Bloomberg Barack Obama will be the first U.S. president to visit Argentina in more than a decade as his counterpart Mauricio Macri seeks a rapprochement with the international community following a decade of financial and diplomatic isolation. Obama, arriving from an historic state visit to Cuba, will meet with Macri and is scheduled to attend a business forum in Buenos ...
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‘No foreign powers should have say in Syria peace talks’
Geneva / AFP No foreign power should be permitted to interfere in the ongoing Syrian peace talks in Geneva, the lead government negotiator said, denying that high-level US-Russian meetings in Moscow will impact the process. “When we say that the dialogue must be between Syrians, without outside intervention, this also applies to the Russians and Americans,” Bashar Al Jaafari said. ...
Read More »US strike on Yemen camp killed 40 Qaeda militants
Aden / AFP A US air strike on an Al Qaeda training camp in southeastern Yemen killed at least 40 militants, a provincial official and a tribal source said on Wednesday. Another 25 militants were wounded in the Tuesday strike on the camp in Hajr, west of the Hadramawt provincial capital Mukalla, the provincial official said. The Pentagon had spoken ...
Read More »IS trio held in Turkey planned to attack German interests
Beirut / AFP Three suspected IS members arrested in Turkey were planning attacks on Germany’s diplomatic missions or schools in the country, which were closed last week over a terror threat, Turkish media reported on Wednesday. The three men—a Turk, an Iraqi and a Syrian—were arrested in Istanbul on Tuesday by police acting on information from both Turkey’s and Germany’s ...
Read More »Taiwan holds tour of ‘disputed island’ in bid to boost claim
Naypyidaw / AFP Taiwan on Wednesday gave its first ever international press tour of a disputed island in the South China Sea to boost its claim, less than two months after a visit by its leader sparked protests from rival claimants. Taiping is the largest island in the Spratlys chain and is administered by Taiwan, which sees it as part ...
Read More »S Korea, USA allies face miserable end: N Korea
Seoul / AFP North Korea threatened a “miserable end” for South Korea’s president and her American allies on Wednesday, in its latest colourfully worded attack. Pyongyang declared it would wage a “retaliatory battle of justice” against Park Geun-hye, with its artillery units standing ready to turn her office into a “sea of flames and ashes”. “What the DPRK warns is ...
Read More »Bigger is better for Singapore REITs facing consolidation
Bloomberg Singapore’s real estate investment trust market is set to consolidate as smaller vehicles merge to cope with rising regulatory costs, according to Cambridge Industrial Trust. “The wave of consolidation for Singapore REITs is about to begin,†Philip Levinson, chief executive officer at Singapore-listed Cambridge Industrial, said. The trust has a market capitalization of S$730.5 million ($536 million) and focuses ...
Read More »China’s urbanities more optimistic despite slow growth
Bloomberg Strength in real estate and labor markets helped consumers in China’s biggest cities shrug off last year’s slowdown, according to a new survey based on 12,000 interviews. RFi Group’s Urban Financial Sentiment Index rose to 101 in the second half of 2015, up from 92.5 in the first half. Readings over 100 show consumers say they’re optimistic about their ...
Read More »Canadian govt wades into foreign homebuyer debate with funding
Bloomberg Canada will allocate C$500,000 ($383,000) to the country’s data collection agency to develop ways to determine foreign ownership levels in the country’s hot housing markets. “Currently it is not possible to fully understand the role of foreign homebuyers in Canada’s housing market since a comprehensive and reliable data set on the number of homes sold to foreign homebuyers does ...
Read More »Realtors to mull $427mn London Waterloo site sale
Bloomberg Property investors London & Regional Group Holdings Ltd. and Chelsfield Partners LLP are considering selling one of the most valuable development sites in the U.K. capital, with an asking price of about 300 million pounds ($427 million), according to three people familiar with the matter. Various options are being considered for the Elizabeth House plot in the Waterloo district, ...
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