April, 2016

• 10 April

  Egypt to cut fuel subsidies as govt seeks to reduce deficit

  CAIRO / Reuters Egypt will reduce spending on fuel subsidies by nearly 43 percent in the 2016/17 budget due mainly to lower global energy costs, officials said on Saturday. Finance Minister Amr al-Garhy told a news conference state energy subsidies would fall to 35 billion Egyptian pounds ($3.94 billion) from about 61 billion pounds in the 2015/16 budget. Consumers reacted ...

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• 10 April

  Kerry in landmark Hiroshima visit

  

  Hiroshima / AFP G7 foreign ministers on Sunday began two days of talks in Hiroshima, with John Kerry’s visit to the atom-bombed city—the first-ever by a US secretary of state—overshadowing the broader agenda. Kerry’s landmark trip is seen as possibly paving the way for Barack Obama to become the first serving US president to journey to the thriving metropolis next ...

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• 10 April

  Prince William and wife Kate begin royal tour of India

  MUMBAI / AP The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge have begun a weeklong visit to India and Bhutan, their second major trip representing the British crown and their first royal tour in almost two years. Prince William and his wife, the former Kate Middleton, began their first engagement in India by laying a wreath at a memorial Sunday at Mumbai’s ...

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• 10 April

  Guerrilla attack kills four before Peru election

  Lima / AFP Three soldiers and a civilian were killed, and seven others wounded, in two attacks by guerrillas in the jungles of central Peru, on the eve of presidential elections. Authorities blamed remnants of the Shining Path communist guerrilla group, which was largely crushed in the 1990s but still has members hiding in the jungle. The three soldiers and ...

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• 10 April

  India temple explosion kills 102

  

  New Delhi / AFP A massive fire swept through a temple in southern India on Sunday, killing more than 100 people and injuring scores more after they gathered to watch an unofficial fireworks display. Thousands had packed overnight into the Hindu temple in Kerala state where fireworks appear to have landed on an unexploded stash, triggering a blast, in a ...

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• 10 April

  OIC to focus on Palestine, terror at Turkey summit

  Istanbul / AFP The world’s Islamic countries began their annual meeting on Sunday in Istanbul, where they are set to focus on the Palestinian cause, conflicts in member states and combating terrorism. The meeting of the 57-member Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) comes once again at a time of turmoil in many Muslim nations, with conflicts in Syria and Yemen ...

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• 10 April

  Extremists ‘switched attack to Brussels from France’ as police closed in

  

  Brussels / AFP The Brussels-based IS extremists behind the Paris attacks planned a fresh strike in France but targeted the Belgian capital instead as police closed in, the federal prosecutor said on Sunday. The prosecutor also announced that the so-called “man in the hat” Mohamed Abrini had been charged with “terrorist murders” over the attacks in Brussels last month. Suicide ...

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• 10 April

  Has the USa turned against free trade agreements?

  

  As the current presidential election campaign gathers momentum in the United States, a remarkable distrust of free trade and globalization appears to have gained a voice in mainstream politics. Distrust and anger at unbalanced trade has facilitated the rise of Donald Trump, the Republican Party front-runner, and helped Bernie Sanders in his bid to win the Democratic Party nomination. Opposition ...

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• 10 April

  Subpoenaed into silence about global warming

  

  The Competitive Enterprise Institute is getting subpoenaed by the attorney general of the U.S. Virgin Islands to cough up its communications regarding climate change. The scope of the subpoena is quite broad, covering the period from 1997 to 2007, and includes, according to CEI, “a decade’s worth of communications, emails, statements, drafts, and other documents regarding CEI’s work on climate ...

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• 10 April

  ECB keen to act amid Europe’s fragility

  

  Lisbon / Bloomberg European Central Bank (ECB) officials underlined their readiness to further ease monetary policy as banking, political and sovereign fault lines showed the region remains vulnerable six years after the start of the debt crisis. In Frankfurt, the ECB’s home city, and Brussels, Europe’s nominal capital, policy makers said they’ll take whatever measures are required to help the ...

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