May, 2016

• 17 May

  Brawl in S Africa parliament as opposition party ejected

    Cape Town / AFP A brutal fistfight broke out in the South African parliament Tuesday as security guards ejected opposition lawmakers in an ugly fracas that underlined heightened political tensions over Jacob Zuma’s presidency. About 20 Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) party members, who were wrestled from their seats by plain-clothed guards, had refused to let Zuma speak and furiously ...

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• 17 May

  Austria to swear in new chancellor as surging far-right threat looms

    Vienna / AFP Austria will appoint its new Chancellor Christian Kern on Tuesday, with the ailing centrist government pinning its hopes on the ex-railway boss to help stem the surge of the far-right. The 50-year-old, renowned for his glowing business achievements and snappy dress sense, is due to be sworn in by President Heinz Fischer . Kern replaces fellow ...

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• 17 May

  Top China official vows to ‘listen’ to Hong Kong

  

    Hong Kong / AFP One of China’s most powerful officials said he would listen to political demands from Hongkongers in a conciliatory start to a visit on Tuesday that has stirred anger in a city resentful of Beijing’s tightening grip. The three-day trip by Zhang Dejiang, who chairs China’s communist-controlled legislature, is the first by such a senior official ...

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• 17 May

  French president stands by controversial labour reforms

    Paris / AFP French President Francois Hollande said on Tuesday the battle against unemployment was not yet won as he vowed to stick with his controversial attempts to reform the labour market. The reforms have sparked two months of street protests and led to an unsuccessful attempt to bring down the government. But Hollande said he placed the need ...

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• 17 May

  Poland’s financial nationalism may be viable

  

    Poland has avoided a credit rating downgrade from Moody’s, and the latest assessment of its economic policies from the International Monetary Fund is rather mild. Although the nationalist government has drawn a lot of adverse attention lately, it might get away with a version of the financial nationalism that Prime Minister Viktor Orban has implemented in Hungary. On Saturday, ...

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• 17 May

  Senegal’s bond move could pay off

    Senegal, one of Africa’s success stories, looks forward to issuing bonds to fund infrastructure development and accelerate growth that’s being driven by surging peanut and rice production. Yet, the global economic slowdown reverberates worldwide and Senegal could be no exception. Economies try to create new money through issuing the government bonds to sustain on-going development process through what is ...

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• 17 May

  Can China’s ballistic missiles hit Guam?

    Franz-Stefan Gady SPECIAL TO EMIRATES BUSINESS The Chinese military has inducted a new intermediate-range ballistic missile (IRBM) capable of hitting U.S. military installations on Guam, the largest and southernmost of the Mariana Islands, a new report by the U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission reveals. The Dongfeng-26C (DF-26C), a conventionally armed IRBM, has in all likelihood been deployed as ...

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• 17 May

  Brazil needs jobs, not just apologies

    Mac Margolis Brazilians aren’t easily impressed these days. A brutal economic recession and 26 straight months of the worst political corruption scandal in memory have seen to that. But on May 9, an unusual news item caught the public eye. That day, one of Brazil’s biggest companies published an open letter to the nation. In the 770-word “Apology and ...

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• 17 May

  The Philippines under president Duterte

  

    A self-confessed “man of many flaws and contradictions,” the Philippines’ new president-elect, Rodrigo Duterte, now has the tough job of uniting the country. However, the tougher job will be convincing everyone that the Philippines is not regressing and his polices are indeed fit for a modern democracy. The former mayor of Davao City used his first press conference since ...

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• 17 May

  Pain and shallow recovery in southern Europe

  

    The economic problems in southern Europe are deep and painful, but they are not unsolvable. Some of them are already beginning to mend. A case in point: Italy, which has started to grow again after enduring a nasty recession. Then there’s Greece, which looks like it’s headed for a new round of trouble. Although its crushing debt and crippling ...

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