Geneva / AFP UN investigators welcomed a “significant decrease” in violence in Syria on the fifth anniversary of the start of the brutal conflict on Tuesday, saying they finally glimpsed hope of an end to the war. “Now, for the first time, there is hope of an end in sight,” said Paulo Pinheiro, head of the UN Commission of Inquiry ...

Seoul / AFP North Korean leader Kim Jong-un has ordered an upcoming nuclear warhead test and multiple ballistic missile launches, escalating Pyongyang’s face-off with the international community just days after being slapped with tough UN sanctions. The order came after Kim monitored what was described as the successful simulated test of the warhead re-entry technology required for a long-range nuclear ...

Bloomberg Malaysia is reviewing plans to bar foreign political donations after Prime Minister Najib Razak became embroiled in a scandal over a $681 million contribution that ended up in his personal bank account. A Malaysian committee working on a framework to regulate political funding also determined that anonymous donations should not exceed 1,000 ringgit ($242) and contributions must be held ...

There’s no subtlety about Democrats’ tax plans. Between Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders, details differ, but the central themes are identical: Soak the rich. To hear Democrats tell it, the country’s main budget problem is that the rich don’t pay their “fair share.” If they did, the fiscal outlook would brighten. We can now test this proposition, because the Clinton ...

The decision of Bank of Japan (BoJ) to keep monetary stimulus unchanged sent mixed messages to the stock markets, with Tokyo shares closing down 0.68% after the announcement, while the yen strengthening against all its 16 major peers. The yen’s reaction on Tuesday threw the ball in the court of Japan’s central bank chief to convince the market of the ...

Is Donald Trump benefiting, at least in the short term, from the focus on protests and violence at his rallies? If so, his ability to deflect attention from his rivals’ substantive attacks on him has worked again. From the beginning, we’ve talked about the Red Queen race: Trump must do increasingly outrageous things to maintain his dominant share of press ...

In the debate over climate change, there is one group you don’t hear much from: economists. The failure of climate economics to make a difference in the public discussion about climate policy should be a concern for the profession. Climate economists are just as worried as anyone about the prospect of global warming. A recent survey by the Institute for ...

Doha / EMIRATES BUSINESS Despite reports of market gloom, Qatar’s residential rental levels continued to expand unabated during 2015, rising by approximately 7 percent year-on-year during the second half of 2015. But this was down from 14 percent annual growth achieved during the same period in 2014. Smaller apartment units, particularly those within central locations, remained in high demand, although ...

CAIRO / EMIRATES BUSINESS Egyptian real estate company Abraj Misr signed a 1.1 billion Egyptian pounds strategic partnership with SIAC holding to carry out the construction works for its first and largest residential, administrative, smart and eco-friendly project, which is dubbed as ‘The Gate’. The 400.000 sqm project is set to be completed within 24 months. Placed in the heart ...

Manama / EMIRATES BUSINESS Bahrain’s stock exchange has established a market for real estate investment trusts (REITs), it said. Under the plan, REITs licensed by the central bank can be listed and traded by investors in the secondary market. The details of the market and the trading mechanism of REITs will be announced later, the statement said. While REITs are ...