April, 2016

• 6 April

  Millions drinking arsenic-laced water in Bangladesh: HRW

  

  Dhaka/ AFP Some 20 million poor Bangladeshis are still drinking water contaminated with arsenic, two decades after the potentially deadly toxin was discovered in the supply, Human Rights Watch said on Wednesday. A new report from the rights group said Bangladesh had failed to take the basic steps needed to tackle the problem which kills an estimated 43,000 Bangladeshis every ...

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• 6 April

  Wobbly Karabakh truce largely holds after 4 days of clashes

  

  Matagis / AFP Azerbaijani and Armenian forces on Wednesday said they were largely observing a truce that halted four days of clashes which claimed scores of lives in the worst outbreak of violence in decades over the disputed NagornyKarabakh region. “The ceasefire was largely observed overnight along the Karabakh frontline,” the Armenia-backed separatist defence ministry in Karabakh said in a ...

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• 6 April

  Ukraine pilot Savchenko refuses all food and liquids

  Moscow / AFP Ukrainian military pilot Nadiya Savchenko, convicted over the killing of two Russian journalists, began a hunger strike without water on Wednesday to demand her return to Ukraine, her lawyer said. Lawyer Mark Feigin wrote on Twitter that Savchenko had started a “dry” hunger strike—refusing both food and water—on Wednesday morning, after posting a letter from her demanding ...

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• 6 April

  Israeli firm’s workers held in Romania for spying

  Romania / AFP Two workers from an Israeli intelligence company have been arrested in Romania for trying to intimidate the head of the national anti-corruption agency and hacking e-mails, officials said on Wednesday. An arrest warrant was issued on Sunday for Belgian David Geclowitz and Israeli-born Ron Weiner, who holds a French passport. Both work for Israeli firm Black Cube. ...

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• 6 April

  EU overhauls asylum law to share burden

  

  Brussels / AFP The European Union launched a drive on Wednesday to overhaul the EU’s asylum rules to more fairly share responsibility for an unprecedented influx of migrants despite resistance within the 28-nation bloc. The European Commission, the EU executive, unveiled options to reform the rules two days after Greece began to expel migrants to Turkey under a controversial deal ...

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• 6 April

  Japan PM defends US military alliance in rebuff to Trump

  

  Tokyo / AFP US military bases remain essential to Japan’s security, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said in an interview on Wednesday, as he brushed off comments by Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump that Tokyo should be left to defend itself. Japan’s alliance with Washington has been the bedrock of its defence since the end of World War II, and the ...

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• 6 April

  Brazil president faces key call in impeachment drive

  

  Brazil / AFP Brazilian President DilmaRousseff’s battle to cling to power enters a crucial phase on Wednesday as lawmakers hear a motion on whether there are grounds to impeach her. A congressional committee has wrapped up its preliminary sessions and will now hear lawmaker JovairArantes present his recommendation on whether congress should vote to open an impeachment trial. He is ...

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• 6 April

  Moniz leads a quiet revolution in clean energy

  

  So much of America’s future is at stake in the 2016 presidential election. But let’s focus for a moment on just one area — energy and the environment — where the Obama administration has made startling progress that could be reversed if either of the GOP front-runners becomes president. Energy Secretary Ernie Moniz, arguably President Obama’s best Cabinet appointment, has ...

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• 6 April

  UAE must continue diversification boost

  The UAE has started reaping the fruits of its economic diversification policy, thanks to the successful policies initiated by the leadership to move the economy from its full dependence on oil sector to multiple sectors and resources. Given these sound policies, the national economy has grown steadily over the past few years. The economy today is stronger, resilient and diversified. ...

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• 6 April

  Could Koreans lead future pvt military firms?

  Robert Farley SPECIAL TO EMIRATES BUSINESS The end of the Cold War led to the largest military demobilization since the final days of World War II. Between 1988 and 1999, the Soviet Union alone reduced its military personnel by about three million men (although some of these found employment in the armed forces of successor states). The rest of the ...

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