March, 2016

• 1 March

  Greek creditors to resume reforms audit by Mar 10

  

  Athens / AFP Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras said on Tuesday that an EU-IMF audit of the debt-laden country’s reforms would likely resume by March 10, hinting that the process was being delayed by divisions among the creditors. “My estimate is that (senior creditor representatives will) return in the first ten days of March,” Tsipras said in a televised interview. ...

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• 1 March

  Euro-area factories cut prices at fastest pace since 2013

  Bloomberg Euro-area factories cut prices at the fastest pace in almost three years in February, compounding an already worrisome inflation environment for the ECB. Markit Economics said the price gauge of its manufacturing Purchasing Managers Index fell further below the key 50 level, dropping to the lowest since June 2013. All countries bar one in its monthly survey reported falling ...

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• 1 March

  Norway seeks to piggyback on ‘Brexit’ deal to escape EU’s grip

  

  OSLO / Bloomberg As the U.K. agonizes over whether to stay or leave, Norway is eyeing its own way of distancing itself from the EU. The thing is, the Nordic nation isn’t part of the club to begin with. The case illustrates how hard it will be for the U.K. to escape the bloc’s influence even if it decides to ...

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• 1 March

  Syria’s Aleppo gets taste of peace but thirsts for water

  

  Aleppo / AFP A landmark ceasefire has lifted the burden of daily rocket attacks and bomb blasts in Syria’s second city Aleppo—but not its residents’ profound thirst. Citizens on both sides of the fault line dividing Aleppo between regime and rebel forces are suffering from their longest water shortage yet in the nearly five-year war. “The general situation in the ...

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• 1 March

  Iraqi troops bid to retake area north of Baghdad

  Baghdad / AP Backed by paramilitary forces and aerial support, Iraqi troops on Tuesday launched a new push to retake a key area north of the capital, Baghdad, and dislodge IS militants from there, officials said. According to a statement by the Joint Operations Command, the “new offensive” began at dawn in a swath agricultural area northeast of the city ...

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• 1 March

  Vietnam farmers suffer worst drought in 90 years

  Narobi / AFP Vietnam is suffering its worst drought in nearly a century with salinisation hitting farmers especially hard in the crucial southern Mekong delta, experts said Monday. “The water level of the Mekong River has gone down to its lowest level since 1926, leading to the worst drought and salinisation there,” Nguyen Van Tinh, deputy head of the hydraulics ...

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• 1 March

  France razes ‘camp’ as Greece buckles under migrant crisis

  

  Calais / AFP French authorities razed parts of the “Jungle” migrant camp for a second day on Tuesday while thousands of refugees were blocked in Greece as Europe strained to contain the flood of desperate people at its borders. Tensions were high in the northern French port city of Calais as workers continued dismantling the southern half of the notorious ...

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• 1 March

  Beleaguered Zuma faces no-confidence motion

  

  Cape Town / AFP Beleaguered South African President Jacob Zuma on Tuesday faced a no-confidence vote in parliament for a second time in less than a year and a legal bid to reinstate corruption charges against him. The mounting pressure on the president comes against a background of economic crisis sparked by his firing of two finance ministers within days ...

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• 1 March

  The albatross of a Trump endorsement

  

  Donald Trump’s distinctive rhetorical style — think of a drunk with a bullhorn reading aloud James Joyce’s “Finnegans Wake” under water — poses an almost insuperable challenge to people whose painful duty is to try to extract clarity from his effusions. For example, last week, during a long stream of semi-consciousness in Fort Worth, this man who as president would ...

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• 1 March

  Poor manufacturing sector causes concern

  With the manufacturing sector declining and showing poor figures worldwide partly due to prospects of global economic slowdown, the service sector is widening and may likely fill in the gap to help shore up the world economic growth. The dwindling manufacturing sector isn’t new, as the manufacturing employment has been falling everywhere, including China. By contrast, the service sector has ...

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