International News

  Buenos Aires / AFP After the APEC summit in Lima, Japan’s Prime Minister Shinzo Abe is in Argentina to bolster bilateral trade and investment ties with Latin America’s third largest economy. It was the first visit to Buenos Aires by a Japanese prime minister in 57 years —the last one to make the trip was Abe’s grandfather, Nobusuke Kishi, ...

Taipei / AFP Taiwan’s TransAsia Airways said it would suspend flights from Tuesday as officials announced a probe into suspected insider trading at the loss-making airline, which is rumoured to be seeking buyers after two deadly crashes. The airline, in a statement on its website late Monday, said it had requested a halt in trading of its shares before an ...

  Bangkok / AFP Thailand’s economic growth slowed in the third quarter, data showed on Monday, with fears of further pain to come in a nation plunged into mourning following the death of its long-serving King Bhumibol Adulyadej. High household debt, weakening exports, slumping foreign investment and low consumer confidence have cramped growth in what for years was Southeast Asia’s ...

  Abuja / AFP Nigeria’s economy contracted in the third quarter as rebels continued to bomb oil pipelines in the restive south and businesses struggled to access foreign exchange, official data showed Monday. “The nation’s gross domestic product (GDP) contracted by -2.24 percent year-on-year in real terms,” the country’s National Bureau of Statistics said in a report. This meant that ...

  Bloomberg China’s President Xi Jinping made a state visit on Monday to Peru, one of its partners in its drive to boost world trade in the face of protectionist stirrings. A day after taking part in the APEC Asia-Pacific trade summit, Xi made a formal visit to the host nation, a major mineral and food exporter. He was expected ...

  Bloomberg South Africa’s proposals to stabilize the labor market by introducing a national minimum wage and curtailing strike action have received mixed reviews, just days before ratings companies are scheduled to decide whether to downgrade the nation’s credit rating. The country’s biggest labor union has dismissed the recommended minimum wage of 3,500 rand ($246) a month announced by Deputy ...

  Bloomberg No country on the planet is better prepared to pay for its aging population than Denmark. But a nation whose pension industry has been ahead of the curve for decades is now bracing for a fundamental shift that most people probably aren’t prepared for, according to the financial regulator. Jesper Berg, the director general of the Financial Supervisory ...

  Bloomberg Meeting Donald Trump’s demands on defense spending could allow NATO-member Denmark to buy a dozen F-35 fighter jets and four frigates. While it’s questionable the added firepower would stop a hypothetical Russian invasion, the cost of rearming would certainly cause serious damage to its cherished welfare state. During his presidential campaign, the victorious Republican candidate raised alarm among ...

  Paris / AFP Winds gusting to hurricane force left nearly 70,000 homes in western and northwestern France without power Sunday, the national electricity grid Enedis said. The national weather agency Meteo France said winds powering to 160 kilometres (100 miles) per hour battered the Breton peninsula and Normandy coast overnight, and two other regions remained under a storm alert. ...

  London / AFP Britain’s first post-Brexit budget will focus on infrastructure and could spell an end to the previous government’s rigid fiscal targets, according to a treasury statement released on Sunday. The budget will be new finance minister Philip Hammond’s first set-piece since replacing George Osborne who resigned following the June vote. Under previous prime minister David Cameron, Osborne ...