By Mike Stone | WASHINGTON WASHINGTON The Department of Defense and Lockheed Martin Corp (LMT.N) announced on Friday an agreement worth about $8.5 billion for 90 F-35 jets, the lowest price to date for the Pentagon’s most expensive program. The deal for the tenth lot of the stealthy fighter aircraft brings the price per jet to below $95 million for the first time, compared to $102 million […]
HAMBURG, Germany A German tourist attraction that features miniature models of various parts of the world has put up a wall around the United States, in a dig at President Donald Trump’s plan to build a full-sized one on the border with Mexico. The display at Miniature Wonderland, which Trip Advisor rates as the top destination in the city of Hamburg, is a hit with tourists, including […]
A federal judge in Seattle late on Friday temporarily halted President Donald Trump’s travel clampdown, issuing a ruling that applies on a nationwide basis. US District Judge James Robart, who was appointed to the bench in 2003 by former President George W Bush, granted a request by Washington’s state attorney-general to stop implementation of Mr Trump’s ban on refugees and travellers from seven Muslim-majority nations. The judge’s […]
“The danger is that this is the first stage in an escalation that could culminate in a military confrontation between Iran and the United States, or Iran and Israel,” said Karim Sadjadpour of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. “The entire eight years of the Obama administration was an example of unprecedented but largely unreciprocated overtures for cooperation with Iran in the Middle East. The Iranians weren’t […]
A day of market gyrations and pressure for higher interest rates has forced the Bank of Japan to tip its hand by intervening to keep 10-year yields below 0.11 per cent. It is the first time the BoJ has turned last September’s “around zero per cent” cap on the 10-year yield into explicit action, with the central bank offering to buy an unlimited number of government bonds at […]
TOKYO Japanese Defense Minister Tomomi Inada said on Saturday she hoped a visit by U.S. Defense Secretary Jim Mattis to South Korea and Japan this week, his first overseas trip since taking office, would lead to deeper security ties. Inada spoke at the start of talks with Mattis, who on Friday reaffirmed Washington’s commitment to its mutual defence treaty with Japan when he met Prime Minister Shinzo […]
By Alastair Macdonald and Gabriela Baczynska | VALLETTA VALLETTA European Union leaders said they agreed to stick together in dealing with Donald Trump, but at their first summit since he took office they were at odds on how far to confront or engage with the new U.S. president. Trump and his policies, from questioning the value of NATO and free trade to banning Muslim refugees, came up […]
By Dan Levine and Scott Malone | SEATTLE/BOSTON SEATTLE/BOSTON A federal judge in Seattle on Friday granted a nationwide temporary restraining order blocking U.S. President Donald Trump’s recent action barring nationals from seven countries from entering the United States. The judge’s order represents a major challenge to the Trump administration, which is expected to immediately appeal. The judge declined to stay the order, suggesting that travel restrictions […]
Anonymous sources are to journalists what a 12-pound funnel cake is to a kid at the state fair: We know it’s unhealthy, but we partake anyway. That has never been truer over the last week, as our good ship of state has sprung leak after leak. Nameless White House officials have served up more scoops than a Baskin Robbins: Trump’s disastrous call with Australia’s Prime Minister, his […]
By Chuck Mikolajczak | NEW YORK NEW YORK U.S. stocks climbed on Friday, with the S&P 500 closing just short of a record high, boosted by gains in financial shares as President Donald Trump moved ahead with deregulation action and by a strong payrolls report. The S&P financial sector .SPSY jumped 2 percent to score its best day since mid-November after Trump signed an executive order to […]
The $16tn US retirement savings industry faces renewed uncertainty after the Trump administration said it would review a “fiduciary rule” that forces retail brokers to put their clients’ interests first. The decision prompted dismay from backers of the rule, including Jack Bogle, the founder of Vanguard, who criticised the administration for having Gary Cohn, the former Goldman Sachs president, front the rollout of the new policy. It […]
Investors piled into bank shares on Friday following news that Donald Trump will begin the process to undo parts of the Dodd-Frank financial reform law. The S&P 500 financials sector advanced 2 per cent and propelled it back into positive territory for the year on Friday. Within the broad group, the banks subsector gained 2.6 per cent, giving both their best day since November. Morgan Stanley shares […]
WASHINGTON The White House is looking into how embarrassing details of President Donald Trump’s recent tense phone conversations with his counterparts in Australia and Mexico were leaked to news organizations, White House spokesman Sean Spicer said on Fox News Channel. “The president takes these leaks very seriously,” Spicer said in an interview with Fox News Channel, which on Friday provided a transcript of a segment set to […]
WASHINGTON The deputy director of the U.S. National Security Agency, the intelligence agency in charge of electronic surveillance and code-breaking, is retiring, an NSA spokesman said on Friday. Richard Ledgett, who just turned 59, will retire in the spring, spokesman Michael Halbig said in an emailed statement. “It has been anticipated that he would retire in 2017 and he decided the time is right this spring after […]
WASHINGTON/ANKARA Instead of tearing up the Iran nuclear deal, the Trump administration is exploring how to tighten its enforcement and renegotiate key terms, but it may prove impossible to get other major powers and Iran to consider revising the agreement. Under the 2015 accord between Tehran and six world powers, Iran agreed to curb its nuclear programme in exchange for relief from some U.S., European and U.N. […]
PARIS The man who was shot and wounded at the Paris Louvre on Friday after attacking soldiers with a machete has been identified as an Egyptian and police are trying to establish whether he acted alone or under instructions, the Paris prosecutor said. The prosecutor, Francois Molins, told a news conference that the 29-year-old Egyptian had arrived in Paris on Jan. 26 after acquiring a one-month tourist […]
By Lucia Mutikani | WASHINGTON WASHINGTON U.S. job growth surged more than expected in January as construction firms and retailers ramped up hiring, but wages barely rose, handing the Trump administration both a head start and a challenge as it seeks to boost the economy. Nonfarm payrolls increased by 227,000 jobs, the largest gain in four months, the Labor Department said on Friday. The unemployment rate, however, […]
YouTube is bringing the popular double tap functionality used in apps to its platform. But instead of double tapping to “like” a video, the new feature allows users to easily navigate through videos when mobile. Now when a user double taps to the left or right of a video, they will be able to fast forward or rewind 10 seconds of the video. However, there are limitations. […]
RedfestDXB has announced new timings for its closing day. It will be held on Saturday, after severe winds forced organisers to postpone the original date. To cater to young fans with Sunday school commitments the festival will run from 2pm to 8pm. Fans and ticket holders are urged to follow the event social media channels for further updates on ticket refunds, updated performance times and opening times. […]
The US on Friday imposed new sanctions on Iran as President Donald Trump followed up on his campaign pledge to take a tougher stance towards the Islamic republic. The Treasury department added 13 individuals and 12 companies — including Chinese, Lebanese and Emirati — to its sanctions list, freezing their assets under US control. Sean Spicer, White House spokesman, said the sanctions were a “very, very strong […]
Investors have warmed to Russian assets, welcoming the country in from the cold. Russian bond funds counted record inflows in the week to February 1 as higher crude prices and improving relations with the US prompted an investor rotation back into the country. Emerging markets more broadly have found renewed investor appetite as the dollar has fallen to an 11-week low. More than $1bn flowed into EM […]
MEXICO CITY Mexico and Turkey will speed up negotiations to sign a bilateral trade agreement, Mexican Foreign Minister Luis Videgaray said on Friday at an event in Mexico City with his Turkish counterpart. “A point of interest for both countries is to continue dialogue to build a free trade agreement between Turkey and Mexico,” Videgaray said, flanked by Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu. “We’ve agreed to an […]
By William Shaw Law360, London (January 30, 2017, 8:30 PM GMT) — A major European Parliament committee will next month investigate the role played by lawyers, accountants and bankers in the tax evasion networks revealed in last year’s Panama Papers leaks, the European Union legislative body said Monday. The Committee of Inquiry into Money Laundering, Tax Avoidance and Tax Evasion will take testimony from investigative journalists and […]
By Lawrence Hurley | WASHINGTON WASHINGTON The U.S. Supreme Court on Friday scheduled oral arguments in a major dispute on transgender rights for March 28, when the U.S. Senate is set to be in the midst of a political fight over President Donald Trump’s nominee to a vacant seat on the bench. By March, the Republican-controlled U.S. Senate is likely to be deliberating on whether to approve […]
