Bloomberg Democrats are courting progressive-minded Americans by calling for a tax on Wall Street trades. If the party succeeds, the mom-and-pop investors they’re wooing could bear the brunt. The party supports a financial transaction tax to reign in “excessive speculation” and fast traders that have “threatened financial markets.” Small investors would probably see an increase in the cost to buy ...

  Bloomberg Federal Communications Commission Chairman Tom Wheeler took a seat, grasped a set of controls, and guided an excavator — that happened to be 1,400 miles away. By moving dirt in Dallas through a remote hook-up from the FCC’s Washington offices earlier this year, Wheeler showed the promise of what could be the largest and most lucrative expansion of ...

  Bloomberg Oil rebounded after closing at the lowest level in two months as equity markets increased and U.S. data showed crude stockpiles slid. Futures gained as much as 1.7 percent in New York, paring Wednesday’s 4.4 percent slump, as European stocks advanced. U.S. supplies fell an eighth week, the longest losing streak since June 2015, while gasoline inventories unexpectedly ...

  Bloomberg Asia’s going to have to wait a little longer for the flood of U.S. shale gas to reach its shores. A global glut of liquefied natural gas has cut price differences between regions worldwide, leading traders to ship cargoes for shorter distances to save on freight costs, Citibank analysts including Anthony Yuen said in a report dated July ...

  Gaziantep / AFP Brazilian steelmaker Usiminas has extended a 120-day credit standstill that was due to expire on Friday, state development bank BNDES said. Usiminas has been granted an additional 60 days to negotiate a deal, BNDES said in an e-mailed statement. Usinas Siderurgicas de Minas Gerais SA, as the Belo Horizonte-based company is formally known, has been in ...

  Beirut / AFP Syrian President Bashar al-Assad said on Thursday he has never faced pressure from Russia to step aside, as US Secretary of State John Kerry headed to Moscow seeking to revive stalled peace efforts. Speaking to NBC News in Damascus, Assad insisted his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin and Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov had never raised the issue ...

  Kuwait City / AFP Kuwait has set a minimum wage for its hundreds of thousands of mostly Asian domestic workers, in a first for Gulf states which have come under widespread accusations of abuse. A decree issued by Interior Minister Sheikh Mohammad Khaled Al-Sabah set the minimum wage at 60 dinars ($200) a month and also granted domestic staff ...

  Beijing / AFP A tropical storm in China has left 21 people dead and 13 missing, reports said Thursday, after it lashed Taiwan with typhoon-grade winds and rain. Super Typhoon Nepartak brought chaos to Taiwan last week, forcing more than 15,000 people to flee their homes as part of the island saw its strongest winds in over a century. ...

  Beijing / AFP China warned on Thursday of a “decisive response” to provocations in the South China Sea, as it faced mounting pressure to accept an international tribunal’s ruling against its claims to most of the strategically vital waters. The Philippines, which launched the legal challenge, called for China to respect the decision and defied Chinese objections by saying ...

  Baghdad / AFP Iraqi security forces paraded through Baghdad on Thursday to celebrate victories over the IS extremist group, but an unannounced rehearsal two days earlier put a damper on the festivities. PM Haider al-Abadi reviewed the forces from a pavilion as they passed through central Tahrir Square, and military jets and helicopters overflew the city. The parade was ...