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  Yangon / AFP Hundreds of Myanmar villagers rallied on Saturday against a controversial Chinese-backed copper mine, activists said, reigniting a contentious issue that could pose an early challenge to Aung San Suu Kyi’s new government. The Letpadaung mine in the central town of Monywa has for years been dogged by complaints of land-grabbing, environmental damage and brutal police crackdowns on ...

  Athens / AFP Public transport ground to a halt in Greece as trade unions launched a 48-hour general strike against government plans to overhaul pensions and increase taxes, as demanded by international creditors. No trains were running across the country, and boats linking the Greek mainland to the islands were anchored at ports. In the capital Athens, the metro, ...

  Bloomberg Pound bears who have made the British currency the worst performer among developed nations in 2016, will have a raft of economic data and a Bank of England policy statement next week to help them assess whether gloom is still justified. Bulls retreated, as sterling snapped a three-week gain versus the dollar that was driven by easing concern ...

  Washington / AFP   US employers cut back hiring in April in the wake of the economy’s sharp downturn, raising worries of a protracted slowdown in the world’s largest economy. Net new jobs fell unexpectedly to the lowest level in seven months, with just 160,000 additional jobs generated, over 40,000 less than economists predicted, the Labour Department reported. That was ...

  KUALA LUMPUR / WAM HH Sheikha Jawaher bint Mohammad Al Qasimi, Wife of HH the Ruler of Sharjah, Chairperson of NAMA Women Advancement Establishment (NAMA) and Honorary Chairperson of the Sharjah Business Women Council (SBWC), attended the Sharjah Business Women Forum in the Malaysian capital Kuala Lumpur. Organised by NAMA in collaboration with the Malaysian International Chamber of Commerce ...

  Dubai / Emirates Business The Telecommunications Regulatory Authority (TRA) won a major award at the 2016 World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) taking place in Geneva, Switzerland, until May 6 with the participation of representatives from countries all over the world. The award was handed to HE Eng. Majed Sultan Al Mesmar, TRA Deputy Director General and head ...

  Mumbai / Bloomberg Jindal Steel & Power Ltd. will sell its 1,000-megawatt generator in central India to JSW Energy Ltd. as the company kicks off a restructuring plan to boost finances. Mumbai-based JSW will pay at least 40 billion rupees ($600 million), excluding net current assets, according to an exchange filing. Jindal Steel will be paid an additional 25 ...

Bloomberg Former U.K. Prime Minister Tony Blair said he believes British voters will “do the sensible thing” and vote to stay in the European Union in next month’s referendum. “If we were to leave, it would put a level of economic insecurity into the ordinary family household that I think most people would think is a foolish risk to take,” ...

  Bloomberg The U.S. may be the lone bright spot in an otherwise sluggish global economy as American consumers continue to buy expensive new vehicles at record levels. The U.S. industry sold 1.51 million cars and light trucks in April, according to researcher Autodata Corp. That broke an 11-year-old record, according to Edmunds.com. Sales skewed toward more expensive sport utility ...

  Astana / AFP US Secretary of State John Kerry warned Syria’s Bashar Al Assad of “repercussions” if his regime flouts a new truce under negotiation, as talks to halt the violence shifted to Berlin on Wednesday. Russia has said a new ceasefire to halt fighting in Aleppo could be imminent, with Syria’s divided northern city hit by a wave of ...