M&A: back with a bang Deal activity was vigorous with much of it concentrated just below the level of the industry’s biggest companies. Nasdaq bought International Securities Exchange for $1.1bn, while CBOE Holdings announced a $3.2bn deal for Bats Global Markets in September. Of most significance, the pending €24bn tie-up between London’s LSE Group and Deutsche Börse, which will create Europe’s largest exchange. As the chart above […]
By Isabel Coles and Stephen Kalin | NEAR MOSUL, Iraq NEAR MOSUL, Iraq Iraqi security forces on Thursday began the second phase of their offensive against Islamic State militants in Mosul, pushing from three directions into eastern districts where the battle has been deadlocked for nearly a month. Since the offensive to capture Mosul began 10 weeks ago, counter-terrorism forces have retaken a quarter of the city, […]
India’s former central bank chief Raghuram Rajan was once described as a “rock star” economist but the Reserve Bank of India’s new deputy governor has actually written an album of songs. Viral Acharya, a New York University professor, was on Wednesday named as a deputy governor of the Reserve Bank of India. Not only does Mr. Acharya have an impressive professional and academic record, he is also […]
29 December, 2016 ISLAMABAD: Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) chairman Imran Khan has expressed his readiness to join any grand alliance of opposition parties, including the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP), on the Panama Papers scam. “If opposition parties form any alliance on the issue, we are ready for it, but not for (coming general) elections,” he said during a talk with reporters at his Banigala residence […]
Samsung Electronics will show off two new quantum dot (QD) monitors at the upcoming Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas next week, the company announced. The CH711, which comes in 27-inch and 31.5-inch models, boasts a WQHD resolution of 2560×1440 pixels, colour reproduction of sRGB 125 percent, and is aimed for media editing and graphic professionals, the South Korean tech giant said. The monitors have a […]
In the Philippines, the past year has been about one individual: Rodrigo Duterte, who is both beloved and despised for his rabble-rousing persona and hard-hearted leadership. No one else comes close. Back in August, three months into his term as the country’s new president, he made a promise in a speech delivered to an audience of military generals. “There will be an ongoing purge,” he said. “And […]
Shares in Toshiba fell 17 per cent to ¥257 on Thursday, taking the total loss of equity value to more than 40 per cent since the Japanese company announced that it was facing a multibillion-dollar writedown at its US nuclear division Westinghouse. As investors continued to digest Tuesday’s warning, shares in some of Japan’s biggest banks slid after the electronics-to-nuclear conglomerate raised the prospect of losses on their […]
On the other were Mr. Netanyahu and Mr. Trump, firing back at what they deemed a hypocritical betrayal of America’s closest friend in the Middle East. Continue reading the main story If Mr. Obama and Mr. Kerry were playing for history, Mr. Netanyahu and Mr. Trump were playing for time. The departing administration intended for the speech to lay out a path to peace that they had […]
ISTANBUL Prominent Turkish journalist Ahmet Sik on Thursday said he was being detained by authorities over a Twitter statement he made while an opposition lawmaker who spoke to him said the reporter was being accused of terrorist propaganda. At least 81 journalists are imprisoned in Turkey, according to the New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), with more than 130 media outlets shut since a failed coup […]
Saudi Arabia has announced a timeline for implementation of a tax on harmful products including soft drinks and cigarettes, and said it has completely ruled out income tax contrary to previous reports, according to an official document. The Fiscal Balance Program 2020 report, published by the Saudi government last week, said the kingdom would impose a 50 percent tax on soft drinks and a 100 percent tax […]
This year has been tough-going in more ways than one and, by most accounts, Singapore’s economy is expected to be heading for rougher seas in 2017. According to a survey by the Singapore Business Federation, 63 percent of local companies said the economic climate worsened in 2016 and 48 percent believed the downward spiral would continue in the new year. The Monetary Authority of Singapore also warned […]
TOKYO Shares in Toshiba (6502.T) fell more than 19 percent in morning trade on Thursday, clocking a third day of heavy losses after the Japanese tech-to-nuclear conglomerate said earlier this week it faced a potential multi-billion dollar writedown. Late on Wednesday, Moody’s became the second rating agency to downgrade the group, pushing it deeper into “junk”, or non-investment grade territory, with a Caa1 rating, from B3. “Although […]
Sprint has revealed that it is going to hire about 5,000 personnel, and U.S. President-elect Donald Trump quickly claimed credit for purportedly negotiating the deal. Trump has lumped those figures with the 3,000 new hires planned by a startup called OneWeb, for a grand total of 8,000 new jobs, which Trump has promptly announced as very good news for the economy. Sprint is owned by Japanese firm […]
Two years ago, James Garstang, a brewer at the Kernel Brewery, one of London’s most popular microbreweries, was approached by a friend about an opportunity abroad. “He said: ‘If you are interested in some karma and curry, then I have a potential job for you,’” Mr Garstang recalls. Less than a month later, the Londoner was living and working in Gwalior, a midsized city in India five […]
By Nobuhiro Kubo | TOKYO TOKYO Japan’s defence minister visited a controversial shrine to Japan’s war dead on Thursday, just after accompanying Prime Minister Shinzo Abe on a historic visit to Pearl Harbor, where Japan’s attack brought the United States into World War Two. Television footage showed a smiling Tomomi Inada in a black jacket and skirt arriving at Tokyo’s Yasukuni Shrine, which honours Japanese who lost […]
Planemaker Airbus said on Tuesday it was postponing the delivery of 12 A380 planes to Emirates Airline over the next two years, and added it would step up cost cuts to minimise the impact of these delays. Airbus, whose main rival is US group Boeing, said six deliveries of the A380 would be postponed from 2017 to 2018, with another six postponed from 2018 to 2019, following an agreement […]
Updated December 29, 2016, 9:08 AM By Restituto Cayubit HILONGOS, Leyte – At least 32 persons watching an amateur boxing bout were injured in an explosion at the town plaza Wednesday night. HILONGOS, Leyte CREDIT: Google Maps, Manila Bulletin Leyte police provincial director Supt. Franco Simborio said out of the 32 injured, 16 were treated as outpatient while the remaining 16 were brought to various hospitals in […]
The way the Huskies’ schedule shapes up after Maryland, the Terrapins might be last in line with a serious chance to prevent a shattering of the record that even Auriemma did not believe to be achievable after Connecticut lost three players to the top three selections in last spring’s W.N.B.A. draft. Continue reading the main story But here they are, 11-0 through a formidable schedule that included […]
Starting January 1 next year, Singapore will begin including iris scans as part of the country’s registration process for citizens and permanent residents. This was part of efforts to improve the “effectiveness and efficiency” of operations undertaken by the Immigration and Checkpoints Authority (ICA), the Ministry of Home Affairs said in a statement Wednesday. The ministry said amendments to the country’s National Registration Act (NRA), enacted in […]
By Richard Cowan | PALM BEACH, Fla. PALM BEACH, Fla. U.S. President-elect Donald Trump on Wednesday said telecommunications group Sprint Corp (S.N) and a U.S. satellite company OneWeb will be bringing 8,000 jobs to the United States, celebrating the moves as a result of optimism associated with his election. It was unclear how the 8,000 jobs are related to a $50 billion investment announced in December by […]
Saudi Arabia’s austerity measures will weigh heavily on consumer spending in 2017 with households cutting back on “non-essential” expenses, according to BMI Research. In its latest country report, the Fitch Group firm reiterated its previous forecasts that the kingdom’s economy would fall into recession next year, as fiscal consolidation and oil production cuts impact economic activity. It forecasts real gross domestic product (GDP) growth to decline by […]
By Andreina Aponte | CARACAS CARACAS Roughly one person is being lynched in crisis-ridden Venezuela every three days as frustrated residents take revenge on suspected criminals, a monitoring group said on Wednesday. The Venezuelan Observatory of Violence (OVV), which monitors crime, said mob killings have become a generalized phenomenon across the country, with 126 deaths reported in 2016 versus 20 last year. “Due to being repeated victims […]
US secretary of state John Kerry delivered a stinging rebuke of the Israeli government on Wednesday, accusing it of making the establishment of a viable Palestinian state nearly impossible through the expansion of settlements in the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem. With Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu joining forces with president-elect Donald Trump to attack the Obama administration, Mr Kerry said that the US allowed a […]
By Lesley Wroughton and Yeganeh Torbati | WASHINGTON WASHINGTON U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry warned on Wednesday that Israel’s building of settlements in occupied territory was endangering Middle East peace, expressing unusually frank frustration with the longtime American ally. In a swiftly issued statement, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu accused Kerry of showing bias. He said Israel did not need to be lectured to by foreign […]
