Monday 21:56 GMT Overview Global equities sold off on Monday, encouraging flows into sovereign debt, after Asian markets were rattled by North Korea firing missiles into the Sea of Japan and the Federal Reserve’s interest rate meeting drew nearer. US President Donald Trump’s latest spat with the country’s security services may also be damping the mood somewhat as markets continue to price in a rate rise by […]
By Sophie Louet and Claude Canellas | PARIS/BORDEAUX PARIS/BORDEAUX Francois Fillon fought off a rebellion that had threatened to end his candidacy for the French presidency on Monday as party leaders swung behind the centre-right former prime minister despite allegations that he had misused public funds. Hours after party heavyweight Alain Juppe ruled out challenging Fillon, the conservative Republicans’ party leadership unanimously backed their beleaguered candidate, Senate […]
President Donald Trump is siding with rightwing news outlets over his own FBI director in a dispute over unsubstantiated claims that former President Barack Obama ordered the wiretapping of Mr Trump during last year’s election. Sarah Huckabee Sanders, a White House spokeswoman, said on Monday that the president does not accept FBI director James Comey’s dismissal of Mr Trump’s weekend claim that Mr Obama had tapped the […]
By David Lawder | WASHINGTON WASHINGTON Trump administration trade adviser Peter Navarro said on Monday the $65 billion U.S. trade deficit with Germany was “one of the most difficult” trade issues, and bilateral discussions were needed to reduce it outside of European Union restrictions. Navarro, the director of the new White House National Trade Council, said at an economic conference in Washington that Germany has used the […]
BELFAST Talks to save Northern Ireland’s devolved government ran straight into an obstacle on Monday as Irish nationalist party Sinn Fein repeated its demand that Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) leader Arlene Foster not return as first minister. A snap election on Friday saw Sinn Fein surge to within one seat of the DUP and deny pro-British unionist politicians a majority in the British province’s local assembly for […]
If my post-election reading and conversations I’ve had with politically active individuals is any indication, Facebook played a big role in the 2016 race. Starting last summer through Nov. 8, my Facebook feed was heavily populated with political commentary from those on both sides of the political coin. With 1.8 billion users, Facebook has become one of the world’s most influential communication mediums, and its […]
Manila – The Philippine police chief said his forces had “reloaded” and were back fighting their president’s deadly war on drugs, just over a month after they were withdrawn because of widespread corruption. President Rodrigo Duterte said in late January he had suspended all police from his crackdown on illegal drugs, which has claimed more than 6 500 lives, after describing them as “rotten to the core”. […]
By Steve Holland | WASHINGTON WASHINGTON President Donald Trump will remove Iraq from a list of countries targeted in a U.S. travel ban when he is expected to sign a new executive order on Monday after his controversial first attempt was blocked in the courts, a White House source said. The senior White House official said the new executive order would keep a 90-day ban on travel […]
Alain Juppé has ruled out a French presidential bid, putting an end to speculation that the former prime minister could have replaced François Fillon, his party’s embattled centre-right nominee. The decision ends intense party manoeuvring to try to persuade Mr Juppé to salvage the Republicans’ presidential campaign which has been battered by Mr Fillon’s deepening legal woes and dwindling support among the rightwing electorate and senior party […]
BORDEAUX, France Former prime minister Alain Juppe said on Monday he would not run in France’s presidential election and harshly criticised his party’s beleagured candidate, Francois Fillon. Juppe, who came second to Fillon in the party’s primaries in November, had been touted as a potential replacement for Fillon, engulfed by a financial scandal. “I confirm once and for all that I will not be candidate to the […]
March 15 is not only the day when the FOMC is now widely expected to hike rates by another 25 bps, and when the US debt ceiling suspension expires, but just as importantly, is the date of the 2017 Dutch General Election. Here is a full preview of what to expect courtesy of RBC Capital Markets. By way of background, the Netherlands is the euro area’s 5th-largest […]
BioWare’s next game in the Mass Effect series is set to debut in March and the developers of the game have been busy promoting it. Mass Effect: Andromeda‘s campaign will take the series in a new direction as it will not feature Commander Shepard and will instead focus on a new protagonist, Scott or Sara Ryder. Among all the excitement over the single player campaign, it seems BioWare […]
TOKYO U.S. stock futures dropped and Asian shares were on the defensive on Monday as investors weighed the near-certain prospect of an interest rate hike in the United States this month against news of slower growth in China this year. Risk appetite also took a hit on rising geopolitical tensions in East Asia, as North Korea fired four ballistic missiles early in the day, while a spat […]
“If you really care, you show up,” he said. “And I really care.” Still, during his daylong tour in Israel, Mr. Cuomo seemed to delicately embrace the idea of being an American statesman commenting on broader national themes. He called anti-Semitism a “social cancer” on underlying American ideals and spoke about its economic and social roots as evidenced in the November election. Continue reading the main story […]
PARIS Under-fire candidate Francois Fillon has lost support in France’s presidential election campaign, but fellow conservative Alain Juppe would reach the second round should he replace him, an opinion poll said on Sunday. The poll by Kantar Sofres-Onepoint was conducted between March 2 and March 4 as pressure from within Fillon’s own party mounted on him to stand down and for Juppe to take his place. It […]
By Balazs Koranyi | FRANKFURT FRANKFURT Two of the world’s biggest central banks are likely to find themselves with a bigger policy gap by the end of the coming fortnight The European Central Bank on Thursday will resist calls to start tightening policy against surging inflation but robust U.S. jobs data on Friday could seal the case for another Federal Reserve hike the week after. So, let’s […]
François Fillon put his future as French presidential candidate for the centre right in the hands of party leaders after mobilising tens of thousands of supporters at a rally in Paris. Mr Fillon said he was the victim of a “manhunt” but notably omitted to tell the crowd — mobilised as show of strength among grassroots Republicans — that he would fight on as Republican candidate despite […]
I have a confession to make: It’s been four months since Microsoft publicly unveiled the name of the next big Windows 10 feature update, and I still have no idea why it’s called the Creators Update. From Microsoft’s perspective, of course, the aspirational tagline makes perfect marketing sense and is much easier to sell than a version number or a release date. It also gives marketers the […]
WASHINGTON The White House on Sunday asked the U.S. Congress to examine whether the Obama administration abused its investigative authority during the 2016 campaign, as part of the ongoing congressional probe into Russia’s influence on the election. The request came a day after President Donald Trump alleged, without supporting evidence, that then-President Obama ordered a wiretap of the phones at Trump’s campaign headquarters in Trump Tower in […]
PARIS Embattled French presidential candidate Francois Fillon has pulled out of a Monday morning radio appearance that was to discuss his campaign, the show’s host said on Sunday. “Francois Fillon has officially cancelled his appearance on Europe 1’s morning programme,” presenter Thomas Sotto said on Twitter. Once the frontrunner, Fillon is under growing pressure to withdraw as the candidate for the right-wing Republicans party. He is mired […]
By Jessica Resnick-Ault and Lewis Krauskopf | NEW YORK NEW YORK The energy sector is the stock market’s dud so far in 2017 after a banner performance in 2016, and the rest of the year may also be rocky for investors due to the unclear path for crude oil prices. Energy outdid all other sectors last year, up nearly 24 percent thanks to a late-year rally on […]
Via Nicholas Eberstadt of CommentaryMagazine.com, On the morning of November 9, 2016, America’s elite—its talking and deciding classes—woke up to a country they did not know. To most privileged and well-educated Americans, especially those living in its bicoastal bastions, the election of Donald Trump had been a thing almost impossible even to imagine. What sort of country would go and elect someone like Trump as president? Certainly not […]
Surabaya, E Java (ANTARA News) – The National Mandate Party (PAN) said it has yet to decide who to vote for among the two pairs of candidates to contest the Jakarta gubernatorial election. PAN General Chairman Zulkifli Hasan said his party was still grieving for the loss of the pair of Agus Harimurti Yudhoyono (AHY) – Sylviana Murni, the candidates for governor and vice governor in the […]
PARIS The political committee of French party The Republicans will meet on Monday to discuss the situation of its presidential candidate Francois Fillon, the party said in a statement on Saturday. “Given the evolution of the political situation just seven weeks from the presidential election … the political committee, which includes notably the candidates of the (party) primaries, has been brought forward by 24 hours to Monday […]
