April, 2016

• 5 April

  Canada’s shrinking petroleum industry braces for more job cuts

  

  Bloomberg After almost two years of sinking oil prices and at least 40,000 job cuts, Canada’s petroleum industry still isn’t finished tackling its bloated operations. The next round of layoffs has already begun with Cenovus Energy Inc. and Murphy Oil Corp. announcing workforce reductions last week. Ongoing cuts by Suncor Energy Inc., Encana Corp. and others will likely result in ...

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• 5 April

  Canada trade deficit widens to Can$1.9 bn in February

  AFP Despite slashing oil imports, Canada’s trade deficit with the world widened to Can$1.9 billion (US$1.5 billion) in February, according to the government statistics agency. The figure is up from Can$628 million (US$476 million) the previous month, and about one billion dollars more than the street expected. Exports fell 5.4 percent from a record high in January to Can$43.7 billion ...

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• 5 April

  Total US trade grows in Feb pushing deficit higher

  Bloomberg US international trade grew in February after a steady fall since 2014, but still remained lower than year-ago levels, the Commerce Department reported on Tuesday. Exports and imports were both higher after sinking to nearly five-year lows in January, a mark of the overall slowdown in global trade as well as the plunge in commodity prices. Exports rose by ...

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• 5 April

  Minsk Group holds talks to end Nagorny Karabakh clashes

  

  Vienna / AFP Talks to end the worst violence in decades in the disputed territory of Nagorny Karabakh kicked off in Vienna on Tuesday. The meeting gathered Russia, the United States and France in the so-called Minsk Group, spearheading attempts to end a low-key conflict that revived bloodily and dangerously last Friday. Analysts say the crisis could set a spark ...

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• 5 April

  N Korea video shows rocket attack on South’s president

  Seoul / AFP An official North Korean website released a new propaganda video portraying a multiple rocket attack on South Korea’s presidential Blue House and other government buildings in Seoul. It was uploaded on Monday to the DPRK Today website, which had released another video 10 days before depicting a nuclear attack on Washington. Tensions have been rising on the ...

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• 5 April

  China restricts trade with Pyongyang over nuclear tests

  BEIJING / AFP China has imposed restrictions on imports of North Korea coal and sales to the North of jet fuel under UN sanctions imposed in response to Pyongyang’s nuclear and missile tests. The sanctions announced on Tuesday allow some imports of North Korean coal, iron ore and other materials for civilian use. But they ban any trade connected to ...

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• 5 April

  Myanmar’s Suu Kyi meets China counterpart as FM debut

  

  Yangon / AFP Myanmar foreign minister Aung San Suu Kyi met her Chinese counterpart in Naypyidaw on Tuesday, an official said, as relations with Beijing take centre stage in the first diplomatic foray of her newly installed pro-democracy government. The Southeast Asian nation sees its giant neighbour—and largest trading partner—as its biggest foreign policy preoccupation with border wars and controversial ...

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• 5 April

  Zuma faces impeachment move

  

  Cape Town / AFP South African President Jacob Zuma faced an impeachment attempt in parliament on Tuesday after the country’s top court ruled that he had violated the constitution over spending on his private residence. Zuma will almost certainly survive the impeachment vote, which requires a two-thirds majority, as his ruling African National Congress holds an overwhelming number of seats. ...

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• 5 April

  Ukraine pilot’s 22-year jail term begins in Russia

  

  Moscow / AFP Nadiya Savchenko’s 22-year sentence formally began on Tuesday with the Ukrainian pilot to be sent to prison camp in the next 10 days unless Kiev secures a swap deal with Moscow. The 34-year-old military pilot was convicted on March 22 over the killing of two Russian journalists in east Ukraine, a charge she denies. “The court did ...

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• 5 April

  India’s chance at a new beginning with democratic Myanmar

  

  Even as democracy continues to flounder in neighboring Thailand, Myanmar registered a monumental event last week, when it swore in its first democratically elected civilian president in over five decades. To be sure, this isn’t the end of the struggle for democracy in Myanmar. The country’s laws still reserve key subjects of governance – including home, defense, and border affairs ...

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