FRANKFURT German semiconductor chipmaking machinery company Aixtron (AIXGn.DE) is considering reducing the size of the business with a partial sale, its chief executive said in an interview published on Friday, opening the door for bidders after a deal with a Chinese firm collapsed. “There are two options: First, we could hope that the markets for our products recover and continue investing high sums in new equipment. But […]
China’s Fujian Grand Chip Investment said it had dropped its offer for Aixtron, the German chip equipment maker, six days after President Barack Obama blocked the deal on national security grounds. Fujian’s takeover vehicle Grand Chip Investment said its offer had lapsed because it had failed to gain regulatory approval from the US Committee on Foreign Investment. Aixtron’s shares fell more than 4 per cent to €3.73 […]
FRANKFURT China’s Fujian Grand Chip Investment Fund has dropped its takeover bid for German chip equipment maker Aixtron after U.S. President Barack Obama blocked the deal. Fujian’s takeover vehicle Grand Chip Investment said on Thursday its offer had lapsed as it had failed to obtain U.S. regulatory approval for the purchase, which had been a condition of the deal. Investors who had already accepted its takeover offer […]
Fresh from touting a deal to save hundreds of jobs at the Carrier plant in Indiana as proof he would hold to his election pledge to protect American workers, it appears to have escaped Donald Trump that his attack on Boeing’s contract to replace Air Force One would endanger the employment of thousands of highly skilled aerospace workers. After claiming this week that the “$4 billion” cost […]
Video Iran’s President on Trump and Nuclear Deal President Hassan Rouhani of Iran said on Tuesday that he would not let the United States back out of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action nuclear deal, warning of unspecified repercussions if Washington reneges. By IRINN, VIA REUTERS. Photo by Iranian Presidency, via Agence France-Presse — Getty Images. Watch in Times Video » TEHRAN — Iran’s president said on […]
Submitted by Daniel Cloud “Donald Trump is either too incompetent to understand that his foolish phone call threatens our national security, or he’s doing it deliberately because he reportedly wants to build hotels in Taiwan to pad his own pockets.” – (Democratic National Committee Spokesperson) Is that true? Did “incompetent” President-Elect Donald Trump’s “foolish” telephone conversation with Taiwan’s President Cai Yingwen actually “threaten American’s […]
Submitted by Brian Cloughley via Strategic-Culture.org, Britain, China, France, Russia and the United States are the world’s five «nuclear weapons states», a description officially recognised in the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), which lays down that «each nuclear-weapon State Party to the Treaty undertakes not to transfer to any recipient whatsoever nuclear weapons or other nuclear explosive devices…» It is apparent that the word ‘transfer’ involves ownership and not location, […]
BEIJING China’s armed forces must be smaller but more capable, and if reforms are not properly carried out the military risks falling behind, affecting its ability to wage war, Chinese state media on Saturday cited President Xi Jinping as saying. Xi unexpectedly announced in September last year that he would cut troop numbers by 300,000, or some 13 percent of the world’s biggest military, currently 2.3-million strong. […]
WASHINGTON Donald Trump’s transition team is examining proposals for new non-nuclear sanctions on Iran, the Financial Times reported on Friday, citing congressional sources who have been in contact with the president-elect’s team. Officials with Trump’s team have been in touch with fellow Republicans in Congress, where they hold the majority, to discuss possible sanctions separate from last year’s Iran nuclear deal that could focus on its ballistic […]
By Greg Torode and Marius Zaharia | HONG KONG/SINGAPORE HONG KONG/SINGAPORE As the impounding of Singaporean troop carriers in Hong Kong exposes rising tensions between China and Singapore, the Lion City is unlikely to budge on core security interests concerning Beijing – its military relationship with Taiwan, worries over the South China Sea and its hosting of the U.S. military. Singaporean officials, retired military officers and analysts […]
By Ju-min Park and Kaori Kaneko | SEOUL/TOKYO SEOUL/TOKYO South Korea and Japan said on Friday they would impose new unilateral sanctions on North Korea over its nuclear and ballistic missile programmes, following a fresh U.N. Security Council resolution imposed on the reclusive country this week. North Korea has rejected the U.N. resolution, aimed at cutting Pyongyang’s annual export revenue by a quarter after its fifth and […]
TOKYO Japan will impose additional sanctions on North Korea following the country’s fifth nuclear test in September and consider further measures depending on Pyongyang’s moves, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga said on Friday. Japan will expand a list of people prohibited from reentering Japan after visiting North Korea, while also banning all ships that have called at ports in North Korea, Suga told a news conference. Tokyo […]
SEOUL South Korea blacklisted senior North Korean officials, including leader Kim Jong Un’s top aides, on Friday in fresh unilateral sanctions over Pyongyang’s nuclear and ballistic missile tests. The South Korean government said in a statement it would ban entry by foreign missile and nuclear experts if their visits to North Korea were deemed to be a threat to the South’s national interests. Seoul’s action came after […]
MOSCOW Warships from Russia’s Black Sea Fleet have taken up position off Crimea’s western coastline to help strengthen the peninsula’s air defences in response to the start of Ukrainian missile tests nearby, the RIA news agency reported on Thursday. Kiev began two days of missile tests on Thursday, angering Russia, which has put its air defence forces on high alert saying it hopes the war games won’t […]
By Michelle Nichols | UNITED NATIONS UNITED NATIONS The U.N. Security Council imposed new sanctions on North Korea on Wednesday aimed at cutting the Asian country’s annual export revenue by a quarter in response to Pyongyang’s fifth and largest nuclear test in September. The 15-member council unanimously adopted a resolution to slash North Korea’s biggest export, coal, by about 60 percent with an annual sales cap of […]
Submitted by Federico Pieraccini via Strategic-Culture.org, Looking at US history over a fairly long period of time, it is easy to see the destructive path that has accompanied the expansion of the American empire over the last seventy years. While World War II was still raging, US strategists were already planning their next steps in the international arena. The new target was immediately identified in the assault […]
NEW DELHI–When top American naval engineers recently inspected India’s first locally made aircraft carrier they expected to find a near battle-ready ship set to help counter China’s growing sway in the Indian Ocean. Instead, they discovered the carrier wouldn’t be operational for up to a decade and other shortcomings: no small missile system to defend itself, a limited ability to launch sorties and no defined strategy for […]
As the world’s largest importer of arms, India has long relied on foreign-built equipment to run its military. Its navy is no exception. It runs submarines designed in Russia, Germany and France, and flies planes from Russia, the U.S. and U.K. While it has long made ships at home, it is now looking to indigenous manufacturers for equipment like missiles and fighter jets. The goal to Make […]
By Alessandra Prentice | KIEV KIEV Ukraine was due to start two days of missile tests on Thursday – a move that has angered Russia, prompting it to put its air defence forces on high alert on the annexed Crimea peninsula. The disagreement marks a fresh escalation in tensions between the one-time allies, whose relations collapsed in 2014 after Russia seized Crimea and backed pro-Russian separatists fighting […]
MOSCOW Russian air defence forces in Crimea have been placed on high alert on the eve of planned Ukrainian missile tests near the Black Sea peninsula, the TASS news agency cited a Crimean military source as saying on Wednesday. Moscow has protested against the plans to carry out the tests near Crimea, which Russia annexed from Ukraine in 2014. Ukraine says the tests, slated for Dec. 1 […]
WASHINGTON — The Pentagon on Tuesday blamed “unintentional” human mistakes for the American-led airstrikes in September that killed dozens of Syrian government troops. The attacks were conducted under the “good-faith belief” that the targets were Islamic State militants, according to the official inquiry. The investigation, led by an Air Force general, concluded that the strikes did not violate the law of armed conflict or the rules for […]
ABU DHABI // Regional terrorism and the influence of Iran over countries such as Iraq, Syria and Lebanon have led to increased militarisation in the region, according to a new report. The report, Iran and the Gulf Military Balance, says Tehran poses a growing missile threat to maritime traffic in the Arabian Gulf and the flow of petroleum exports. This has led to “a de facto military […]
By Sue-Lin Wong | DANDONG, China DANDONG, China A labour agent sat in his bus on a recent frigid morning, waiting to cross the “Friendship Bridge” at China’s main border post with North Korea. He had come to pick up migrant workers and take them to jobs in factories and restaurants in China. The single-lane bridge in the border city of Dandong is the main gateway for international trade […]
By Idrees Ali | WASHINGTON WASHINGTON A small Iranian Islamic Revolutionary Guard vessel pointed its weapon at a U.S. military helicopter in the Strait of Hormuz on Saturday, two U.S. defence officials told Reuters on Monday, an action they described as “unsafe and unprofessional.” The incident is the latest in a series of similar actions by Iranian vessels this year, but the first reported since Republican Donald […]
