March, 2016

• 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 ...

  Read More »
• 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 ...

  Read More »
• 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 ...

  Read More »
• 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 ...

  Read More »
• 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 ...

  Read More »
• 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 ...

  Read More »
• 29 March

  Investors are in denial about China’s slump

  

  As you’ve no doubt noticed, companies and investors around the world are feeling the pain of China’s economic slowdown. They’re worried about all the layoffs, cuts to surplus capacity and deleveraging to come on the mainland, which will further depress demand. The natural temptation is to blame China for the world’s woes. But outsiders should focus just as much on ...

  Read More »
• 29 March

  Is China exporting its environmental problems?

  One of the best pieces of news in years is that China’s finally getting serious about cleaning up its environment. Renewable energy use is growing rapidly while coal use is declining. Air pollution targets are being tightened. Contaminated farmland is finally getting high-level attention. Yet all that good could be undermined if China simply exports its environmental problems elsewhere. A ...

  Read More »
• 29 March

  Testing Republicans’ professed love of guns

  

  Beneath a photograph of an AR-15 with all the trimmings, an online petition calling for the open carry of firearms at the Republican National Convention in Cleveland in July (and possibly intended as parody) has acquired more than 40,000 signatures. USA Today reported that the petition is “of unknown origin.” Because extreme gun culture excels at self- parody, it’s dangerous ...

  Read More »
• 29 March

  Crude declines, weighing on stocks as govt bonds advance

  

  BLOOMBERG Oil led commodities lower, pulling down the currencies of raw-material producing nations and helping lift government bonds. Futures on the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index retreated as crude slipped through $39 a barrel in New York in a fourth day of losses. Euro-area sovereign securities climbed as lower energy prices dimmed the outlook for inflation and the European Central ...

  Read More »