Oil prices reversed early losses on reports of the third weekly drawdown of crude stocks in the US, although analysts cautioned on waiting for further signs that Opec’s production cuts are finally tightening the market. Inventories of US crude fell by a larger than expected 3.6m barrels in the week ended April 21, the Energy Information Administration said on Wednesday, compared with expectations for a draw of […]
By Michael Shields | ZURICH ZURICH Swiss voters look set to decide for a second time whether to impose curbs on immigration from the European Union after the cabinet proposed on Wednesday allowing a straight yes-or-no referendum on an issue that still bedevils ties with the EU. In a 2014 referendum, voters narrowly backed upper limits and quotas to reduce immigration from the EU, amid concerns that […]
French presidential frontrunner Emmanuel Macron was ambushed on the campaign trail on Wednesday by far-right rival Marine Le Pen, with the rivals for the Elysée Palace clashing over globalisation and compounding a shaky start for Mr Macron in the final two weeks of the election race. The rivals’ visits to a factory in Amiens in northern France came on what was the first day of vigorous campaigning […]
According to Mr. Soylu, the “secret imams” were part of a parallel leadership structure within the police force that was ultimately answerable to Mr. Gulen, whose extradition has long been sought by the Turkish authorities. The subject of Mr. Gulen is almost certain to be discussed at a coming meeting in Washington between President Trump and Mr. Erdogan, whose government was allied to the cleric’s movement before […]
No president likes being judged on his first hundred days in office, not least Donald Trump. It is, he tweeted last week, a “ridiculous standard” by which to be measured, even though he also claimed to have accomplished “a lot”. With his 100th day in the White House falling on Saturday, investors have more nuanced ideas. For much of 2017 financial markets have doubted the global “Trump […]
Twitter on Thursday rallied more than 11 per cent in pre-market activity, after it announced better than expected earnings and revenues, and significantly increased its active userbase on the platform. The social media company posted first quarter revenues of $548m, down 8 per cent year over year, marking the first fall in sales on record, but still exceeding estimates. It recorded a net loss of $62m, significantly […]
ANKARA Turkish authorities arrested more than 1,000 people on Wednesday they said had secretly infiltrated police forces across the country on behalf of a U.S.-based cleric blamed by the government for a failed coup attempt last July. The nationwide sweep was one of the largest operations in months against suspected supporters of the cleric, Fethullah Gulen, a former ally of President Tayyip Erdogan who is now accused […]
It’s taken the new chief executive of the London Metal Exchange Matthew Chamberlain four years to understand the complexity of the 140-year-old bourse. Now he’s on a mission to simplify it. Days after his appointment was announced by the LME’s parent Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing the 35-year-old former investment banker has outlined his vision to attract more customers and protect London’s place as the centre of […]
ABU DHABI // Residents are warned to take precaution as temperatures and humidity levels continues to rise across the country. Sea conditions in the Arabian Gulf may become rough by the afternoon and evening, according to the National Centre for Metrology and Seismology. The relative humidity will increase during the night and into early morning, and mist may form over some coastal areas, the bureau said. The […]
Credit Suisse has launched a SFr4bn ($4bn) share issue and said it will abandon plans to list its Swiss division in an attempt to draw a line under capital fears that have dogged the bank since chief executive Tidjane Thiam took over two years ago. Investors expected the bank’s quarterly earnings on Wednesday to feature only limited news on its much-anticipated capital plans since it is not […]
Wednesday 03:00 BST Overview Momentum from a buoyant Wall Street carried over into Asia trading as equities rallied while bonds and oil prices continued to slide. Hot topic Stock markets across the region took their cues from Wall Street, where on Tuesday the S&P 500 neared a record closing high and the tech-focused Nasdaq closed above 6,000 for the first time. In Sydney, the S&P/ASX 200 was […]
ANKARA Turkey will not wait at Europe’s door forever and is ready to walk away from EU accession talks if rising Islamophobia and hostility from some member states persist, President Tayyip Erdogan told Reuters in a wide-ranging interview on Tuesday. Speaking at the presidential palace less than two weeks after winning sweeping new powers in a referendum, a relaxed Erdogan said a decision by a leading European […]
A federal court has blocked President Donald Trump’s executive order on sanctuary cities on the grounds that it is unconstitutional, in another legal setback for the administration. The nationwide injunction granted on Tuesday by a federal judge in San Francisco will prevent the executive order, signed just days after Mr Trump’s inauguration, from being enforced while its legal merits are debated. “This is a very aggressive use […]
The Nasdaq Composite breached the 6,000 level for the first time on Tuesday and extended its double -digit gain for the year as investors focus on owning companies with strong growth prospects. The tech-heavy benchmark climbed as much as 0.7 per cent to 6,022 early in the day after closing at a record high in the previous session. Renewed appetite for technology stocks and a rally in […]
Late last year, Google tweaked its search algorithm to fix a pesky problem: Users who asked the search engine whether the Holocaust occurred were served a post from the White supremacist site Stormfront denying its existence as a top result. Similar problems occasionally arise with Google’s featured “snippets,” the prominently displayed boxes that highlight highly-cited answers from around the web. For instance, at the time of publication […]
Billionaire Bernard Arnault and his family are shunning big external acquisitions and opting to tighten their grip on LVMH, the world’s largest luxury group by revenues, where they’re already the largest shareholder. The Arnault family is simplifying the complex corporate structure between its family holding company Groupe Arnault, Christian Dior and LVMH — in a move that will see it sell out completely of rival Hermès. “We’re […]
It was kind of an accident. When Lisa Tobin arrived at The New York Times nearly seven months ago, she had a broad mission: Figure out what the newspaper was supposed to sound like. “I expected that we would come in and spend several months figuring that out and then starting to finalize strategy and figure out what our first-round programming would be,” said Tobin. That’s pretty […]
The Home Office is trying to discourage EU nationals from applying for permanent residence in the UK to avoid being deluged by applications after the triggering of the Article 50 Brexit clause. According to new guidance released this month, EU citizens are instead advised to sign up for emailed news alerts that will tell them if and when they need to take action over their UK residence. […]
The Trump administration will impose tariffs on Canadian exports of softwood lumber to the US after concluding that Canada subsidises the industry in a way that is detrimental to the US. Wilbur Ross, US commerce secretary, told the Financial Times that the US would impose tariffs ranging from 3 per cent to 24 per cent on five Canadian lumber exporters. The Canadian companies are Canfor, J.D. Irving, […]
KUALA LUMPUR • Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak has launched a 10- year programme to help the country’s Indian community, promising to raise its members’ incomes and educational levels, open up business opportunities and reserve more jobs for them in government. Calling it the Malaysian Indian Blueprint, or MIB, Datuk Seri Najib pledged on Sunday that most of its main components will be delivered within a decade. […]
The US Treasury has responded to this month’s gas attack in Syria by launching one of its biggest one-off rounds of sanctions, targeting employees of a Syrian agency it accuses of developing non-conventional weapons. The Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control announced that 271 employees of Syria’s Scientific Studies and Research Center were being sanctioned, more than doubling the number of individuals and entities targeted by previous […]
It was kind of an accident. When Lisa Tobin arrived at The New York Times nearly seven months ago, she had a broad mission: Figure out what the newspaper was supposed to sound like. “I expected that we would come in and spend several months figuring that out and then starting to finalize strategy and figure out what our first-round programming would be,” Tobin said. That’s pretty […]
US paintmaker PPG Industries raised the tempo in a fierce takeover battle with its rival Akzo Nobel by tabling a third bid that it said valued the Dutch company at €26.9bn. PPG on Monday made a new cash-and-stock offer for the owner of the Dulux brand of paints at €96.75 a share — a premium of 50 per cent over Akzo Nobel’s undisturbed stock price before the […]
Former BP boss Tony Hayward will in June leave Genel Energy, the Kurdistan-focused oil explorer he co-founded, following several troubled years for the lossmaking company. He will be succeeded as Genel chairman by Stephen Whyte, an energy industry veteran, whose career has included a long spell at Royal Dutch Shell in various technical and commercial roles. Since 2013, Mr Hayward has been chairman of Glencore, the mining-cum-trading […]
