April, 2016

• 18 April

  US presidential hopes wage final campaign in New York

  

    NEW YORK / AFP US presidential hopefuls launched a final campaign swing through New York on Monday on the eve of the state’s most decisive primary in decades as Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump lead the polls and their rivals fight to catch up. Registered Democrats and Republicans go to the polls in the country’s fourth most populous state ...

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• 18 April

  Russian security chief urges crackdown on ‘US influence’

    Moscow / AP The powerful chief of Russia’s equivalent to the FBI on Monday called for sweeping new rights restrictions, including curbing Internet freedoms and making it illegal to question Moscow’s annexation of Crimea from Ukraine. The head of Russia’s Investigative Committee Alexander Bastrykin backed a radical crackdown citing the need to counteract the “destructive” influence of the United ...

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• 18 April

  Libya unity govt set for key vote

  

    Tripoli / AFP Libya’s parliament was set on Monday for a crucial confidence vote on a new unity government, as Britain’s Philip Hammond became the latest top diplomat to land in Tripoli in support of the UN-backed administration. Hammond flew into Tripoli on a surprise trip, hot on the heels of visits last week by the foreign ministers of ...

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• 18 April

  US forces deliver aid to Japanese quake-hit areas

  

    MINAMIASO / AP US airlifts were delivering water, bread, ready-to-eat food and other emergency supplies on Monday to a remote area of southern Japan stricken by two powerful earthquakes, as local rescuers searched for 10 people still reported missing. Authorities said at least 42 people died and more than 1,000 were injured in the quakes on Thursday and early ...

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• 18 April

  China lands first military plane on disputed reef

    Beijing / AFP Beijing landed a military plane on a disputed South China Sea reef it has built up into an artificial island, officials said on Monday, in the first confirmation of such a flight. An air force plane landed on Fiery Cross reef in the Spratlys archipelago on Sunday to evacuate sick workers, a news report posted online ...

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• 18 April

  Obama is right to urge Britons to stay in EU

  

  This week, U.S. President Barack Obama will dive into a nest of vipers as venomous as anything Republicans can offer: Britain’s debate over whether to leave the European Union. As far as campaigners for “Brexit” are concerned, he is a most unwelcome guest. Yet Obama is right to speak up. The U.S. has an interest in Britain remaining in the ...

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• 18 April

  Innovation, research key to economic growth

    Repeated calls of International Monetary Fund (IMF) for all countries to support research and development (R&D) to promote innovation that could help avert slowing growth in the global economy, are essential and badly needed if the world wants to avoid the current economic downturn. While urging for structural reforms, Fund’s operational efforts should be geared towards countries’ shared priorities. ...

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• 18 April

  IMF projects another bad year for Central Asian economies

    Catherine Putz SPECIAL TO EMIRATES BUSINESS The International Monetary Fund released its world economic outlook recently, and the news isn’t good for Central Asia. According to the IMF, recovery will be put off until at least 2017, for reasons frequent readers will find familiar: the Russian recession and low oil prices. “The economic outlook for the Commonwealth of Independent ...

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• 18 April

  G-20 gives empty warning on global economy

    The communique issued by the Group of 20 finance ministers and central bankers at the conclusion of talks in Washington this weekend had a somewhat unreal, and worryingly ironic, tone. Noting that global growth “remains modest and uneven,” the G-20 warned the large advanced economies against continuing their prolonged, excessive reliance on unconventional monetary policy to power growth. Yet ...

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• 18 April

  potential of Japan-Ukraine ties

  

    In June 2015, Shinzo Abe became the first Japanese prime minister to visit Ukraine since its independence in 1991. Many observers hoped his visit was a turning point lifting Ukraine-Japan relations to a higher level. Upon Japan’s invitation, the president of Ukraine, Petro Poroshenko, paid a reciprocal visit to Japan from April 5 to 7 this year. During his ...

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