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LONDON: British Prime Minister David Cameron's flagship gay marriage policy is set to deepen a rift in his own party on Monday with many of his own lawmakers preparing to defy him in a sign of growing strains on his leadership and his coalition government.Up to half of Cameron's 303 lawmakers in the lower house of parliament are expected to back an amendment that the government says would sabotage its efforts to legalise gay marriage.Cameron's failure to unite his ruling Conservative Party over gay marriage and over his other major policy - renegotiating Britain's membership of the European Union - risks undermining his chances of being re-elected in 2015 even as the economy is showing signs of returning to growth."It's a perfect political storm. It couldn't have come at a worse time for Cameron," Iain Dale, a prominent gay radio presenter and conservative blogger, told Reuters.The amendment seems unlikely to ...
EL-ARISH: The Egyptian army sent reinforcements into the Sinai Peninsula on Monday after President Mohamed Mursi said there would be no talks with militant Islamists who abducted seven members of the security forces last week.Radical Islamists have expanded into a security vacuum in Sinai that the state has struggled to fill since an uprising swept autocrat Hosni Mubarak from power in 2011. The groups have launched attacks on Israel and targets in North Sinai.The kidnapping ...
JOHANNESBURG: Big wage hikes demanded by the government-allied trade union in South Africa's coal and gold industries helped push the rand to a four-year low on Monday, highlighting the ripple effect of the prospect of more turmoil in the industry.The National Union of Mineworkers' (NUM) call for pay rises of up to 60 percent in a submission to the Chamber of Mines seen by Reuters on Sunday rattled mining investors after wildcat strikes at platinum ...
LJUBLJANA: Slovenia, which has pledged to cut costs and sell off state-owned companies to help it avoid a euro zone bailout, will start the privatisations in September, Finance Minister Uros Cufer told parliament on Monday."It will take 2 to 3 quarters to complete them," Cufer said.Earlier in May Slovenia earmarked 15 companies it plans to sell to boost budget income and improve corporate governance.The firms include Slovenia's second largest bank Nova KBM , largest telecoms ...
SANTIAGO: Chile's economic growth eased in the first quarter to expand 4.1 percent year-on-year, its slowest pace of growth in a year and a half, central bank data showed on Monday.The mining and services sectors helped lift activity in the first quarter, while drops in fishing, restaurant and hotels, agriculture and livestock and industry weighed, the bank said. Gross domestic product grew 0.5 percent in the first quarter from the last quarter of 2012, compared ...
BRASILIA: Brazil's economy will grow less than three percent this year, lower than previously predicted, according to the latest forecast released Monday.Analysts and traders surveyed by the South American country's central bank said they estimate GDP will increase by 2.98 percent in 2013, anticipating for the first time that growth will not surpass 3 percent.The government, however, still forecasts growth of 3.5 percent. Last year, the economy grew just 0.9 percent.In her weekly radio address ...
LAGOS: Nigeria will increase the amount it borrows overseas to around 40 percent of all debt over the next three to five years, from 12 percent currently, to lower its funding costs, the head of the debt office said on Monday.DMO Director General, Abraham Nwankwo, said he expected Nigeria's debt to GDP ratio to fall to 17 percent over the same period from 21 percent, as Africa's second-biggest economy switches into cheaper foreign debt.The move ...More Articles...
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