As with the worlds of haute couture and prêt-à-porter in fashion, France’s small-cap companies depend vitally on the success of the main Paris bourse. Yet as the country braces itself for the presidential election, and as US and other international investors start reducing their French holdings, a flight from the small-caps to the larger, more liquid French companies might be expected. But the opposite has actually been […]
24 February 2017 MARC has assigned long-term ratings of AAA, AA and A to Kinabalu Capital Sdn Bhd’s (Kinabalu Capital) medium-term notes (MTN) RM130 million Class A, RM25 million Class B and RM15 million Class C respectively. Concurrently, MARC has assigned a MARC-1 rating to Kinabalu Capital’s issue of up to RM170 million commercial papers (CP). The issuance of the rated MTN and/or CP with a combined […]
By Frank Jack Daniel | MEXICO CITY MEXICO CITY An emboldened Mexico hardened its opposition to President Donald Trump on Friday by saying it would retaliate if the United States imposed a border tax and that it can afford to lose financial aid that might be pulled to pay for a border wall. Foreign Minister Luis Videgaray said Mexico could respond to any tax the United States […]
The New Horizons flyby of Pluto and its satellites returned a scientific treasure trove of information about these distant and surprisingly complex worlds, showing a vast nitrogen glacier as well as ice mountains, canyons, cliffs, craters and more. Now the categories for official names have been approved and the name proposals can be submitted by the New Horizons team. (via WSJ)
By Arshad Mohammed | WASHINGTON WASHINGTON The longest-serving U.S. diplomat warned against isolationism, protectionism and Russian aggression on Friday in a retirement speech implicitly criticizing some of U.S. President Donald Trump’s policies even as he urged officials to serve the White House loyally. Ambassador Dan Fried argued that since becoming a world power over a century ago, the United States had largely pursued an open, rules-based world, […]
Uber is under attack once again today as the Twittersphere quickly concluded it was behind a smear campaign against a former engineer for the company, Susan Fowler Rigetti, who dropped a scathing blog post earlier this week detailing sexual harassment claims while working at Uber over the course of a year. Rigetti tweeted today people were being contacted for “personal and intimate info” about her, causing many […]
By Jonathan Landay | WASHINGTON WASHINGTON While President Donald Trump has suggested that the United States must expand its nuclear arsenal, many experts say U.S. nuclear forces are unrivalled and will remain so as they undergo a modernization programme that could cost more than $1 trillion. In an interview with Reuters on Thursday, Trump said the United States has “fallen behind on nuclear weapon capacity.” He pledged […]
Every year, Inrix releases its Global Traffic Scorecard, which ranks congestion on roads in 1,064 cities in 38 countries. And every year the report tells urban commuters what they already know—traffic sucks and is getting worse. But at least Inrix’s Global Traffic Scorecard uses data—500TB from 300 million sources covering over 5 million miles of road—to let us know exactly how much it sucks. And […]
By John Walcott and Matt Spetalnick | WASHINGTON WASHINGTON A proposal the Trump administration is considering to designate Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps a terrorist organisation has stalled over warnings from defence and intelligence officials that the move could backfire, according to officials familiar with the matter. “If you do that, there is no way to escalate, and you would foreclose any possibility of talking to the […]
By Caroline Humer | NEW YORK NEW YORK The Blue Cross Blue Shield Association, which represents insurers in every state, Cigna Corp and Humana Inc said on Friday they would attend a meeting between the health insurance industry and President Donald Trump on Monday. Cigna’s chief executive officer, David Cordani, and Humana CEO Bruce Broussard will attend, spokesmen for both companies said. Bloomberg reported earlier on Friday […]
The Champ is coming to the house of Nintendo! The 16-time World Wrestling Entertainment champion John Cena is teaming up with Nintendo to promote the upcoming Nintendo Switch. The champ will visit Blue Cloud Movie Ranch in Santa Clarita, California on Feb. 23 to meet up with fans to showcase the Switch. This collaboration is part of a publicity tour that Nintendo is holding across the United States. […]
sharjah A four day festival of marine life has opened at the Sharjah Aquarium to help educate and inform about the importance of preserving marine ecosystems around the UAE. Families have been enjoying free sea themed entertainment shows including life-size models of mermaids, octopus, sharks and seahorses in a setting to reinforce the virtual marine environment. The aquarium has been complemented by a fun beach, theatre, hand […]
Two years after Donald Trump was booed at an influential conservative event, the US president returned to the Conservative Political Action Conference on Friday for a victory lap. But his rambling address, at an event that was more campaign rally than detailed presentation of policy, struck a jarring note at the end of a week that saw a semblance of orthodoxy from the new administration. While his […]
European equity funds attracted their largest weekly inflows in more than a year as institutional investors bet on a recovery taking hold across the continent. Investors added $1.1bn to funds investing in European stocks in the seven days to February 22, a haul that nearly matched the inflows of the preceding four weeks combined, according to data from EPFR. This was despite outflows from dedicated French stock […]
By Marty Graham | SAN DIEGO SAN DIEGO Family members of an illegal immigrant who died in 2010 following a brutal encounter with federal border agents that was captured on videotape have agreed to settle their lawsuit against the U.S. government for $1 million, court documents show. Video footage of a U.S. Customs officer tasering Anastacio Rojas Hernandez at least four times while he lay on the […]
In this photo taken Thursday, Feb. 2, 2017, Yvonne Felix wears eSight electronic glasses and looks around Union Square during a visit to San Francisco. The glasses enable the legally blind to see. Felix was diagnosed with Stargardt’s disease after being hit by a car at the age of seven. (AP Photo/Eric Risberg) Jeff Regan was born with underdeveloped optic nerves and had spent most of his […]
By Ahmed Aboulenein | ISMAILIA, Egypt ISMAILIA, Egypt Christian families and students fled Egypt’s North Sinai province in droves on Friday after Islamic State killed the seventh member of their community in just three weeks. A Reuters reporter saw 25 families gathered with their belongings in the Suez Canal city of Ismailia’s Evangelical Church and church officials said 100 families, out of around 160 in North Sinai, […]
ROME Doctors and nurses are among 94 hospital workers from Naples who have been placed under investigation on suspicion of repeatedly skipping work, police said on Friday. One supervisor at the Loreto Mare hospital was instead found working as a chef in a hotel, while an on-duty doctor was spotted playing tennis and going shopping. Two health workers were caught clocking in 20 colleagues each day to […]
PARIS French prosecutors on Friday appointed a magistrate to investigate allegations concerning presidential candidate Francois Fillon and his wife, over charges that his wife got large sums of money for work she may not have done. The prosecutor’s decision to open up a new stage in the case marks a blow for Fillon, whose status as favourite to win the presidency has faded since a newspaper broke […]
By Mica Rosenberg | NEW YORK NEW YORK A U.S. Department of Homeland Security plan to add more than 5,000 border enforcement agents will present logistical challenges and might be unnecessary, according to former government officials familiar with earlier pushes to accelerate border hiring. Three former top officials at U.S. Customs and Border Patrol (CBP) told Reuters in interviews that ramping up hiring at the agency, as […]
The Dow was on track to break its 10-day record-setting streak on Friday, as investors turned cautious after recent comments from Trump administration suggested that pro-growth policies may take longer to be implemented. Wall Street is trading at record levels since the election of Donald Trump as U.S. president, spurred by his promises of tax reforms, reduced regulations and increased infrastructure spending. However, with Trump giving scant […]
Anwar Ahmad ABU DHABI // More than 7,000 people descended on Al Ghazal Golf Club in Abu Dhabi to take part in the gruelling Spartan challenge or support friends and family in what is one of the toughest desert races of the year. An estimated 3,000 competitors took on the course. Adult and children’s challenges included rope climbing, burpees, spear throwing, atlas carrying, a barbed wire crawl […]
The revelation that Kim Jong Nam was killed with the deadly nerve agent, VX, transforms a brutal piece of internecine political bloodletting into something with far broader implications. Although it denies responsibility, few doubt the North Korean regime is responsible — and is flashing signals to its enemies. “It is more than just killing someone,” said Patricia Lewis, research director at policy institute Chatham House. “This was […]
Primary dealers have warned of obstacles to the US Treasury introducing very long-dated bonds, despite some early support for the plans. This week Steven Mnuchin, Treasury secretary, said his staff had begun to look into issuing US government debt with maturities of as long as 50 or 100 years. Such a move would be a historic shift in policy for the $14tn Treasury market, which has resisted […]
