August, 2016

• 13 August

  Popularity of Cambridge qualifications continues to grow in UAE

  

    Dubai / Emirates Business More students than ever before will collect their Cambridge International Examination results today, as entries for Cambridge qualifications continue to grow in UAE and around the world. Demand for Cambridge qualifications in UAE has soared this year with more than 100 schools making around 50,000 entries for Cambridge qualifications. In particular, Cambridge A Levels have ...

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• 13 August

  IS frees hundreds of civilians in north Syria

  

    Beirut / AFP The IS group has freed hundreds of civilians used by the extremists as human shields while retreating in northern Syria, US-backed forces and a monitor said on Saturday. A source from the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), which pushed IS out of the city of Manbij this week with the aid of US-led air strikes, said that ...

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• 13 August

  UN authorizes force of 4,000 troops to S Sudan

  

    United Nations / AFP The UN Security Council has authorized the deployment of a robust force of 4,000 troops to South Sudan after heavy fighting set back efforts to end the country’s devastating war. The council adopted a US-drafted resolution that also threatened to impose an arms embargo on South Sudan if the government blocks the deployment. Eleven countries in ...

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• 13 August

  Thai authorities hunt tourist town bombers

  

    Hua Hin / AFP Thai authorities on Saturday hunted for culprits behind a wave of bombings targeting popular holiday destinations, as businesses braced for the economic fallout from the attacks on the crucial tourism industry. The kingdom was on edge after 11 small bombs and a series of suspected arson attacks exploded across five southern provinces on Thursday night and ...

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• 13 August

  Iraq governor’s nephew shot dead

    Arbil / AFP The nephew of the governor of a key province where Iraqi forces are battling the IS group has been gunned down in the country’s north, officials said on Saturday. The shooting in Iraqi Kurdish regional capital Arbil came just hours after Nowfal Al Aqoub, the governor of Nineveh, made controversial remarks about children being fathered by IS ...

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• 13 August

  Pak chopper crew home after Afghan hostage drama

    Islamabad / AFP Six crew members of a Pakistani government helicopter which crash-landed in Afghanistan’s volatile east have been released, an official said on Saturday, after they were taken hostage by the Afghan Taliban. The crew “was released in an inter-tribe exchange on the Pakistan-Afghan border (and) arrived in Islamabad today,” foreign ministry spokesman Nafees Zakaria said in a statement. ...

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• 13 August

  Yemen rebels defy govt and convene parliament

    Aden / AFP Iran-backed rebels convened Yemen’s parliament on Saturday in defiance of the internationally recognised government, prompting condemnation from President Abedrabbo Mansour Hadi. The session in rebel-held Sanaa was the first in almost two years, and comes after the Houthis rejected a UN peace plan and appointed a council to run the country. Parliamentary sources said 91 lawmakers in ...

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• 13 August

  Illinois exemplifies our fiscal foolishness

  

    Seated in his office here, wearing neither a necktie nor a frown, Republican Gov. Bruce Rauner is remarkably relaxed for someone at the epicenter of a crisis now in its second year and with no end in sight. But, then, stress is pointless when the situation is hopeless. Besides, if you can ignore the fact that self-government is failing ...

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• 13 August

  Brazil is still the country of future

  

    Brazil, it is often and not quite fairly said, is the country of the future and always will be. As the Olympics focuses global attention on the country, it’s worth exploring the various ways in which this maxim is — and may not be — true. The puzzle with Brazil is neither its successes nor its failures, but rather ...

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• 13 August

  Macy’s store closings should be just the beginning

    Macy’s incoming CEO is starting off strong. He’ll need to get stronger. The department store said it would close 100 stores, or 14 percent of the 728 stores it currently operates. (Not included in the closings are the 100 or so Bloomingdales and Blue Mercury stores it also owns.) This announcement marks a sizable acceleration in store closings — ...

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