The pound was last worth $1.30 on September 30, a day when lawyers were lining up to derail Brexit in the courts, a resilient consumer was challenging economists’ dire post-referendum predictions and carmaker Nissan was demanding compensation for staying in the UK. Investors have become familiar with such Brexit unpredictability. Yet few of them could have guessed how sterling, tweeted by Nordea analyst Martin Enlund as “the […]
By Warren Strobel and Arshad Mohammed | WASHINGTON WASHINGTON The United States wants new commitments from Saudi Arabia to improve its targeting procedures to minimize civilian casualties in its part in the Yemen civil war as it weighs resuming sales of precision-guided munitions to Riyadh, U.S. officials told Reuters. An announcement of the weapons sale had been anticipated last month, but objections by mostly Democratic lawmakers and […]
By Maiya Keidan and Jemima Kelly | LONDON LONDON Hedge funds lost out on Tuesday after British Prime Minister Theresa May shocked markets by calling a snap election, but those led by humans outsmarted those led by machines, in a reversal of fortunes from the Brexit referendum. While computer-driven hedge funds garnered plaudits for their outperformance in the wake of Britain’s shock vote to leave the European […]
It isn’t the first time that imprisoned Palestinian activist Marwan Barghouti has written a controversial comment-article for a major newspaper in the United States. In fact, it isn’t even the first time that, in giving him a platform in the western media, an American newspaper has glossed over some details of the life of a man who is now 13 years into five life sentences handed down […]
TEHRAN — A council that vets Iran’s political candidates disqualified former two-term president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad on Thursday — along with hundreds of others — from the presidential election next month. No official reason was given for the disqualifications in the May 19 election, which were announced on state television Thursday night by an election official, Ali Asghar Ahmadi. While Mr. Ahmadinejad’s disqualification was not unexpected, the timing […]
A secret court that oversees the US government’s legal surveillance requests rejected a record number of applications last year, according to new figures. Newly released data by the US Courts show that the Washington DC.-based Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court (FISA court) rejected nine applications during the final year of the Obama administration’s tenure. It’s the largest number of requests the FISA court has denied in its entire […]
PARIS One policeman was killed and another wounded in a shooting incident in central Paris on Thursday night, a police source said. A person who fired on police on the Champs-Elysees shopping boulevard just days ahead of France’s presidential election has been killed, the source said. A police source also said there had been two assailants, and a witness told Reuters that one man got out of […]
Emirates will shift aircraft to destinations in Malaysia, Oceania and Africa as the airline scrambles for alternatives after eliminating 25 weekly flights to the US in the fallout from President Donald Trump’s travel restrictions. Planes on US routes usually fly more than 80 percent full in the summer season but are now “percentage points” less than that, hurting the flights’ profitability, Emirates President Tim Clark said in […]
The London market broke a four-day losing streak as the week’s spate of sterling-induced selling eased and consumer stocks from Burberry to Unilever put in robust performances. The marginal gains for the FTSE 100 were not enough to reverse Wednesday’s fall into losses for the year for the benchmark. But UBS maintaining that Burberry was its “preferred turnround name in luxury” and top pick in that European […]
By Ulf Laessing | MOSUL, Iraq MOSUL, Iraq If you want to hear the resentment people of Mosul feel now that Iraqi forces have driven Islamic State out of most of the city, you should talk to Saddam Hussein. Not the dictator, but the Mosul schoolteacher, who proudly shows off an identity card bearing the name which his parents gave him in the ruler’s honour 45 years […]
By David Lawder | WASHINGTON WASHINGTON World financial leaders gathered in Washington on Thursday with pledges to work with U.S. President Donald Trump to fix lingering trade problems while vowing to keep their commitments to free trade and global integration. Worries over Trump’s approach to trade, taxes, financial regulation and climate change clouded the start of the International Monetary Fund and World Bank spring meetings, even amid […]
Some Samsung Galaxy S8 units apparently have a red tint on their display, but Samsung does not consider it a defect — more like an easily adjustable detail. For those unfamiliar with the matter, the Galaxy S8 is not set to go on sale in the United States until April 21, but it already launched in Samsung’s home country of South Korea on April 17. The smartphone had […]
The US has set the stage for a global showdown over steel, launching a national security investigation that could lead to sweeping tariffs on steel imports in what would be the first significant act of economic protectionism by President Donald Trump. The decision to use a 1962 law allowing the US government to limit imports that threaten its security readiness is intended to deliver on Mr Trump’s […]
Following years of acrimony between OPEC and the hedge fund community, which the cartel dismissed simply as “speculators”, things suddenly changed in 2016 when the two groups got so close, there were outright reports of collusion between the two on various occasions. We documented this last month in “Why OPEC Is Colluding With Hedge Funds.” However, as Reuters’ energy analyst John Kemp pointed out on twitter this […]
Jose Vicente Salazar, ERC chairman and CEO (File photo from Philippine Daily Inquirer) The chair of the Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC), Jose Vicente Salazar, may have to face his battles alone after the four commissioners of the agency tasked with regulating the power industry on Thursday brought a complaint against him to the Civil Service Commission (CSC). In a joint affidavit, ERC Commissioners Alfredo Non, Gloria Victoria […]
Wall Street still exudes widespread optimism that 2017 will provide another year of solid if unspectacular economic growth and only gentle interest rate rises. With the S&P 500 up over 4.5 per cent for the year, here is a series of charts that will hearten investors of a more bearish persuasion. While there are good reasons why each chart should not be taken too seriously, together they […]
By Mubasher Bukhari | ISLAMABAD ISLAMABAD Three women dressed in burqas killed a man who had been accused of blasphemy in 2004 in a northeastern Pakistani town, police said on Thursday, the second brutal killing over alleged insults to Islam in a week. Blasphemy is a highly charged topic in Pakistan where there have been at least 66 murders over unproven allegations since 1990 according to figures […]
It’s springtime. Flowers are blooming, birds are chirping, and love is in the air. That can only mean one thing: It’s time to send pictures of your bits and pieces! If you’ve ever used your phone to send someone special a picture of your thing(s), you’re not alone. Data shows that sexting is a highly popular pastime enjoyed by men and women alike. As you […]
Oil prices levelled off on Thursday after they dropped more than $2 a barrel following publication of data by the US energy department showing a rise in American gasoline stockpiles for the first time since February. US benchmark West Texas Intermediate edged 14 cents higher to $50.58 a barrel in early European trading while the global Brent benchmark ticked 17 cents higher to $53.10 a barrel. The […]
Abu Dhabi Fund for Development (ADFD) has announced a contribution of AED330 million ($89.8 million) to implement development projects and programmes in key sectors in Somalia, particularly infrastructure and transport. The funding underpins efforts to improve public services, create new job opportunities and ensure stability and social development, state news agency WAM reported on Wednesday. It said the contribution aims to help Somalia overcome the economic challenges […]
By Adam Jourdan | SHANGHAI SHANGHAI German sports apparel brand adidas AG (ADSGn.DE) expects its huge operating margin in China to shrink slightly in the long term, while its small U.S. margin grows markedly in the near term, its new chief executive officer said on Thursday. Kasper Rorsted, on his first visit to China since taking the helm in September, said adidas’ margin in Greater China of […]
Activist investor Elliott Management has released a letter sent to its founder Paul Singer by the ousted chief executive of US engineering group Arconic that it claims was a veiled attempt to “intimidate or extort” the hedge fund veteran over his celebrations at the 2006 World Cup. New York-based Elliott is the largest shareholder in Arconic and has been locked in a battle with the US engineering […]
With ‘Never-Trump’-ers still convinced he is Hitler and ‘Trump’-ers questioning their reality at his recent flip-floppery, many in the country are asking why should we support this President (even as his approval ratings rise with each warmongering threat). Well there is a simple – and perhaps greedy – reason… the world’s debt and equity markets have gained over $8 trillion since his election and a loss of […]
Poland’s NC Cyber director Juliusz Brzostek: “Our role is to secure national assets, which means that we protect key services.” Image: Bogdanski/NC Cyber With the NIS directive on protecting national network and systems in place since last year, EU countries are now having to streamline their cybersecurity efforts. The directive requires them to set up computer security incident response teams (CSIRTs) and computer emergency response teams, or […]
