August, 2016

• 4 August

  Britain’s new i360 tower a ‘pier in the sky’

  

    Brighton / AFP The world’s tallest moving observation tower, the i360, opens to the public on Thursday, a futuristic landmark that has transformed the historic seafront in the English tourist resort of Brighton. A 162-metre (530-foot) high steel tower is ringed by a doughnut-shaped glass observation pod that gently glides up and down. The design is meant to be ...

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• 4 August

  Libyan unity forces fight IS in Sirte

  

    Sirte / AFP Libyan pro-government forces battled to retake territory in the IS group stronghold Sirte on Wednesday, but faced fierce resistance from extremist snipers and mines. Fighters allied to Libya’s UN-backed Government of National Accord (GNA), supported by US air strikes, are trying to retake the coastal city — hometown of slain dictator Moamer Kadhafi — from IS ...

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• 4 August

  Audio from Boko Haram’s elusive chief fuels talk of split

    Kano / AFP Boko Haram’s elusive leader Abubakar Shekau broke his silence on Thursday to insist he was “still around” following reports IS had replaced him, but his message fuelled talk of a split within the extremist group. For months, speculation has been rife over the fate of Shekau, who has led the Nigeria-based rebel group since 2009 but ...

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• 4 August

  Militants ambush foreign tourists in Herat

  

    Herat / AFP Taliban militants attacked a group of 12 American and European tourists escorted by an Afghan army convoy in western Herat province on Thursday, leaving at least seven people wounded as the insurgents step up nationwide attacks. The tourists — eight British, three Americans and one German national — were ambushed by Taliban gunmen in the restive ...

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• 4 August

  France voices impatience over EgyptAir crash probe

    Paris / AFP France’s top diplomat has told his Egyptian counterpart that the French families who lost loved ones in the May 19 EgyptAir crash are impatient for answers, the foreign ministry said Thursday. French Foreign Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault, in a telephone conversation on Wednesday, “reminded” his Egyptian counterpart Sameh Choukri “of the difficult situation of the families waiting ...

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• 4 August

  Tremors from Turkey coup rattle US, EU

  

    Istanbul / AFP From the roads of Pennsylvania and corridors of power in Washington to the public squares of Cologne and EU offices in Brussels, the shockwaves from the July 15 failed coup have gone well beyond Turkey. The aftermath of the coup that aimed to unseat President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has prompted a drastic sharpening in Turkish rhetoric ...

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• 4 August

  Goldman Sachs fined $36mn over leaked docs

  

    Washington / Bloomberg Goldman Sachs Group Inc. agreed to pay $36.3 million over allegations that former employees obtained confidential documents from the Federal Reserve in a settlement that requires the bank to beef up its policies to prevent another lapse. The Fed is also pursuing a $337,500 fine and a permanent banking ban against a former Goldman Sachs managing ...

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• 4 August

  KCB first-half profit rises 14 percent

  

    Nairobi / Bloomberg KCB Group Ltd., Kenya’s biggest bank by assets, boosted first-half profit by 14 percent as earnings from lending increased and after setting aside less money for credit-related losses. Net income in the six months through June rose to 10.5 billion shillings ($103.6 million) compared with 9.2 billion shillings a year earlier, the Nairobi-based lender said in ...

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• 4 August

  TIAA may acquire EverBank for $2.5bn

  

    Bloomberg TIAA is in talks to buy EverBank Financial Corp., the largest Florida-based lender by deposits, for about $2.5 billion as it seeks to expand in internet banking, according to Reuters. The deal would add to TIAA’s wealth-management business and give the financial-services firm, led by former Federal Reserve Vice Chairman Roger Ferguson, a platform for providing personal and ...

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• 4 August

  Australia cracks down on banks with annual grilling

  

    Sydney / AFP Australia’s largest banks will have to face a parliamentary committee for an annual grilling to “drive cultural change”, Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull said on Thursday as he addressed public disquiet about their behaviour. The country’s “big four” lenders — among the developed world’s most profitable — have been under scrutiny in recent years amid allegations of ...

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