ABU DHABI // A former Russian diplomat said on Wednesday that dialogue was the key to strong international relations and that his country was capable of being good friends with GCC states and Iran. Veniamin Popov, a former Russian ambassador to Yemen, Libya and Tunisia, said in Abu Dhabi that president Vladimir Putin wanted to see an end to all conflict in the Middle East and hoped […]
DUBAI // The UAE has cracked the top 20 list of countries with the most billionaires for the first time. The Emirates is home to 21 ultra-rich individuals, giving it a ranking of 19, according to the China-based Hurun Global Rich List 2017. “The world today has 5,000 dollar billionaires, assuming that for every one we have found we have missed at least one,” said Rupert Hoogewerf, […]
For many, South Korea’s decision to host a missile shield to defend against its hostile northern neighbour should not be controversial. In the past month alone, North Korea has fired six ballistic missiles, with a barrage of four successful launches on Monday trumpeted by Pyongyang as being a drill targeting US bases in Japan. But in a region riven by simmering historical grievances, Seoul’s move has sparked a bitter […]
By Tim Kelly and Nobuhiro Kubo | TOKYO TOKYO Rattled by North Korean military advances, influential Japanese lawmakers are pushing harder for Japan to develop the ability to strike preemptively at the missile facilities of its nuclear-armed neighbour. Japan has so far avoided taking the controversial and costly step of acquiring bombers or weapons such as cruise missiles with enough range to strike other countries, relying instead […]
By Rozanna Latiff and Liz Lee | KUALA LUMPUR KUALA LUMPUR Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak struck a softer tone with North Korea on Wednesday, a day after accusing it of treating Malaysians as “hostages” amid a diplomatic meltdown over the murder of the estranged half-brother of the North’s leader. Malaysian police have identified eight North Koreans wanted for questioning in connection with the killing of Kim […]
SEOUL A man claiming to be the son of the slain, estranged half brother of North Korea’s leader said he was lying low with his mother and sister, in a video posted online by a group that said it helped rescue them following the murder a month ago. The governments of Netherlands, China, the United States, and a fourth unnamed country provided emergency humanitarian assistance to protect […]
The Chinese government has long resented accusations that, as US President Donald Trump put it in a tweet in early January, it “won’t help with North Korea”. On Wednesday China’s foreign minister used a colourful metaphor to describe his government’s position on the crisis-prone Korean peninsula, likening Pyongyang, Seoul and Washington to “runaway trains” that Beijing was doing its best to stop. The press conference by Wang […]
When the headline prints hit tonight on China’s trade data, offshore Yuan dipped and ripped… As China faced its first trade deficit in 3 years (-$60bn vs +172.5bn exp)… Obviously there is some major seaonality With imports exploding 44.7% YoY (and exports missing expectations dramatically +4.2% vs +14.6% exp). But it appears the economists forgot about this year’s lunar new year holiday falling in January (vs […]
By Matt Spetalnick and David Brunnstrom | WASHINGTON WASHINGTON Faced with a growing test of resolve for a new U.S. president who vowed while campaigning to get tough on North Korea, Donald Trump’s aides are pressing to complete a strategy review on how to counter Pyongyang’s missile and nuclear threats. Pyongyang’s latest missile launches and the assassination in Malaysia of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un’s estranged […]
By Saikat Chatterjee | HONG KONG HONG KONG Asian stocks edged lower on Wednesday after a strong start to the week due to profit-taking as investors lacked conviction to buy risky assets before a U.S. policy meeting next week that may see interest rates rising for the second time in three months. MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan eased 0.1 percent in early trade, a […]
March 8, 2017 by: Shawn Donnan and Demetri Sevastopulo in Washington ZTE has agreed to plead guilty to criminal charges of violating US sanctions on North Korea and Iran and to pay up to $1.2bn in fines, the largest sanctions-busting penalty levied against a Chinese company by Washington. The Chinese telecommunications group also admitted to obstructing a federal investigation as part of a settlement announced on Tuesday […]
Shanghai is regarded as the leading hub outside of Silicon Valley for technology innovations for the next four years, according to a KPMG report released on Monday. The report, claiming to reflect the viewpoints of over 800 global technology business leaders, placed Shanghai, New York, Tokyo, Beijing, and London in the first five places. The report explained that Shanghai became the top pick outside of Silicon Valley […]
Highlights of the day for U.S. President Donald Trump’s administration on Tuesday: HEALTHCARE Trump endorses a plan by Republican lawmakers to replace the Obamacare healthcare law but influential conservative groups come out strongly against it, complicating the proposal’s prospects for passage in Congress. Shares of large U.S. pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies are selling off after Trump says he is working on a system to reduce prices in […]
Via Patrick Buchanan via Buchanan.org, At Mar-a-Lago this weekend President Donald Trump was filled “with fury” says The Washington Post, “mad — steaming, raging, mad.” Early Saturday the fuming president exploded with this tweet: “Terrible! Just found out that Obama had my ‘wires tapped’ in Trump Tower just before the victory. Nothing found. This is McCarthyism!” The president has reason to be enraged. For what is afoot […]
How do you solve a problem like China’s excess corn stocks? Use it to make translucent film for greenhouses is one answer, its most influential agricultural expert said on Monday, as Beijing casts about for ways to rid itself of unwanted stores of corn and other agricultural commodities built up in recent years. The end of China’s failed minimum price policy for corn has forced a restructuring of […]
Etihad Aviation Group employs nearly 10,000 women as it marks International Women’s Day 07 March 2017 Her Highness Dr. Sheikha Shamma bint Mohammed Al Nahyan has made a special visit to Etihad’s Global Business Service Solutions (GBSS) facility in Al Ain. Today’s visit was part of Etihad Aviation Group’s (EAG) activities to mark International Women’s Day, recognised internationally on 8 March each year to celebrate the achievements […]
North Korea barred Malaysians from leaving the country on Tuesday, sparking tit-for-tat action by Malaysia, as police investigating the murder of Kim Jong Nam in Kuala Lumpur sought to question three men hiding in the North Korean embassy. Following is a chronology of ties between the two countries. 1973 – Malaysia and North Korea establish diplomatic ties. 1995 – Malaysia hosts talks between the United States and […]
BEIJING China’s civil code pre-amble, expected to be passed next Wednesday by the National People’s Congress, promises to address a number of legal questions: – The pre-amble draft requires companies rights and obligations are determined in a “fair” and “reasonable” way. The previous principles only required “fairness”. Some lawyers say this could mean companies and individuals are compensated at market rates if they are forced to move […]
By Rozanna Latiff and Ju-min Park | KUALA LUMPUR/SEOUL KUALA LUMPUR/SEOUL North Korea barred Malaysians from leaving the country on Tuesday, sparking tit-for-tat action by Malaysia, as police investigating the murder of Kim Jong Nam in Kuala Lumpur sought to question three men hiding in the North Korean embassy. Malaysia’s Prime Minister Najib Razak accused North Korea of “effectively holding our citizens hostage” and scheduled an emergency […]
07 March 2017 Geneva – The International Air Transport Association (IATA) released data for global air freight markets showing that demand, measured in freight tonne kilometers (FTKs), rose 6.9% in January 2017 compared to the year-earlier period. While this was down from the 10% annual growth recorded in December 2016 it still was well above the average annual growth rate of 3% over the past five years. Growth […]
March 7, 2017 by: Song Jung-a and Bryan Harris in Seoul and Jeevan Vasagar in Singapore North Korea’s latest missile tests were a rehearsal for an attack on US forces in Japan, Pyongyang has revealed, ratcheting up tensions with two of its sworn enemies even as relations with erstwhile ally Malaysia took a nosedive. The increasingly isolated nation on Monday launched a barrage of ballistic missiles into […]
Tuesday 02:00 GMT Overview Markets were in wait-and-see mode in Asia trading with investors in Australia awaiting an interest rates decision from the country’s central bank. Hot topic Tokyo’s Topix index was flat, while the Nikkei 225 index was off 0.1 per cent. Nintendo was a bright spot with its shares climbing just over 2 per cent, on track for a third straight day of gains following […]
SHANGHAI A senior Chinese nuclear power executive has said the country needs to accelerate the construction of new nuclear power plants if it is to meet targets to boost its use of nuclear energy, lower pollution and cut reliance on traditional fuel sources. He Yu, chairman of state-owned China General Nuclear Power Corp (CGN) said the country needed to build between four and six nuclear reactors each […]
We aren’t the world. The most talked-about brands of Mobile World Congress are almost entirely irrelevant to Americans. Some of that doesn’t matter, but the reasons for it are worth talking about. During the world’s biggest mobile conference, everybody was super excited about the Nokia 3310. I found the whole hullaballoo perplexing. But circa 2000, everybody in the UK owned this phone, and they have […]
