International News

Russia carried out military exercises simulating a retaliatory nuclear strike as President Joe Biden warned Vladimir Putin that any use of an atomic weapon would be an “incredibly serious mistake.” As he oversaw the drills, Putin was told by his defense chief that the maneuvers on Wednesday were meant to simulate a “massive nuclear strike” in response to an attack, ...

Halliburton Co. surpassed profit expectations amid a tight market for oilfield supplies as the world’s biggest provider of frack services gears up for increasing activity around the world. The company reported adjusted per-share profit of 60 cents in the three months through September, higher than the average estimate from analysts in a Bloomberg survey, and more than double the figure ...

Oil rises as the dollar tumbled, energising markets while investors continue to evaluate the potential for slowing commodities demand against near-term supply tightness. West Texas Intermediate traded near $86, temporarily finding direction from equity markets, which have been recently boosted by earnings reports. The dollar slid, providing an extra boost for commodities that are priced in the currency. Since late ...

Andy Mukherjee In May, the South China Morning Post published a letter from a reader who wrote to say that Hong Kong’s Mandatory Provident Fund should be abolished as “it has failed on multiple levels from the perspective of ordinary citizens.” Replace it with a universal basic income, he suggested. Hong Kong was recently graded C+ in the Mercer CFA ...

Nearly three-quarters of European consumers are cutting back spending on everyday items, including food, to make ends meet amid a worsening cost-of-living crisis. A new survey shows that 71% of consumers across six key markets in Europe have already made significant changes to how they shop as they battle to cope with inflation that is reaching levels not seen in ...

Canada’s Competition Bureau is launching a study of grocery store competition in the country amid a growing outcry over surging prices for food. While extreme weather, higher input costs, supply chain disruptions and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine may have contributed to higher food inflation, the antitrust watchdog said it wants to better understand whether lack of competition is also at ...

President Jair Bolsonaro’s momentum in opinion polls seemed to stall after a series of blunders and incidents over the past few days, including the arrest of one of his most outspoken supporters —an episode that turned violent and shook Brazilians ahead of Sunday’s presidential runoff. Leftist challenger Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, 76, would take 54% of valid votes, which ...

President Joe Biden’s advisers are working on setting up a meeting with Xi Jinping and maintaining a dialogue after the Chinese president emerged from the Communist Party congress last week with a tighter grip on the country, a White House spokesman said. John Kirby, a spokesman for Biden’s National Security Council, said the US would have no official comment on ...

Six Palestinians were killed in the West Bank overnight, and more than 30 were injured, in an Israeli military operation. The operation against the Lion’s Den group, which the military says was planning a number of attacks against Israelis, was the deadliest night of violence in the West Bank and Jerusalem since the start of the year. It comes a ...

Ukraine’s allies are increasingly concerned that desperation in the Kremlin over an unrelenting string of battlefield failures may lead Russia to escalate its war, possibly using a massive attack on a target like a dam or even a weapon of mass destruction. For the moment, there’s no sign Moscow is actually making preparations for such a strike, even as it ...