Abu Dhabi / EMIRATES BUSINESS Khalifa University and the Global Education Energy Environment (Global EEE), in cooperation with Launchpad, announced the 2016 Global Hybrid-Electric Challenge, which will debut to feature electric cars built by students on April 7 to 9 at the Al Forsan International Resort in Abu Dhabi. In two Grand Prix races, 17 teams from universities around the ...

Abu Dhabi / Emirates Business Abu Dhabi Tourism and Culture Authority (TCA Abu Dhabi) will be joined by key attractions and hotels at the World Travel Market Africa 2016 (WTM Africa) to capitalise on the surging growth in visitor numbers from the country into the emirate. Since TCA Abu Dhabi opened an office in Johannesburg, South Africa, last year to ...

Lesbos / AFP Greek and EU authorities on Sunday fine-tuned an operation to expel to Turkey hundreds of migrants denied asylum in a landmark deal slammed by rights groups. Officials declined to comment on the details of the operation, which is believed to begin early Monday from the Greek island of Lesbos where there are over 3,300 refugees and migrants. ...

Berlin / AFP European Parliament President Martin Schulz said on Sunday the EU must make no concessions to Turkey over human rights but voiced confidence in a deal with Ankara to manage the refugee crisis. Under the controversial agreement, Turkey is due to take back illegal migrants from EU member Greece from Monday, when it will also start an orderly ...

Sydney / AFP Australia opposes Donald Trump’s suggestion that Japan and South Korea should develop nuclear weapons since this would “add considerably” to the risk of regional conflict, Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull said Sunday. The Republican presidential front-runner had declared he would withdraw US troops from both countries and allow them to develop their own nuclear arsenals. But Turnbull said ...

Baku / AFP Azerbaijan on Sunday announced a unilateral ceasefire after the worst violence over disputed Nagorny Karabakh in more than two decades, but Armenian forces said clashes were continuing despite international appeals to stop fighting. “Azerbaijan, showing good will, has decided to unilaterally cease hostilities”, Azerbaijan’s defense ministry said in a statement, warning it would “liberate all (Armenian) occupied ...

Belgrade / AFP An explosive device was thrown and automatic weapons were fired at a sports hall in northern Kosovo on Sunday some 12 hours before Serbian Prime Minister Aleksandar Vucic was due to visit, Serbian media reported, adding that there were no casualties. The blast occurred outside a hall at Zubin Potok at around 3:00 a.m as workers were ...

Sydney / AFP The last asylum-seeker children in Australian mainland detention have been freed, the government said on Sunday, although dozens of others are still being held on the remote Pacific island of Nauru. Under Canberra’s harsh immigration policy, asylum-seekers who try to reach Australia by boat are turned back or sent to Pacific camps in Nauru and Papua New ...

China’s intelligence service, the Ministry of State Security (MSS), offers a snapshot of the political intrigue taking place within the regime of President Xi Jinping. The MSS has replaced two vice ministers within the last four years, after reports of political infighting and scandal. The current minister is said to be a figurehead, with the real power held by a ...

International Monetary Fund’s (IMF) recommendations to adopt policies that support research and development to promote innovation could play a pivotal role in reversing the global economic slowdown. Such recommendations could be implemented through structural reforms in labour and product markets that take innovation into account. “Fiscal policy can play an important role in stimulating innovation through its effects on research ...