On Saturday morning, the Pentagon was eager to announce that China would return a U.S. Navy underwater drone after its military scooped up the submersible in the South China Sea late this week and sparked a row that drew in President-elect Donald Trump. As previously reported, Pentagon spokesman Peter Cook said that “through direct engagement with Chinese authorities, we have secured an understanding that the Chinese will […]
By Brenda Goh, Allison Lampert and Brad Haynes | SHANGHAI/MONTREAL/SAO PAULO SHANGHAI/MONTREAL/SAO PAULO New rules governing Chinese airline startups are fueling hopes at Embraer SA (EMBR3.SA), Bombardier Inc (BBDb.TO) and other regional jet makers for a spike in orders next year, but local competition and doubts about size restrictions still loom as major obstacles. The new policy is aimed at encouraging fledgling carriers to boost domestic flights […]
Senior American officials and top commanders in the Middle East say the brutal urban fight for Mosul is succeeding — however slowly — but is proving to be tougher than expected. These officials predict that the battle to oust the Islamic State from Iraq’s second-largest city could last two to four more months. Continue reading the main story Brett H. McGurk, President Obama’s envoy to the international […]
LONDON Leading Brexit campaigner Nigel Farage said on Sunday he wanted to be a bridge between the British government and the new U.S. administration. Last month U.S. President-elect Donald Trump said Farage – the former leader of the United Kingdom Independence Party (UKIP) – would be great as Britain’s envoy to Washington, but the British government dismissed the suggestion. “I can help to be a bridge between […]
By Jeffrey Heller | JERUSALEM JERUSALEM Settlers due to be evicted from an outpost in the occupied West Bank under an Israeli court order accepted a government-proposed deal on Sunday to head off a forced evacuation and confrontation with troops. The Supreme Court had ruled that the Amona outpost, where 330 settlers live, must be evacuated by Dec. 25. The court found that Amona was built illegally […]
The opening ceremony of the Dubai Parks and Resorts, the Middle East’s largest theme park, was a statement of intent by entertainment businesses to establish the region as a leading entertainment destination. Sheikh Mohammad bin Rashid, Vice-President and Ruler of Dubai, officially inaugurated the Dubai Parks and Resorts on Sunday. With the official opening of Dubai Parks and Resorts, the country is now home – or will […]
The evacuation of eastern Aleppo stalled again on Sunday after a convoy heading for two government-controlled towns came under attack by rebel forces. According to Syrian state television, the buses were en route to al-Fuaa and Kefraya to collect the sick and injured when they were attacked and torched by opposition fighters. A video posted online, purporting to be of the aftermath of the convoy attack, shows […]
A flagship of the settler enterprise, Amona, established 20 years ago, is testing how far Israel’s right-wing government is willing to go to protect the 100 or so outposts that were built without authorization across the West Bank. The case of Amona has also stretched the country’s democratic system, with right-wing politicians pushing to flout the 2014 Israeli Supreme Court order to demolish the outpost, and advancing […]
The Federal Reserve will wait six months before raising interest rates again, according to a survey of top economists that suggests policymakers will maintain a cautious approach to tightening policy until they see the economic package US president-elect Donald Trump has promised. Officials will raise the Fed’s key short-term rate just twice in 2017, starting with a move in June, an FT survey of 31 Wall Street […]
By David Morgan | WASHINGTON WASHINGTON A top aide to Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign said on Sunday it was an “open question” whether President-elect Donald Trump’s advisers colluded with Russia to hack into Democratic Party emails to try to sway the Nov. 8 election. Clinton campaign chairman John Podesta said there was evidence that Trump associates had contact with a Russian intelligence official and the website Wikileaks […]
Iran has shown commitment to the deal on its nuclear programme agreed with world powers, the head of the United Nations atomic energy watchdog said on Sunday, following complaints by Tehran over what it calls a US violation of the accord. The White House said on Thursday that a bill extending US sanctions against Iran for 10 years would become law without President Barack Obama’s signature, adding […]
By Sarah N. Lynch | WASHINGTON WASHINGTON President-elect Donald Trump’s incoming White House chief of staff on Sunday played down the prospect that Trump would revisit Washington’s decades-old “one China” policy, even though he suggested as much a week ago. Since 1979, the United States has acknowledged Taiwan as part of “one China” but Trump prompted a diplomatic protest from Beijing after he accepted a congratulatory phone […]
MANILA, Philippines – Hours after threatening to scrap the country’s Visiting Forces Agreement (VFA) with the United States after the US-led Millennium Challenge Corp. deferred voting on its assistance to the Philippines, President Duterte imposed one condition on Washington if it would want the deal retained. “You want to come back here? You pay us. You want bases here? Pay us. Transaction tayo, pera-pera na lang tayo, […]
BERLIN Daimler (DAIGn.DE) does not expect Donald Trump to favor U.S. carmakers over their European counterparts, the carmaker’s chief executive told a German paper, shrugging off concerns over the president-elect’s protectionist rhetoric during his campaign. “I find it hard to believe that it would come to punitive tariffs,” Dieter Zetsche told Bild am Sonntag in an interview published on Sunday, adding he did not expect any negative […]
DNCE DNCE (Republic) Three-and-a-half stars In any other year, the reinvention of Joe Jonas might have been quite a story, rather than just more 2016 weirdness. When Kanye is suddenly posing with president-elect Donald Trump, a Jonas brother turning cool seems positively predictable. The Jonas Brothers, for anyone who managed to miss them, were a Disney-backed trio who made Hanson look edgy in comparison, until they disbanded […]
By Lidia Kelly and Pawel Florkiewicz | WARSAW WARSAW Around two dozen members of Poland’s main opposition party extended their sit-in protest in parliament on Sunday after talks to resolve a dispute over proposed restrictions on media access failed to produce an agreement. New rules for journalists in parliament put forward by the ruling Law and Justice (PiS) party have led to the biggest political standoff in […]
Wall Street is bathing in nostalgia. This week the cover of Barron’s, the bible of US retail investors, proclaimed “Dow 20,000”. Presenters on CNBC are wearing Dow 10,000 caps first donned in 1999. And each day the thinning crowds on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange have watched the boards to see if the Dow Jones Industrial Average, having passed 19,900, can top the 20,000 […]
By Lisa Barrington and Stephanie Nebehay | BEIRUT/GENEVA BEIRUT/GENEVA The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) hopes to resume the evacuation of civilians and wounded from the Syrian enclave of east Aleppo on Sunday, a spokeswoman said. Thousands of people are left in Aleppo, some sleeping on the streets in freezing temperatures, after the evacuation of the rebel-held areas ground to a halt on Friday following […]
DUBAI Iran has shown commitment to the deal on its nuclear programme agreed with world powers, the head of the United Nations atomic energy watchdog said on Sunday, following complaints by Tehran over what it calls a U.S. violation of the accord. The White House said on Thursday that a bill extending U.S. sanctions against Iran for 10 years would become law without President Barack Obama’s signature, […]
Venezuelans are bracing for Christmas without cash after the country’s highest denomination banknote was withdrawn from circulation with new larger bills not due until January, as many fear that the country is spiralling towards hyperinflation. Embattled President Nicolás Maduro this week announced plans to scrap the ubiquitous 100 bolívar bill, which makes up about half the country’s banknotes but is increasingly worthless as annual inflation is forecast […]
Our round-up of the week’s best comment and analysis from the Financial Times focuses on expectations of a Trump-presidency stimulus and the danger of complacency. The selection is taken from our Markets Insight and Smart Money columns, written by industry contributors and FT commentators. Wall Street might be too complacent about Donald Trump’s corporate tax stimulus and are not pricing in an upsurge in volatility, argues the […]
Proponents of the drugs say switching to the new formulations could save taxpayers money if addictions decline, though there is little evidence now that they reduce rates of either addiction or overdoses. The prescription painkiller epidemic costs the U.S. economy $78.5 billion annually, according to a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention report this year. “We have an enormous prescription-drug abuse problem in Illinois that’s costing a […]
Authored by Paul Craig Roberts, This article by Moon of Alabama is not conspiracy theory: Read it carefully. Check out the links. The below theses are thus far only a general outlay… There is an “elite” coup attempt underway against the U.S. President-elect Trump. The coup is orchestrated by the camp of Hillary Clinton in association with the CIA and neoconservative powers in Congress. The plan is […]
MANILA, Philippines — President Rodrigo Duterte predicted Saturday night that neophyte senator and boxing champion Manny “Pacman” Pacquiao would become president and even gave him an advice in the event that he occupies Malacañan. In a freewheeling speech delivered during Pacquiao’s 38th birthday celebration in General Santos, Duterte referred to the senator as “president-to-be.” “I asked permission from President-to-be Manny Pacquiao. Ako, nagbitaw na ako ng […]
