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Tapping into Brazil’s stock rally without taking on all the risk

  Bloomberg Anyone who’s ventured into Latin American equity markets in the past year knows that doing so during times of political turmoil requires a healthy appetite for risk. Stock indexes in Peru and Brazil are posting the world’s biggest gains this year, but they’re also among the most volatile. There’s another way to ride the rally, minus the whiplash: ...

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Venezuela needs oil’s rally more than anyone as economy teeters

  Bloomberg Few countries need oil’s rally to last more than Venezuela, where the economy’s expected to shrink 8 percent this year and a lack of petrodollars has seen shops run short of consumer goods. The Latin American nation with the world’s largest oil reserves relies on crude shipments for 95 percent of export revenue. It will default this year ...

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Trump’s ‘woman’s card’ comment sparks uproar

  ATLANTA / AP Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump’s claim that Hillary Clinton is playing “the woman’s card” has drawn intense backlash, from the Democratic front-runner herself as well as tens of thousands of critics on social media. “If fighting for women’s health care and paid family leave and equal pay is playing the ‘woman card,’ then deal me in,” ...

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India asks Britain to deport biz tycoon

  New Delhi / AP India’s foreign ministry said on Thursday it has asked Britain to deport the embattled former airline boss Vijay Mallya, who faces a money laundering investigation. Mallya, a part-owner of the Force India Formula 1 team who used to run a liquor empire, left India on March 2 owing more than $1 billion and is believed ...

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Serbia poll results on hold after PM, oppn complain

  Belgrade / AFP Serbia’s electoral commission has asked some voters to recast their ballots after both opposition groups and powerful Prime Minister Aleksandar Vucic, who won by a landside, disputed the regularity of the weekend polls. The repeat votes at 15 polling stations, likely to take place next week, mean the final results of Sunday’s general election will not ...

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Indonesia to host ‘security talks’

  Jakarta / AFP Indonesia hopes next week to secure an agreement with Malaysia and the Philippines on conducting joint military patrols on the high seas where militants have been on a kidnapping spree, an official said on Thursday. The plight of hostages held by the Abu Sayyaf militant group could also be on the agenda when the foreign ministers ...

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South Korea: North failed again with mid-range missile test

  Seoul / AFP North Korea on Thursday tried and failed in what appeared to be its second attempt in two weeks to test a powerful, new medium-range ballistic missile, South Korea’s defence ministry said. A ministry official said the North had fired what was understood to be a Musudan missile at around 6:40 am (2140 GMT Wednesday) from Wonsan ...

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Putin hails first rocket launch from new cosmodrome

  Vostochny / AFP Russia launched the first rocket from its new Vostochny cosmodrome on Thursday, with President Vladimir Putin hailing the event after dressing down officials over a delay caused by a technical glitch. The launch is a major milestone for Russia’s beleaguered space sector, with the new spaceport in the far east of the country touted to mark ...

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India cancelled visa, says Chinese dissident

  New Delhi / AFP Chinese dissident Lu Jinghua said Thursday New Delhi cancelled her visa to travel to India to meet the Dalai Lama, just days after another Chinese activist was blocked after protest from Beijing. Lu, who fled China following the Tiananmen Square crackdown in 1989, said she had been granted a tourist visa to travel from her ...

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Is the worst over for emerging markets?

  Forecasters are far from bullish, but analysts suggest the worst may be over for emerging markets following a rally in commodities and currencies. In its latest ‘World Economic Outlook’ report, the International Monetary Fund revised down its forecasts for global growth to just 3.2 percent this year and 3.5 percent in 2017, citing only a modest pickup in advanced ...

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