WASHINGTON The head of U.S. forces in Africa told reporters on Friday that greater authority to fight al Qaeda-linked al Shabaab militants in Somalia would lead to more flexibility and quicker targeting, but that a decision had not yet been made by the White House. Al Shabaab has been able to carry out deadly bombings despite losing most of its territory to African Union peacekeepers supporting the […]
By Jeff Mason and Ethan Lou | WASHINGTON/CALGARY WASHINGTON/CALGARY U.S. President Donald Trump’s administration approved TransCanada Corp’s Keystone XL pipeline on Friday, cheering the oil industry and angering environmentalists even as further hurdles for the controversial project loom. The approval reverses a decision by former President Barack Obama to reject the project, but the company still needs to win financing, acquire local permits, and fend off likely […]
HONG KONG — Middle-class mainlander Laura Zhang found the idea of owning a home overseas irresistible after being bombarded by commercials for an affordable project “near Singapore”. The Forest City project in the southern Malaysian state of Johor, the subject of the advertisement, is being developed by Country Garden, China’s third-largest home builder. Ms Zhang said she was told that a flat in Forest City, the developer’s […]
March 24, 2017 by: Eric Platt in New York and Stephen Smith in London The US stock market closed lower on Friday as the Trump administration’s struggle in Congress to repeal Obamacare heightened concerns about its ability to drive through an economic agenda that had spurred equity valuations to fresh records. The S&P 500 ended down 0.1 per cent to 2,344 reversing a 0.4 per cent advance […]
The Fed’s most recurring lament over the past 8 years, ever since the Financial crisis, is that there has been no measurable inflation in the US economy when using such conventional indicators as CPI, even though according to recent measurements by PriceStats real inflation, not the BLS’ seasonally-adjusted, goalseeked and politically convenient mutant, is now running at a blistering 3.6%, the highest in five years. That […]
Image: T-Mobile Last week I received a call directing me to call a particular phone number or I would be faced with a serious IRS penalty. It was obviously a scam since I have yet to file my taxes, but scammers steal from innocent people every year to the tune of a reported half a billion dollars. The IRS just released another alert to US taxpayers yesterday […]
The GCC’s industrial sector is continuing to grow, with the number of people it employs more than doubling since 2005, according to new research by the Gulf Organisation for Industrial Consulting (GOIC). In a report on manufacturing industries in GCC countries, the GOIC said most recent figures reveal the labour force has risen sharply from about 774,000 workers in 2005 to more than 1.6 million workers in […]
DHAKA A suicide bomber blew himself up at a security checkpoint near Bangladesh’s international airport on Friday, police said, the second such incident in a week. A young man set off a bomb in front of a police checkpoint and killed himself, police official Ruhul Amin said. No other casualties were reported. The attacker could not be identified immediately. Police have cordoned off the area. The latest […]
Last year, Donald Trump won the election for president by bemoaning the disappearance of the American factory and pledging to bring back manufacturing from other countries. Now in power, he might have to start worrying about the decline of another traditional pillar of the US economy — the American shopping mall. Fears that the rise of online shopping will lead to substantial dislocation in the retail sector […]
Chinese oil companies are turning their focus to overseas retail and services markets, as slowing growth in domestic fuel demand makes their traditional home market less attractive. Sinopec this week agreed to buy Chevron’s 75 per cent stake in a Cape Town refinery, affiliated service stations and convenience stores in South Africa and Botswana for $900m. It was the only remaining bidder after a year-long tender process. […]
By Stoyan Nenov | KAPITAN ANDREEVO, Bulgaria KAPITAN ANDREEVO, Bulgaria Bulgarian nationalists blocked border checkpoints with Turkey on Friday to stop buses bringing Bulgarian ethnic Turks to vote in Sunday’s election amid growing tension between the two neighbours. Sofia has accused Ankara of interference in its election on behalf of the DOST party that represents Bulgarian Turks, the country’s largest ethnic minority. Polls suggest DOST will fall […]
The highest-end Nokia 6 Arte Black is among the phones set for a global rollout. Image: HMD Global HMD Global has confirmed it will launch its Nokia Android handsets to the US and the rest of the world in the second quarter. The company said on its Twitter account today that its new Android handsets and one feature phone will launch worldwide between April and June. The […]
By Pavel Polityuk and Alessandra Prentice | AVDIYIVKA/KIEV AVDIYIVKA/KIEV Ukrainian government troops and separatist fighters have drawn closer to each other at several places along the tense front line in eastern Ukraine, monitors say, raising the risk of violent flare-ups that could wreck a shaky ceasefire. At some points, the sides have drawn within shouting distance of each other. The Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe, […]
Gold ETFs or gold bars? Bars including one kilo gold bar at bullion dealers Goldcore, in London, U.K. (March 11, 2010). Photographer: Chris Ratcliffe/Bloomberg Considering the public’s waning trust in the banking system, many investors find themselves wondering how GLD stacks up to owning the real thing. When you look at both assets more closely, it’s clear that gold ETFs and gold bullion are very different investments. […]
China-based Zhonghong Zhuoye Group Co Ltd will buy Blackstone Group LP’s (BX.N) 21 percent stake in SeaWorld Entertainment Inc (SEAS.N), the embattled U.S.-based marine park operator said on Friday. SeaWorld said Zhonghong Group would buy the stake for $23 per share, a premium of nearly 33 percent to the stock’s close on Thursday. Zhonghong Group – a diversified holding company for investments in real estate, leisure and […]
Not everything is Donald Trump’s fault. And by the same token, not everything that goes right in the world can be attributed to him. It can be difficult to remember this, particularly in the US where domestic politics is crowding out almost everything else from the news, and where most people are inclined to view the news through stridently pro- or anti-Trump lenses. Mr Trump seems so […]
By Stephanie Nebehay | GENEVA GENEVA The top United Nations human rights body agreed on Friday to send an international fact-finding mission to investigate widespread allegations of killings, rape and torture by security forces against Rohingya Muslims in Myanmar’s Rakhine state. But Myanmar ambassador Htin Lynn, speaking before the decision was taken by consensus, rejected the move as “not acceptable”. Myanmar’s national commission had just interviewed alleged […]
Breaking news. (photo credit:JPOST STAFF) MANILA – Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte hit out at the European Union on Friday for hypocrisy and called the bloc “sons of bitches” after its lawmakers issued a resolution calling for restraint and a rethink in his bloody war on drugs. Duterte castigated the EU for urging him to focus his campaign on drugs rehabilitation and stood by his security-centered […]
By Sumeet Chatterjee | HONG KONG HONG KONG HSBC (HSBA.L) plans to add as many as 1,000 new employees to its Chinese retail banking and wealth management arm this year, the business’s regional head said, most of them in the Pearl River Delta, the heart of the bank’s growth strategy in China. If that target is hit, the new additions will mean HSBC will have hired twice […]
By Andrew MacAskill and Anjuli Davies | LONDON LONDON Britain’s Labour party has won five seats at elections in the City of London, the heart of the country’s financial district, as it seeks to challenge the borough’s centuries-old policy of independence from party politics. Britain’s main opposition party, lagging far behind the Conservatives in national opinion under its current leader, veteran socialist Jeremy Corbyn, has had its […]
Democrats criticised Donald Trump’s choice to run the Securities and Exchange Commission on Thursday, saying that Jay Clayton, a veteran securities lawyer, is too deeply entangled with Wall Street to be an effective markets cop. SEC ethics rules will require Mr Clayton, a partner with Sullivan & Cromwell in New York, to recuse himself for two years from enforcement actions involving his former clients or anyone represented […]
Interactive MARCH 24, 2017 After earning $800,000 in 2015 by sneaking migrants into Turkey, a smuggler says he has left the guilt and complications of his business behind — mostly. And a Syrian refugee boy, homeless and out of school, must keep roaming the country to find farm work and help his family survive. This is the third part in the State of Emergency series, in which […]
Friday 06:00 GMT Overview Asian stock markets continued to recover after a midweek sell-off and as a highly anticipated vote on US healthcare reform was pushed back until later on Friday. European bourses are expected to open on the front foot, with spreadbetters predicting the UK’s FTSE 100 will add 8 points to 7,349 and Germany’s Dax to advance 20 points to 12,060. Hot topic Global markets […]
By Matt Spetalnick | WASHINGTON WASHINGTON The Trump administration reiterated its concerns about Israeli settlement activity, the two sides said on Thursday, as a round of talks ended without agreement over limiting future construction on land the Palestinians want for a state. The four days of high-level meetings in Washington marked the latest step by President Donald Trump’s aides aimed at opening the way to renewed peace […]
