ICANN became independent on October 1, 2016 after the expiration of an 18-year contract to manage the technical functions of the internet address system which ensure that users arrive at certain websites The internet address system gatekeeper, independent after a split from the US government, is now in a phase where “the grassroots are in charge,” its top executive said Tuesday. Goran Marby, president and chief executive […]
5791 25 by Shannon K. O’Neil October 21, 2016 Brazil’s President Michel Temer, Russian President Vladimir Putin, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Chinese President Xi Jinping and South African President Jacob Zuma pose for a group picture during BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa) Summit in Benaulim, in the western state of Goa, India, October 16, 2016 (Reuters/Danish Siddiqui). BRICS Fund InfrastructureAs commodity prices have […]
BEIJING China called on Wednesday on Taiwan to stay out of Hong Kong’s affairs, saying self-ruled Taiwan was “talking nonsense” about the former British colony and warning it not to damage Hong Kong’s stability. Chinese leaders are concerned about a fledgling independence movement in Hong Kong, which returned to mainland rule in 1997 with a promise of autonomy, and recent protests in the city. Beijing staged a […]
TAIPEI/BEIJING Taiwan has expressed its “stern opposition” to Malaysia’s deportation of 21 Taiwanese suspected of multi-million dollar telecoms fraud to China, the latest example of a problem that has strained cross-Strait ties. China’s official Xinhua news agency said the 21 Taiwanese were among 74 fraud suspects who were escorted from Malaysia by Chinese police and arrived in Wuhan in central China late on Tuesday. The other 53 […]
BEIJING Foreign non-governmental organisations (NGOs) in China must provide details of where their funding comes from and show that their chief representative has no criminal record, the government said of new rules due to come into effect next year. Western governments have lambasted the foreign NGO law passed in April, saying it treats the groups as a criminal threat and would effectively force many out of the […]
November 30, 2016 by: FT Confidential Research The FTCR China Business Activity Index, a composite reading of the month-on-month change in activity in the real estate, export and freight sectors, fell to a 10-month low in November. The index dropped to 47.8 from 50 in October, below last November’s 48.6. Our BAI readings have always fallen sequentially in November but this is the weakest reading for the […]
Beijing is launching an investigation into alleged corrupt dealings by the spouses and children of officials in the city’s municipal government, in a pointed reminder to more powerful residents of the city to rein in their relatives’ behaviour. An audit of their assets would take place next year and on a rotating basis in subsequent years, the official Xinhua news agency said on Monday night. Like London […]
I’m willing to bet that self-driving cars are not high on president-elect Donald Trump’s list of policy priorities in his first 100 days in office. He’ll likely be so overwhelmed with the immediate demands of his office and squaring his campaign promises with his party’s often-competing agenda that federal regulation of autonomous vehicles will be on the backburner for a while. But with autonomy accelerating […]
This Christmas, tuck into the turkey but go easy on the pudding. Britons are facing a jump in prices for traditional pudding ingredients as the Brexit vote has sharply weakened the pound. However, the cost of Christmas dinners is almost unchanged from a year ago despite a rise in pork and vegetables. The slumping pound has helped push up the cost of key ingredients for Christmas pudding […]
5825 25 by Shannon K. O’Neil November 4, 2016 DATE IMPORTED:November 02, 2016Protestors call for the removal of President Jacob Zuma outside court in Pretoria, South Africa, November 2, 2016 (Reuters/Mike Hutchings). Report May Bring Down South Africa’s President New allegations may finally bring down teflon president Jacob Zuma. Despite his earlier legal protests, South Africa’s public protector’s office released a report suggesting that a wealthy family close […]
Al Wadei: The rules of the E-Commerce game have changed after the introduction of “noon.com” 29 November 2016 E commerce expert, Dr Sadeq Al-Wadei, revealed that after the inauguration of noon.com in January 2017, it would utterly change E-Commerce platforms as we know them whilst emphasizing on the fact that it would entirely change this trade in Saudi Arabia over the coming few years. In addition, it […]
Tuesday 15:15 GMT Overview The dollar and Treasury yields are steadying, but US equities are edging lower, as stronger-than expected US GDP data raise concerns that the Federal Reserve may quicken the pace of interest rate rises. The firmer buck is adding to pressure on commodity prices, with gold selling off and oil prices sliding on scepticism over an Opec deal to curb output. Hot topic It […]
Migrant workers categorize crayons at a toy factory in Dongguan, Guangdong province March 9, 2010. South China’s export stronghold Guangdong is experiencing labour shortages that could result in higher wages, but they are not as severe as reported by the media, provincial Communist Party boss Wang Yang said (Reuters/Joe Tan). Global trade and the supply chains that support it are undergoing a period of profound change. Supply […]
5863 25 by Shannon K. O’Neil November 18, 2016 A police officer from the SWAT team stands guard during an anti-drugs operation in Mandaluyong, Metro Manila in the Philippines, November 12, 2016 (Reuters/Erik De Castro). Philippines’ Duterte Tries to Take Down Critic Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte brooks no dissent. His latest backlash is against one of his most outspoken critics, Senator Leila de Lima. After she opened […]
Government Communications Headquarters, the UK signals intelligence agency, in Cheltenham, United Kingdom. (UK Ministry of Defence). Alex Grigsby is the assistant director for the Digital and Cyberspace Policy program at the Council on Foreign Relations. Two weeks ago, with much fanfare, the United Kingdom released a new strategy that sets out UK government’s approach to improving the country’s cybersecurity over the next five years. It follows the UK’s previous […]
An employee of a foreign exchange trading company works near monitors showing U.S. President-elect Donald Trump speaking on TV news (top) in Tokyo, Japan, November 9, 2016. (Toru Hanai/Reuters). With Donald Trump’s victory, the prospects for digital trade have dimmed. This development owes much to the hostility towards trade that Trump brings to the presidency. But it also involves shifts more fundamental than Trump’s rejection of trade […]
With the dollar’s rally easing up, China’s central bank has set the trading band for its currency stronger for a second straight day. The People’s Bank of China set the midpoint of the renminbi’s 4 per cent trading band against the dollar at Rmb6.88890 on Tuesday, stronger by 0.22 per cent from Monday. That brings the fix 0.4 per cent firmer from the last time it weakened […]
Over the years, I have often written about Silicon Valley’s desire for Washington to stay out of its hair. Except for lucrative defense contracts, the tech industry would prefer to work unrestrained by politics and government regulations. That trend lasted well into the early 1990s, but when Bill Clinton was running for president, John Doerr of Kleiner Perkins and then-CEO of Cisco, John Chambers, figured […]
By J.R. Wu | ITU ABA, South China Sea ITU ABA, South China Sea Taiwan held rescue drills on Tuesday off the coast of its sole outpost in the Spratly Islands of the South China Sea, but the biggest claimant in the disputed area kept uncharacteristically quiet. China and self-governed Taiwan seldom see eye to eye, but in responding to Taipei’s latest assertion of sovereignty over Itu […]
“Putin looks tough and wily, while America looks incompetent and unable to sustain its commitment, and that’s a big win because you have a lot of countries in the region which are re-evaluating their relationships,” Mr. Hokayem said. “Now, Russia is a relatively weaker power to the U.S., but with Trump there’s no expectation that the U.S. will serve as a guarantor of regional security, so Russia […]
Tuesday 06:00 GMT Overview Markets across Asia were trading cautiously as Wall Street and the US dollar weakened overnight and the price of oil has pulled back. European bourses are expected to open a touch weaker, with spreadbetters predicting the UK’s FTSE 100 will slip about 10 points to 6,790 and Germany’s Dax to drop 20 points to 10,562. US index futures suggest the S&P 500 will […]
The Chicago Stock Exchange, which is seeking to win approval for a controversial takeover deal by Chinese investors, on Monday said that two companies controlled by the Lu family would own a combined 39 per cent of the exchange, but their voting power would be limited to 20 per cent. In a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission, the Chicago exchange detailed the underlying investors in […]
The persistent notion that Mr. Castro’s fastball had made him a potential big league prospect has long been debunked by historians. By many accounts, his primary sport as a schoolboy was basketball. He was tall, at 6-foot-2 or 6-foot-3, and he told the biographer Tad Szulc that the anticipation, speed and dexterity required for basketball most approximated the skills needed for revolution. Yet it was primarily baseball, […]
By Sue-Lin Wong | DANDONG, China DANDONG, China A labour agent sat in his bus on a recent frigid morning, waiting to cross the “Friendship Bridge” at China’s main border post with North Korea. He had come to pick up migrant workers and take them to jobs in factories and restaurants in China. The single-lane bridge in the border city of Dandong is the main gateway for international trade […]
