Washington / AFP President-elect Donald Trump tapped former Texas governor Rick Perry, who once famously said he would abolish the Energy Department, to serve as its secretary Wednesday. The nomination puts Perry, the oil-rich state’s longest-serving governor, in charge of a vast array of energy oversight, including enhancement of nuclear security and science and innovation in the energy field. “As ...

  The Hague / AFP A Dutch court ruled on Wednesday that priceless Crimean art treasures loaned to an Amsterdam museum shortly before Russia annexed the peninsula in 2014 should go back to Ukraine. Four Crimean museums launched a joint legal bid in November 2014 to force the Allard Pierson Museum to return the historic collection of archeological artefacts, displayed in ...

  Sydney / AFP The United States will keep challenging Beijing’s “assertive, aggressive behaviour in the South China Sea”, the US Pacific commander said on Wednesday, as tensions between two powers rise over comments by Donald Trump. Admiral Harry Harris, head of the US Pacific Command, warned Washington would not accept Chinese control of the region, despite Beijing’s rapid development of ...

  London / AFP Britain’s divorce from the European Union could involve a transition arrangement “if necessary”, but a deal should be possible within 18 months, Brexit minister David Davis said Wednesday. The hardline eurosceptic told a committee of British lawmakers that such an arrangement could be struck “if it’s necessary, and only if it’s necessary” but that a deal ...

  Manila / AFP Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte has said he personally killed suspected criminals when he was mayor of a southern city to set an example for police. Duterte made the comments in a speech to businessmen as he discussed his campaign to eradicate illegal drugs, which has seen police and unknown assailants kill thousands of people since he became ...

  Indiana’s Thomas R. Marshall, who was America’s vice president 100 years ago, voiced — he plucked it from a Hoosier humorist — one of the few long-remembered utterances to issue from that office: ‘What this country needs is a good 5-cent cigar,’ which would be $1.11 in today’s currency. A century later, what the country needs is a $12 ...

  In Asia, Western banks need to understand that small is beautiful. They need to be more nimble and focused, and accept that some things are best left to the locals. They should also focus on what pays: The multinational clients that were once their top customers and the private-equity firms that provide recurring fees are a lot more loyal ...

  Is there a way to measure a country’s overall success? Gross domestic product indicates how well the economy is working. Labor-force participation rates and median wages say something about how workers are faring. Newer measures of happiness, pride and other intangibles may fill in some soft details. There is one metric, however, that speaks volumes about how well any ...

  Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s unprecedented cash clampdown was initially hailed as a surgical strike against black money menace. But now it seems to be an ill-conceived economic harakiri. One month after Modi government banned the two largest bank notes, people are still struggling to get their hands on the new currency. India is largely a cash –based economy. The ...

  The European Union after Brexit is not going to be an indulgent place. The remaining members of the bloc will do what they can to defuse political issues that worked in favour of Brexit, and killing so-called benefit tourism is one of the top items on the agenda. Benefit tourism — citizens of poorer EU countries moving to the ...