By Natalie Schachar | MEXICO CITY MEXICO CITY Some Mexican banks are lowering credit card spending limits and raising consumer lending standards in the face of an economic slowdown, rising interest rates and the U.S. election victory of Donald Trump. After a period of robust overall credit growth, Mexican banks are cutting credit card exposure to counter a potential rise in consumer defaults and the risks of […]
Theresa May on Thursday embarked on a Brexit charm offensive in Brussels, amid warnings from a senior diplomat that a final exit deal could take a decade to complete. Mrs May will tell an EU summit that Britain will play a full role in tackling migrant flows from north Africa to Europe, even after Brexit. She will also reassure fellow leaders from Latvia and Lithuania that Britain […]
Thousands of people had gathered outside a hospital in the Mashhad neighborhood, which is still controlled by rebels, hoping that an evacuation deal announced on Tuesday by Turkey, Russia and Syrian rebels would hold. But the constant threat from snipers, bombs and shelling was unsettling. Video Aleppo Activists Say Final Goodbyes as Assad Closes In Syrian government forces had reclaimed most of rebel-held eastern Aleppo by Tuesday, […]
Thursday 11:00 GMT Overview Stock markets are trading cautiously as Treasury yields hit fresh highs after the Federal Reserve’s decision to raise interest rates for only the second time since the financial crisis. The prospect of the US central bank perhaps having to tighten policy faster than expected to reflect any additional boost to growth from president-elect Trump’s fiscal plans is lifting the dollar to a 14-year […]
Photo Stephen Curry of the Golden State Warriors signing autographs before a game in Memphis last week. The N.B.A. is in the midst of a highly prosperous stretch. Credit Brandon Dill/Associated Press At a time of enormous popularity and prosperity for the N.B.A., the league and the players’ union reached an agreement in principle Wednesday on a seven-year collective bargaining agreement that ensures labor peace through the […]
HELSINKI Finland said on Wednesday it would push the European Union to step up efforts to curb illegal migration by negotiating agreements with Iraq, Afghanistan and Somalia. European leaders are due at a summit on Thursday to discuss results from their recent migration compacts with five African countries – Niger, Nigeria, Mali, Senegal and Ethiopia. In exchange for financial support, the EU requires those countries to impose […]
Photo The coffins of victims from Sunday’s bombing of St. Mark’s Coptic Orthodox Cathedral after funeral services in Cairo on Monday. Credit Khaled Desouki/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images CAIRO — Egypt faced the prospect of a surge in sectarian bloodshed on Tuesday after the Islamic State claimed responsibility for the bombing of a Coptic cathedral in Cairo that killed 25 people on Sunday. The group warned of […]
Saudi Arabia’s 2017 state budget is likely to show Riyadh has shrunk a huge deficit caused by cheap oil faster than expected, which may let it spend more to bolster a shaky economy This year was one of the most painful for the Saudi economy in decades. Growth slowed sharply and speculators bet against the Saudi currency as the government fought to curb a deficit that totalled […]
BEIRUT An evacuation of rebel-held areas of eastern Aleppo was delayed on Wednesday for reasons that were not clear, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said, holding up implementation of an agreement to restore government control over the area. Observatory Director Rami Abdulrahman said the first group of evacuees was due to leave at 5 a.m. (0300 GMT), but nobody had left an hour later. A Reuters […]
(Image: PBO) The equity put into the company responsible for deploying the National Broadband Network across Australia will result in an annual AU$2.1 billion drag on the federal government’s underlying cash balance by 2026-27, the Parliament Budget Office (PBO) has said. PBO said the cost was entirely due to interest payments on the securities issued by the government as part of its debt issuing practices. For 2015-16, […]
By Patricia Zengerle | WASHINGTON WASHINGTON U.S. Senate Democrats plan to enlist accountants and legal experts to pore through the business records of Exxon Mobil Chief Executive Rex Tillerson, President-elect Donald Trump’s pick for secretary of state, Democratic aides said. Tillerson could face a rocky confirmation process, given concerns among both Democrats and Republicans about his ties to Russia. If Tillerson can overcome the skepticism of Republicans, […]
The former minister of mines and geology for the African Republic of Guinea was arrested on Tuesday in New York and charged with taking $8.5m in bribes in exchange for assigning lucrative investment rights to a Chinese-owned conglomerate. Mahmoud Thiam, an American citizen, was arrested at his home in Manhattan and was expected to appear in court later in the day. Mr Thiam, a former UBS banker, […]
By Laila Bassam and Angus McDowall | ALEPPO, Syria/BEIRUT ALEPPO, Syria/BEIRUT Syrian rebels prepared to withdraw from Aleppo on Wednesday after a ceasefire agreement that ended years of fighting in the city and gave President Bashar al-Assad his biggest victory yet after more than five years of war. The agreement was a result of talks between Russia, Assad’s main ally, and Turkey, a leading backer of the […]
13 December 2016 Dubai, United Arab Emirates – DAMAC Properties today announced that it has awarded 15 major construction and consultancy contracts valued at AED 1.26 billion during the period between August and November 2016, bringing the total value of contracts awarded so far in 2016 to AED 6.51 billion for projects in Dubai and the UK. The awarded contracts are for the provision of services related […]
By Steve Holland | WASHINGTON WASHINGTON President-elect Donald Trump named the head of Exxon Mobil Corp (XOM.N), Rex Tillerson, as his choice for U.S. secretary of state on Tuesday and won backing from some Republican foreign policy figures ahead of a possible Senate fight over the oilman’s ties to Russia. The Exxon CEO potentially faces difficulties getting confirmed in the Republican-controlled Senate. Some lawmakers worry about his […]
By Eric M. Johnson A 20-year-old British tourist who prosecutors say caused a security scare at a Donald Trump campaign rally in Las Vegas by trying to wrestle a gun from a police officer was sentenced on Tuesday to a year and a day in prison. Michael Sandford, was sentenced by U.S. District Judge James Mahan in Las Vegas after pleading guilty in September under a plea […]
Iran has told its scientists to start developing a nuclear propulsion system for shipping, in what it says is a response to the extension of US bilateral sanctions against Tehran. The US Senate voted this month to extend the president’s authority to impose financial sanctions on Iran for a further 10 years. The Islamic Republic regards the move as a breach of last year’s nuclear agreement between […]
The Abu Dhabi government has signed an agreement with a US-based research firm to study the feasibility of a Hyperloop transport system between Abu Dhabi and Al Ain. The Department of Municipal Affairs and Transport (DMAT) announced in a statement on Monday that it had inked a deal with Hyperloop Transportation Technologies (Hyperloop TT) – one of several companies working to bring the technology first conceived by […]
Photo Families that fled violence in the Bustan al-Qasr neighborhood of Aleppo on Tuesday arriving in the Fardous area, where shooting was also reported. Credit Agence France-Presse — Getty Images GENEVA — Pro-government forces retaking the eastern neighborhoods of the besieged Syrian city of Aleppo killed at least 82 civilians on Monday, the United Nations estimated, in what one official called “a complete meltdown of humanity.” Zeid […]
Just hours before the November 30 Vienna OPEC meeting, whose outcome sent the price of oil soaring, Gartman had a recommendation: “we are short of crude oil from yesterday; we’ll have stops on those positions on a closing basis this afternoon here in the States, with the intention of adding to those short positions once the OPEC meeting is behind us.” Oops: following the same day’s 6% […]
An untold number of Syrians trapped in an ever tightening patch of rebel territory in Aleppo are desperately seeking a way to safety as the opposition’s final foothold in a major city looked on the verge of collapse. The International Committee of the Red Cross called for all sides to urgently agree a deal to evacuate people as it warned that time was running out for trapped […]
Bahrain LNG, the developer of the Gulf state’s receiving and regasification terminal for liquefied natural gas (LNG), has closed a $741 million syndicated loan for the platform’s construction, according to a company statement on Monday. “The project is being developed to supplement local gas production in Bahrain and ensure capacity to meet peak seasonal gas demand and industrial growth,” the statement said. While the Gulf region is […]
By Emmanuel Jarry and Andrew Callus | PARIS PARIS France’s far-right National Front leader Marine Le Pen, who wants to become president in next spring’s elections, celebrated Britain’s vote to leave the European Union. “Victory for freedom!” she said on her Twitter page in June after Britons voted for Brexit. “We now need to hold the same referendum in France and in (other) EU countries.” But unlike […]
Michael Moritz – chairman of Sequoia Capital and one of the most successful venture capitalists in history – says a simple vision led him to invest hundreds of millions of dollars in on-demand delivery startups. “The movement of goods and services and people, by easier, more convenient means,” he said in an interview. “That’s a huge trend, enabled by smartphones.” Led by Sequoia and another blue-chip Silicon […]
