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Munich / AFP Russia said on Thursday it was ready to discuss a ceasefire in Syria as foreign ministers gathered in Munich in a bid to kick-start peace talks derailed by the regime onslaught on the besieged city of Aleppo. Tens of thousands of Syrians have fled to the Turkish border as government forces, backed by Russian bombers and Iranian ...

Bloomberg Norway’s biggest political party says the country’s giant wealth fund needs to rethink its proposed entry into the $20 trillion infrastructure market. “With what we’re seeing now with economic developments globally, and the short-term cost of that for Norway, it’s time to put the brakes on,” said Torstein Tvedt Solberg, a Labor Party politician who sits on the parliamentary ...

Brussels / AFP NATO launched on Thursday an unprecedented naval mission in the Aegean Sea to tackle people smugglers taking migrants and refugees from the Turkish coast, Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said on Thursday. The move follows a request this week by alliance members Germany, Greece and Turkey for assistance in tackling Europe’s biggest migrant crisis since World War II. ...

Ankara / AFP Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Thursday threatened to send the millions of refugees in Turkey to European Union (EU) member states, as NATO agreed to deploy ships to the Aegean Sea to ease the migrant crisis. In a speech in Ankara, Erdogan stepped up his denunciations of Western policy in the refugee crisis, confirming he had ...

NEW DELHI / WAM His Highness Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi and Deputy Supreme Commander of the UAE Armed Forces, was welcomed to India on Thursday morning with a state visit arrival ceremony at the Presidential Palace in New Delhi. His Highness Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed is in India on a three-day official visit, ...

Abu Dhabi / Emirates Business Technology adds tempo to life. One of the major sectors that is reaping benefits out of the technology marvels is education. E-classrooms have started dominating the traditional form of learning, providing countless online resources for students. Draft a roadmap for the future, leading global technology stalwarts are converging in GESS Dubai next month (March 1-3). ...

Brussels / AFP US Defense Secretary Ashton Carter on Thursday sought more help from dozens of defence ministers from the US-led coalition against IS extremists, as Russia mounts its own air campaign in Syria. More than 18 months after the United States and the quickly assembled alliance began bombing IS targets, Carter is hoping renewed alarm over terror attacks around ...

Hong Kong / AFP Asian markets extended their rout and the dollar hit 15-month lows against the yen on Thursday after Federal Reserve boss Janet Yellen raised concerns about the global economy, essentially quashing the chances of another US rate hike any time soon. Hong Kong led a broad sell-off across the region, while an ongoing supply glut and production ...

Henry Meyer / Bloomberg The latest bid to end five years of war in Syria gathered some momentum as the main opposition group arrived in Geneva for United Nations-sponsored talks, though it refused to lift a threat to boycott the peace process. The Saudi-backed High Negotiations Committee, whose delegation landed in the Swiss city on Saturday, said it will have ...

Baghdad / AFP The United Nations launched an appeal on Sunday for $861 million in international humanitarian assistance to help millions of people in Iraq who are suffering from war and displacement. Violence including the devastating war with the IS extremists group has displaced 3.3 million Iraqis in the past two years, while some 250,000 Syrians have fled to Iraq ...