By Tim Kelly and Nobuhiro Kubo | TOKYO TOKYO Japan plans to dispatch its largest warship on a three-month tour through the South China Sea beginning in May, three sources said, in its biggest show of naval force in the region since World War Two. China claims almost all the disputed waters and its growing military presence has fuelled concern in Japan and the West, with the […]
March 13, 2017 by: Hudson Lockett in Hong Kong and Michael Hunter in London Monday 07:15 GMT What you need to know US West Texas Intermediate crude is at $48.33 a barrel, having fallen under $48 for the first time in more than three months. The pound is holding above $1.22 as speculation mounts that the UK government is poised to trigger Article 50 of the Lisbon […]
This report marks the end of a series of three big trains of thought. The first explained how we’re living through the Mother Of All Financial Bubbles. The next detailed the Great Wealth Transfer that is now underway, siphoning our wealth into the pockets of an elite few. This concluding report predicts how these deleterious and unsustainable trends will inevitably ‘resolve’ (which is a pleasant way of […]
My dad bought me a Nintendo to celebrate my first birthday in 1988, despite it being quite obvious the gift was intended for himself. Over the years though, I managed to develop some semblance of motor skills and we began taking turns playing Mario. I bonded with siblings over beating a boss in Zelda and fought with my cousins over who got to play Star Fox next. […]
When Rex Tillerson visits Japan and South Korea next week, the new US secretary of state will not escape the whispers back home: the former ExxonMobil chief executive has been all but invisible since arriving in Washington. In his first weeks as the top US diplomat, the Texan has been conspicuously low-profile. His silence has fuelled concerns that President Donald Trump intends to downgrade diplomacy — and […]
A Chinese property developer constructing a huge housing project in southern Malaysia has become the latest corporate victim of Beijing’s crackdown on capital flight. Country Garden has closed showrooms in mainland China for its flagship $100bn Forest City development in response to measures by Chinese regulators that have made it harder for individuals to move money out of the country. A slowing Chinese economy, rising US interest rates […]
D.C. bureau chiefs from major news organizations, including The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Wall Street Journal, the wire services, Fox News and CNN sent a letter to the State Department earlier this week protesting Secretary of State Rex Tillerson’s decision to ditch reporters on his upcoming trip to Asia. “We were deeply concerned to hear that Secretary Tillerson plans to travel to Beijing, Seoul […]
By Kentaro Hamada and Makiko Yamazaki | TOKYO TOKYO The Japanese government, fretting over the future of Toshiba Corp’s flagship memory chips unit, is prepared to block a sale to bidders it deems a risk to national security, sources said, a stance that gives U.S. suitors a major advantage. The government would use Japan’s foreign exchange and foreign trade laws to control the auction if need be, […]
The US government’s benchmark borrowing costs remained above 2.6 per cent on Friday as investors anticipated robust US employment data ahead of a likely Federal Reserve interest rate increase next week. The benchmark 10-year yield — one of the most widely followed interest rates in the global economy — was at 2.61 per cent by early in London, its highest level since December and up from below […]
Friday 06:00 GMT Overview Asian markets were broadly positive on Friday as South Korea’s president was formally impeached, while Treasuries remained under pressure ahead of the US jobs report that could fuel expectations the Federal Reserve will raise interest rates next week. European bourses are expected to open higher, with spreadbetters predicting the UK’s FTSE 100 will add 20 points to 7,335 and Germany’s Dax to climb […]
By Thomas Wilson and Minami Funakoshi | TOKYO TOKYO “Radiation! Bang bang!” Gesturing as if with guns, two boys in Tokyo repeatedly taunted a girl whose family fled to Japan’s capital to escape radioactivity unleashed by the Fukushima nuclear crisis of 2011. Tormented by headaches and weight loss, the girl began to skip classes, and switched schools to escape the bullies, her mother told Reuters. But the […]
By Shinichi Saoshiro | TOKYO TOKYO Asian stocks edged up and the dollar rose to 1-1/2-month highs versus the yen on Friday, ahead of the closely-watched U.S. non-farm payrolls report due later in the day. MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan added 0.2 percent, taking cues from a modest bounce in Wall Street overnight. Japan’s Nikkei climbed more than 1 percent on the back of […]
New York and London are locked in a frantic race to be the main international listing venue for Saudi Arabia’s initial public offering of its state oil company, emerging as clear frontrunners in what is set to be the world’s biggest ever flotation. Executives from the New York Stock Exchange and London Stock Exchange have held talks with Saudi Aramco, the state group valued at as much […]
WASHINGTON The U.S. State Department held out the possibility on Thursday that Secretary of State Rex Tillerson might take reporters with him to Asia after it initially broke with decades of tradition by telling the media he would not. “We are still working out the logistics for this trip, so (we) cannot yet speak definitively as to whether we’ll be able to accommodate any press on the […]
A melting pot of nationalities and a new entry visa system to attract professionals has propelled the UAE to the top of the list of the best countries to start a career and study aboard, according to a new survey. The US News and World Report survey, released this week, ranked the UAE 22nd out of 80 countries surveyed for the best countries in 2017. The country […]
By Jessica DiNapoli and Makiko Yamazaki | NEW YORK/TOKYO NEW YORK/TOKYO U.S. nuclear firm Westinghouse Electric Co LLC has hired bankruptcy attorneys, in a sign that owner Toshiba Corp (6502.T) is more seriously weighing a Chapter 11 filing as an option to help it rein in a multibillion dollar financial maelstrom. People familiar with the matter said the nuclear engineering company had brought in law firm Weil […]
Via Damiel Lang of SHTFPlan.com, Since the end of World War Two, the United States has established itself on every continent with hundreds of military bases, and has sent troops to foreign nations (both covertly and overtly) on so many occasions that it’s difficult to keep track of them all. And this doesn’t even take into account the nations that our government has quietly and successfully pressured […]
TOKYO Support for Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has plunged after questions were raised in parliament about a murky land deal involving an elementary school to which his wife had ties, according to an online poll published on Wednesday. Abe has said neither he nor his wife, Akie, was involved in the deal for state-owned land purchased by Moritomo Gakuen, an educational body in the western city […]
By Adam Jourdan and Eric Walsh | SHANGHAI/WASHINGTON SHANGHAI/WASHINGTON China has granted preliminary approval for 38 trademarks linked to Donald Trump, documents on China’s state trademark office show, giving the U.S. President and his family protection were they to develop the “Trump” brand in the market. The trademarks – which in theory cover a wide sweep of businesses from hotels to mobile libraries and escorts – underline […]
Kong: Skull Island Director: Jordan Vogt-Roberts Starring: Tom Hiddleston, Brie Larson, Samuel L Jackson, John Goodman, John C Reilly Three stars One of cinema’s most iconic monsters, King Kong has been regularly reprised by filmmakers, most recently by Peter Jackson in his 2005 film. This latest incarnation pushes the action forward a few decades, to the early 1970s and the end of the Vietnam War. Satellite mapping […]
VIENNA The U.N. nuclear agency’s 35-nation Board of Governors on Wednesday backed the agency’s chief, Yukiya Amano, for a third term as director general after he ran unopposed on a platform of continuity in dealing with issues like Iran’s nuclear programme. Amano, a 69-year-old career diplomat from Japan, has headed the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) since 2009, including the years leading up to Iran’s nuclear agreement […]
For many, South Korea’s decision to host a missile shield to defend against its hostile northern neighbour should not be controversial. In the past month alone, North Korea has fired six ballistic missiles, with a barrage of four successful launches on Monday trumpeted by Pyongyang as being a drill targeting US bases in Japan. But in a region riven by simmering historical grievances, Seoul’s move has sparked a bitter […]
By Tim Kelly and Nobuhiro Kubo | TOKYO TOKYO Rattled by North Korean military advances, influential Japanese lawmakers are pushing harder for Japan to develop the ability to strike preemptively at the missile facilities of its nuclear-armed neighbour. Japan has so far avoided taking the controversial and costly step of acquiring bombers or weapons such as cruise missiles with enough range to strike other countries, relying instead […]
Here are the big questions set to frame a new trading week for markets. How frothy are equity and junk bond valuations looking?Another record-breaking week for equities and a red hot reception for the Snap initial public offering is not the only sign of investor optimism running wild. Junk bond spreads — the premium investors demand to hold the bonds over Treasury yields — are heading towards […]
