The US government’s benchmark borrowing costs remained above 2.6 per cent on Friday as investors anticipated robust US employment data ahead of a likely Federal Reserve interest rate increase next week. The benchmark 10-year yield — one of the most widely followed interest rates in the global economy — was at 2.61 per cent by early in London, its highest level since December and up from below […]
Uber’s crisis PR activities have returned to relative normality in Asia after the U.S. firm ran into fresh issues with government regulators in two countries this week: Hong Kong and Thailand. The ride-sharing giant has been fighting some serious corporate fires in the U.S. lately — around its toxic work culture, connections to a polarizing U.S. President, and its CEO’s attitude to its drivers — but it is back to basics as UberX drivers in the two countries come under […]
The connection between on-screen violence and off-screen aggressive behavior has been largely extrapolated. Most studies seemed to suggest that playing violent video games has a strong desensitizing effect and encourages negative demeanor. New evidence indicates, however, that violent content in video games doesn’t induce antisocial conduct in the long run, and leaves empathy levels unscathed. Although previous research established graphic media exposure can lead to aggression, these studies […]
Mario Draghi has declared victory against deflation and moved a step towards ending the European Central Bank’s ultra loose monetary policy, sending the euro and German bond yields higher as investors bet on the end of crisis-era stimulus measures. Facing growing pressure from monetary hawks in Germany, the ECB president said the bank decided to change its guidance to investors — omitting a reference to using all […]
Photo Tajrish Square in Tehran. The Iranian economy did not get the boost many had hoped for after the nuclear deal. Credit Arash Khamooshi for The New York Times Iran’s top leader criticized the pace of national economic growth on Thursday in what appeared to be a rebuke of the president, who had forecast prosperous times after the 2015 accord that lifted international sanctions in exchange for […]
Riyadh, 09 March, 2017 Mobile Telecommunication Company Saudi Arabia (Zain Saudi Arabia) announced its financial results for the full financial year ending December 31, 2016. Key Performance Indicators for the 12 months ending 31 Dec 2016: Compared to Full-Year 2015, Zain Saudi Arabia reported: Advertisement Revenues increased by 3% to SAR 6,927 million, Gross profit grew by 11% to SAR 4,401 million. EBITDA also grew by 10% […]
Friday 06:00 GMT Overview Asian markets were broadly positive on Friday as South Korea’s president was formally impeached, while Treasuries remained under pressure ahead of the US jobs report that could fuel expectations the Federal Reserve will raise interest rates next week. European bourses are expected to open higher, with spreadbetters predicting the UK’s FTSE 100 will add 20 points to 7,335 and Germany’s Dax to climb […]
By James Pearson and Heekyong Yang | SEOUL SEOUL When impeached president Park Geun-hye leaves South Korea’s presidential palace she will go back to her house in Seoul’s luxury Gangnam district surrounded by a high wall and bamboo. She may have to move again, next time to a cramped jail cell. South Korea’s Constitutional Court on Friday upheld a parliamentary decision to impeach Park, 65, over a […]
Saudi Arabia’s non-oil private sector saw a further pick up in growth momentum in February, with business conditions improving at the quickest rate since August 2015, according to a new survey. Data from the Emirates NBD Saudi Arabia Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI) showed that both output and new orders rose sharply in February, with the rate of expansion in the latter picking up to an 18-month high. […]
By Thomas Wilson and Minami Funakoshi | TOKYO TOKYO “Radiation! Bang bang!” Gesturing as if with guns, two boys in Tokyo repeatedly taunted a girl whose family fled to Japan’s capital to escape radioactivity unleashed by the Fukushima nuclear crisis of 2011. Tormented by headaches and weight loss, the girl began to skip classes, and switched schools to escape the bullies, her mother told Reuters. But the […]
Via Jim Quinn of The Burning Platform blog, In Part One and Part Two of this article I revealed how the Deep State’s fake data and fake news propaganda machine can be overcome by opening your eyes, observing reality, understanding how Fed created inflation has destroyed our lives, and why the election of Trump was the initial deplorable pushback to Deep State evil. “The notion that a […]
By Shinichi Saoshiro | TOKYO TOKYO Asian stocks edged up and the dollar rose to 1-1/2-month highs versus the yen on Friday, ahead of the closely-watched U.S. non-farm payrolls report due later in the day. MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan added 0.2 percent, taking cues from a modest bounce in Wall Street overnight. Japan’s Nikkei climbed more than 1 percent on the back of […]
Photo A United States officer at the entrance at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba. Attorney General Jeff Sessions said on Thursday that he would advise President Trump to send newly captured terrorism suspects to the prison. Credit John Moore/Getty Images WASHINGTON — Attorney General Jeff Sessions said on Thursday that he would advise President Trump to send newly captured terrorism suspects to the wartime prison at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, […]
Viva Republica CEO SG Lee Image: Viva Republica Viva Republica, maker of peer-to-peer money transfer app Toss, announced that it has raised $48 million in a Series C round led by San Mateo-based VC firm Goodwater Capital, with PayPal, Bessemer Venture Partners, Altos Ventures, and Partech Ventures also contributing to the round. The latest funding round brings the total amount raised by the Seoul-based company to 87.5 […]
WASHINGTON The U.S. State Department held out the possibility on Thursday that Secretary of State Rex Tillerson might take reporters with him to Asia after it initially broke with decades of tradition by telling the media he would not. “We are still working out the logistics for this trip, so (we) cannot yet speak definitively as to whether we’ll be able to accommodate any press on the […]
Qatar Airways will not take delivery of any Airbus A320neo aircraft this year as it looks to change its order to larger A321neos, Chief Executive Akbar Al Baker said. The Gulf carrier has refused to take delivery of Airbus A320neos since December 2015, initially after performance issues with the aircraft’s new engines. “I have to scream at Airbus to get my planes faster. I am nearly eight […]
The release of the Android 7.0 Nougat update for Samsung’s former flagship smartphones, the Galaxy S6 and Galaxy S6 edge had been delayed according to an official announcement from Samsung, but now appears to be rolling out. Owners of other Samsung devices expected to receive the update, the Galaxy Note 5 and Galaxy A, J series and Galaxy Tab, are now wondering how the S6 delay will […]
AIG is on the hunt for its seventh chief executive since 2005 after shareholder pressure in the wake of a $3bn quarterly loss prompted Peter Hancock to stand aside from the helm of the second-biggest US insurer by market value. Just a day after AIG directors held a board meeting to discuss his future, the company said on Thursday that the 58-year-old planned to resign. The former JPMorgan banker has struggled to return AIG […]
The cost of shorting shares of Snap has fallen sharply as bets against the owner of the messaging app slowed and the share price rallied. Snap’s stock has rebounded in recent sessions after selling off earlier in the week as several analysts’ reports expressed scepticism about the group’s valuation, which had surged above $30bn in the initial euphoria following its high-profile listing last week. At midday in […]
BEIRUT Turkey’s military shelled Syrian government forces and their allies on Thursday, causing deaths and injuries, Syrian state media quoted a military source as saying. State-run SANA news agency quoted the military source as saying that the Turkish bombardment targeted Syrian border guard positions in the countryside near the northern city of Manbij. Turkey intervened in northern Syria in August in support of rebel groups with the […]
MANILA — Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte’s choice to fill his cabinet with old friends and left-wingers has come back to bite him, with a foreign secretary forced out for lying about his U.S. citizenship and an environment secretary facing pushback for her hard stance on environmental protection. In light of Foreign Affairs Secretary Perfecto Yasay’s resignation, Duterte on Thursday named Foreign Affairs Undersecretary Enrique Manalo as acting secretary. […]
By Andrei Khalip | LISBON LISBON A former U.S. spy, newly pardoned by Italy in connection with the CIA kidnap of a terrorism suspect in Milan, has credited President Donald Trump’s administration with saving her from an Italian jail. Sabrina de Sousa was transferred between Portuguese prisons and had Italian police flying in to extradite her before being granted an 11th hour reprieve last week, with a […]
Dutch paints and coatings maker Akzo Nobel has rejected an unsolicited €20.9bn takeover bid by US industrial chemicals rival PPG Industries and said it is instead looking at spinning off its specialty chemicals business. Akzo Nobel said on Thursday that the PPG bid substantially undervalued its prospects and it made a broader appeal to its stakeholders by saying the takeover was not in the interests of customers […]
Photo A convoy of American armored vehicles in Manbij, northern Syria, on Sunday. The formal troop cap for Syria is 503, but commanders have the authority to temporarily exceed that limit to meet military requirements. Credit Delil Souleiman/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images WASHINGTON — The United States is sending an additional 400 troops to Syria to help prepare for the looming fight for Raqqa, the capital of […]
