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King Salman Upends Status Quo in Region and the Royal Family

Photo Workers preparing an image of King Salman, Saudi Arabia’s new monarch of several months, to put up in a building in Riyadh. Credit Tomas Munita for The New York Times RIYADH, Saudi Arabia — For much of the past decade, change has come slowly to Saudi Arabia , if at all. The oil-rich kingdom was led by an ailing monarch who worked quietly behind the scenes to preserve the status quo, propping up friendly dictators around the Middle East and depending on a leadership of aging princes at home. But in the few months since the death of King Abdullah in January, the new king, Salman, has moved fast to reshape foreign and domestic policies. He has rattled alliances with the United States and regional powers that for decades have been the bedrock of stability for his kingdom, and he has also shaken up the Saudi royal family. […]

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Houthi Rebels Agree to 5-Day Cease-Fire in Yemen

Photo People fleeing in Sana on Sunday after airstrikes hit the home of Ali Abdullah Saleh, Yemen’s former president. Credit Mohamed Al-Sayaghi/Reuters SANA, Yemen — Houthi rebels here said on Sunday that they had agreed to a five-day cease-fire proposed by Saudi Arabia that would allow humanitarian relief supplies to be delivered to the country, according to statements carried by a Houthi news agency. Yet as the Houthis accepted the limited truce, the Saudi-led military coalition bombed the residential compound of Ali Abdullah Saleh , Yemen ’s former president and the Houthis’ most important ally in the war. The residence, in Sana, the Yemeni capital, was struck at least seven times early Sunday, witnesses said. Mr. Saleh, who survived, made a defiant statement on television afterward, standing amid the rubble of his compound. The cease-fire would begin at 11 p.m. Tuesday. Since proposing a halt in the hostilities last […]

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China Cuts Interest Rates as Economic Growth Slows

ENLARGE BEIJING—China cut interest rates for the third time in six months amid a worse-than-expected economic slowdown, as authorities scramble to ease the heavy debt burdens of companies and governments. The People’s Bank of China said Sunday it would shave a quarter of a percentage point off benchmark lending and deposit rates, effective Monday. The move comes as senior Chinese officials are growing more fearful that the mountain of debt from the rapid expansion of credit over the past few years is weighing on efforts to pick up the world’s second-largest economy. In one of the starkest official warnings about China’s growing debt woes, the PBOC said in its monetary-policy report Friday that the “rising debt size is forcing China to use a lot of resources in repaying and rolling over debt” while limiting the room for further fiscal expansion. The central bank is also considering a credit-easing tool […]

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Doctors Group Recounts Migrant Rescue as E.U. Plans Crackdown on Smuggling Rings

Photo Migrants waited to exit the Phoenix after arriving in Sicily. The ship rescued them from dinghies stranded in the Mediterranean. Credit Francesco Malavolta/Associated Press UNITED NATIONS — Loaded with life jackets, medics and search-and-rescue teams, the ship sailed from port in Malta early last Thursday morning in search of migrants stranded at sea. The first dinghy was found by midday, a wooden fishing boat, piled with 118 people, including 25 children, said Will Turner, head of a Doctors Without Borders team on board. The sea was rough. The wind swept the boat from side to side in six-foot swells, he recalled. The toughest part was ensuring that the babies — there were nine children under 5 — could be handed over safely, not dropped into the water or crushed between the boats. Mr. Turner told this story on Friday in a Skype interview from the ship, the Phoenix, […]

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The Nigerian military is so broken, its soldiers are refusing to fight

LAGOS, Nigeria — As the Nigerian military battled Boko Haram over the past year, scores of soldiers made a decision that would put their lives in grave danger — they refused to fight. It wasn’t for lack of bravery, they said. It was for lack of weapons. At least 66 of the soldiers have been found guilty of mutiny and sentenced to death by firing squad. Dozens more remain in detention, awaiting trial. The Nigerian government describes them as cowards. Their supporters say they are scapegoats. “They joined the army to fight, not to commit suicide,” said Femi Falana, an attorney for 59 of the soldiers. The cases have opened a rare window into the Nigerian military, once one of the strongest in Africa but now struggling to combat an insurgency of several thousand fighters. Rebuilding the army is a major challenge for Muhammadu Buhari, who assumes the presidency […]

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China cuts interest rates for third time in six months as economy sputters

BEIJING China cut interest rates for the third time in six months on Sunday in a bid to lower companies’ borrowing costs and stoke a sputtering economy that is headed for its worst year in a quarter of a century. The People’s Bank of China (PBOC) said on its website it was lowering its benchmark, one-year lending rate by 25 basis points to 5.1 percent from May 11. It cut the benchmark deposit rate by the same amount to 2.25 percent. "China’s economy is still facing relatively big downward pressure," the central bank said in a separate statement. "At the same time, the overall level of domestic prices remains low, and real interest rates are still higher than the historical average," it said. Sunday’s rate cut came just days after weaker-than-expected April trade and inflation data, highlighting that the world’s second-largest economy is under persistent pressure from softness in […]

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China becomes world’s top crude buyer despite economy stuttering

SINGAPORE China overtook the United States as the world’s top importer of crude oil for the first time in April, and its purchases are expected to remain strong despite a slowing economy, with far-reaching consequences for global oil and commodities markets. The soaring imports came as a surprise as growth in the world’s second-largest economy was sputtering and its oil demand was expected to ease. However, low oil prices and China’s series of interest rate cuts – including one over the weekend – in a bid to stoke growth are factors boosting demand. China’s crude oil imports hit a record of almost 7.4 million barrels a day (bpd) last month, putting it ahead of the United States’ estimated imports of 7.2 million bpd for April, Reuters data show. While China may drop back to second place in some months ahead, it is clearly headed towards overtaking the United States […]

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Obama’s quiet nuclear deal with China raises proliferation concerns

It seemed like a typical day for President Obama. He taped a TV interview on trade, hosted the champion NASCAR team on the South Lawn and met with the defense secretary in the Oval Office. Not so typical was something that didn’t appear that day on the president’s public schedule: notification to Congress that he intends to renew a nuclear cooperation agreement with China . The deal would allow Beijing to buy more U.S.-designed reactors and pursue a facility or the technology to reprocess plutonium from spent fuel. China would also be able to buy reactor coolant technology that experts say could be adapted to make its submarines quieter and harder to detect. The formal notice initially didn’t draw any headlines. Its unheralded release on April 21 reflected the administration’s anxiety that it might alarm members of Congress and nonproliferation experts who fear China’s growing naval power — and […]

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Could drought slow America’s most vibrant economy?

It is a tantalizing question facing the future of the American West: What would happen if the Colorado River dried up? The scenario, though unlikely anytime soon, is a stark way to consider the growing effects of climate change and drought on the region. And when researchers at Arizona State looked into it this year, they found a story of economic disaster. The seven states that rely on the Colorado for at least some of their water supply — from Wyoming down to Southern California — would lose 16 million jobs, many in health care, high technology and arts and recreation. The fewest job losses would come in agriculture. Nonetheless, in the West, it’s agriculture that still gets the lion’s share of the water. That’s the great tension for Western states — and the U.S. economy — as global temperatures rise and drought intensifies in coming years. This region […]

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Oil’s Spoils Slow to Flow

Pumpjacks operating at the Kern River Oil Field, in Bakersfield, Calif. ENLARGE Photo: Associated Press The drop in oil prices was supposed to help the economy this year. So far, it seems to have mostly hurt. The theory of why lower oil costs should boost U.S. growth is simple. Despite gains in domestic production from the shale boom, the country is a still a net importer of crude. So when oil prices fall, American consumers and businesses spend less money on stuff produced abroad, leaving them with more to spend on stuff produced at home. And gross domestic product goes up. Yet GDP expanded at an annual rate of just 0.2% in the first quarter-a figure likely to be revised lower. And while some weakness was due to severe weather and West Coast port problems, growth this quarter is looking muted. Forecasting firm Macroeconomic Advisers expects GDP to grow […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple