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Yangon / AFP Aung San Suu Kyi’s incoming government is considering a rethink of a controversial Chinese-backed dam in Myanmar and looking for ways to end a military conglomerate’s “privileges”, according to her party’s economic advisor. Her new government, which is expected to take office in early April, faces a raft of economic challenges, not least the continued financial clout ...

Bloomberg While the world focuses on Russia’s oil-freeze talks with OPEC, there are discussions behind closed doors in the Kremlin that will have a much more significant impact on the nation’s energy industry. The petrodollars that underpin Russia’s national budget are evaporating. When crude prices were high, increasing revenue simply meant encouraging companies like Rosneft OJSC and Lukoil PJSC to ...

Bloomberg German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s government is edging towards tax incentives for electric cars after months of bickering over how to boost sales of the vehicles in Europe’s biggest economy, according to a person familiar with the matter. With Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble opposed to plans by Vice Chancellor Sigmar Gabriel to offer consumers a cash rebate of as much ...

Washington / AFP Democratic frontrunner Hillary Clinton suffered a surprise loss to challenger Bernie Sanders in a major state primary, as billionaire Donald Trump notched a trio of easy victories in the Republican presidential nomination race. The former secretary of state slumped to defeat in the industrial rust belt state of Michigan, where Sanders snagged 49.9 percent of the vote ...

Tehran / AFP Iran fired two more long-range ballistic missiles on Wednesday as it continued military tests in defiance of US sanctions and fresh warnings from Washington. Coming just weeks after the implementation of Iran’s historic nuclear deal with world powers, this week’s multiple missile tests were described by Iran’s powerful Revolutionary Guards as a show of force in the ...

Beirut / EMIRATES BUSINESS Real estate developers in Lebanon are making a high return on their investments, dismissing the need to reduce prices, said an industry expert. “Developers are making around 10 percent to 15 percent yearly profits on their projects which is higher than the interest rate offered by banks on deposits in Lebanese pounds,” Raja Makarem, founding and ...

ljubljana / afp The Balkan trail from Greece to northern Europe used by floods of migrants was blocked on Wednesday after a string of nations slammed shut their borders, hiking pressure on the EU and Turkey to nail down a “game-changing” grand bargain. Slovenia and Croatia, two of the countries along the well-trodden route, said late Tuesday that no migrants ...

ABU DHABI / WAM His Highness Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi and Deputy Supreme Commander of the UAE Armed Forces, on Tuesday toured the ongoing Abu Dhabi Aviation and Aerospace Week (ADAAW), being held at the Abu Dhabi National Exhibitions Centre (ADNEC). Sheikh Mohamed’s tour covered a number of national and international pavilions at ...

DUBAI / WAM His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President and Prime Minister of UAE and Ruler of Dubai, received US Vice President Joe Biden and the accompanying delegation at Zabeel Palace on Tuesday morning. Sheikh Mohammed and Biden held long talks on friendship and existing cooperation between the UAE and the United States of America. They ...

Bloomberg Brazil’s real strengthened, defying a slump in emerging-market currencies, as reports that President Dilma Rousseff could be directly implicated in a widening corruption scandal fueled speculation she’ll be ousted. Investors who think that a new government would be better positioned to lift the country out of its economic morass sent the real up 0.4 percent to 3.7722 per dollar ...