TOKYO Asian shares took a breather on Friday, slipping from 1-1/2-year highs as material shares were hit by sudden falls in copper and other commodity prices while investors assessed Washington’s stance on tax and currency policies. MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan .MIAPJ0000PUS was down 0.5 percent, giving back part of this week’s gains, though it is likely to log its fifth straight weekly advance. […]
Friday 05.00 GMT Overview Asian stocks looked set to end a solid week on a down note, taking their cue from a subdued session on Wall Street as investors looked past some optimistic comments on US tax cuts and failed to catch a boost from higher oil prices. Hot topic Steve Mnuchin, the US Treasury Secretary, said the White House wanted to pass “very significant” tax reform […]
For a century after the incredibly influential writings of Carl von Clausewitz in the early years of the 19th-century, the study of war, specifically the study of battles, occupied a regal prominence in the field of history-writing. It was taken as a given that the study of battles was illustrative, even vaguely ennobling, and monumental, multi-volume battle-histories appeared at regular intervals, often running to many reprints and […]
The deadly nerve agent VX was used in the murder of the North Korean leader Kim Jong Un’s brother, investigators in Malaysia said on Friday. Analysis of swabs from Kim Jong Nam’s eyes and face found VX, a chemical weapon, according to a preliminary report. It is described by the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention as “the most potent of all nerve agents”, with a […]
SYDNEY Indonesia President Joko Widodo will discuss the prospect of joint patrols with Australia in the South China Sea when he meets his counterpart Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull at the weekend. Widodo told The Australian newspaper he would like to see joint patrols with Australia, but only if did not further inflame tensions with China. “If there is no tension I think it’s very important to have […]
There was so much weaponry inside that visitors got searched not just on the way in, but also on the way out. Continue reading the main story The exhibition served to promote Abu Dhabi, the capital of the United Arab Emirates, which has distinguished itself as a regional hub for international business at a time when wars and uprisings have upended other Arab states. It also provided […]
By Steve Holland | WASHINGTON WASHINGTON President Donald Trump said on Thursday he wants to build up the U.S. nuclear arsenal to ensure it is at the “top of the pack,” saying the United States has fallen behind in its atomic weapons capacity. In a Reuters interview, Trump also said China could solve the national security challenge posed by North Korea “very easily if they want to,” […]
By David Shepardson and Ginger Gibson | WASHINGTON WASHINGTON President Donald Trump told about two dozen chief executives of major U.S. companies on Thursday he plans to bring millions of jobs back to the United States, but offered no specific plan on how to reverse a decades-long decline in factory jobs. In his first month in office, Trump has pressured a number of U.S. companies to hire […]
By Mehreen Zahra-Malik | LAHORE, Pakistan LAHORE, Pakistan Pakistani real estate giant Rafi Group made a ten-fold profit last year from its sale of hundreds of acres of land in the remote fishing town of Gwadar, acquired soon after the government announced plans for a deep-sea port there. The windfall came after 12 years of waiting patiently for the Gwadar port to emerge as the centrepiece of […]
Stainless steel is regaining its shine. After falling victim like many other basic industries to the global commodities downturn, companies that specialise in the rustproof metal are enjoying a change in their fortunes. An upwards spiral in share prices, bigger profits and increased payouts to investors is helping to restore the lustre in this niche of the steel market. “It’s very clear we are now in a […]
BEIJING China’s defence ministry said on Thursday it was aware of the presence of a U.S. aircraft carrier strike group in the South China Sea and China respected freedom of navigation for all countries in the waters there. The U.S. navy said the strike group, including the Nimitz-class aircraft carrier the USS Carl Vinson, began “routine operations” in the South China Sea on Saturday amid growing tension […]
Thursday 05:25 GMT Overview Asian stocks fell, following their US counterparts lower as investors digested the minutes of the Federal Reserve’s January policy meeting. Hot topic The Fed’s minutes showed that “many” policymakers thought it would be appropriate to raise short-term US interest rates again “fairly soon”, even given potential uncertainty around the new Trump administration’s economic policies and possible tax cuts. The market view on rates […]
By Brenda Goh | DANDONG, China DANDONG, China As Beijing tightens its grip on trade with North Korea, the economies of Chinese towns along the 1,400-km border the two countries share are floundering. On Saturday, China said it would ban all coal imports from North Korea, the latest move to enforce United Nations sanctions aimed at depriving Pyongyang of hard currency for its nuclear weapons and ballistic […]
Telstra has sold its remaining 6.5 percent stake in Chinese online company Autohome to Chinese insurer Ping An Insurance Group for $29.30 per share, for a total of $217 million (AU$282 million). “The divestment reflects Ping An is now well established as a strategic partner for Autohome,” Telstra said in a statement to the Australian Securities Exchange (ASX) on Thursday morning. “As a result of the sale, […]
The shelves of Guillermo Lasso’s office are lined with books that inform his politics: Adam Smith’s The Wealth of Nations; The Denationalization of Money by Friedrich Hayek; a compendium of cases about free speech from the Inter-American Court of Human Rights. “A government cannot regulate freedom of expression,” the Ecuadorean conservative opposition leader told the Financial Times before Sunday’s presidential election, in which he won more than […]
Submitted by Chris Hamilton via Econimica blog, I’m dazed & confused…economists and the consensus all acknowledge 2001 and 2007 were low interest rate, debt driven financial and economic bubbles. However, somehow today’s even lower interest rate environment resulting in an additional $9.5 trillion in equity valuation from the last bubble peak…this one is legit and isn’t a bubble??? What I’m even more confused about is who, exactly, is buying all the […]
Political uncertainty is slowing trade growth, a World Bank report has concluded, indicating that the rise of Donald Trump may already be casting a shadow over the global economy. Major international institutions such as the IMF, the OECD and World Bank have recently upgraded their forecasts of global economic growth largely due to expectations that tax cuts, rising infrastructure spending and a wave of deregulation will boost the […]
Wednesday 12:45 GMT Overview US equity futures suggest Wall Street will dip from record levels that were reached amid a positive outlook for economic growth. Political concerns leave the euro carrying the wooden spoon in the forex markets, while the rush for supposed havens pushes short term German bond yields to their lowest ever. Hot topic The FTSE All-World equity index is at another record, up 0.1 […]
BEIJING Authorities in a violence prone area of China’s western Xinjiang region are offering 100 million yuan ($14.5 million) in rewards for anti-terror tips, state media said, a policy that coincides with a dramatic rise in regional security spending. Hundreds of people have been killed in Xinjiang in the past few years, most in unrest between members of the Muslim Uighur minority, who call the region home, […]
By Henning Gloystein | SINGAPORE SINGAPORE Oil traders from around the world, including the United States, Britain and Brazil, have tripled their sales to Asia as they take advantage of an emerging supply gap following OPEC-led production cuts announced late last year. Around 30 supertankers have this month made long-haul trips to ship crude oil from the Americas, the North Sea and the Mediterranean to refineries across […]
Photo Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel, left, with his host, Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull, in Sydney, Australia, on Wednesday. The visit was a first by a sitting Israeli leader. Credit Jason Reed/Reuters SYDNEY, Australia — Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel was warmly welcomed here Wednesday by his Australian counterpart, Malcolm Turnbull, with the Israeli leader promoting the two countries’ growing ties as Israel faces rising […]
Australia’s mobile networks have again risen in the global rankings to being the fifth fastest in the world with an overall speed of 26.25Mbps across 3G and 4G, according to telecommunications coverage mapping company OpenSignal’s latest report. South Korea was ranked first, with 37.54Mbps overall speeds — calculated on the average mobile data connection based on speeds and availability of 3G and 4G networks — followed by […]
MANILA The foreign minister of the Philippines expressed doubt on Wednesday that a maritime sovereignty dispute with China could be resolved “during our lifetime”, so it was better to set it aside, engage Beijing and avoid an armed confrontation. In a defence of President Rodrigo Duterte’s decision not to push China to abide by an international arbitration ruling that went in Manila’s favour last year, Foreign Secretary […]
By David Brunnstrom | WASHINGTON WASHINGTON U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson spoke by telephone with China’s top diplomat on Tuesday and affirmed the importance of a constructive U.S.-China relationship, and the two agreed on the need to address the threat posed by North Korea, the State Department said. Tillerson and Yang Jiechi, China’s state councillor who outranks the foreign minister, also discussed economics and trade as […]
