Amsterdam / AFP Having survived perilous escapes from war zones, refugees find themselves assailed anew in Europe by germs proliferating in crowded, unsanitary camps that could become outbreak hotspots, infectious disease experts have warned. Their systems weakened by physical exhaustion, a lack of safe food, clean water and medicine, refugees are sitting-duck targets for entirely preventable diseases that can scar, ...

Donald Trump tests the limits of campaign speech. He makes false statements and refuses to correct them. He attacks other religions and ethnic groups, inflaming domestic tension and foreign terrorist rage. He pledges to overhaul long-standing US commitments in ways that frighten allies. He cavalierly predicts a “massive recession,” undermining confidence in the US economy. When criticized, Trump adopts the ...

Massive recession and charges of juggling government accounts to disguise the depth of budget shortfalls during her 2014 re-election, combined to weigh heavily on Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff, who is currently facing imminent impeachment. But she and her supporters argue that this relatively technical accusation regarding the budget is not an impeachable offence. Indeed, the grip is tightening on Rousseff, ...

Narayana Kocherlakota The steady improvement of the U.S. economy has led many to conclude that the Federal Reserve should keep removing stimulus by resuming interest-rate increases this year. I disagree: With inflation pressures low, there’s a lot more the Fed can and should do to get people back to work. To understand my point, consider three charts. The first shows ...

The independence of Hong Kong’s economy, its transparency and its makeup has made it a regional benchmark for market players looking at the broader economic outlook. That was the case in the aftermath of the 1997/98 Asian Financial Crisis and the 2008 Great Recession. As the fallout from last’s year’s Great Fall of China continues, the former British territory is ...

Bloomberg Shanghai unveiled a package of measures designed to stem a surge in property prices in the metropolis, underscoring how regulators in top-tier cities are shifting gears in an economy where housing has been a brake on growth in recent years. The local government will tighten approval criteria for non-resident homebuyers, raise down-payment requirements for some second homes and ban ...

Bloomberg There are downside risks for the China property market in the second quarter because of the tightening measures that have been reintroduced to some cities, a Chinese government researcher said. The curbs in first-tier cities are limiting property sales’ growth, Zhang Changcai, deputy director general at the Information Research Department of the State Council, said at a conference in ...

Bloomberg The tower designed by Spain’s Santiago Calatrava Valls that will be the centrepiece of Emaar Properties’ Dubai Creek Harbour development will be taller than the 828-metre tall Burj Khalifa. “It will be a notch taller than the Burj Khalifa,” said Emaar Properties chairman Mohamed Alabbar speaking at a briefing at the Dubai Creek Harbour site on April 10. Alabbar ...

WASHINGTON / AP Average long-term U.S. mortgage rates slid last week to their lowest level since February 2015, luring prospective purchasers during the spring home-buying season. Mortgage buyer Freddie Mac said on Saturday the average rate on a 30-year, fixed-rate mortgage fell to 3.59 percent from 3.71 percent last week. The benchmark rate was far below the 3.66 percent level ...

Bloomberg In the overheated U.S. housing market, just complaining about a leaky ceiling can land you on the street. Randy Dillard was living with five kids in a four-bedroom house in the Bronx when he informed his landlord of a persistent drip. Dillard rented his $1,800-a-month home near the New York Botanical Garden with help from the federal government’s Housing ...