News Archive - 20 August 2016

Iran has given Russian the green to use its territory as a stopover for its bombers to launch raids against ISIS in Syria. The move, unprecedented in the history of Islamic Republic, has prompted up a panoply of critical responses abroad while it is been justified as yet another...

> Deputy Prime Minister Mehmet Simsek earlier said the attack was believed to have been carried out by a suicide bomber, while another ruling party politician said Islamic State militants were behind the attack. The attack is the latest in a surge of violence this week in Turkey's mainly Kurdish...

>MUMBAI India's incoming central bank governor, Urjit Patel, is widely regarded as having the professional and academic credentials he needs to make a success of his new job.Less well known is whether a man who seems to feel most at ease in his own company commands the communication skills...

>In apparent response to the Houthi show of force, ambassadors from the G18 group of nations that has backed U.N. peace talks to end Yemen's civil war issued a statement condemning "unconstitutional and unilateral actions in Sanaa.""The Group of Ambassadors repeats its concern that actions taken by elements...

>President Tayyip Erdogan has demanded the United States extradite Gulen, who lives in Pennsylvania, over the July putsch in which more than 200 people, including civilians, were killed. Turkish officials have suggested refusal to repatriate Gulen for trial would seriously strain ties between the two NATO allies.Gulen, described by...

>BEIRUT Fighting between the Syrian army and Kurdish forces intensified late on Friday and into Saturday, creating the risk of yet another front opening in the multi-sided civil war.The two sides have mostly avoided confrontation during the five-year conflict, with the government focusing its efforts against Sunni Arab rebels...

>He will replace Raghuram Rajan, a former International Monetary Fund chief economist who stunned financial markets in June by announcing he would step down in September and return to academia after a single three-year term at the RBI.Patel, 52, headed a panel that recommended landmark changes to monetary policy...

>Relations between the two countries crumbled after Israeli marines stormed a Turkish ship in May 2010 to enforce a naval blockade of the Hamas-run Gaza Strip, killing 10 Turks on board.Israel, which had already offered its apologies for the raid, agreed under the deal to pay out $20 million...

>In a first move to consolidate India's struggling public sector banks, SBI's board on Thursday approved share swap ratio for the proposed takeover of five units that had been run at arms-length, as well as state-run Bharatiya Mahila Bank, a bank for women set up in 2013. Policymakers want to...

>SEOUL North Korean state media on Saturday accused a diplomat who defected from Britain to South Korea of fleeing to escape punishment for a variety of crimes, including child rape, for which Pyongyang had sought to extradite him.A commentary by the KCNA news agency did not identify the diplomat...

>CAIRO A few years ago Imad would not have imagined himself queuing in the Cairo sun for a weekly ration of subsidized baby milk. But rising prices mean his civil servant's salary barely lasts the month and the government is tightening its belt further."Electricity is up, food is up.

>The small town of Ocotlan in western Mexico was hard hit by an ambush a government body now admits was an act of police abuse, having lost dozens of its young men who joined a powerful drug gang for money and adventure but instead found an early grave.Mexico's National...

>In an interview with the daily, Kuroda said the BOJ's negative rate policy has not reached its limits. "The degree of negative rates introduced by European central banks is bigger than Japan. Technically there definitely is room for a further cut," Kuroda told the Sankei. The BOJ stunned markets in...