April, 2016

• 14 April

  French, Spanish, UK envoys in Libya to support unity govt

    Tripoli / AFP The ambassadors of Britain, France and Spain arrived in the Libyan capital on Thursday to support the new unity government seeking to end the country’s turmoil. It is the first visit by the European envoys to Tripoli since European Union member states decided to close their embassies in mid-2014 because of unrest. French ambassador Antoine Sivan, British ...

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• 14 April

  IS seizes Syria villages near Turkish border

    Beirut/ AP IS group extremists have seized a string of opposition-held villages in Syria’s Aleppo province near the Turkish border, a monitoring group said on Thursday. Areas around Aleppo have seen a spike in violence on several fronts in recent days, sparking concern over a fragile six-week truce as a new round of peace talks gets under way in Geneva. ...

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• 14 April

  Greece conducts military drills along northern borders

    ATHENS / AP Greece’s military is carrying out unscheduled exercises along the country’s northern borders, with fighter jets flying over an informal tent city of 11,000 migrants next to the border with Macedonia. Greek military officials say the drills, which foresee activation of rapid-response ground units and aircraft, as well as air defense units in parts of the eastern Aegean ...

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• 14 April

  USA, Philippines ‘joint patrols’ in South China Sea

  

    MANILA / AP In a military buildup certain to inflame tensions with China, the United States said on Thursday it will be conducting joint South China Sea patrols — and eventually air patrols — with the Philippines, while dispatching US troops and combat aircraft there on more frequent rotations. The announcement by Defense Secretary Ash Carter was the first ...

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• 14 April

  Allies quit coalition as vote to oust Rousseff nears

  

    RIO DE JANEIRO / AP President Dilma Rousseff’s chances of surviving impeachment are growing slimmer now that three parties have decamped from her governing coalition in 24 hours and Brazilian legislators begin preparing for a crucial vote on the question expected this weekend. The pullouts of the mid-size centrist parties caused despondency among members of Rousseff’ left-leaning Workers’ Party ...

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• 14 April

  S Korea’s ruling party reels from shock poll defeat

  

  Seoul / AFP South Korean President Park Geun-hye’s ruling conservative party was reeling on Thursday from a shock electoral defeat that broke its 16-year parliamentary majority and threatened its chances of retaining the presidential Blue House in 2017. Voters punished the party for its economic record, analysts said, with high levels of youth unemployment accounting for particularly high dissatisfaction among ...

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• 14 April

  BOE says Brexit may weigh on growth as key rate kept at 0.5%

  

  Bloomberg Bank of England officials said the U.K.’s European Union referendum may already be weighing on growth as they kept their key interest rate at a record low. The nine-member Monetary Policy Committee, led by Governor Mark Carney, unanimously agreed to maintain the benchmark at 0.5 percent — where it’s been for more than seven years. In a ramping up ...

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• 14 April

  Eurozone inflation rate revised up to zero in March

  

    London / AP The latest bout of falling prices across the 19-country eurozone has ended — after just a single month. Revised figures on Thursday from the European Union’s statistics agency showed that inflation was flat in the year to March. That’s up from the initial estimate of a 0.1 percent fall and February’s 0.2 percent annual drop. The biggest ...

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• 14 April

  Porsche investor suits combined under German ‘Class-Action’ law

  

  Bloomberg Lawsuits filed by hundreds of Porsche SE investors over the company’s use of complex financial instruments in 2008 before its failed takeover of Volkswagen AG will be combined under a special procedure to handle some large civil cases in Germany. A court in Hanover ruled that it will send the cases to appellate judges in the northern city of ...

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• 14 April

  Norway oil executives warn on long-term supply as polls loom

  

    Bloomberg Elections are approaching in Norway, accompanied by the familiar sound of oil executives and politicians arguing over the environmentally sensitive Lofoten islands in the Arctic. Oil prices may have plunged in a global economy awash with oversupply, but producers in Norway say they’re thinking much longer term. Statoil ASA, which has been lobbying for years to open the ...

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