Bloomberg The US and South Korea on Monday began a five-day joint air exercise on the Korean peninsula involving 230 aircraft and 12,000 American troops, in what North Korea has dubbed the largest-ever joint aerial drill. North Korea, which last week launched a new type of intercontinental ballistic missile, said ahead of the Vigilant Ace 18 drills that it would ...

Bloomberg The signatures of almost 300 foreign political leaders on a document praising Chinese President Xi Jinping’s contribution to world peace has provided him valuable ammunition to counter arguments by those who fear the country’s rising international clout. The so-called Beijing Initiative was signed at the end of a four-day Communist Party gathering that brought together hundreds of political representatives, ...

Bloomberg Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull won some relief from the chaos imperiling his leadership, with his deputy winning a special election. The next month could be much tougher for him. Barnaby Joyce was one of two lawmakers from the ruling coalition forced to re-contest their lower house seats because they were in breach of the constitution for being dual ...

Bloomberg The anti-establishment party Podemos is poised to become a key part of the puzzle when Catalan politicians come to piece together a new government after this month’s regional election. Polls suggest it’s a toss-up whether the three Catalan separatists parties retain their majority after the vote on December 21. If they fall short, Podemos’s Catalan ally, known as Catalunya ...

Bloomberg The Democratic Republic of Congo’s government recruited fighters from a rebellion it defeated in 2013 to suppress protests by opponents of President Joseph Kabila in December last year, Human Rights Watch said. Senior Congolese security officials mobilized “at least 200 and likely many more” M23 combatants from camps in Rwanda and Uganda, where many fighters have been based since ...

Bloomberg Shares of US banks and industrial conglomerates rallied and the dollar strengthened after progress on the Republican tax-overhaul plan spurred bets on higher corporate earnings, while technology shares slumped. Gains in the Dow Jones Industrial Average and S&P 500 were led by companies that stand to be big winners from the tax overhaul. An index of the biggest tech ...

Reuters Qatar’s stock market jumped by its biggest margin in nearly five months on Monday because of hopes that Doha’s diplomatic dispute will be resolved. Most other Gulf markets were firm. Qatar’s stock index, which has been trading near six-year lows, surged 2.2 percent as trading volume doubled. Real estate firm Ezdan Holding, which has been hit hard by a ...

RIYADH / Reuters Saudi Arabia’s Energy Minister Khalid al-Falih said on Monday oil producers might start discussing in June when to raise output once the market out-look was clearer, even though OPEC was expected to conti- nue output curbs in the second half of 2018. The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and non-OPEC producers led by Russia have agreed ...

NEW DELHI / SINGAPORE / Reuters Two of India’s state-owned oil refiners have issued tenders seeking to charter tankers for at least five years while giving preference to Indian companies, tender documents reviewed by Reuters showed, which would boost domestic shipping firms battered by slumping tanker rates. India’s Ministry of Shipping asked the refiners to issue long-term crude import tenders ...

RIYADH / Reuters Saudi Arabia has invited US firms to take part in developing its civilian nuclear power programme, Energy Minister Khalid al-Falih said on Monday, adding the kingdom was not interested in diverting nuclear technology to military use. Reuters has reported that Westinghouse is in talks with other US-based companies to form a consortium for a multi-billion-dollar project to ...