March, 2016

• 29 March

  Erdogan heads to Washington amid strained USA-Turkey ties

  

  Brussels / AFP Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan heads to the United States for only the second visit of his presidency at a time when relations between the two key NATO allies are severely tested by widening differences over the Syria conflict and human rights. Erdogan, who became president in August 2014 after over a decade as premier, has yet ...

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• 29 March

  Turkey summons German envoy over ‘anti-Erdogan’ TV song

  Ankara / AFP Turkey summoned Germany’s ambassador to protest a two-minute song lampooning President Recep Tayyip Erdogan that was broadcast on German television, a diplomatic source said on Tuesday. “We summoned the ambassador last week to communicate our protest about the broadcast that we condemned,” the source said. “We demanded that the broadcast is removed from the air.” German regional ...

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• 29 March

  Israel silent on reported threat to Jewish kids in Turkey

  Jerusalem / AP Israeli and Turkish officials refused to comment on Tuesday on a report by Britain’s Sky TV that the IS group planned to attack Jewish school children in Turkey. The report came after Israel advised its citizens on Monday to leave Turkey “as soon as possible,” citing the potential for extremist attacks. “Terrorists from the so-called IS have ...

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• 29 March

  Myanmar lifts emergency in Rakhine state

  

  Yangon / AFP Myanmar’s outgoing government on Tuesday lifted a state of emergency in conflict-hit Rakhine, a parting gesture that coincides with turbulent relations between Aung San Suu Kyi’s new administration and the western state’s powerful Buddhist political party. Rahkine is deeply scarred by communal violence between Buddhists and Rohingya Muslims that began in 2012, presenting one of the most ...

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• 29 March

  Iran sanctions removal duration unclear: Austrian president

  

  Tehran / AFP Austrian President Heinz Fischer has said it is unclear how long it will take for the West to lift sanctions on Iran, in an interview with Iran’s state television news agency IRIB. Iran’s historic agreement with world powers went into force on January 16, ending a 13-year standoff over Tehran’s disputed nuclear programme and lifting punishing sanctions ...

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• 29 March

  10 Indonesian sailors kidnapped in Philippines waters

  Jakarta / AFP Ten Indonesian sailors have been kidnapped in Philippine waters by militants who have demanded a ransom for their release, a minister said on Tuesday. The crew were travelling on two boats that were transporting coal from Borneo island to the Philippines when they were hijacked, said Indonesian Foreign Minister Retno Marsudi. It is not clear when the ...

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• 29 March

  Commodity prices: The cycle turns?

  

  On March 24, US oil futures settled at around $39 a barrel, up nearly 50 percent on January’s 12-year low of below $27. Meanwhile, the benchmark copper price on the London Metal Exchange closed at $4,945 a ton, up 15 percent from its six-year low in January, while iron ore prices have risen by nearly 30 percent this year to ...

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• 29 March

  UAE giving right push to knowledge economy

  The UAE is on track to usher in a knowledge-based economy. Recently, it adopted the Science, Technology and Innovation’s Higher Policy, which includes 100 national initiatives in the educational, health, energy, transportation, space and water sectors. AED300 billion is being pumped into this ambitious plan. A knowledge-based economy has four requisites: education and training, information infrastructure, economic incentive and institutional ...

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• 29 March

  The clean-energy deadline is sooner than we think

  Everyone knows that at some point, if we want to contain climate change, we’ll have to stop building polluting power plants. New research suggests that moment may come much sooner than we realize. In some areas, the world is making progress toward reducing harmful emissions. Earlier this year, the Business Council for Sustainable Energy reported that the use of coal-fired ...

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• 29 March

  Obama exudes optimism for Democrats

  President Barack Obama’s surging approval rating is becoming a major plot line of the 2016 election. Obama has reached 53 percent approval from Gallup, a three- year high, and he’s been at or above 50 percent in that survey for four weeks. HuffPollster’s aggregate of all current polls gives Obama an average approval rating of 49.2 percent,compared with 47.3 percent ...

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