June, 2016

• 14 June

  B’desh clerics issue fatwa on extremist killings

  

    Dhaka / AFP Bangladeshi clerics said they have issued a fatwa against the killings of minorities and secular campaigners in the mainly Muslim country, where police have arrested over 10,000 people in a crackdown on militancy. Nearly 50 people have been killed over the last three years in a wave of gruesome attacks targeting Hindus, Christians, Sufi Muslims and ...

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• 14 June

  Philippines says 2nd Canadian hostage beheaded

  

    Manila / AFP Philippine authorities on Tuesday confirmed that extremist guerrillas had beheaded a second Canadian hostage, as they defended their inability to save him despite months of pursuit. ” We strongly condemn the brutal and senseless murder of MrRobert Hall, a Canadian national, after being held captive by the Abu Sayyaf group in Sulu for the past nine ...

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• 14 June

  Afghan, Pakistan forces border clash leaves 3 dead

  

    Jalalabad / AFP Afghan and Pakistani forces clashed in an escalation of tensions between the neighbouring countries, killing at least three people and forcing the closure of the main border crossing, officials said on Tuesday. The fighting erupted along the Torkham border on Sunday night and continued erratically over the next two days, apparently after Afghan forces objected to ...

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• 14 June

  Trump’s Islamophobia propels the IS

  

  WASHINGTON Even by Donald Trump’s standards, his comments about the Orlando shooting have been reckless and self-serving. They are also dangerous for the country. Trump’s response to Sunday morning’s terrorist attack by Omar Mateen was initially an opportunistic tweet; then a boasting statement on his website: “I said this was going to happen”; followed by a renewed call to temporarily ...

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• 14 June

  IEA’S oil market optimism offers hope

    The projections of the International Energy Agency (IEA) that the global oil market will be almost balanced next year as demand continues to rise faster than production, while the current oversupply is much smaller than previously thought, echo the UAE’s position that current prices were not sustainable. The surplus in the first half of this year is about 40 ...

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• 14 June

  As Central Banks meet, BOJ has toughest job

    Mohamed A. El-Erian As central banks in advanced economies — including the Bank of England, the Bank of Japan, the Swiss National Bank and the U.S. Federal Reserve — hold policy their meetings this week, they will all confront tricky questions about the management of national liquidity and cross-border influences. The most fascinating discussion, however, will take place at ...

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• 14 June

  Washington’s budgets for Central Asia grow

  Top diplomats from the U.S. State Department and USAID appeared before a congressional subcommittee last week to make the case for the department’s FY 2017 budget, which requests $164.1 million for Central Asia. Speaking before the House Foreign Affairs Committee’s subcommittee on Europe, Eurasia, and Emerging Threats, Daniel Rosenblum of the U.S. State Department detailed the justification behind across-the-board increases ...

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• 14 June

  Microsoft needs LinkedIn for office dominance

  

  Microsoft’s acquisition of the social network LinkedIn is not easy to understand. Both companies’ chief executives, Satya Nadella of Microsoft and Jeff Weiner, have described the $26.2 billion all-cash deal — one of the largest in tech history — in the blandest corporate-speak, with memos that sounded as if they were part of LinkedIn’s megaboring attempt to create a commentary ...

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• 14 June

  The UK is divided about much more than Europe

  

    When he promised a referendum on the U.K.’s membership in the EU, Prime Minister David Cameron was surely not picturing the white-knuckle ride his “remain” campaign is experiencing right now. What was intended as a campaign promise to get his Conservatives elected must seem in retrospect like a reckless gamble. The consequences will be felt long after the ballots ...

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• 14 June

  New Zealand’s Defense White Paper: Playing catch up

  Several months behind schedule, the New Zealand Defense White Paper was released last week in Wellington. It has earmarked funding of around NZ$20 billion (US$14 billion) over 15 years for defense, which will be used, among other things, to replace frigates and aircraft and to provide the New Zealand Defense Force with a cyber warfare capability. This investment is the ...

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