SKOPJE Macedonian President Gjorge Ivanov said on Monday he will ask Nikola Gruevski, the veteran leader of the conservative VMRO-DPMNE party, to form a new government following elections last month. Gruevski, 46, who led the ex-Yugoslav republic for almost a decade, will now have 20 days to win approval for his cabinet in the parliament. VMRO-DPMNE won 51 out of 120 parliamentary seats in the Dec. 11 […]
‘This is a product of a wild and active imagination. It’s adding a plus-plus when there’s nothing there,’ says policy expert Tony La Viña Rappler.com Published 7:00 PM, January 09, 2017 Updated 7:00 PM, January 09, 2017 INCRIMINATING EMAILS? The internet explodes into a frenzy over supposed leaked emails from the Office of the Vice President containing negative messages about President Rodrigo Duterte. The buzz started among […]
Meryl Streep brought politics back to Hollywood at the Golden Globes on Sunday evening with a powerful acceptance speech that excoriated Donald Trump and his mocking of a disabled reporter during the election campaign. Ms Streep, Hollywood’s most decorated and revered actress with three Oscar wins, was accepting the Cecile B DeMille award for lifetime achievement when she tore into Mr Trump. In front of a primetime audience […]
Who would now warn publicly against “Islamic fascism,” when the hard-liners sought to influence elections? Who would state openly that there should be a nuclear compromise? Continue reading the main story Mr. Rafsanjani said things others would not dare to say, all agreed, and his voice had at least created some tolerance for debates. “Hard-liners will be happy, but this is the start of a period of […]
By Joseph Ax | NEW YORK NEW YORK In the weeks since Hillary Clinton’s shock election defeat to U.S. President-elect Donald Trump, a rumor has taken hold among New York City’s political chattering class: could she challenge Mayor Bill de Blasio’s reelection bid this year? Discussion of a possible Clinton campaign intensified last week when conservative news website Newsmax reported that Democrats unhappy with de Blasio were […]
By Bernie Woodall and David Shepardson | DETROIT DETROIT Fiat Chrysler Automobiles (FCHA.MI) (FCAU.N) on Sunday said it will invest $1 billion to modernize two plants in the U.S. Midwest and create 2,000 jobs, upping the ante as automakers respond to threats from President-elect Donald Trump to slap new taxes on imported vehicles. FCA’s announcement that it would retool factories in Ohio and Michigan to build new […]
After one of the most tumultuous years in its modern history, Turkey is struggling to convince global investors to look beyond economic weakness and political risk. Fund houses willing to bet on countries such as South Africa, where a corruption scandal is consuming the ruling ANC party, and Brazil, where President Michel Temer is battling to save his administration from corruption investigations, say the headwinds facing Turkey […]
Banks have flooded the market with debt in the first days of the new year, propelling a record pace of bond sales as companies seek to lock in borrowing costs before interest rates rise further. The sales have been met with ample investor appetite ahead of the fourth-quarter earnings season, when the majority of US banks are expected to report improved profitability. Banks have sold $42bn of the […]
Two senior Republican senators urged President-elect Donald Trump to punish Russia in response to U.S. intelligence agencies’ conclusion that President Vladimir Putin personally directed efforts aimed at influencing the outcome of the November election. In a joint appearance on NBC’s “Meet the Press” on Sunday, Republican Senators Lindsey Graham and John McCain said evidence was conclusive that Putin sought to influence the election – a point that […]
Submitted by Mike Shedlock via MishTalk.com, In a major setback for organized labor, Kentucky passed right-to-work legislation and repealed the state’s prevailing wage law. Organized labor suffered its first major legislative setback due to the 2016 elections on Saturday, when Kentucky Republicans gave final approval to right-to-work legislation and repealed the state’s prevailing wage law. Both bills are expected to be signed into law by the governor, […]
By Rodrigo Campos | NEW YORK NEW YORK Investors puzzled over whether U.S. interest rates are rising due to a stronger economy or because of fears about inflation might want to look at the recent gains in REITs for some useful guidance. Real estate investment trusts typically perform poorly in an environment of rising interest rates, as they are used by some investors as a proxy for […]
By Bozorgmehr Sharafedin | DUBAI DUBAI Former Iranian president Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani died on Sunday at the age of 82, state media reported, a big blow to moderates and reformists deprived now of their most influential supporter in the Islamic establishment. “Ayatollah Hashemi Rafsanjani was taken to hospital after heart attack and more than an hour long efforts by doctors to revive him were not successful,” the […]
Yet many Western analysts believed that he sought a less confrontational relationship with the United States than other powerful figures in the Iranian hierarchy, for whom hostility toward Washington was a touchstone of ideological purity. Continue reading the main story Mr. Rafsanjani, for instance, was credited with suggesting that “Death to America” be dropped from the litany of slogans at Tehran’s Friday prayers, a weekly moment of […]
One of the more cherished bits of jargon used in finance is an idea that cash may sit on the sidelines, as if piles of notes are substitute players ready to dive into the great game of markets. Investors are still sitting on large piles of cash, holding nearly 5 per cent of their portfolios in spare liquidity in December, according to data from BofA Merrill Lynch. […]
Here are the big questions for investors ahead of the coming trading week. What impact will Donald Trump’s press conference have on markets? “I will be having a general news conference on JANUARY ELEVENTH in N.Y.C. Thank you.” That was how the president-elect last week [3] tweeted news of what is surely the first big market-moving event of the year — if it takes place. Mr Trump […]
Along with most of his Wall Street peers, BofA’s Chief Investment Strategist Michael Hartnett flipped his outlook on risk assets shortly after the election, turning from quietly bearish to vocally bullish and forecasting a substantial rise in US equities, and even more substantial bounce for Japanese, European and UK stocks as well as oil. So far, Hartnett has been correct, and according to recent fund flows, much […]
President-elect Donald Trump accepts the U.S. intelligence community’s conclusion that Russia engaged in cyberattacks aimed at disrupting the U.S. elections, his incoming chief of staff Reince Priebus said on Sunday, adding that “actions may be taken” in response. Speaking on Fox News Sunday, Priebus said Trump “accepts the fact that in this particular case it was entities in Russia” that were behind the intrusions into the Democratic […]
Last year was truly unforgettable. It is the year we celebrated Mara’s 20th anniversary and launched three new businesses: an infrastructure investment vehicle for Africa; an online jobs portal, Mara Jobs; and a last-mile delivery business, Mara Xpress. It is also the year we launched the inaugural Ashish J Thakkar Global Entrepreneurship Index 2016 to better understand entrepreneurial environments around the world. But perhaps what will stick […]
NEW YORK China’s Anbang Insurance Group is in talks to invest in a project to redevelop a flagship New York City building owned by Kushner Companies, the family real estate business run by U.S. President-elect Donald Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner, according to a person familiar with the discussions. The talks to revitalize the 41-floor building located at 666 Fifth Avenue, were first reported by the New York […]
Our round-up of the week’s best comment and analysis from the Financial Times focuses on debunking misleading parallels between Reaganomics and Trumponomics and what changes the new US president’s policies will force in investor behaviour. The selection is taken from our Markets Insight and Smart Money columns, written by industry contributors and FT commentators. The world is too different from the 1980s for Donald Trump to achieve […]
The reputation of the main hospital in Iten was so bad that the only people who went there were those who wanted to “die quickly”, says Alex Tolgos, the county governor. But four years since Kenya started what the World Bank calls “one of the most rapid and ambitious devolution processes” on the planet, the hospital in the western Kenyan town has been transformed. More than half the […]
PHILADELPHIA — A movement to pressure and isolate Israel was dealt a major setback on Saturday when the Modern Language Association, the United States’ largest scholarly group, took a step toward rejecting an academic boycott of Israeli institutions. After two hours of contentious debate and procedural jockeying at its annual meeting here, the group’s delegate assembly voted 113 to 79 against a resolution endorsing a boycott, which […]
VATICAN CITY Pope Francis says he realises he may be the target of an attack but that he will continue to travel without bulletproof vehicles or heavy security because he wants to get close to people. Unlike his predecessors, who used bulletproof popemobiles or limousines, Francis uses ordinary cars on international trips, often in contrast to the leaders who greet him. “I am aware of the risks […]
By Joe Brock | JOHANNESBURG JOHANNESBURG The chances of South African President Jacob Zuma’s ex-wife, Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma, becoming the next leader of the African National Congress were given a boost on Saturday with the endorsement of the ruling party’s women’s division. The ANC will pick a new leader at a conference in December and, given its national dominance since coming to power at the end of apartheid […]
