Royal Dutch Shell has struck deals worth up to $4.7bn to sell offshore oil and gas assets in the North Sea and Thailand, adding momentum to the debt-reduction programme launched after its $50bn takeover of BG Group. The Anglo-Dutch group said on Tuesday it had agreed to sell a package of UK North Sea assets to Chrysaor, a small British company backed by EIG Partners, a US […]
The great Trump reflation story, which points to strong equities, weak bonds and a highly valued dollar, is by now thoroughly entrenched in the minds of global investors. Not without reason. But when conviction is near-universal in markets it makes sense to ponder what investors might be missing. For my money the most likely flaw in this narrative relates to the cost of protectionist policies. There is […]
TOKYO Japan must make public places in Tokyo smoke-free by the time it hosts the 2020 Summer Olympics or risk falling afoul of International Olympic Committee (IOC) rules that call for a healthy games, activists said on Tuesday. Japan’s health minister has said the government is eager to stamp out smoking in public by the time the capital hosts the Olympics. But smoking remains so entrenched there […]
By Praveen Menon and Pairat Temphairojana | KUALA LUMPUR/BANGKOK KUALA LUMPUR/BANGKOK Seeking to capitalise on U.S. President Donald Trump’s controversial new travel restrictions, companies and officials in Asia said they would target greater tourism and education ties with Muslims worried about the curbs. Trump’s Friday directive put a 120-day hold on allowing refugees into the country, an indefinite ban on refugees from Syria and a 90-day bar […]
Australian rail freight company Aurizon has announced the termination of its Freight Management Transformation (FMT) project, contracted to SAP since 2014, resulting in an impairment charge of AU$64 million. The FMT project in 2014 attempted to bring 18 separate legacy systems used for logistics planning, scheduling, ordering, and billing into a single platform. However, following a review of the project, the Australian Securities Exchange (ASX)-listed company has […]
The publication of Michael Lewis’s book Flash Boys in 2014 thrust the arcane world of ultra-high frequency trading firms into the popular consciousness, prompting debate over everything from the industry’s morality to the possible risks it posed to financial stability. What was undeniable was how several of these companies were staggeringly profitable, generating hundreds of millions of dollars by trading at speeds made up of fractions of […]
JEDDAH: The Palestinian Authority has urged the International Criminal Court (ICC) to speed up rulings on key issues including Israeli settlements, an official has told Arab News. The authority asked ICC chief prosecutor Fatou Bensouda to expedite rulings on three Palestinian files in order to open a judicial inquiry into the Israeli government’s violations of international law, said Saeb Erekat, secretary-general of the Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO).This […]
Telstra has announced the launch of its gigabit-capable 4G mobile network in three capital cities throughout Australia, allowing users with compatible devices to attain speeds of up to 1Gbps amid promises that it will also upgrade its standard 4G network to 300Mbps speeds for 80 percent of its footprint by 2019. Already available at certain sites across Sydney, Melbourne, and Brisbane, Telstra said it would launch the […]
Syrian armed forces appear to have retaken the contested Barada Valley area north of Damascus, the capital’s main source of water, signaling a possible end to a war-induced shortage that has left millions of inhabitants thirsty and dirty for six weeks. Syrian government news media reported on Monday that hundreds of rebel fighters and their families had evacuated the Barada Valley, under an agreement reached on Sunday. […]
By Hamid Shalizi and James Mackenzie | KABUL KABUL Atta Mohammad Noor, one of Afghanistan’s most powerful regional leaders, is in talks with President Ashraf Ghani to join the central government, a move that could shake up the country’s politics ahead of elections scheduled for 2019. Negotiations have been going on for weeks, and while the outcome is uncertain and it is unclear what role Noor would […]
Microsoft was finalising plans to borrow at least $14bn Monday, in what will be the largest corporate bond sale of the year so far, as the US technology company joins a rush to tap debt markets ahead of expected interest rate rises later this year. The deal will rank as one of the largest ever corporate debt sales not to finance a takeover, and follows a bumper […]
Dubai will award 47 construction contracts worth 11 billion dirhams ($3 billion) to local and foreign companies this year as it prepares to host the 2020 World Expo, the government-backed body arranging the world’s fair said on Monday. That would leave Dubai on track to complete most construction a year before the fair opens in October 2020, Expo 2020 Dubai said. Deals worth over 2 billion dirhams […]
By Jon Herskovitz | COLLEGE STATION, Texas COLLEGE STATION, Texas The leaders of the only private university in North Korea asked Texas A&M University, known for its agricultural economics and public health programs, for help on Monday in teaching subjects such as how to grow food in a land of chronic shortages. The Pyongyang University of Science and Technology (PUST) was founded by evangelical Christians and opened […]
By Gertrude Chavez-Dreyfuss and Anna Irrera | NEW YORK NEW YORK Day traders love making bets on tweets from U.S. President Donald Trump, but some of the most prominent quantitative strategists from hedge funds and banks are not quite ready to make big, bold trades on his social media musings. The president’s active Twitter presence has lifted volatility in financial markets, which is good for day traders […]
Nusret Gökçe– aka ‘salt bae’ – is planning to open a restaurant in the UK capital and New York City. The Turkish restaurateur is currently enjoying his 15 minutes of fame after videos of him flamboyantly butchering and seasoning meat went viral. The videos, posted on Nusret’s Instagram, quickly spurred a host of memes that also went viral, and his image was then spray-painted onto walls in […]
ISLAMABAD Pakistan on Monday ordered Hafiz Saeed, accused by the United States and India of masterminding the 2008 attacks on the Indian financial capital Mumbai that killed 166 people, placed under house arrest, a spokesman for Saeed’s organisation said. Police arrived at the headquarters of the Jamaat ud Dawa charity that Saeed runs in the eastern city of Lahore with orders to place him under house arrest, […]
Aberdeen Asset Management and Franklin Templeton Investments are among asset managers pushing Mexican authorities to overhaul two practices they say are harming investor confidence in a country that has been in global crosshairs since US president Donald Trump took office earlier this month. Cartica, a US-based asset manager focused on emerging markets, is leading a charge from the firms to push listed Mexican companies to give at […]
European, Asian stocks and S&P futures all drop after traders were left with a sour taste from the potential fallout of Donald Trump’s order halting some immigration and ahead of central bank decisions from the U.S. and Japan. Markets in Hong Kong, China, Malaysia, Korea, Singapore, Taiwan and Vietnam are all shut due to the Lunar New Year public holiday, leading to a quiet Asian session. Oil […]
Vodafone is in talks about a merger of its Indian operations with rival Idea Cellular, a deal that would create a mobile network with around 370m users and form one of the largest telecoms companies in the world. The British mobile operator said in a statement on Monday that it was “in discussions” with Aditya Birla Group about an all-share deal. Vodafone shares rose more than 3 […]
Leaders in Iran and Iraq, two of the countries targeted by Mr. Trump’s order, issued furious denunciations on Sunday and vowed to take retaliatory measures. But the silence in the capitals of Muslim-majority countries unaffected by the order reflected a lack of solidarity and an enduring uncertainty about the direction that Mr. Trump’s foreign policy might take in some of the world’s most volatile corners. Continue reading […]
By Ed Cropley | ADDIS ABABA ADDIS ABABA The African Union is due to choose a new leader on Monday in a vote more likely to expose differences over the International Criminal Court and other issues than reaffirm the continent’s solidarity and common purpose. In a clear split, three of its four major regions – the south, the east and the largely Francophone west – are supporting […]
London Business School’s leading thinkers give us their views on the challenges and opportunities that businesses will encounter in 2017. Disruptive opportunities “2017 will be the year of disruption,” says Costas Markides, professor of strategy and entrepreneurship and executive education faculty director. “Every industry will be affected by some kind of discontinuity or disruption – whether it’s the invasion of new business models or the arrival of […]
By Frank McGurty and Nathan Frandino | NEW YORK/WASHINGTON NEW YORK/WASHINGTON Tens of thousands of people rallied in U.S. cities and at airports on Sunday to voice outrage over President Donald Trump’s executive order restricting entry into the country for travelers from seven Muslim-majority nations. In New York, Washington and Boston, a second wave of demonstrations followed spontaneous rallies that broke out at U.S. airports on Saturday […]
January 30, 2017 by: Anna Nicolaou in New York Several people were shot and killed in a Quebec mosque on Sunday night, police said. Gunmen opened fire during evening prayer in an Islamic cultural centre in the capital city of Canada’s French-speaking province. Quebec’s police said two suspects were arrested and reported “several” victims, including deaths. The mosque’s president told Reuters that five people were killed. “Tonight, […]
