May, 2016

• 14 May

  IMF to provide more aid to Afghanistan

    Washington / AFP The International Monetary Fund (IMF) said that it is considering new financial support for the Afghanistan government as the country’s economy continues to stumble. The IMF lauded the country’s gains under a just-concluded IMF-monitored program to close vulnerabilities with reforms in the government budget process and in the financial sector. “Despite difficult circumstances, the authorities implemented ...

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• 14 May

  Malaysia’s growth exceeds forecast of economists

    KUALA LUMPUR / WAM The 4.2 per cent annual Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth recorded for the first quarter (1Q16) as announced by Bank Negara Malaysia exceeded the forecast of economists. It came in higher than the consensus estimate of 4.0 per cent, said Bank Islam Malaysia Bhd Chief Economist Dr Mohammed Afzanizam Abdul Rashid. He commented that the ...

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• 14 May

  UCO Bank reports Rs17.2 billion loss, courtesy bad loans

  

    Kolkata / Bloomberg UCO Bank, an Indian state-owned lender with 629 deliberate defaulters, reported the highest bad loan ratio among banks in the South Asian nation. Shares fell the most in three months. Provisions for soured debt at the Kolkata-based company more than doubled to about 23 billion rupees ($344 million) in the three months through March from a ...

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• 14 May

  Hezbollah vows to support Assad as military chief killed

  

    Beirut / AFP Lebanese Shiite militant group Hezbollah on Saturday blamed extremists for killing its top military commander in Syria and vowed to keep fighting to defend President Bashar Al Assad’s regime. The movement has deployed thousands of fighters in Syria where Mustafa Badreddine had led its intervention in support of Assad’s forces, which are also backed by Russia and ...

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• 14 May

  Indian court: Former UN climate head to stand trial

    NEW DELHI / AP A court in India’s capital ruled Saturday that there’s enough evidence in a stalking and sexual harassment case for former UN climate chief Rajendra Pachauri to stand trial. Judge Shivani Chauhan announced that the next hearing in the case will be on July 11, the Press Trust of India news agency reported. Police filed charges against ...

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• 14 May

  2 Indian journalists killed

    New Delhi / AFP Gunmen shot dead two journalists in 24 hours in separate incidents in eastern India, police and local reports said on Saturday, the latest media killing in Asia’s deadliest country for reporters. Rajdeo Ranjan, the local bureau chief for Hindi-language daily Hindustan, was travelling on his motorcycle late Friday in Bihar state when a group of ...

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• 14 May

  Nigeria hosts global summit on Boko Haram

  

    Abuja / AFP Nigeria on Saturday hosted talks on Boko Haram with regional and Western powers, as the United Nations warned of the militants’ ties to the IS group and its threat to African security. Leaders from Benin, Cameroon, Chad and Niger were among the delegates, alongside French President Francois Hollande, and high-ranking diplomats from the United States, Britain ...

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• 14 May

  Migrants rescued off Sicily are not Syrians, says UN

    Rome / AFP There were hardly any Syrian migrants among the 800 people rescued off Sicily, contrary to earlier reports from Italy’s coastguard, the UN and the International Organization for Migration have confirmed. The coastguard had said that half of the 342 migrants they had picked up were Syrians, sparking concern that the flow of Syrians previously attempting to ...

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• 14 May

  Sykes-Picot: The secret deal that changed the Mideast forever

  

    Paris/ AFP On May 16, 1916, a secret pact carved up the floundering Ottoman Empire into spheres of British and French interest, foreshadowing the future map of the Middle East and, say critics, sowing the seeds of many of its problems. The Sykes-Picot agreement between the British and French governments for partitioning the empire’s Arab provinces was struck at ...

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• 14 May

  Brazil’s interim president vows to get country ‘back on track’

  

    Brazil / AFP Brazil’s acting president Michel Temer vowed to get Latin America’s largest economy back on track after a cascade of crises put an end to 13 years of leftist rule. Temer presided over the first meeting of his new business-friendly cabinet, setting out its priorities: creating a leaner government, balancing finances to address a crippling recession, and rooting ...

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