Bloomberg The US appointed a new top representative to Taiwan, in the Biden administration’s latest move to strengthen ties with Taipei amid increasing pressure from Beijing. Sandra Oudkirk is the incoming director of the American Institute in Taiwan’s Taipei office, the de facto US ambassador in the absence of official ties, succeeding Brent Christensen later this summer, the institute said ...
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Haiti’s president assassinated in night attack on his home
Bloomberg Haitian President Jovenel Moise was assassinated in a raid on his home by a group of unidentified people in the capital Port-Au-Prince, according to the nation’s interim prime minister Claude Joseph. First Lady Martine Moise was injured in the “barbaric†attack and is hospitalised, Joseph said in a statement, published by the nation’s embassy in Canada on Wednesday. Some ...
Read More »Modi revamps cabinet to repair popularity ahead of India polls
Bloomberg India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi overhauled his cabinet in a bid to repair his dented image as the nation emerges from its devastating Covid-19 outbreak ahead of key state elections. Fifteen cabinet ministers and several junior ministers were sworn in by President Ram Nath Kovind at a ceremony in the colonial-era president’s palace in New Delhi on Wednesday. Ruling ...
Read More »Sweden’s Lofven wins parliament backing to form his new coalition government
Bloomberg Sweden’s interim Prime Minister Stefan Lofven won a narrow vote in parliament to form a new coalition government as he seeks to keep the far-right from gaining influence in the largest Nordic nation. Lofven, 63, resigned as prime minister just three weeks ago, following a no-confidence vote triggered by a plan to deregulate rental housing. The vote on Wednesday ...
Read More »Malaysia PM names Ismail Sabri Yaakob new deputy
Bloomberg Malaysia’s Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin has promoted two senior ministers into his cabinet as he seeks to win over a major coalition partner before the country’s suspended parliament reconvenes later this month. Muhyiddin appointed Defense Minister Ismail Sabri Yaakob as his deputy, according to a statement from the Prime Minister’s Office, while Foreign Minister Hishamuddin Hussein has been promoted ...
Read More »UK faces three catastrophic risks to public finances, says watchdog
Bloomberg The UK faces three potentially catastrophic risks to its public finances, the government’s budget watchdog said, underlining the challenge confronting Chancellor of the Exchequer Rishi Sunak to restore fiscal restraint. Unfunded pressures on government departments total some 30 billion pounds ($42 billion) over the next three years as a result of the pandemic, the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) ...
Read More »Consumer confidence in Canada hits record on vaccine reopenings
Bloomberg Canadians are entering the second half of the year more confident about their economic prospects than they’ve ever been. Consumer sentiment marched higher to a new record last week, according to polling by Nanos Research Group for Bloomberg News, driven by optimism about the outlook for the economy and growing job security. The numbers will stoke confidence among economists ...
Read More »US worker aid becomes a casualty as Biden trade authority ends
Bloomberg President Joe Biden’s pledge to refrain from pursuing new trade deals is leaving a key training and assistance program for workers, who the administration says are at the center of its agenda, without a clear path for renewal. Biden on July 1 officially lost Trade Promotion Authority, or TPA — the fast-track deal-making ability Congress delegates to a president ...
Read More »German factory orders drop in May
Bloomberg German manufacturers unexpectedly saw demand decline in May, suggesting an uneven start to the country’s economic recovery. Orders fall 3.7%, worse than all estimates in a Bloomberg survey. The Economy Ministry said the slump was driven by weak export demand for cars following a steep rise the previous month. Domestic orders rise as much as 0.9%. German companies are ...
Read More »Covid-19 wipes out 22m jobs in major economies: OECD
Bloomberg Labour markets in developed nations have recovered only half of the loss of employment they suffered in the pandemic, with the young and low-skilled hurt most. That’s the conclusion of a 400-page study by the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), which found that about 22 million jobs disappeared by the end of 2020 in industrial nations. The ...
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