WASHINGTON – U.S. homebuilding fell in January as the construction of multi-family housing projects dropped, but upward revisions to the prior month’s data and a jump in permits to a one-year high suggested the housing recovery remained on track. Housing starts declined 2.6 percent to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1.25 million units, the Commerce Department said on Thursday. December’s starts were revised up to a […]
It is not just equities that are rebounding this month. The dollar is up almost 2 per cent against a basket of its peers as it resumes an upward path that most in the foreign exchange market believe is the natural consequence of the economic policies Donald Trump has vowed to deliver. Given the US president has suggested he prefers a weaker dollar, its fresh strength has […]
Thursday 05.10 GMT Overview The dollar was on the back foot in afternoon Asia trading on Thursday as US Treasuries steadied and oil prices found their footing after dipping on news of growing US stockpiles. Hot topic The dollar index tracking the greenback against a basket of peers was off as much as 0.3 per cent, as a rally spurred by US Federal Reserve chair Janet Yellen’s […]
The Syrian civil war has left nearly half a million people dead, displaced millions more, and turned its largest city, Aleppo, into an open-air slaughterhouse. The war is destroying antiquity too. For just under a year, from May 2015 to March 2016, the so-called Islamic State held control of the ancient central city of Palmyra, a boomtown that became a Roman colony in the 3rd century A.D. […]
China ended a six-month streak disposing of its US Treasury holdings in December, adding to its position for the first time since last May as the country’s central bank seeks to manage capital flight. The country, which ceded its status as the world’s largest owner of haven Treasuries in October to Japan, added $9.1bn of US sovereign debt to its reserves in the final month of 2016, […]
By Sarah N. Lynch | WASHINGTON WASHINGTON In a blow to President Donald Trump as he tries to assemble his administration, his nominee for labour secretary, Andrew Puzder, withdrew his name from consideration on Wednesday amid concerns that he could not garner enough Senate votes to be confirmed. Puzder’s decision to withdraw is yet another setback this week for a White House still grappling with fallout from […]
By Phil Stewart and Robin Emmott | BRUSSELS BRUSSELS U.S. President Donald Trump’s defence secretary warned NATO allies on Wednesday that they must honour military spending pledges to ensure the United States does not “moderate” support for the alliance. Jim Mattis, on his debut trip to Brussels as Pentagon chief, also accused some NATO members of ignoring threats, including from Russia. “America cannot care more for your […]
This Jan. 14, 2015 file photo shows Yahoo’s headquarters in Sunnyvale, Calif. Yahoo is warning users of potentially malicious activity on their accounts between 2015 and 2016, the latest development in the internet company’s investigation of a mega-breach that exposed 1 billion users’ data several years ago. Yahoo confirmed Wednesday, Feb. 15, 2017, that it was notifying users that their accounts had potentially been compromised but declined […]
The reflation trade is back, in earnest. On Wednesday, all-world stock indices traded at all-time highs for the first time since spring 2015. US 10-year bond yields rose back to 2.5 per cent. Bank stocks rallied, with Goldman Sachs at an all-time high for the first time in a decade. So did tech stocks — Apple is back at a record. All of this after a hawkish […]
By Ayat Basma | NORTH OF MOSUL, Iraq NORTH OF MOSUL, Iraq Islamic State will put up a tough fight in the western side Mosul that remains under its control despite the losses the group suffered so far in the battle for the Iraqi, a U.S. commander said on Wednesday. “It is hard and hard every day here,” Colonel Patrick Work, commander of the 2nd Brigade, 82nd […]
Quick, name five tech websites. Give up? There’s Recode, The Verge, Tech Crunch, Select All and Ars Technica. A glance at Techmeme, the aggregator for Silicon Valley obsessives, shows at least 100 more. With all the competition for attention on the internet, building new brands around well-loved can be a tough slog. But NBC News is foraging ahead anyway, putting new verticals on technology, wellness and ideas […]
After a day of chaotic communication, a stock sell-off and a $6.3bn writedown that may destroy one of Japan’s greatest industrial names, the Toshiba president’s bow of apology finally came. Satoshi Tsunakawa’s head nodded for just one perfunctory second on Tuesday. Most assume there will be much deeper, longer bows to come as Toshiba leads investors, customers, employees and Japan as a whole through the country’s first […]
As central bankers seek to wean markets off quantitative easing and exit the dangerous experiment of negative rates, they increasingly fret about the resilience of credit markets. How worried should they be? The US Treasury’s Office for Financial Research, the European Central Bank and the Bank of England have all issued warnings in their financial stability reports voicing concern over whether we might see fire sales that […]
By Colin Packham and Aaron Bunch | SYDNEY SYDNEY Officials at an Australian immigration centre in Papua New Guinea are increasing pressure on asylum seekers to return to their home countries voluntarily, including offering large sums of money, amid fears a deal for the United States to take refugees has fallen through. About a dozen Bangladeshi and Nepalese asylum seekers on Manus Island told Reuters they are […]
Matt Kiser worked in news for many years, and now he works as a product manager at an algorithm startup in Seattle. But every day, Matt spends upwards of six hours working by hand on his single-subject blog, which launched in January. Starting a new project to track what the fuck just happened today. https://t.co/p64yr6BKJ3 — Matt Kiser (@Matt_Kiser) January 29, 2017 Single subject, distinct tone, clear […]
Since then the barriers to peace have grown even more formidable, and attitudes like Mr. Gatshan’s more entrenched. Continue reading the main story When President Trump and Israel’s prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, meet in Washington on Wednesday they are likely to discuss a change of tactics, relying on Arab states like Qatar to help secure a two-state solution, under which Israel and an independent Palestinian state would […]
When Federal Reserve chair Janet Yellen testifies before a Senate committee on the state of the economy on Tuesday, there will be plenty tuning in who believe the epitaph for the three-decade rally in the bond market has been rightly written. US president Donald Trump’s plan to ramp up government spending and axe corporate taxes threatens to accelerate inflation, push up interest rates and widen the deficit […]
By Manolo Serapio Jr | SANTA CRUZ, Philippines SANTA CRUZ, Philippines His brother kept telling him that the mine would reopen and he would be hired again: but when Winston Ordonez didn’t get a call from a mining firm, he took a laptop charger cable, tied it around his neck and hanged himself in his kitchen. Ordonez worked at the nickel mine operated by Eramen Minerals Inc […]
On Valentine’s Day everyone is looking to celebrate love. But if you are a millennial, then you might have no problems breaking up and trading in a lover for the limelight. According to a study conducted by the social entertainment network Clapit, some millennials have no problem choosing fame over falling in love, getting married and having children. Clapit, the mobile-first platform that aims to helps users […]
The reaction to a strike at the world’s largest copper mine underlines the sharp reversal in fortune in one of the world’s key metals over the past four months. Copper has jumped 5 per cent in the past two days to a two-year high after a strike at the Escondida mine in Chile raised supply fears about a market that has been starved of investment. The dispute […]
Winter is coming to Battlefield 1. Developer DICE released the patch notes of the “Winter Update” of its World War first-person shooter Battlefield 1. The game was launched on Oct. 21, 2016 to positive reviews, with most of the praises heaped on the game’s WWI theme and single player campaign. Electronic Arts published Battlefield 1 developed by DICE, a Swedish studio. The ‘Winter Update’ will be out […]
When Israel declared independence in 1948, Jordan, along with five other Arab states, attacked Israel, occupied Judea, Samaria and eastern Jerusalem, and drove out Jewish residents. Again, in 1967, Jordan attempted to wipe out the Jewish State, but this time, Israel forced the Jordanian army back across the Jordan River. While the government of Israel was ambivalent about whether to retain the newly emancipated areas, the settler […]
Greece is planning to appoint Rothschild to advise on its debts as the country attempts to end a long-running creditor stand-off and avert default. Government officials hope to finalise the appointment before a gathering of eurozone finance ministers on February 20 that has been described as the last chance for Greece’s lenders to overcome their differences before European attention shifts to general elections in eurozone countries. Unless […]
A few days before the retreat, I met up with the man who, perhaps more than any other figure in the conservative movement, had maneuvered the party toward complete and unbending opposition to Obamacare: Michael Needham of the Heritage Foundation. Needham, 35, is the chief executive of Heritage Action for America, a feral cur of a lobbying organization established by the venerable conservative think tank in 2010 […]
