April, 2016

• 2 April

  UNSC backs move to deploy police presence in Burundi

  

  United Nations / AFP The UN Security Council unanimously backed a resolution that lays the groundwork for deploying a UN police presence in Burundi to help quell nearly a year of violence. Drafted by France, the resolution tasks UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon with drawing up within 15 days a list of options for the proposed police force, in consultation with ...

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• 2 April

  Azeri-Armenian clashes escalate in disputed area

  

  Bloomberg Azerbaijan stepped up attacks against Armenians in a disputed region of South Caucasus on Saturday, using artillery, tanks and air raids. One child was killed and two others wounded. The attacks, targeting civilian areas and military units across the contact line of Nagorno-Karabakh, came in response to Armenian shelling of Azeri areas, Azerbaijan’s Defense Ministry said on its website. ...

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• 2 April

  Why ASEAN must remain neutral on the South China Sea

  

  Pressure is growing on ASEAN to choose condemnation of China and both explicit and implicit support of the U.S. in the South China Sea. Proponents argue that this is a way to shift the tide and contain an expanding Chinese presence. And it has come at a time when ASEAN has demonstrated concern over the fast rising tensions in the ...

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• 2 April

  A funny thing happened on the way to recession

  

  At the beginning of the year, fears were widespread that recession was heading toward the U.S. — and, indeed, the rest of the world. Even the perennially- optimistic Wall Street Journal survey of economistsput the odds of recession in the coming 12 months at 21 percent, twice the level anticipated a year earlier and the highest reading since 2012. On ...

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• 2 April

  AirAsia to raise $257 million in share sale to founders

  

  Bloomberg AirAsia Bhd. is raising 1 billion ringgit ($257 million) selling stock to a company controlled by its founders as the continent’s biggest budget airline raises cash to finance aircraft purchase and pare down debt. The airline will issue 559 million new shares at 1.84 ringgit apiece to Tune Live Sdn, equally owned by Chief Executive Officer Tony Fernandes and ...

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• 2 April

  Sri Lanka’s loss-making carrier seeks foreign partner

  

  Colombo / AFP Sri Lanka is seeking foreign assistance to rescue its loss-making national carrier, a minister said, after the government announced the airline was unable to pay back nearly $1 billion in debt. The airline owes at least $933 million but the government last week said the true figure could be much higher. Official sources said Colombo was in ...

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• 2 April

  Home Retail saga over as board to recommend Sainsbury offer

  Bloomberg Home Retail Group Plc said its board will unanimously recommend J Sainsbury Plc’s 1.4 billion-pound ($2 billion) bid after South African retailer Steinhoff International Holdings NV withdrew from the battle to acquire the Argos owner. The announcement effectively ends a protracted takeover saga that began on January 5 when Sainsbury first disclosed its interest. After weeks of wrangling over ...

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• 2 April

  Kenya Airways to cut upto 600 jobs

  Bloomberg Kenya Airways, the east African country’s struggling national airline, is to cut up to 600 jobs as part of a bid to achieve $200 million in savings, the airline. The reductions at the airline, partly owned by the government as well as Air France KLM, could see around 15 percent of the 4,000-strong workforce cut. As part of efforts ...

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• 2 April

  Amazon payments get retailers to ‘open kimono’ to competitor

  

  Bloomberg Amazon.com Inc.’s relaunch of its online payments business in 2013 was greeted with scepticism. PayPal Holdings Inc. had a huge head start and credit card companies like Visa Inc. already had products that made buying something on the Web as easy as swiping a card. It seemed doubtful digital shop owners would want to team up with Amazon and ...

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• 2 April

  Singapore home prices see longest drop in two decades

  

  Bloomberg Singapore home prices dropped for a tenth quarter, posting the longest losing streak in almost two decades, as tighter mortgage curbs cooled demand in Asia’s second-most expensive housing market. An index tracking private residential prices fell 0.7 percent in the three months ended March 31 from the previous quarter, matching the longest series of losses since 1998, according to ...

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