Sydney/ AFP Australia has intercepted three asylum-seeker boats so far this year, including one carrying women and children from Sri Lanka, the country’s immigration minister revealed on Monday. Under Canberra’s hardline measures, asylum-seekers trying to reach Australia by boat are either sent back to where they departed or to remote Pacific island camps, where living conditions have been criticised. ...

  American consumers aren’t what they used to be — and that helps explain the plodding economic recovery. It gets no respect despite creating 14 million jobs and lasting almost seven years. The great gripe is that economic growth has been held to about 2 percent a year, well below historical standards. This sluggishness reflects a profound psychological transformation of ...

  Countdown for the historic June 23 UK vote on whether to stay or leave the EU is causing regional and international anxiety. Half of Europeans feel Brexit could spark a domino effect, as other states would follow suit. Britain first joined the then European Economic Community (EEC) in 1973, and in a referendum two years later, the public backed ...

  Christopher Balding Chinese markets have rarely looked more like Vegas casinos. In recent weeks, investors have driven up trading volumes in China to astronomical levels, betting on everything from rebar to eggs. China traded enough steel in one day last month to build 178,082 Eiffel Towers and enough cotton to make at least one pair of jeans for every ...

  Donald Trump became last week the presumptive Republican nominee in the U.S. presidential elections. But those condemned to agonizing suspense and anxiety until November should note that Trumpism, or the politics of hate and fear, also suffered a major defeat last week. I refer to the election of former human rights lawyer Sadiq Khan as London’s mayor. That the ...

  SYDNEY / Reuters The Australian government has proposed removing tax barriers to asset-backed financing arrangements as part of its federal budget, a move likely aimed at facilitating interest-free transactions used in Islamic finance. Islamic finance is gradually catching on in Australia, with National Australia Bank Ltd (NAB) helping fund a A$160 million ($114 million) Brisbane property purchase in February, ...

  New Delhi / Bloomberg Maruti Suzuki India Ltd., Hyundai Motor Co. and Renault SA paced India’s biggest gain in passenger vehicle sales in five months, as new compact SUVs, hatchbacks and minicars drew buyers to their showrooms. Deliveries of passenger vehicles, including sport utility vehicles and vans, climbed 11 percent to 242,060 units last month, the Society of Indian ...

  Jakarta / Bloomberg China must turn off the taps of credit-driven growth to avoid a financial system crisis in the face of rising bad loans and other risks, the Communist Party’s official mouthpiece newspaper said on Monday, citing an unnamed “authoritative” source. The prominent article, in question-and-answer format, started on the front of the broadsheet paper and took up ...

  New Delhi / Bloomberg After back-to-back droughts battered India’s farmers, a forecast for above-normal rainfall this year is brightening the outlook for Asia’s third-largest economy. Economists at DBS Bank Ltd., State Bank of India and Standard Chartered Plc say India’s gross domestic product this year may grow more than they previously predicted if the monsoon is as good as ...

  BRUSSELS / AFP Eurozone finance ministers on Monday tackled crucial talks on unlocking vital cash and debt relief for Greece just hours after Greek lawmakers adopted unpopular reforms demanded as part of the country’s bailout. The 19 ministers, meeting in Brussels, are aiming to finally sign off on the long-delayed first review of Greece’s massive EU-IMF bailout — the ...