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Astana / AFP Citizens of energy-rich Kazakhstan went to the polls on Sunday in an early parliamentary election expected to provide a commanding majority for ageing autocrat President Nursultan Nazarbayev’s ruling Nur Otan party. Close to 10 million voters are eligible to cast votes in a ballot held early amid economic gloom in the Central Asian state and featuring six ...

Karachi / AFP Pakistan’s southern Sindh province has announced a public holiday to celebrate Holi next week, the first time the Hindu “festival of colours” will be officially marked in the overwhelmingly Muslim country. The move comes days after Pakistan’s federal parliament passed a non-binding resolution that called for the country to observe Hindu and Christian holidays. “We have announced ...

Nablus / AFP Fire broke out on Sunday in the home of a key witness to an arson attack by Jewish extremists that killed a Palestinian family last year but he survived, police and residents said. The home of Ibrahim Dawabsha is located in Duma in the occupied West Bank, the same village where a July firebombing killed an 18-month-old ...

Rostov-on-Don / AFP Investigators in southern Russia on Sunday were probing the causes of a flydubai passenger jet crash that killed all 62 people on board, as emergency workers at the site wrapped up the salvage operation. The Boeing 737, which flew from Dubai to the southern Russian city of Rostov-on-Don, exploded into a fireball early Saturday after missing the ...

Istanbul / AFP Turkish investigators were scrambling on Sunday to identify the bomber who blew himself up in the heart of Istanbul, killing four foreigners in the latest bloodshed to rock the country. No group has yet claimed responsibility for Saturday’s blast, which killed three Israelis and an Iranian. The attack came six days after a suicide car bombing at ...

Dharamsala / AFP Tens of thousands of exiled Tibetans voted on Sunday for a new leader tasked with sustaining their struggle for greater autonomy in their Chinese-ruled homeland as the Dalai Lama retreats from the political frontline. While Tibetans from across the world were set to vote, those in the picturesque Indian hill town of Dharamsala where the Dalai Lama ...

Of the many dangerous trends in the 2016 election, the revolt against free trade that has captured both parties could do the most long-term damage. That’s because protectionism would undermine future growth of the US economy and subvert America’s role as global leader. Globalization has undeniably hurt some American workers and cost some manufacturing jobs. But there’s strong evidence that ...

Transnational education is becoming a game changer as young students leave their home countries to study abroad to acquire more new experiences and skills. They travel abroad in order to pursue higher education degrees, not bound by geographical borders. These students gain precious international exposure, and real-life international business experience. They become cosmopolitan citizens and could be outsourced anywhere for ...

Shenzhen, China’s high-tech boomtown, sprung a surprise on its 12 million-plus residents this week. Construction has begun on three giant, state-of-the-art incinerators to handle the heaving tide of trash that the city tosses out daily. One of the mega-burners — resembling an American-style football dome — will be the world’s largest waste-to-energy plant when it opens in 2018. Far from ...

Markus WINTER SPECIAL TO EMIRATES BUSINESS Not only opposition lawmakers, but also many members of the LDP, Japan’s ruling party, have been fuming over being shut out from much of the negotiations about the regional trade bloc known as the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP). The norin zoku (the LDP’s powerful agricultural grouping) in particular has rallied to attack the agreement, even ...