After a surly first conversation between the two leaders in January that rattled the United States and Australia’s long-standing alliance, Pence will take a more amiable approach and try to focus on cooperation on trade, defence and more. Trump reportedly exploded and cut short the call when he was told about a deal to move some refugees from Australia to America. That left some in Australia questioning […]
TEL AVIV U.S. Defense Secretary Jim Mattis said on Friday that Syria had dispersed its warplanes in recent days and that it retained chemical weapons, an issue he said would have to be taken up diplomatically. The United States launched dozens of missiles earlier this month against a Syrian air base in response to a chemical attack that killed 90 people, including 30 children. It says the […]
Morgan, Lewis & Bockius LLP has a lost client because of its work for another client: President Donald Trump. Wallace Global Fund, a left-leaning private foundation, has terminated its relationship with Morgan Lewis as a protest against Mr. Trump and the firm’s handling of his business conflicts. The fund’s decision was “out of profound disagreement […] (via WSJ)
Although Google is processing more requests, it’s also producing data for a smaller share of them. Image: Google Government requests for Google user data in the second half of 2016 were the highest since the firm first reported the figures in 2009. As Google notes in its latest Transparency Report, it received 45,549 government requests for user data in the second half of 2016, of which about […]
The construction of Asia-Pacific fibre infrastructure company Superloop’s Indigo subsea cable system has reached a contractually binding status following Alcatel Submarine Networks entering a system supply agreement. The agreement makes the submarine cable system supply and construction binding for all parties, as well as the process of bringing it into operation. The contract was executed between Alcatel Submarine Networks and the Indigo consortium parties including Superloop and […]
By Chad Bray A federal judge said he needs more time to consider a $602 million settlement by hedge-fund firm SAC Capital Advisors LP to resolve allegations related to what federal authorities have called the most lucrative insider-trading scheme ever. The civil settlement with the Securities and Exchange Commission is one of two such agreements reached earlier this month by SAC, one of the nation’s most successful […]
The US has set the stage for a global showdown over steel, launching a national security investigation that could lead to sweeping tariffs on steel imports in what would be the first significant act of economic protectionism by President Donald Trump. The decision to use a 1962 law allowing the US government to limit imports that threaten its security readiness is intended to deliver on Mr Trump’s […]
Following years of acrimony between OPEC and the hedge fund community, which the cartel dismissed simply as “speculators”, things suddenly changed in 2016 when the two groups got so close, there were outright reports of collusion between the two on various occasions. We documented this last month in “Why OPEC Is Colluding With Hedge Funds.” However, as Reuters’ energy analyst John Kemp pointed out on twitter this […]
Wall Street still exudes widespread optimism that 2017 will provide another year of solid if unspectacular economic growth and only gentle interest rate rises. With the S&P 500 up over 4.5 per cent for the year, here is a series of charts that will hearten investors of a more bearish persuasion. While there are good reasons why each chart should not be taken too seriously, together they […]
Oil prices levelled off on Thursday after they dropped more than $2 a barrel following publication of data by the US energy department showing a rise in American gasoline stockpiles for the first time since February. US benchmark West Texas Intermediate edged 14 cents higher to $50.58 a barrel in early European trading while the global Brent benchmark ticked 17 cents higher to $53.10 a barrel. The […]
ANKARA Turkey’s justice minister said on Thursday that any opposition challenge to a referendum that expanded President Tayyip Erdogan’s powers would be rejected by the constitutional court, and Europe’s human rights court had no jurisdiction on the matter. The main opposition CHP party said on Wednesday it was considering taking its appeal for the referendum to be annulled to Turkey’s Constitutional Court or the European Court of […]
MANILA Russian navy vessels arrived in the Philippines on Thursday for joint exercises as part of a drive for new security ties under President Rodrigo Duterte’s revamped foreign policy of courting the traditional foes of Manila’s top ally, Washington. The guided-missile cruiser Varyag, accompanied by the fuel tanker ship, Pechenge, are on a four-day goodwill visit to the Philippines, the second port call by Russian warships in […]
ABU DHABI Kuwait’s oil minister Essam al-Marzouq said on Thursday he expected a global pact to cut oil supplies to be extended beyond June, supported by higher compliance from non-OPEC producers. “We have a noticeable increase in compliance from non-OPEC which shows the importance of extending the agreement,” Marzouq told an industry event with other Gulf oil ministers including Saudi Arabia’s energy minister Khalid al-Falih in Abu […]
Fast and the Furious actor Tyrese Gibson’s love for UAE has now made him set up a custom jeep assembly business in the Emirates. The star’s Voltron Motors company has partnered with Souq Al Haraj of the Sharjah Asset Management, the investment body of the Government of Sharjah to open a branch there. Gibson, who has made several trips to the UAE, more recently for the premiere […]
By Lesley Wroughton | WASHINGTON WASHINGTON U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson on Wednesday accused Iran of ‘alarming ongoing provocations’ to destabilise countries in the Middle East as the Trump administration launched a review of its policy towards Tehran. Tillerson told reporters the review, which he announced on Tuesday, would not only look at Tehran’s compliance with a 2015 nuclear deal but also its behaviour in the […]
Three years after one of the worst aviation disasters in history, Malaysia Airlines is banking on technology to prevent another one from happening. Malaysia Airlines has inked an agreement with Aireon LLC, SITAONAIR and FlightAware LLC to use a space-based satellite technology to monitor its fleet. The technology is targeted for a 2018 completion. On March 8, 2014, Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 lost communications and disappeared in the Indian Ocean […]
JERUSALEM Israel’s military said on Wednesday it believes Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s forces still possess several tonnes of chemical weapons, issuing the assessment two weeks after a chemical attack that killed nearly 90 people in Syria. Israel, along with many countries, blames the strike on Assad’s military. French Foreign Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault said French intelligence services would provide proof of that in the coming days. A senior […]
By Anna Mehler Paperny and Rod Nickel | TORONTO/WINNIPEG TORONTO/WINNIPEG Canadian police on Wednesday said they charged a woman with human smuggling offences in connection with the asylum seekers who have been streaming over the border from the United States in growing numbers in recent months. Royal Canadian Mounted Police they intercepted a 43-year-old woman driving nine people across the U.S. border into the prairie province of […]
WASHINGTON: US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said on Tuesday he has told Congress of plans to review whether sanctions relief given to Iran as part of the 2015 nuclear deal was in US national security interests.The notification came as the White House certified that Iran was complying with its commitments under the deal negotiated by former President Barack Obama, which is known as the Joint Comprehensive […]
WASHINGTON — The Trump administration has certified that Iran continues to comply with a 2015 nuclear agreement that President Trump denounced during the campaign as “the worst deal ever.” The certification decision, announced late Tuesday night, means that the administration has extended relief from sanctions given to the Iranian government in exchange for constraints on its nuclear program. But the certification was grudging, delivered just 90 minutes […]
By Ernest Scheyder | HOUSTON HOUSTON Nearly a century after Chevron Corp amassed the No. 2 stake in America’s largest oilfield, Chief Executive John Watson is hitting the accelerator on developing the company’s vast Permian Basin holdings. In an interview, Watson made clear his desire to put the West Texas to New Mexico expanse in the ranks of Chevron’s biggest ventures. That is a stark change from […]
By David Morgan and Yasmeen Abutaleb | WASHINGTON WASHINGTON Top White House deputies returned to the Capitol on Tuesday evening to meet Republican lawmakers and discuss a second attempt at replacing Obamacare. Vice President Mike Pence and other key aides were meeting with members of the moderate “Tuesday Group,” the conservative Republican Study Committee and the House Freedom Caucus, the rebel group of conservative lawmakers that derailed […]
By Patricia Zengerle | WASHINGTON WASHINGTON A bill to slap new sanctions on Iran has been delayed in the U.S. Senate due to concerns about Iran’s May presidential election, in which conservative hardliners hope to defeat moderate President Hassan Rouhani, U.S. lawmakers said on Tuesday. A group of Democratic and Republican senators introduced the bill in March seeking to impose tighter U.S. sanctions on Iran over ballistic […]
The Washington Post is out with a few more leaks today, this time purporting that Trump is set to impose two liberal wet dreams on the people, VAT and carbon taxes. Washpo said the administration is trying to find ways to raise revenues, in order to provide the people with the tax cuts they promised. Moreover, they painted this in a light that Trump and his team […]
