Photo The body of a 15-year-old girl at a makeshift morgue on Thursday in the rebel-held town of Douma, Syria, on the outskirts of Damascus, after reports of airstrikes. Credit Abd Doumany/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images MOSCOW — The Syrian government and its most important ally, Russia, announced on Thursday that they had reached a cease-fire agreement with Syrian rebels and with Turkey — a potential turning […]
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 […]
If there is one thing that unites Middle Eastern leaders these days, it is concern over what Donald Trump might do in 2017. A true political outsider, Trump will arrive in the White House next month with no track record and no political markers that might give an indication. The list of policy problems is certainly long, yet his list of policy ideas, as mooted during his […]
When the direct trading link between stock markets in Shenzhen and Hong Kong opened this month, local dignitaries were easy to spot at the launch events. Less conspicuous were international investors ready to take advantage of what was billed as a big opportunity to buy into Chinese equities. The link offers foreign investors greater access to shares on the Shenzhen Stock Exchange, home to some of China’s up […]
$6.2 million: Amount former World Wrestling Entertainment executive Linda McMahon, who Trump picked to serve in his Cabinet as the Small Business Administration administrator, donated to pro-Trump political groups ahead of the election 33: Number of states that will be led by a Republican governor in 2017 3-to-1: Factor by which Team Clinton outgunned Team Trump on the TV airwaves during the general election 11: Percentage of TV ads sponsored by […]
Global debt sales reached a record in 2016, led by companies gorging on cheap borrowing costs that are now threatened by Donald Trump’s pledge to fire up the US economy. The bond rally that dominated the first half of the year helped entice borrowers that issued debt via banks to take on just over $6.6tn, according to data provider Dealogic, breaking the previous annual record set in […]
Taiwan fears getting caught between the US and China as President-elect Donald Trump threatens a tougher approach toward Beijing and the Chinese government intensifies its sabre-rattling in the region. Politicians and analysts in Taiwan believe that Beijing is stepping up pressure on the self-governing and democratic island, which China claims is its territory, because of actions taken by Mr Trump. On Monday, the Chinese navy sailed its […]
The prime minister defended his retaliation. “Israel is a country with national pride, and we do not turn the other cheek,” he said. “This is a responsible, measured and vigorous response, the natural response of a healthy people that is making it clear to the nations of the world that what was done at the U.N. is unacceptable to us.” Continue reading the main story The Security […]
2016 was chock-full of surprises, both in markets and in politics. As Goldman’s Allison Nathan explains, the year began with a perfect storm of worries that had become all too familiar already in 2015. Oil prices plunged and fears of faltering growth and a sharp depreciation of China’s currency escalated, driving disruptive sell-offs in credit and other risk assets. Confidence in global growth faltered, particularly after an […]
She says she hasn’t decided what she’ll do next, but that it likely will involve working for a foundation or, perhaps, in the private sector. She’ll depart the FEC having largely seen her standing goal of revealing sources of secret money in politics stymied. Goodman, in an interview, wouldn’t commit to staying at the FEC through 2017. “I will make a decision early next year about my […]
Donald Trump intends to close his charitable foundation to reduce the number of potential conflicts of interest he faces, as the New York property mogul prepares for his inauguration on January 20 as the 45th president of the US. In a statement released on Christmas Eve, Mr Trump said he had instructed his lawyers to dissolve the charity without providing details on timing. The president-elect has faced considerable […]
“The resolution that was passed by the U.N. yesterday is part of the swan song of the old world that is biased against Israel,” Mr. Netanyahu said at a Hanukkah candle-lighting ceremony honoring wounded soldiers and terrorism victims. “But, my friends, we are entering a new era and, as President-elect Trump said yesterday, that is going to happen a lot faster than people think.” Continue reading the […]
The vote for Brexit will change the course of Britain’s history, Philip Hammond announced last month. The UK chancellor may be a strident advocate for a soft departure from the EU but he has also been keen to paint a positive picture of the country’s economy, saying the UK’s fundamental strengths will “ensure our future success”. Financial markets are sceptical. The economy may have confounded doom laden […]
By Rodrigo Campos | NEW YORK NEW YORK The year-end stocks rally on the heels of the election of Donald Trump as U.S. president was built on expectations of reduced regulations, big tax cuts and a large fiscal stimulus. Now signs are emerging from the Trump camp that harsher trade policies that could jeopardize the honeymoon are likely in the offing, and investors would be well advised […]
Getting $45 million in new work In the complaint, the whistleblowers said that when they originally lodged accusations of mismanagement — several years earlier — Bechtel project leaders launched a coordinated lobbying campaign to defend their work and also to collect new revenues for additional work on the waste treatment plant project. It then billed the department for the costs of this lobbying, the complaint said. In January 2010, […]
UNITED NATIONS: In a striking rupture with past practice, the United States allowed the UN Security Council on Friday to condemn Israeli settlements in the West Bank and east Jerusalem as a “flagrant violation” of international law. In doing so, the outgoing Obama administration brushed aside Donald Trump’s demands that the US exercise its veto and provided a climax to years of icy relations with Israel’s leadership.The […]
“The boundaries of uncertainty have increased [for fixed-income markets],” says Dan Ivascyn, chief investment officer at Pimco, the bond specialist that invests more than $1.5tn. “Rates certainly can go higher.” What is clear for bond investors is that they face a true test of their convictions in 2017 after an end to 2016 that challenged the consensus of low inflation and rates that, at one point, drove […]
A hundred years ago, an arms race between the dominant global superpower the (British Empire) and a rising power (Kaiser Wilhelm’s Germany) culminated in the mass slaughter of World War One. The deep mistrust between the United States and the People’s Republic of China has all the potential to spawn a traumatic chapter in international relations. Despite its “pivot” to Asia, the Obama White House was cautious […]
That longstanding principle has largely collapsed since the victory by Mr. Trump, who campaigned on a strategy of breaking all the rules and has continued to speak in unmodulated tones. Continue reading the main story “In some ways, Trump is neutering the Obama administration,” said Douglas G. Brinkley, a professor of history and a presidential historian at Rice University in Houston. “They’ve avoided personally attacking each other, […]
The renminbi’s seemingly endless grind lower against the US dollar has been one of the financial stories of 2016, triggering a wave of capital outflows from China that Goldman Sachs estimates may have totalled $1.1tn since August 2015. The once closely controlled Chinese currency has tumbled 6.5 per cent to an eight-year low of Rmb6.945 against the greenback this year, taking its slide since August 2015 to […]
Russian President Vladimir Putin has written to Donald Trump to express his hope that Moscow and Washington improve relations after the US president-elect is inaugurated on January 20. “I hope . . . we will be able — by acting in a constructive and pragmatic manner — to take real steps to restore the framework of bilateral co-operation in different areas as well as bring our level of collaboration on the […]
Each year at the Ira Sohn conference a group of the world’s best known hedge fund managers present their top ideas for what to buy in the stock market. The event is so closely followed by investors that it is not unknown for shares in companies that are picked to start rising before presenters have even left the stage. More recently, however, some of these celebrity investors […]
The UN Security Council has passed a resolution demanding that Israel stop building settlements in the occupied Palestinian Territories, after the US abstained in spite of ferocious criticism from Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government. The resolution was passed with 14 votes from the 15-member security council, hours after a senior Israeli official accused US President Barack Obama of working “behind Israel’s back” to cook up the resolution, in […]
UNITED NATIONS — Defying extraordinary pressure from President-elect Donald J. Trump and furious lobbying by Israel, the Obama administration on Friday allowed the United Nations Security Council to adopt a resolution that condemned Israeli settlement construction. The administration’s decision not to veto the measure broke a longstanding American policy of serving as Israel’s sturdiest diplomatic shield at the United Nations. While the measure will have no practical […]
