Seoul / AfP North Korea fired six short-range projectiles into the sea on Thursday in a show of defiance just hours after the United Nations adopted the toughest sanctions to date on Pyongyang over its fourth nuclear test and rocket launch. Limited displays of military firepower have become a routine response by North Korea to international pressure over anything from ...
Read More »Istanbul police kills 2 female leftist militants
Istanbul / AfP Turkish police killed two female leftist militants who hurled grenades and opened fire at an Istanbul police station on Thursday, officials said. The two women—members of the outlawed ultra-leftist Revolutionary People’s Liberation Party–Front (DHKP-C)— had taken refuge in an apartment after their attack. Police then launched an assault on the apartment, and the two were “neutralised”, Istanbul ...
Read More »Migrants sew mouths to protest ‘Jungle’ demolition
Calais / AFP A group of Iranian migrants sewed their mouths shut in a disturbing protest at the ongoing demolition of the “Jungle” migrant camp in the French port city of Calais on Thursday. AFP journalists said at least nine Iranians had stitched their mouths shut in the southern half of the camp, which is being gradually demolished by French ...
Read More »Trump’s rise spooks Europe
London / AFP Europe’s bemusement at the rise of Donald Trump has switched to concern as his presidential campaign has gained ground in what observers said was a warning to traditional parties about ignoring populists. German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier this week spoke about the “politics of fear” in the US campaign in a thinly-veiled reference to Trump and drew ...
Read More »Ukraine accuses rebels of firing missiles ahead of peace talks
Kiev / AFP Ukraine on Thursday accused pro-Russian insurgents of firing large-calibre weapons at its forces in advance of new peace talks in Paris aimed at ending the 23-month war. The charge came one day after Kiev and rebel envoys agreed to halt live-fire exercises along the 500-kilometre front splitting eastern separatist territories from the rest of the West-leaning former ...
Read More »India’s 2016 budget: Politics meets economics
The annual budget of India is often an expression of not only the economic direction of the country over the coming year, but also the political intentions of the ruling party. The 2016 budget, which was presented in the Indian parliament on Monday, however, contains more political substance than economic heft. It reveals the political thinking of the Bharatiya Janata ...
Read More »New sanctions on North Korea target loopholes, elites
On Wednesday, the United Nations Security Council voted to impose a new round of sanctions on North Korea in response to both its January 6 nuclear test and February 7 satellite launch (widely believed to double as a missile launch test). The new sanctions have been characterized by various media sources as “sweeping†and the “toughest†yet imposed because they ...
Read More »Can Singapore smooth China-ASEAN relations?
Singapore’s minister for foreign affairs, Vivian Balakrishnan, spent two days in China this week, meeting with Chinese officials to set a positive tone for both the bilateral relationship and the China-ASEAN relationship. It was Balakrishnan’s first visit to China since assuming his post in October 2015. In an op-ed for China Daily, Balakrishnan cited Lee Kuan Yew, Singapore’s first prime ...
Read More »New pact to make Emirati film, TV industry a big draw
RITIKA SHARMA / Emirates Business Roll, camera and, action. Given the number of Hollywood and Bollywood movies shot here, the world is well aware of the potential and the appeal of the Emirates capital as a hot spot for the film and television industry. Now, authorities recognise that too. Aiming to give a major boost to the Emirati film and ...
Read More »Cyber intelligence sees bright prospects in UAE
ALKESH SHARMA / Emirates Business Considering the ever-mounting role of technology in almost all the domains of the corporate set-up, the reliance of the industry on intelligence services is bound to grow manifold in the coming years. According to Gartner’s 2015 Market Guide for Security Threat Intelligence Services, by 2018, 60 percent of enterprises will utilise commercial threat intelligence services ...
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