Masonry Layout

  Los Angeles / AP Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders is breaking with the Obama administration and House lawmakers over a plan to restructure Puerto Rico’s $70 billion in debt, saying the legislation would make “a terrible situation even worse.” The Vermont senator writes in a letter released on Monday said that the deal reached last week between the White House ...

  Hanoi, Vietnam / AFP President Barack Obama said on Monday he remained confident the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) trade deal would be ratified in the United States despite strong political opposition in Washington. “The reason I remain confident is it’s the right thing to do,” he told reporters in Vietnam where he is currently on a three-day visit. “I have not ...

  Dubai / WAM The Department of Economic Development (DED) in Dubai launched on Sunday ‘DEDTalks’, a knowledge exchange platform for thought leaders and decision-makers from the public and private sectors to meet regularly and share experiences, ideas, analyses and best practices relating to the economy and doing business. DEDTalks is the latest initiative from DED for continued engagement with the ...

  ABU DHABI / WAM The Abu Dhabi Fund for Development (ADFD) Abu Dhabi’s international development body, on Sunday announced the launch of a brand new innovative training and support programme in electricity and water management, in partnership with the Federal Electricity and Water Authority (FEWA) for the rapidly expanding Seychelles energy and infrastructure sectors. The programme will provide a ...

  Dubai / Emirates Business The United Arab Emirates (UAE) continues to serve as a hub for business innovation with a new study showing that the number of LinkedIn members noting entrepreneurship as their core job function nearly doubled in the past year. Moreover, the UAE is gaining the highest percentage of LinkedIn members identifying entrepreneurship as their job function ...

  NEW DELHI / Reuters Indian refiners have cleared part of the $6.4 billion owed to Iran for crude oil imports in euros through Turkey’s Halkbank, three sources privy to the payment said. This is the first payment to Iran by India since the lifting of Western sanctions against the Persian Gulf nation earlier this year and comes just ahead ...

  Kabul / AFP Afghanistan’s spy agency on Sunday said Taliban leader Mullah Akhtar Mansour was killed in a US bombing raid, the first confirmation from regional officials of his death, which marks a potential blow to the resurgent militant movement. The Taliban have not commented officially on the very rare American drone attack deep inside Pakistan on Saturday, authorised by ...

Vienna/ AFP Austrians voted on Sunday in a key presidential runoff which could usher in the European Union’s first extreme right-wing leader amid the continent’s worst post-war migrant crisis. A huge influx of asylum-seekers, growing unemployment and frozen reforms have left Austria deeply polarised and driven angry voters away from the centrist ruling coalition toward fringe groups. For the first ...

  Chittagong / AFP Thousands of Bangladeshis were left homeless on Sunday after Cyclone Roanu battered the impoverished southern coastal region, ripping apart flimsy houses and killing at least 24 people. The storm on Saturday ploughed through low-lying villages in the Chittagong and Barisal regions, where residents described seeing metres-high walls of water. Many Bangladeshis were returning safely home on ...

  RITIKA SHARMA / Emirates Business When a recent international report rated Abu Dhabi as 73rd best business tourism destination, a rank up by 35 places from last year, the UAE hospitality industry was the first one to rejoice. Not only does this rank affirm UAE’s position as a top business tourism hub, it also reflects the strong revenues that ...