Greece is planning to appoint Rothschild to advise on its debts as the country attempts to end a long-running creditor stand-off and avert default. Government officials hope to finalise the appointment before a gathering of eurozone finance ministers on February 20 that has been described as the last chance for Greece’s lenders to overcome their differences before European attention shifts to general elections in eurozone countries. Unless […]
Former president Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono believes the government is behind the onslaught launched by former chairman of Corruption Eradication Commission Antasari Azhar against his family’s image. Yudhoyono says he felt defamed by Antasari who claimed on Tuesday that his murder case was the result of a plot by the then president because Antasari did not comply with Yudhoyono’s instructions. Antasari has alleged Yudhoyono was behind the murder […]
A few days before the retreat, I met up with the man who, perhaps more than any other figure in the conservative movement, had maneuvered the party toward complete and unbending opposition to Obamacare: Michael Needham of the Heritage Foundation. Needham, 35, is the chief executive of Heritage Action for America, a feral cur of a lobbying organization established by the venerable conservative think tank in 2010 […]
A striking feature of global financial markets since the crises of 2007 and 2008 has been the high propensity of many wealthy private investors to sit out all the turmoil, holding cash in bank accounts rather than in riskier assets. Might that be about to change? The word among bankers in conservative Switzerland — the world’s largest centre for cross-border private wealth management — is that it […]
By Cindy Silviana and Eveline Danubrata | JAKARTA JAKARTA Supporters of the governor of Indonesia’s capital are hoping their checkered shirts in red, white and blue will help galvanize the vote in a city election on Wednesday and win a second term for their leader. Basuki Tjahaja Purnama is Jakarta’s first ethnic Chinese and Christian governor, and the election in the city of 10 million people has […]
By Jutarat Skulpichetrat | CHONBURI, Thailand CHONBURI, Thailand The most senior U.S. officer to visit Thailand since a 2014 coup emphasised the importance of restoring democracy on Tuesday as he launched the annual Cobra Gold military exercise. The United States scaled down its presence at Asia’s largest annual multinational military exercise as one of the former U.S. administration’s steps to pressure the junta. With ties improving even […]
After last night’s news that Trump (and Steve Bannon) are now actively deciding whether to fire National Security Advisor Mike Flynn over the recent scandal involving his [hone calls with Russian ambassador, Sergey Kislyak, discussing the Russian sanction something he denied publicly on several occasions, yet which now appears to have been the case, the ice below Flynn got thinner this afternoon when the Trump administration for […]
By Nate Raymond | NEW YORK NEW YORK The trial of two men was delayed on Monday in a case stemming from a probe into a bitcoin exchange and a data breach at JPMorgan Chase & Co after prosecutors revealed a new witness. Jury selection was set to begin in Manhattan federal court in the case of Yuri Lebedev, whom authorities call the architect of bitcoin exchange […]
By many accounts, Australia has done its best to silence the voices of these migrants and refugees. Housing them on the remote Pacific islands of Manus and Nauru has not only geographically isolated them from the Australian mainland, but also kept them at arm’s length from the country’s journalists and human rights activists. Continue reading the main story I first came across Mr. Boochani’s story on his […]
The value of stocks listed on the S&P 500 eclipsed $20tn on Monday for the first time, as investor optimism over faster US economic growth and stronger corporate profits propelled the Wall Street equity gauge deeper into record territory. The index, which tracks the largest American companies, has rallied by close to 25 per cent over the past year, pushing its market value $3.6tn higher, according to […]
MSNBC’s Brian Williams cut to the chase as soon as the Monday press conference between President Trump and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau ended. “The news out of this gathering is not anything either leader said,” Williams intoned. “It was exactly what wasn’t said because it wasn’t asked.” “There is no shortage of superb coverage coming out of this White House press corps,” he noted. But, alas, […]
PARIS Journalists in France are increasingly coming under “violent attacks” from political officials during the closely-fought presidential race, media freedom watchdog Reporters Without Borders (RSF) said on Monday. The Paris-based group said the media was facing increasing hostility, notably from Francois Fillon and some of his backers after the conservative challenger was hit by a scandal that has badly affected his election chances. Fillon’s spokesman was not […]
The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because the group had not officially made the change public, said that Mr. Sinwar would appear publicly in the next few days to cement his political ascendance. Continue reading the main story Mr. Sinwar’s rise indicates the growing power of Hamas’s hawkish military wing, according to analysts. Mr. Sinwar is slated to replace Ismail Haniya, a leader associated with […]
Optimism that the Trump administration is close to proposing a series of business-friendly tax reforms sent the main barometer for US small-cap stocks to a fresh high on Monday for the first time in more than two months. The Russell 2000 index, which tracks companies with market values of roughly $300m to $2bn, climbed as much as 0.7 per cent on Monday to 1,398.6, knocking out its […]
Excerpted from today’s Blain’s Morning Porridge by Bill Blain of Mint Partners Over weekend drinks, dinners, very good lunches and rugby banter I was repeatedly told by my chums with real jobs in Industry, Services and Government how terrible this Trump fellow is turning out. It’s terribly liberal of us all to be illiberal about him. A couple of times I tried to respond in rational terms […]
GAZA CITY, PALESTINIAN TERRITORIES : Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas elected a hard-line member of its armed wing as its new Gaza head Monday, Hamas officials said.“Yahya Sinwar was elected to head the Hamas political office in the Gaza Strip,” succeeding Ismail Haniya, the officials said.The movement, which has controlled the Gaza Strip for a decade, has been conducting internal elections for several months. Source
PARIS Independent Emmanuel Macron will easily beat far-right leader Marine Le Pen in a runoff in the French presidential election, but the outcome of a knockout between her and conservative Francois Fillon would be closer than before, a poll showed on Monday. The Opinionway poll showed Le Pen would get 42 percent of votes compared to 58 percent for Fillon if the scandal-hit Fillon made it through […]
|By Matein Khalid| The US Dollar Index has now fallen 3.5% since it peaked on January 3. Donald Trump and his White House aides broke the 20 year taboo against speaking out against the “strong dollar” policy platitudes. The Federal Reserve did not raise interest rates and signaled no rate hike is imminent at the March FOMC. It is significant that the US dollar has fallen against […]
La La Land was the big winner at the 70th British Academy of Film and Television Arts (Bafta) film awards on Sunday night, the last big awards ceremony before the Oscars on February 26. The main Bafta nominations closely followed the Oscars’ list, with La La Land leading the pack with 11 nods (compared with 14 at the Oscars). Arrival had nine nods and Manchester by the […]
By Jamie McGeever | LONDON LONDON World stocks and bond yields rose on Monday, lifted by a re-emergence of so-called “Trump trades” as investors bet that the U.S. president’s tax reform plans will boost economic growth and corporate profits. Following on from Friday’s record high closes on Wall Street, Asian stocks rallied to 1-1/2-year peaks and European stocks rose for the fifth consecutive session on Monday, their […]
By Tetsushi Kajimoto and Stanley White | TOKYO TOKYO Japan’s economy grew for a fourth straight quarter in the final three months of last year as a weaker yen supported exports, but tepid private consumption and the risks of rising U.S. protectionism cast doubts over a sustainable recovery. Data on Monday showed the world’s third-largest economy grew an annualized 1.0 percent in October-December, roughly in line with […]
“Throughout the entire length of the battle for Aleppo, there have been multiple claims of violations of human rights and multiple denials,” said Eliot Higgins, a senior fellow at the Digital Forensic Research Lab of the Atlantic Council. Continue reading the main story “What we have been able to present now is a wealth of evidence confirming the targeting of civilian structures, namely hospitals, which in certain […]
Top White House aide and policy adviser, Stephen Miller, sidestepped repeated chances during Sunday news shows to publicly defend embattled National Security Adviser Michael Flynn following reports that he engaged in conversations with Russian diplomat(s) about U.S. sanctions before Trump’s inauguration. The uncertainty came as Trump was dealing with North Korea’s apparent first missile launch of the year and his presidency, along with visits this week from […]
Bleak about the future of journalism? Here are some encouraging statistics: In 2015, ProPublica ended the year with $450,000 in small donations (contributions less than $10,000 that weren’t individually solicited). In 2016, that amount was $2.9 million. So far this year, that number is already more than $600,000. ProPublica received $4,500 from monthly recurring donations in the month of October. By January, that number had increased to […]
