The Federal Reserve is actively considering a profound change in US monetary policy, in effect the reversal of quantitative easing (QE). In its March meeting, the FOMC discussed its strategy for the future run down of its balance sheet, and said that further debate would take place in upcoming meetings. The FOMC has already concluded that “a change in the Committee’s reinvestment policy would likely be appropriate […]
DUBAI Former president Mohammad Khatami, considered the spiritual leader of Iran’s reformists, urged voters on Sunday to re-elect President Hassan Rouhani and support his policy of seeking to end Iran’s isolation from the rest of the world. Iran’s hardline security and judicial powers, which operate separately to the presidency and are close to Iran’s ultimate authority – Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei – have banned media from […]
Emmanuel Macron’s election as president of France received few more rapturous welcomes than that given by Sylvie Goulard, a liberal French politician in the European Parliament and ally of the 39-year-old new head of state. “Finally! Finally, Europe and France reconciled!” Ms Goulard enthused. “What a symbol — a young president, focused on the future, entering the Louvre of the kings of France to the sound of […]
By Benjamin Kang Lim | BEIJING BEIJING China and the Philippines will start bilateral consultations on the disputed South China Sea this week, the Philippine ambassador to Beijing said, as Manila looks to ease tensions with Asia’s top economic power. Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte, who is visiting Beijing to attend a summit on China’s ambitious new Silk Road plan, has opted to court China for its business […]
By Ayesha Rascoe and Michael Martina | WASHINGTON/BEIJING WASHINGTON/BEIJING The United States and China have agreed to take action by mid-July to increase access for U.S. financial firms and expand trade in beef and chicken among other steps as part of Washington’s drive to cut its trade deficit with Beijing. The deals are the first results of 100 days of trade talks that began last month, when […]
North Korea’s conducted its latest weapons test on Sunday, presenting South Korea’s Moon Jae-in with his first foreign policy challenge and raising fears that Pyongyang may have developed a new kind of missile. Japan’s defence minister said the missile had reached an altitude of 2,000km on its 700km journey, potentially indicating a new type of rocket. David Wright, a physicist and missile expert, wrote on the All […]
India’s $1.6tn stock market broke new ground last week, with the benchmark index hitting an all-time high as confidence builds that the government’s reform agenda will strengthen growth and corporate earnings. But the stock market’s 14.9 per cent rally since January 1 has divided opinion among fund managers who disagree over whether Indian equities can make further gains. “The most common question that I am asked by […]
(This version of the story corrects paragraph 10 to show quote was by Interim CFO Bob Blowes, not Robert Morton as previously stated) By Matt Scuffham TORONTO Home Capital Group Inc (HCG.TO) confirmed on Friday it is considering asset disposals to enable it to refinance more quickly and pay off an emergency loan provided by the Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan. Shares in Canada’s biggest non-bank lender […]
By Ju-min Park and Jack Kim | SEOUL SEOUL North Korea fired a ballistic missile on Sunday in defiance of calls to rein in its weapons programme, South Korean and U.S. officials said, days after a new leader took office in the South, pledging to engage it in dialogue. The U.S. Pacific Command said it was assessing the type of missile but it was “not consistent with […]
Security breaches this week in Singapore and around the globe reveal the country will have to safeguard a much wider attack surface and need a cybersecurity strategy that goes beyond simply limiting internet access. It was revealed on Friday that two Singapore universities suffered APT (advanced persistent threat) attacks last month, with the hackers specifically targeting government and research data. The National University of Singapore (NUS) had […]
A giant sea creature that washed ashore in Indonesia had many baffled about the mysterious animal. What other giant sea creatures have surprised people when they washed up ashore? Giant Squid? A local in the island of Seram in Indonesia was surprised to find a massive sea creature on the shores of his island home. As news spread of his colossal find, reports of the creature being […]
Bonds issued by commodity trader Noble Group have fallen, mirroring a sharp decline in its share price, amid growing concerns about the company’s ability to manage its debt load and secure liquidity from banks. Noble’s recently issued 8.75 per cent 2022 notes have fallen from 97 cents on the dollar this week to just 53 cents, pushing the yield up to about 27 per cent, according to […]
BUSBARI, Italy Financial leaders of seven leading world economies pledged stronger cooperation against cyber crime on Saturday and not to use foreign exchange to gain competitive advantage, but stuck to their cautious wording on trade, their final communique showed. Finance ministers and central bank governors from the United States, Canada, Japan, France, Germany, Italy and Britain met in the Italian city of Bari to discuss the world […]
Microsoft’s just-unveiled Surface Laptop is its own approach to take down Chromebooks, but that much remains to be seen. Like Chromebooks, the Surface Laptop features a lightweight operating system. Windows calls it Windows 10 S, similar in aesthetics to the standard Windows 10, but significantly less able. For one, it can’t run desktop apps: only those downloaded from the Windows Store will work, in addition to apps ported […]
A massive global cyber attack engulfed one in five NHS trusts as some hospitals continued to ask all but emergency patients to stay away amid uncertainty over whether some non-urgent operations and appointments would go ahead next week. However, UK government officials suggested no key data had been lost from the ransomware attacks. A total of 48 trusts were hit by the cyber attack on Friday afternoon, […]
By William Schomberg | BARI, Italy BARI, Italy U.S. President Donald Trump’s economic policies risk creating growth that mostly benefits the rich and aggravates income inequality in the United States, Nobel Prize-winning economist Angus Deaton said. Trump was swept to power on promises of help for poorer Americans but Deaton said his proposals to roll back regulations on finance and industry and cut healthcare benefits would […]
Oman was cut to junk by S&P Global Ratings, which said a drop in crude could hamper exports from the largest Arab oil producer outside OPEC and jeopardize its finances. S&P lowered the Gulf state’s sovereign debt long-term rating to BB+, one level below investment grade, from BBB- and changed the outlook to negative, the New York-based firm said in a statement Friday. “The negative outlook reflects […]
JERUSALEM A Jordanian citizen stabbed and wounded an Israeli police officer who then shot him dead in Jerusalem’s Old City on Saturday, Israeli police said. Police spokeswoman Luba Simri said the officer was walking down a street when he was attacked. “The terrorist rushed toward him, whipped out a knife that he had in his possession, stormed him and began stabbing him. The police officer responded with […]
BARI, Italy Financial leaders of seven leading world economies will pledge stronger cooperation against cyber crime on Saturday and not to use foreign exchange to gain competitive advantage, but stick to their cautious wording on trade, a draft communique showed. Finance ministers and central bank governors from the United States, Canada, Japan, France, Germany, Italy and Britain are meeting in the Italian city of Bari to discuss […]
Good morning. Here’s our morning roundup of all the media news you need to know. Want to get this briefing in your inbox every morning? Subscribe here. It’s unclear where to start with President Trump’s interview with NBC’s Lester Holt that left the White House second-string spokesperson on a precipice better associated with the Flying Wallendas. “Trump’s account flatly contradicts the White House’s initial account of how […]
Europe’s investment community has barely had time to breathe a sigh of relief following Emmanuel Macron’s victory in the French presidential elections before starting to fret about other latent threats to the eurozone. Some investors have hailed the election — in which Mr Macron, a pro-EU liberal defeated Marine Le Pen, the Eurosceptic rightwing candidate — as a sign that Europe’s economic recovery remains on track. This […]
The three beefy men sharing a laugh looked like old friends, not geopolitical adversaries. A smiling Donald Trump welcomed Russia’s foreign minister Sergei Lavrov and its US ambassador Sergey Kislyak to the Oval Office on Wednesday, just a day after the president had fired the man investigating Moscow’s role in helping him enter the White House. The extraordinary scene was just the latest sign that Mr Trump […]
By Irene Klotz | CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. NASA has delayed the first launch of its heavy-payload rocket until 2019 and decided against an idea floated by the White House to put astronauts aboard the capsule that is set to fly around the moon, the U.S. space agency said on Friday. The National Aeronautics and Space Administration had hoped to launch the Space Launch System, […]
By Matt Spetalnick | WASHINGTON WASHINGTON President Donald Trump will express support for Palestinian “self-determination” during a Middle East trip this month, a senior aide said on Friday, suggesting Trump is open to a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict despite not having publicly embraced the idea so far. The comment by U.S. national security adviser H.R. McMaster came just nine days after a White House visit […]
