By Muyu Xu and Ryan Woo | BEIJING BEIJING As millions in China head home to celebrate the Lunar New Year holiday with their families, 24-year-old Luoluo is busy answering messages on a mobile app from desperate men looking to hire an instant girlfriend whom they can present to mom and dad. On visits home during the holiday, which kicks off on Friday, single people are often […]
WASHINGTON U.S. President Donald Trump on Thursday said his Mexican counterpart Enrique Pena Nieto should cancel his upcoming visit to Washington if Mexico refuses to pay for a wall along the border. “The U.S. has a 60 billion dollar trade deficit with Mexico. It has been a one-sided deal from the beginning of NAFTA with massive numbers… of jobs and companies lost. If Mexico is unwilling to […]
Some of hedge fund billionaire George Soros’ short positions dating back to 2012 were published on the Dutch financial market regulator’s website this week due to “human error” according to the regulator AFM, according to Bloomberg. Dutch bank ING is among the positions exposed and its stock price is tumbling… As Bloomberg notes, the short positions, bets on a stock declining, were “between 0.2 percent and 0.5 […]
|By Matein Khalid| The election of a Manhattan property developer and (failed) casino owner as President of the United State has not been positive for most American real estate investment trusts (REIT’s). The sharp rise in US interest rates since the election and the Federal Reserve’s vigilance against inflation risk hits this classic “bond proxy” sector, with its reliance on leverage to boost investor returns. In addition, […]
For Wideman, who spent much of his working life in places like Wyoming and Western Massachusetts and rural Maine, this solitude has been further compounded by cold mathematics. Not only is mainstream publishing overwhelmingly white, it is also nearly bereft of black writers like him: American men of letters descended from Southern slaves, who position themselves as part of a grand and omnivorous intellectual and artistic tradition. […]
If protectionism is about to be unleashed by Donald Trump on America’s closest trading partners, foreign exchange traders are acknowledging the threat in a funny old way. On Wednesday, when Mr Trump issued an executive order to build a wall on the Mexican border, the peso rallied more than 2 per cent. Since slumping to a record low of 22.03 pesos two weeks ago, the currency has […]
By Luiza Ilie | BUCHAREST BUCHAREST The hermetically-sealed heavy steel door to the bunker of Romania’s late communist dictator Nicolae Ceausescu opens with a squeak, releasing a burst of cool air. The bunker sits two levels beneath a lavish villa in an upmarket neighbourhood in Bucharest, Ceausescu’s private residence through the 24 years he ruled Romania, one of Eastern Europe’s most repressive Cold War-era regimes. “It is […]
By Manuel Mogato | MANILA MANILA The Philippines has received intelligence that shows closer links between domestic militants and Islamic State, its defence minister said on Thursday, adding weight to worries that Middle East extremists are building a network in Southeast Asia. Intelligence from allies showed a leader of the Abu Sayyaf militant group, which has gained notoriety for piracy and kidnapping in the southern Philippines, was […]
Caterpillar Inc (CAT.N), the world’s largest construction and equipment maker, reported a bigger fourth-quarter loss on Thursday, hurt by higher-than-expected restructuring costs. The company’s loss ballooned to $1.17 billion, or $2.00 per share, in the quarter ended Dec. 31, from $94 million, or 16 cents per share, a year earlier. Net sales fell 13.2 percent to $9.57 billion. (Reporting by Rachit Vats in Bengaluru; Editing by Sriraj […]
As the government leans more toward deregulation under the Donald Trump administration, AT&T seems poised to close a Time Warner takeover deal. Democrats in the U.S. Senate, however, could still prove to be its undoing. Benefit To The Public Recently, 13 of them led by senators Elizabeth Warren and Bernie Sanders declared that AT&T must issue a public interest statement by Feb. 17. This has to be […]
Filipino-American chef Sheldon Simeon has made it as one of the final seven contestants competing on Top Chef, the American reality-television cooking show. Simeon previously appeared on the programme’s 10th season in 2012, finishing in third place among 18 chefs and winning the “Fan Favourite” audience award. The current 14th season features eight returning contestants from previous editions competing against eight new chefs. Raised in Hawaii by […]
Dozens of US exporters including GE and Boeing are squaring off against Walmart and other retailers as a radical Republican plan to tax imports divides the giants of corporate America. The rift in the business community threatens President Donald Trump’s pledge to overhaul the tax code for the first time in 30 years by undermining a blueprint that House Republicans are drafting for the White House. The […]
TOKYO A traditional Japanese doll modelled after U.S. President Donald Trump has raised eyebrows among some Tokyo shoppers ahead of “Girls Day”, a holiday meant to celebrate the health and happiness of girls. The Trump doll, clad in a gold and black kimono with a golden-haired head, was unveiled on Thursday by Kyugetsu Co Ltd, a maker of traditional “hina” dolls for the March 3 holiday. The […]
JAKARTA Indonesia’s anti-corruption agency has detained a Constitutional Court judge in connection with a graft investigation, the court’s chief justice said on Thursday. Chief Justice Arief Hidayat said the judge, Patrialis Akbar, would be suspended from duty and possibly sacked if found to have violated the law. “We will request permission from the president to suspend the judge first and permanently relieve him of his duties if […]
Facebook Instant Articles. Snapchat Discover. Google AMP. In the last two years, publishers such as Vox Media and The Washington Post have embraced stories published on platforms that aren’t fully controlled by news organizations. These stories, deemed “distributed content,” have spawned teams of Facebook Live producers and Snapchat Discover editors at major news organizations. What they haven’t done, according to a new report, is bring in tons […]
By Elaine Lies and Kwiyeon Ha | TOKYO TOKYO A Japanese hotel chain at the centre of a furore over books its president wrote denying the Nanjing Massacre in wartime China is prepared to consider removing the books from at least some hotels if it receives a formal written request to do so. Tokyo-based hotel and real estate developer APA Group came under fire last week for […]
“She’s my toughest opponent,” said Serena Williams, who holds a 16-11 edge in their rivalry. “No one has ever beaten me as much as Venus has. She has a pretty good record against me, and we have a good record against each other. I just feel like, no matter what happens, we’ve won. She’s been through a lot, and I’ve been through a lot. And to see […]
NRL builds on its 2016 accreditation success by being thought leaders at key medical and laboratory events in 2017, including Arab Health and MEDLAB – two of the largest healthcare congresses in the world and a UAE-first event held in collaboration with the Clinical and Laboratories Standards Institute (CLSI) NRL builds on its 2016 accreditation success by being thought leaders at key medical and laboratory events in […]
By Tulay Karadeniz | ANKARA ANKARA Turkey is waiting to see the outcome of U.S. President Donald Trump’s pledge to order safe zones in Syria, and has long advocated such a plan, Turkish foreign ministry spokesman Huseyin Muftuoglu said on Thursday. Trump said on Wednesday he “will absolutely do safe zones in Syria” for refugees fleeing violence. According to a document seen by Reuters, he is expected […]
BEIRUT Syrian Islamist rebel group Ahrar al-Sham said on Thursday six other rebel factions had joined its ranks in northwestern Syria in order to fend off a major assault by a powerful jihadist group. The hardline Jabhat Fateh al-Sham, once allied with al Qaeda and formerly known as the Nusra Front, attacked Free Syrian Army (FSA) groups west of Aleppo this week, accusing them of conspiring against […]
By John Miller and John Revill | ZURICH ZURICH U.S. healthcare giant Johnson & Johnson (JNJ.N) will acquire Swiss biotech company Actelion (ATLN.S) in a $30 billion all-cash deal that includes spinning off Actelion’s research and development pipeline, the companies said on Thursday. The acquisition gives J&J access to the Swiss group’s line-up of high-price, high-margin medicines for rare diseases, helping it diversify its drug portfolio as […]
Some T-Mobile employees are claiming that the company encourages a predatory work culture with bill cramming and other fraudulent practices that take advantage of customers. Former and current T-Mobile workers have reached out to BGR to detail worrisome practices within the company. According to the employees, T-Mobile customers are getting more than they bargained for – and not in a good way. Back in December, a labor […]
NEW DELHI // Thousands braved inclement weather while warmly greeting the chief guest, Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed, at the Republic Day parade in the Indian capital on Thursday. Despite wet and cold conditions, the 68th edition of the celebrations took place as scheduled in front of Sheikh Mohammed, Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi and Deputy Supreme Commander of the Armed Forces, Indian president, Pranab Mukherjee, Indian prime […]
January 26, 2017 by: Peter Wells in Hong Kong Thursday 05.15 GMT Overview Market spirits are buoyant in Asia after the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose above 20,000 points for the first time. Hot topic The Dow Jones on Wednesday traded and closed above 20,000 points for the first time. A generally supportive earnings season has allowed Wall Street to continue its “Trump trade”, which began in […]
