February, 2016

• 23 February

  Germany, France press Kiev on graft, vote in rebel east

  

  Kiev / AFP Germany and France on Tuesday urged Kiev to root out corruption and quickly adopt a law on elections in the pro-Russian east that may help resolve Ukraine’s separatist war. French Foreign Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault and his German counterpart Frank-Walter Steinmeier arrived in Kiev amid political chaos that has seen ministers in the pro-EU government trade accusations of ...

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• 23 February

  Nigeria president in Saudi Arabia for ‘oil output’ talks

  

  Riyadh / AFP The leader of Africa’s number one oil producer was in Saudi Arabia on Tuesday, with analysts forecasting his country’s eventual support for an output freeze to stabilise prices. Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari is to meet King Salman before travelling on to Qatar. The official Saudi Press Agency reported late Monday that Buhari had landed in Riyadh, where ...

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• 23 February

  Dozen injured in Burundi blast as UN chief visits

  

  Bujumbura / AFP A dozen people were injured in at least 10 grenade blasts overnight in Bujumbura, police said on Tuesday, as UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon visited Burundi. “Last night, ten grenades exploded in several districts of Bujumbura, leaving a dozen people wounded,” a senior police officer said. The officer said two soldiers were among the injured as well ...

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• 23 February

  Assad regime agrees to Syria peace deal but doubts persist

  

  Damascus / AFP Syria’s regime agreed on Tuesday to a ceasefire deal announced by the United States and Russia, but there were widespread doubts it could take effect by the weekend as hoped. The agreement, announced on Monday, does not apply to extremists like the IS group and Al-Nusra Front, putting up major hurdles to how it can be implemented ...

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• 23 February

  Russian oppn: Chechen leader a ‘national threat’

  Moscow / AFP A ruthless and corrupt leader with his own private army who has carved out de facto independence for his restive region: Russia’s opposition on Tuesday lashed out at Chechen strongman leader Ramzan Kadyrov in a new report. The report—authored by prominent opposition figure Ilya Yashin and entitled “National security threat”—alleges that Kadyrov has been allowed by President ...

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• 23 February

  25 Years later, Gulf War still shapes tiny, oil-rich Kuwait

  

  KUWAIT CITY / AFP The scene US forces encountered as they pushed into Kuwait in 1991 to end the Iraqi occupation could only be described as a hellscape. Hundreds of burning oil wells set ablaze by Iraq’s army had left sand sodden in an oily sludge and the skies overhead choked with thick black smoke. As they fled, Saddam Hussein’s ...

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• 23 February

  Executive overreach meets resistance

  

  “For every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction” Newton’s Third Law of Motion Notice the Newtonian physics of America’s Madisonian system. Barack Obama’s Woodrow Wilsonian hostility to the separation of powers, expressed in his executive authoritarianism, is provoking equal and opposite reactions from the judicial and legislative branches. The Supreme Court has inflicted on Obama a defeat accurately ...

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• 23 February

  Give world’s debt load a deep thought

  The borrowing spree has started to boomerang, leading global economy to moan under a record pile of debt. On record, the world has continued to borrow since the 2008 financial crisis, adding nearly $60 trillion, pushing the worldwide debt load to $200 trillion in 2014, nearly three times the size of the entire global economy. History has it that the ...

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• 23 February

  China’s beleaguered shares

  Bill SAVADOVE A new stock market regulator chief could give China’s beleaguered shares a short-term lift, but analysts say Liu Shiyu faces the same old problems as his ousted predecessor: shattered market confidence and the need for sweeping reforms. Xiao Gang was dismissed as chairman of the China Securities Regulatory Commission (CSRC), state media reported Saturday, after a three-year tenure ...

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• 23 February

  Chinese Air Force’s drone-tracking unit

  

  China’s Air Force has created a new unit dedicated solely to tracking and responding to drones, according to China Daily. In a press release, the PLA Air Force said the unit would focus on “small, slow-moving drones flying at an altitude of less than 1,000 meters,” China Daily reported. The language in the report makes it seem as though military ...

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