March, 2016

• 31 March

  14 killed as flyover collapses in Indian city

  

  Kolkata / AFP At least 14 people were killed and dozens more injured when a flyover collapsed in a busy Indian city on Thursday, an official said, as emergency workers battled to rescue people trapped under the rubble. The flyover was under construction when it collapsed onto a crowded street in the eastern city of Kolkata around lunchtime, crushing pedestrians, ...

  Read More »
• 31 March

  Turkey army ridicules ‘anti-Erdogan coup’

  

  Ankara / AFP Turkey’s military on Thursday angrily denied suggestions it could be planning a coup against the increasingly controversial President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. Certain media outlets have carried reports speculating over the possibility of a military coup in Turkey, with Erdogan out of the country for almost a week on a visit to the United States. The Turkish military ...

  Read More »
• 31 March

  Israel demolishes home of Palestinian attacker

  Hebron / AFP Israeli authorities overnight demolished the home of a Palestinian killed after fatally stabbing a Jewish settler in the West Bank city of Hebron, the Israeli army and Palestinian sources said on Thursday. Israel regularly demolishes Palestinian attackers’ homes in a bid to deter violence, but human rights activists say it amounts to collective punishment, forcing relatives to ...

  Read More »
• 31 March

  Israel to reduce power to Palestinian city over debt

  Jerusalem / AFP Israel’s state-run electricity company was set on Thursday to reduce the power supply to a Palestinian city in the occupied West Bank over a debt of $450 million, an Israeli official said. The decision by the Israel Electric Corporation (IEC) applies to Jericho and comes after the Palestinian Authority and the private Palestinian Jerusalem District Electricity Company ...

  Read More »
• 31 March

  Uganda court upholds Museveni election win

  Kampala / AFP Ugandan judges dismissed on Thursday a legal challenge to President Yoweri Museveni’s fifth-term election victory last month, which sparked claims of foul play. “The Election Commission nominated Museveni lawfully in accordance with the Presidential Elections Act,” Chief Justice Bart Katureebe said as he read the ruling to a packed court in the capital Kampala. “We find no ...

  Read More »
• 31 March

  Iran ‘certain’ Security Council will not act on missile tests

  Tehran / AFP Iran’s defence minister has said he is “certain” the UN Security Council will not take any action over its ballistic missile tests despite calls from Western powers. Britain, France, Germany and the United States wrote a joint letter on Monday calling for action over tests they said violated last year’s landmark nuclear deal between Iran and major ...

  Read More »
• 31 March

  6 killed in Somalia Shebab hotel suicide attack

  Mogadishu / AFP Somalia’s Shebab insurgents said they carried out a suicide attack at a hotel in the central town of Galkayo on Thursday in which six people died, including a senior local government official. “There was a blast, a suicide bomber blew himself up killing several people including a senior official,” said police officer Abdiweli Adan. Witnesses said there ...

  Read More »
• 31 March

  Profits soar at China’s big 3 airlines

  

  Singapore/ Bloomberg China’s three biggest airlines reported soaring net profits in 2015 despite the country’s worst economic growth in a quarter of a century, as more Chinese travelled abroad. Cheaper jet fuel helped the bottom line, but losses from foreign exchange hurt as China’s yuan currency slid against the dollar, they said. “With the slowdown in world economic growth, and ...

  Read More »
• 31 March

  German retail sales down in February

  

  Frankfurt / AFP German retail sales, a closely watched measure of household confidence, declined in February, as consumer morale in Europe’s top economy feels the heat from global economic risks, official data showed on Thursday. Retailers’ sales fell by 0.4 percent in February compared with January, the federal statistics office Destatis said in a statement. The previous month, retail sales ...

  Read More »
• 31 March

  Japan’s construction firms plan new gas power stations

  

  TOKYO / Reuters Japan plans a wave of new gas-fired power stations as the country’s electricity retail market opens up from April 1, allowing new entrants to compete for a market of 85 million customers with annual sales of about $70 billion. In the biggest shakeup in the industry’s history in Japan, regional utilities are losing their monopoly rights for ...

  Read More »