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For Finnish workers, € means longer hours & lower pay

Bloomberg Few Finns probably thought that adopting the euro would mean more work for less pay. Yet trade unions are now getting ready to sign off on a deal that will cut workers’ income and raise working hours. Unveiled last week, it’s designed to boost competitiveness as the Nordic nation struggles within the constraints of the euro zone. The board ...

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Clinton faces down Sanders, blasts Trump’s ‘bluster’

Flint / AFP With the Democratic presidential nomination in sight, Hillary Clinton sought to repel sharp attacks from party rival Bernie Sanders, while training some fire on Republican frontrunner Donald Trump. “Donald Trump’s bigotry, his bullying, his bluster are not going to wear well on the American people,” Clinton said in a sometimes testy debate with Sanders sponsored by CNN ...

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Slovak leader begins struggle to keep power after majority lost

Bloomberg Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico started coalition talks after Saturday’s inconclusive elections, which cost him his majority in parliament, saw two nationalist groups win seats in the assembly, and raised the potential of a repeat vote. Fico’s Smer party won 28.3 percent, below the 44 percent he scored in a 2012 ballot. Voters elected seven other parties into the ...

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EU-Turkey summit to declare Balkan migrant route closed

Brussels / AFP EU leaders held a summit with Turkey’s prime minister on Monday in order to back closing the Balkans migrant route and urge Ankara to accept deportations of large numbers of economic migrants from overstretched Greece. The European Union is hardening its stance in a bid to defuse the worst refugee crisis since World War II by increasingly ...

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Hong Kong home sales tumble 70% as slowdown intensifies

HONG KONG / Bloomberg Hong Kong residential home sales plunged 70 percent in February from a year earlier to a 25-year low, as falling prices and economic uncertainty deterred buyers. Last month, 1,807 homes were sold in Hong Kong, compared with 6,027 a year earlier, according to government statistics. Home sales fell from 2,045 in January, the data show. “The ...

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UMEX 2016 opens in Abu Dhabi

ABU DHABI / WAM His Highness Sheikh Hazza bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Deputy Chairman of Abu Dhabi Executive Council, on Sunday opened the second edition of the Unmanned Systems Exhibition and Conference, UMEX 2016, and the first edition of the Simulation Conference and Exhibition, as part of Abu Dhabi Aviation and Aerospace Week. The event is held under the patronage ...

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Sharjah Ruler opens centre to protect endangered animals

Sharjah / WAM H.H. Dr. Sheikh Sultan bin Mohammed Al Qasimi, Supreme Council Member and Ruler of Sharjah, on Sunday opened Al Hefaiyah Mountain Conservation Centre in Kalba City, one of the emirate’s leading projects spearheaded by the Environment and Protected Areas Authority (EPAA) that aims to protect endangered animals found in the UAE’s diverse mountain environment as well as ...

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Cameron endures attack on EU from senior conservaties

Bloomberg Prime Minister David Cameron endured a two-pronged attack on the European Union from senior Conservatives favouring a British exit, threatening further scars to the government before the June 23 referendum. London Mayor Boris Johnson said on the BBC’s “Andrew Marr Show” that staying in the bloc is “the risky option,” and lamented the suspension of the chief of a ...

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Tsipras blasts IMF ‘stalling tactics’

Athens / AFP Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras on Sunday said the IMF was employing “stalling tactics” and “arbitrary” estimates to hold up a reforms review crucial to the country’s economic recovery. The leftist PM said the Washington-based global lender was bent on counter-productive cuts that failed to take into account the improved performance of Greece’s economy. “The review will ...

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Compromise appears elusive in Apple vs FBI legal battle

Washington / AfP As Apple’s legal battle with the FBI over encryption heads toward a showdown, there appears little hope for a compromise that would placate both sides and avert a divisive court decision. The FBI is pressing Apple to develop a system that would allow the law enforcement agency to break into a locked iPhone used by one of ...

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