Bloomberg Iranian President Hassan Rouhani kept top allies in key posts as he presented his proposed cabinet to parliament, unveiling the team he’ll depend on to pursue an agenda being buffeted by escalating tensions with the US and opposition at home. Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif and Oil Minister Bijan Zanganeh were reappointed, as was Abbas Akhoundi, the minister for ...

Bloomberg The Republic of Macedonia’s new government is stepping up its efforts to join NATO, arguing that membership in the military alliance will protect the Balkan nation from Russia “interfering” in its affairs, the country’s defense minister said. “Influences interfering in this strategic goal aren’t helpful, and they’re not friendly,” Defense Minister Radmila Sekerinska said in an interview in Skopje ...

Bloomberg Poland’s ruling officials are stepping up calls to demand compensation from Germany for damages caused in World War II, potentially deepening a divide between the European Union’s largest eastern member and the bloc’s biggest economy. Deputy Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki lamented that Poland was “massacred” by the country’s neighbor in the war, echoing recent statements by Defense Minister Antoni ...

Bloomberg Having watched Kenya’s economic boom pass him by, security guard Frederick Kibaraza is skeptical whether there’s any point voting in Tuesday’s cliffhanger elections. “I am not falling for the ideas of politicians,” Kibaraza, 27, said as he strolled along a dusty street near his home in Kawangware, a slum in the capital, Nairobi. “We vote for them and they ...

President Donald Trump loves to trumpet the record run in US stocks. “Stock market hits another high with spirit and enthusiasm so positive,” he tweeted on July 12, in one of nine posts about the market last month. But he’s hardly tweeted a word about another, less rosy measure of Trump’s America: the US dollar. The greenback has fallen hard ...

The Association of Southeast Asian Nations has much to crow about as it marks its 50th anniversary: economic and social progress, a manufacturing powerhouse and relative political stability. The 10 Asean members boast of some of the world’s fastest expanding economies like the Philippines and Vietnam, with growth rates of more than 6 percent. With a combined population of over ...

A recovery in demand for new bulk carriers has helped Singapore’s worst-performing stock in 2016 become its best this year. Yangzijiang Shipbuilding Holdings Ltd., which specializes in dry-bulk carriers, has rallied 83 percent in 2017 to lead the benchmark Straits Times Index. The Chinese shipbuilding firm has made a comeback after it won 13 contracts worth $318 million in the ...

If you are one of those people who thinks America’s retail industry is doing just fine, well, there are three possibilities: You’ve been living under a rock; you think Amazon refers to a South American river; or you’re a real estate developer. As everything from once-mighty department stores to niche clothing chains announce plans to shutter hundreds of locations, and ...

Suppose a bunch of economists were to show up in the Virginia town of South Boston to preach the benefits of free trade. How would local people react? In an old, red-brick tobacco warehouse near the Dan River, W.W. “Ted” Bennett Jr. ponders the question. The former state delegate looks over his shoulder, squints a bit, then says with southern ...

It’s a milestone Warren Buffett probably wishes he weren’t approaching. Berkshire Hathaway Inc., the conglomerate he’s run for more than five decades, reported that it held just shy of $100 billion in cash at the end of the second quarter. While that figure highlights the staggering money-making ability of the businesses he’s collected over the years, it’s also a burden. ...