to the continued security and stability of the region.”
While at sea, the strike force plans to conduct air defense drills, sea surveillance, replenishments at sea, defensive air combat training, close-in coordinated maneuvers, and other training.
This is the first time that three carrier strike groups have operated together in the Western Pacific since exercises Valiant Shield 2006 and 2007 off the coast of Guam. Both exercises focused on the ability to rapidly bring together forces from three strike groups in response to any regional situation. Ronald Reagan took part in Valiant Shield 2006 and Nimitz took part in Valiant Shield 2007.
More recently, U.S. Navy aircraft carriers have conducted dual carrier strike group operations in the Western Pacific, including in the South China Sea, East China Sea and Philippine Sea. These opportunities typically occur when strike groups deployed to the 7th Fleet area of operations from the west coast of the United States are joined with the forward deployed carrier strike group from Japan.
According to The Associated Press, officials have said recently that the exercise is intended to demonstrate U.S. resolve with allies Japan and South Korea during the ongoing crisis with North Korea.
Gen. Joseph Dunford, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, told reporters in Hawaii in late October, before the dates of the exercise had been made public, that the three carriers were not targeting North Korea. He called their convergence in the area a “routine demonstration of our commitment to the region.”
For more than 70 years, the U.S. Pacific Fleet has been a persistent and stabilizing presence conducting operations throughout the region. The fleet is just as committed to maintaining those security commitments for the next 70 years.
The announcement made no mention of the exercise coinciding with President Donald Trump’s Asia trip, but the maneuvers are connected with a string of U.S. moves to showcase U.S. military strength as Washington and its allies put diplomatic pressure on Pyongyang to end its nuclear weapons program and cease the testing of ballistic missiles.
Source
Now Ritz Carlton Riyadh Hotel Has Suddenly Become the World's Most Exclusive
- Saudis joke that princes, ministers detained at Ritz Carlton
- Hotel suddenly closed for government use, guests booted
The gates are shut, the phone line is perpetually busy and you can’t book a room until Feb. 1.
The Riyadh Ritz-Carlton has suddenly become very exclusive -- and by popular account, a luxury prison. Earlier this week, just as Saudi Arabia declared an anti-corruption purge that targeted some of the kingdom’s wealthiest and most powerful men, guests were booted out and reservations were canceled. Travel agents were told the palatial compound had been taken over for government use.
Saudis gleefully shared screenshots showing the hotel as fully booked, because word was that the VIP detainees -- including billionaire Prince Alwaleed bin Talal, 10 other princes, four ministers and dozens of former officials and businessmen -- were being held there. People have been quipping about who’s going to be added to the “Ritz guest list.” The government’s Center for International Communication did not respond to a request for comment on where the detainees are being held.
Just weeks ago, the hotel hosted some of the world’s top officials and businessmen for an investment conference dubbed “Davos in the desert.” On a typical day, the lobby is an informal salon of government officials, consultants and prominent businessmen who hobnob over high tea in halls decorated with leaping bronze horses and pastel trimmings in the style of Louis XIV gone wild. Guests who float in the extravagant indoor pool -- male-only -- look up at a painted blue sky dotted with clouds.
Read More:: China rolls out the red carpet to Trumps But on Sunday, the property was shut tight, its massive gates uncharacteristically closed, without a security guard in sight. The hotel’s main phone line has played a busy tone all week. A duty manager reached on a mobile number said the hotel was closed and he had no further information. Marriott, which operates the hotel, declined to comment, citing guest privacy.
Whoever has booked the entire hotel must have decided they need more time. On Sunday, an online search on the hotel’s website showed the next availability on Dec. 1. By Tuesday, it was Dec. 15. On Wednesday, it was February.
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How the ‘Warren Buffett of Arabia’ Built His Fortune?
When the Saudi king had dozens of powerful princes and businessmen arrested on Nov. 4 in a crackdown on corruption, none of the names grabbed global attention quite like that of Prince Alwaleed bin Talal. The world’s 61st-richest person, the royal is practiced at grabbing attention. For decades he’s been a celebrity on Wall Street, known for his sizable stakes in companies such as Citigroup, Apple, Twitter, and Lyft and a tabloid-friendly embrace of excess. The owner of a 282-foot superyacht he bought from Donald Trump, Alwaleed flies around in a retrofitted Boeing 747 and has a zoo at his private palace.
Read More:: Now Ritz Carlton Riyadh Hotel Has Suddenly Become the World's Most Exclusive
The defining feature of Riyadh’s skyline is Kingdom Centre, a 992-foot-tall glass edifice he built in 2002 that serves as his headquarters. Its curved sky bridge is visible across much of the city. The tower is 9 miles away from where Alwaleed and others are rumored to be detained at the Ritz-Carlton. (He owns the rival Four Seasons across town.) Other detainees, such as the former head of the country’s powerful National Guard, are a more direct political threat to the purge’s initiator, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, but Alwaleed’s global influence is palpable. He’s been charged with money laundering, bribery, and extortion, according to a senior Saudi official.
Also detained in the sweep: Mohammed Al Amoudi. Wealth: $9.9 billion. Controls an empire with investments in Africa, Saudi Arabia, and Europe, including Sweden’s largest oil refiner.PHOTOGRAPHER: HANS BERGGREN
Alwaleed’s $17 billion fortune is comparatively self-made, as princely fortunes go. As he tells it, his investment group, Kingdom Holding Co., which has a market capitalization of $8 billion, was seeded in 1979 with a $30,000 gift from his father and a home-equity loan. At first he kept to the typical dealings of entrepreneurial princes: trading land and acting as a key man for foreign companies seeking a foothold in the kingdom. But around 1990, Alwaleed began buying shares in Citigroup Inc. predecessor Citicorp, whose balance sheet had taken a hit from soured real estate loans. In February 1991, Chief Executive Officer John Reed asked for a cash infusion, and Alwaleed sunk another half-billion dollars into the bank, bringing the size of his holdings to almost $800 million.
Over the next two decades, the prince scooped up stakes in dozens of high-profile companies, including Saks, News Corp., and Netscape. He developed a taste for hotels, acquiring some of the world’s most prestigious properties, from the Plaza in New York to the George V in Paris. In 2007 he teamed up with Bill Gates’s private investment company to take the Four Seasons hotel chain private in a $3.4 billion deal.
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By the turn of the century, Alwaleed was often referred to in the press as the Warren Buffett of Arabia, a comparison he embraced. His stake in Citigroup had soared more than 190 percent in the 10 years through 2001, but many of his investments were duds. He invested $345 million in ill-fated Euro Disney in 1994 and binged on dot-com companies at the peak of the 2000 bubble. In 2005 he sold the bulk of his stake in Apple Inc., telling Bloomberg at the time that “the benefits of the iPod and all the good moves Steve Jobs has made have already been put in the price.”
Alwaleed upped his Citigroup stake in November 2008, even after shares had plummeted in the financial crisis. As of December 2016, he owned about 4.7 percent of Twitter Inc., according to regulatory filings by the social media company. He was an important ally of Rupert Murdoch as a large holder of 21st Century Fox Inc. voting shares, but Bloomberg data show that he recently sold his stake.
Alwaleed hasn’t neglected investing in his home market, and it’s likely he’s done well with those investments. The Saudi stock exchange’s benchmark index has more than tripled since 1994, powered by an oil boom that pushed prices above $100 a barrel before waning in recent years. As of June 30, Alwaleed valued his investments in the Middle East, including equities, the media company Rotana Group, and Saudi land, at almost $6.5 billion.
Also detained in the sweep: Saleh Kamel. Wealth: $3.7 billion. His holding company owns businesses in sectors including health care and snack food. Founded the Al Baraka Banking
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Demanding and conscious of appearances—including his standing on global rich lists—Alwaleed has had “something of a mixed reputation” outside the kingdom, says Marcus Chenevix, an analyst at investment research firm TS Lombard in London. “International investors see him as a man who talks a very big game and sometimes performed, but often didn’t,” he says. Still, Alwaleed has been for much of the world an unofficial ambassador of Saudi Arabia and its spending power. He’s been modern and outward-looking, if sometimes ostentatious, in a country better known for secrecy and severe conservatism. Alwaleed has pushed for the right of Saudi women to drive and work. He hired the country’s first female pilot to fly his private jets, and most of his staff are women.
Such views make it all the more unusual that he was targeted in the crackdown, says Jane Kinninmont, an analyst at Chatham House, a London-based think tank. The 32-year-old Prince Mohammed, the heir to the throne who’s seen as wielding most of the power in the kingdom, has made liberalizing Saudi Arabia’s stringent religious strictures a cornerstone of his agenda. In public, Alwaleed has only praised the crown prince. Still, there might be some mistrust of someone who has a track record of being outspoken. Prince Mohammed could also be wary of Alwaleed’s branch of the royal family. The billionaire’s father, known as the “red prince,” was exiled in the 1960s for criticizing the royal family.
The decision to arrest the country’s most prominent global investor, a partner of Gates and a friend to Murdoch, seems risky at a moment when the crown prince has been courting foreign capital. The kingdom is trying to sell a stake in its state-owned oil company in what could be the largest-ever initial public offering.
The shares of Alwaleed’s Kingdom Holding fell 21 percent in the four days following the first reports of the crackdown. But gauging the financial fallout from the arrest is complicated by the opacity of his holdings. Kingdom Holding’s free float is only 5 percent, which makes it more difficult for investors to trade shares. The company also doesn’t specify the exact size of its public stakes, and many of Alwaleed’s interests fall below the disclosure threshold and don’t have to be reported in filings. The billionaire often invests personally in equities, alongside Kingdom Holding. He’s declined repeated requests for details on his public and private assets. In a Nov. 6 statement, Kingdom’s CEO said the company “enjoys a solid financial position.”
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The biggest unanswered question is whether Alwaleed is a victim of a brash attempt by Prince Mohammed to consolidate power or just another corrupt royal at long last brought to heel. The governor of the Saudi Arabian Monetary Authority said on Nov. 7 that they froze personal bank accounts of individuals in the crackdown but not those of their companies. If that were to change, it would indicate the crown prince was angling to take down a rival, says Kinninmont. “The government is very much trying to send a message that these arrests are about cleaning up to make a better environment for investing,” she says. “If they were to seize Alwaleed’s stakes in major international companies, that would really muddy the waters.”
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Wednesday, 8 November 2017
Driverless shuttle bus crashes just after launch in Las Vegas
This photo by KVVU reporter Kathleen Jacob shows a driverless shuttle bus after it collided with a big rig in Las Vegas Wednesday, Nov. 8, 2017, less than two hours after the automated ride service was launched. Kathleen Jacob/KVVU-TV via AP
The driver of a semi-truck was apparently at fault in an accident Wednesday afternoon involving a driverless shuttle bus operating in Las Vegas, police say...
Read More::Truck driver at fault in Las Vegas driverless shuttle crash, say police
A driverless shuttle bus has crashed less than two hours after it was launched in Las Vegas.
Police say no injuries were reported in the Wednesday crash between the self-operating vehicle and a semi-truck. It’s not yet clear what caused the wreck.
Officials had hosted an unveiling ceremony to promote what they described as the nation’s first self-driving shuttle pilot project geared toward the public.
The oval-shaped shuttle that can transport up to 12 passengers has an attendant and computer monitor, but no steering wheel and no brake pedals. It uses GPS, electronic curb sensors and other technology to make its way.
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Before it crashed, dozens of people had lined up in downtown Las Vegas to get a free ride.
Police say the crash blocked traffic near the Fremont Street entertainment district.
A driverless shuttle bus was involved in a minor crash with a semi-truck less than two hours after it made its debut on Las Vegas streets Wednesday in front of cameras and celebrities.
The human behind the wheel of the truck was at fault, police said.
Patrons wait to board a driverless shuttle bus on a street in Las Vegas, Wednesday, Nov. 8, 2017. Earlier Wednesday one of the buses was involved in a collision less than two hours after the service was launched. Police say no injuries were reported in the Wednesday crash between the self-operating vehicle and a semi-truck. It's not yet clear what caused the wreck. (AP Photo/Regina Garcia Cano)
“The shuttle did what it was supposed to do, in that it’s sensors registered the truck and the shuttle stopped to avoid the accident,” the city said in a statement. “Unfortunately the delivery truck did not stop and grazed the front fender of the shuttle. Had the truck had the same sensing equipment that the shuttle has the accident would have been avoided.”
The oval-shaped shuttle that can transport up to 12 people has an attendant and computer monitor, but no steering wheel and no brake pedals. It uses GPS, electronic curb sensors and other technology to make its way. It was developed by the French company Navya and was tested in January in Las Vegas.
At the unveiling ceremony, officials promoted it as the nation’s first self-driving shuttle pilot project geared toward the public.
NASCAR driver Danica Patrick and magic duo Penn and Teller were among the first passengers.
The transportation company Keolis is operating the shuttle. Its vice president of mobility solutions, Maurice Bell, said the bus will scoot through Las Vegas at more than 15 mph. AAA Northern California, Nevada and Utah, which is sponsoring the one-year pilot project, expects that 250,000 people will use the shuttle.
Las Vegas resident Stacey Gray and her dog Socrates were among the first to board the bus Wednesday. She said the drive was so smooth that she couldn’t even tell she was in a car, but approaching the intersection made her a little nervous.
“A little bit of that looking around and you know wondering if it was going to stop, and ‘Oh my gosh, there’s a car behind us, kind of little hesitation,’” she said. “But it stopped and it was fine.”
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China rolls out the red carpet to Trumps
Talking business: U.S. President Donald Trump, First Lady Melania Trump, China’s President Xi Jinping and his wife Peng Liyuan at the Forbidden City in Beijing on Wednesday. | Photo Credit: JIM WATSON
China on Wednesday rolled out the red carpet for U.S. President Donald Trump, capped by a visit to the famous Forbidden City and the signing of a slew of deals in the evening in the Great Hall of the People.
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Chinese President Xi Jinping and his wife Peng Liyuan personally escorted Mr. Trump and First Lady Melania Trump during the visit to the Forbidden City — a world heritage site with a pristine halo of imperial China. An afternoon tea inside the City’s precincts for the foursome was followed by a string of grand opera performances.
High on optics, the first leg of the visit of the presidential couple in China offered a glimpse of the “state visit-plus” welcome, which the Chinese officialdom had promised. Mr. Xi said Mr. Trump’s visit would yield “positive and important” results, Xinhua reported. The state news agency also noted that this year marks the 45th anniversary of the former U.S. President Richard Nixon’s “ice-breaking” 1972 visit that turned the tide of Sino-U.S. ties.
Immediate focus
Read More::Trump to become first foreign leader to dine in Forbidden City since founding of modern China
Mr. Trump’s visit has a prominent business dimension, though striking deals rather than addressing structural impediments to a balanced economic relationship appears to be his immediate focus.
The CEOs of Boeing, Westinghouse Electric, Goldman Sachs and Qualcomm, among others, are accompanying the President.
By the evening, deals worth $9 billion had been signed. Chinese state-media reported that 19 agreements were signed covering bioscience, aviation and smart manufacturing, in tune with concerns about reducing the massive U.S. trade deficit with China.
China’s e-commerce giant JD.com also announced that it would purchase $2 billion worth of American goods. According to U.S. media reports, a Chinese company has contracted purchase of the 50 U.S. Bell helicopters.
China’s Vice-Premier Wang Yang, in charge of economic affairs, and Wilbur Ross, the U.S. Commerce Secretary, oversaw the ceremony. Mr. Wang described the event as a “warm-up” exercise, promising more “good things” for Thursday.
Focused on developing “personal chemistry” between the two leaders, Chinese officials say the programme for Mr. Trump has been carefully structured so that he can spend maximum time together with his Chinese counterpart.
Analysts say there is a perception in China that ensuring a good personal rapport between the two leaders would be key to resolving structural impediments. “China is launching a charm offensive for sure but substantive issues such as trade and North Korea can come up later,” says Beijing-based commentator Einar Tangen, in a conversation with The Hindu.
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