The European Central Bank should retool its asset-purchase programme to fund a wave of new infrastructure spending across the continent, according to one of the world’s most powerful bond managers. Rick Rieder, global chief investment officer of BlackRock’s $1.6tn fixed income business, says the ECB should avoid a “false choice” between continuing on its present course or tapering its existing programme, when it meets to decide monetary […]
BERLIN Germany urged Israel in unusually strong language on Wednesday to scrap legislation that would legalise Israeli settlement homes built on private Palestinian land in the occupied West Bank, saying this would break international law. Germany tends to be more reserved than other European nations in its criticism of Israel due to the legacy of the Nazi Holocaust, but it has objected in the past few years […]
There is over a month left until Trump’s inauguration, and the President-elect’s hard-hitting negotiating style may have scored yet another economic victory: according to a statement issued by Foxconn, the world’s largest contract electronics manufacturer and a major Apple Inc supplier, the company said it was in preliminary discussions to expand its operations in the United States. “While the scope of the potential investment has not been […]
By Francesca Piscioneri and Steve Scherer | ROME ROME Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi will hand in his resignation on Friday, a parliamentary source said, as President Sergio Mattarella seeks to slow the pace of an unfolding political crisis. Renzi vowed to resign in the early hours of Monday after a bruising referendum loss, but Mattarella, whose powers include naming prime ministers and dissolving parliament, asked him […]
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 […]
AL MUKALLA, Yemen — A ship carrying almost 60 people off the coast of Yemen is believed to have capsized in high seas, a Yemeni official said on Tuesday. “Four passengers have been rescued by Spanish and Yemeni commercial ships that we were sailing in the area, and we are still looking for survivors,” said the official, Fahd Kafayen, the minister of fisheries. The boat set sail […]
By Steve Holland | FAYETTEVILLE, N.C. FAYETTEVILLE, N.C. President-elect Donald Trump laid out a U.S. military policy on Tuesday that would avoid interventions in foreign conflicts and instead focus heavily on defeating the Islamic State militancy. In the latest stop on a “thank you” tour of states critical to his Nov. 8 election win, Trump introduced his choice for defense secretary, General James Mattis, to a large […]
Abu Dhabi // Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid led the UAE delegation to the two-day GCC Summit on Tuesday, which is also being attended by UK prime minister Theresa May as she looks to expand trade ties ahead of Britain’s exit from the European Union. The 37th annual talks among the six Gulf member states in Manama were expected to focus on security within the GCC, economic integration […]
PARIS Manuel Valls, who launched a bid for France’s presidential election on Monday, would not gather enough support to go through to its second round, according to an opinion poll published on Wednesday. Valls, President Francois Hollande’s prime minister since the spring of 2014, quit this week to run for president after Hollande himself decided against seeking a second term. If Valls were to win the Socialist […]
Picture it: rumours of a renminbi devaluation keep growing. Residents rush to open accounts offshore as experts warn Beijing will get off on the wrong foot with a relatively new US administration if a big depreciation happens. Official denials are made regularly — until a devaluation of about 50 per cent follows in short order. That was China in 1994. Today the idea of a similarly brutal, […]
SEOUL South Korea’s antitrust watchdog said on Wednesday it will file criminal complaints against several executives at Volkswagen AG’s South Korean unit and fine the company a record 37.3 billion won ($31.87 million) for false advertising over its vehicle emissions. The fine, a record for false advertising in the Asian country, indicates South Korean authorities are in no mood to soften their particularly tough line on the […]
By Idrees Ali | TOKYO TOKYO U.S. Defense Secretary Ash Carter said on Wednesday the United States has “enduring” interests in the Asia-Pacific region and is working for an orderly transfer of power to the administration of President-elect Donald Trump. Carter is in Japan to try to soothe anxieties caused by the victory of Trump, who has called for allies to pay more to sustain U.S. forces, […]
Investment in Manufacturing Innovative Medicines Supports the Kingdom’s “Vision 2030” Aspirations 06 December 2016 Merck Sharp & Dohme (MSD), known as Merck & Co, Inc. in the US and Canada, has today highlighted the initiation of the manufacturing investment agreement with Pharma Pharmaceutical Industries (PPI). This deal enables PPI to exclusively manufacture many of the MSD medicines approved by the Saudi Food & Drug Authority and distributed […]
CARACAS Venezuela’s opposition said on Tuesday talks with President Nicolas Maduro’s administration were off until the leftist government keeps promises on elections and foreign aid, casting further doubt on Vatican-brokered attempts to alleviate the country’s deep political crisis. The formal talks, which began in October with facilitators from the Vatican, appeared to have led to the release of a handful of detained activists, but hopes for real […]
By Phil Stewart and Amy Tennery | WASHINGTON/NEW YORK WASHINGTON/NEW YORK U.S. President-elect Donald Trump urged the government on Tuesday to cancel an order with Boeing Co (BA.N) for a revamped Air Force One – a prominent symbol of the U.S. presidency – complaining that costs were out of control. It was the latest example of Trump using his podium, often via brief Twitter messages, to rattle […]
A big name in the antitrust world, Kevin Arquit, is on the move from Simpson Thacher & Bartlett LLP to Weil, Gotshal & Manges LLP, his new firm said Tuesday. Mr. Arquit, a former general counsel at the Federal Trade Commission and director of its bureau of competition, departs after 14 years at Simpson, where he led the New York firm’s competition practice. He’s expected to join Weil […]
By Lawrence Hurley | WASHINGTON WASHINGTON President Barack Obama’s legal defence of some key initiatives including his signature healthcare law is collapsing as courts put cases on hold until after President-elect Donald Trump, hostile to the policies, assumes office on Jan. 20. The pending conservative legal challenges could undo important elements of Obama’s presidential legacy if Trump, as expected, opts not to defend the Obama policies in […]
Wall Street climbed on Tuesday as telecom stalwarts AT&T and Verizon gained and bank shares added to their torrid post-election rally, helping the Dow set another record closing high. The S&P financial sector .SPSY rose nearly 1 percent, lifted by a 2.2 percent gain for Wells Fargo (WFC.N). The bank’s chief executive told an investor conference it will see a near-term profit hit because of the sharp […]
Speaking at the session were H.E. Saeed Al Tayer, MD and CEO of DEWA; H.E. Dr. Aisha Butti bin Bishr of the Smart Dubai Office; Academic Researcher Vivek Wadhwa; and Bibop G. Gresta and Dirk Ahlborn of Hyperloop Transportation Technologies, Inc. Dubai, December 6, 2016 A panel discussion exploring “Future Cities” and the role that knowledge plays in that regard concluded the sessions of day one of […]
By Patricia Zengerle | WASHINGTON WASHINGTON The U.S. failure to retaliate strongly for the 2014 cyber attack against Sony Pictures may have helped inspire Russian hackers who sought to interfere in the 2016 U.S. election, a senior congressional Democrat said on Tuesday. “Russia may have concluded that they could hack American institutions and there’d be no price to pay,” Representative Adam Schiff, the top Democrat on the […]
A Turkish-Arab fund plans to spend up to about 300 million euros ($322 million) to redevelop a luxury seaside resort outside Greece’s capital Athens, bringing significant foreign investment into the cash-strapped country, the fund said on Tuesday. Greece concluded in October the sale of a 90 percent stake in the Astir Palace hotel complex to the Jermyn Street Real Estate Fund as part of a key privatisation […]
On Tuesday afternoon, the billionaire founder and CEO of Japan’s Softbank and was seen entering the Trump Tower, to meet with the President-elect. It appears that they had fruitful conversations, because just a few minutes later, Trump – who earlier in the day lambasted Boeing over charging too much for Air Force 1 sending its stock lower – tweeted some words of praise for the Japanese businessman. […]
By Crispian Balmer | ROME ROME When former Italian president Giorgio Napolitano tapped Matteo Renzi as prime minister in February 2014, he urged his younger colleague to change the constitution in order to make it easier to govern Italy. Early this year, Napolitano fretted that Renzi was taking the wrong approach in doing so. A referendum on the constitutional changes had been called. But instead of focusing […]
