17 die in fire at Ukraine old age home

  Kiev / AP Seventeen people died when a makeshift home for elderly people outside the Ukrainian capital Kiev caught fire in the early hours of Sunday, the latest tragedy to shake the conflict-riven country. The fire tore through the two-storey shelter for the elderly which is in the village of Litochky, located some 50 kilometres (31 miles) north of ...

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Venezuelan officials, oppn meet mediators over standoff

  Caracas / AFP Venezuelan officials and opposition foes have held separate secret meetings in the Dominican Republic with a group of ex-world leaders seeking a way out of political crisis, officials said, as an ex-military reserve leader was shot dead. Representatives of both sides of Venezuela’s political standoff met former Spanish prime minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero, former Dominican ...

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Austrian far-right says ‘countless’ signs of election fraud

Vienna / AFP Austria’s far-right is probing “countless” cases of fraud in last week’s presidential election that saw its candidate lose by a narrow margin, the party chief was quoted as saying on Sunday. “We are going to get the countless indications (of irregularities) looked at by an independent, neutral body and then decide” whether to challenge the result, Freedom ...

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On Syria, the US and Turkey need each other

INCIRLIK AIR BASE, Turkey Here’s a positive move by Turkey, a country that often seems to be heading in the wrong direction: Despite Ankara’s severe misgivings, it is allowing the US military to fly daily bombing missions from here against the IS — in support of a Syrian Kurdish militia called the YPG that Turkey regards as a terrorist threat. ...

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Global coop can combat cyber crime

  The internet has undoubtedly revolutionized the way we live and think. Most importantly, it has transformed the communication and information technologies, ease of doing business, education and advanced them to an unprecedented level of excellence and performance. Having said this, the very instrumental tool that has been the powerful driver of global economic growth is now being used by ...

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Foxconn: From worker suicides to plastic workers

  Sara Hsu SPECIAL TO EMIRATES BUSINESS Foxconn, the Taiwanese technology-assembly company infamous several years ago for its spate of worker suicides, has replaced more than half its Kunshan, China workforce with robots. While this reduces Foxconn’s labour costs and H-R headaches, it also pushes down employment for migrant workers, and does not bode well for ongoing changes in China’s ...

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Finding better ideas to rebuild the American economy

  The just-published book “Concrete Economics,” by University of California-Berkeley professors Brad DeLong and Stephen S. Cohen, needs an expanded sequel — 900 pages long, with charts, data, theory and an exhaustive list of historical case studies. That book would become the Bible of the New Industrialist movement that is just beginning to grope its way out of the ashes ...

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G7 falters on global growth test

  The Diplomat SPECIAL TO EMIRATES BUSINESS The Group of Seven’s (G7) failure to endorse coordinated action on global growth will do little to revive a faltering world economy. However, with progress on trade and tax the first such summit held in Asia for eight years may yet achieve more than the typical talkfest. On Friday, the G7 wrapped up ...

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China needs market reforms now

  As China’s “go global” policy picks up steam, foreign governments have become increasingly skeptical about the intentions of Chinese state owned enterprises (SOEs) and their effects on the host nation’s economy. From slapping anti-dumping duties and tariffs on main Chinese products, to strong-arming Beijing’s leadership to implement tougher regulatory standards, China’s “peaceful rise” is increasingly being challenged by the ...

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Dubai stocks post best streak in 8 months as Gulf trading slows

  BLOOMBERG Dubai stocks gained a fifth day amid declining trading across Gulf Arab equity markets, with some investors taking a long weekend and the start of Ramadan about a week away. The DFM General Index rose 0.3 percent, capping the longest winning streak since September. About 140 million shares were traded on the emirate’s main measure, less than half ...

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