Bloomberg Tunisia’s prime minister-designate unveiled a new cabinet that keeps holdovers from the old government in key security posts while bringing in new faces to try to revive the economy. Youssef Al-Shahed’s appointments followed more than two weeks of consultations since parliament dismissed his predecessor, Habib Essid, over the country’s weak economic performance. Shahed retained seven key ministers from ...

  Bloomberg The crash in crude prices may have nudged Kazakhstan toward its biggest wave of privatization in history, but its wealth fund is now willing to bide its time for a recovery in oil to take hold. Samruk-Kazyna, with assets worth over $64 billion, is in no hurry to kickstart the process, waiting until oil prices recover and Russia ...

  Beijing / Bloomberg China’s diesel exports rebounded to a record in July as severe flooding in some parts of the country curbed domestic fuel demand. The world’s largest energy consumer exported 1.53 million tons of diesel last month, a 39 percent jump from June and beating the previous record in May, according to data posted Sunday on the website ...

  New Delhi / Bloomberg A surge in internet connectivity in rural India, home to some 870 million people, will lead much of the nation’s e-commerce activity to move into regional areas during the rest of the decade, according to a report by Boston Consulting Group. The number of web-connected rural consumers will more than double to 315 million by ...

  Beijing / Bloomberg China Vanke Co., the developer at the center of a battle for control, posted a 10 percent increase in first-half profit as a home-market recovery boosted sales, helping offset uncertainties over the company’s future because of the ownership struggle. Net income at the nation’s largest residential developer climbed to 5.35 billion yuan ($804 million), or 0.48 ...

  Manila / AFP President Rodrigo Duterte threatened on Sunday to withdraw the Philippines from the United Nations, as he launched another profanity-laced tirade against the organisation for criticising his bloody war on crime. More than 1,500 people have been killed since Duterte took office and immediately began his law-and-order crackdown, according to police statistics, triggering fierce criticism from the ...

  Tokyo / AFP Tokyo protested to Beijing on Sunday after Chinese coast guard ships sailed into territorial waters surrounding disputed islands in the East China Sea, Japan said. Four Chinese vessels entered the waters surrounding islets, called the Senkaku in Japan and the Diaoyu in China, around 10.00 am local time (0100 GMT), according to Japan Coast Guard. They left ...

  Hong Kong / AFP Hundreds of protesters marched through Hong Kong’s main streets on Sunday against a ban on pro-independence candidates from running in an upcoming legislative election, as fears grow over Beijing’s influence in the city. In the last month five candidates who advocate a split from China were rejected from standing in the September 4 vote, with officials ...

  Seoul/ AFP South Korea warned on Sunday of possible North Korean assassinations and kidnappings in revenge for recent high-profile defections to the South. With tensions also high before a large-scale South Korea-US military exercise starting on Monday, the Unification Ministry in Seoul said Pyongyang was bent on provocation. A ministry official told reporters the defection to Seoul of North Korea’s ...

  Bangkok / AFP Two Chinese nationals will go on trial this week for their alleged roles in a deadly bombing at a Bangkok shrine one year ago, an attack whose motive remains clouded in mystery following a murky and at times surreal investigation. The trial, which starts on Tuesday, is being held at a military court in Bangkok and ...