March, 2016

• 23 March

  EU’s 10-fold boost to Argentine sunseed imports

  

  Bloomberg The European Union is buying more sunflower seeds from Argentina, the world’s fourth-largest producer, as a cut in export taxes and a weaker peso make imports cheaper. Shipments into the EU may be up to 10 times bigger in the 2015-16 season ending in July compared to a year earlier, said Veysel Kaya, founder of brokerage and consultancy Sunseedman ...

  Read More »
• 23 March

  Brazil’s mid-March inflation slows more than all forecasts

  Bloomberg Brazil’s inflation slowed more than all analysts forecast in the month through mid-March as joblessness rises and the economy heads toward its second straight year of contraction. Inflation as measured by the IPCA-15 index decelerated to 0.43 percent from 1.42 percent a month earlier, the national statistics agency said on Wednesday. That compares with the median estimate from 37 ...

  Read More »
• 23 March

  Obama visit a boost to Argentina as it returns to global markets

  

  Bloomberg Barack Obama will be the first U.S. president to visit Argentina in more than a decade as his counterpart Mauricio Macri seeks a rapprochement with the international community following a decade of financial and diplomatic isolation. Obama, arriving from an historic state visit to Cuba, will meet with Macri and is scheduled to attend a business forum in Buenos ...

  Read More »
• 23 March

  ‘No foreign powers should have say in Syria peace talks’

  

  Geneva / AFP No foreign power should be permitted to interfere in the ongoing Syrian peace talks in Geneva, the lead government negotiator said, denying that high-level US-Russian meetings in Moscow will impact the process. “When we say that the dialogue must be between Syrians, without outside intervention, this also applies to the Russians and Americans,” Bashar Al Jaafari said. ...

  Read More »
• 23 March

  US strike on Yemen camp killed 40 Qaeda militants

  Aden / AFP A US air strike on an Al Qaeda training camp in southeastern Yemen killed at least 40 militants, a provincial official and a tribal source said on Wednesday. Another 25 militants were wounded in the Tuesday strike on the camp in Hajr, west of the Hadramawt provincial capital Mukalla, the provincial official said. The Pentagon had spoken ...

  Read More »
• 23 March

  IS trio held in Turkey planned to attack German interests

  Beirut / AFP Three suspected IS members arrested in Turkey were planning attacks on Germany’s diplomatic missions or schools in the country, which were closed last week over a terror threat, Turkish media reported on Wednesday. The three men—a Turk, an Iraqi and a Syrian—were arrested in Istanbul on Tuesday by police acting on information from both Turkey’s and Germany’s ...

  Read More »
• 23 March

  Taiwan holds tour of ‘disputed island’ in bid to boost claim

  

  Naypyidaw / AFP Taiwan on Wednesday gave its first ever international press tour of a disputed island in the South China Sea to boost its claim, less than two months after a visit by its leader sparked protests from rival claimants. Taiping is the largest island in the Spratlys chain and is administered by Taiwan, which sees it as part ...

  Read More »
• 23 March

  S Korea, USA allies face miserable end: N Korea

  

  Seoul / AFP North Korea threatened a “miserable end” for South Korea’s president and her American allies on Wednesday, in its latest colourfully worded attack. Pyongyang declared it would wage a “retaliatory battle of justice” against Park Geun-hye, with its artillery units standing ready to turn her office into a “sea of flames and ashes”. “What the DPRK warns is ...

  Read More »
• 23 March

  Bigger is better for Singapore REITs facing consolidation

  

  Bloomberg Singapore’s real estate investment trust market is set to consolidate as smaller vehicles merge to cope with rising regulatory costs, according to Cambridge Industrial Trust. “The wave of consolidation for Singapore REITs is about to begin,” Philip Levinson, chief executive officer at Singapore-listed Cambridge Industrial, said. The trust has a market capitalization of S$730.5 million ($536 million) and focuses ...

  Read More »
• 23 March

  China’s urbanities more optimistic despite slow growth

  Bloomberg Strength in real estate and labor markets helped consumers in China’s biggest cities shrug off last year’s slowdown, according to a new survey based on 12,000 interviews. RFi Group’s Urban Financial Sentiment Index rose to 101 in the second half of 2015, up from 92.5 in the first half. Readings over 100 show consumers say they’re optimistic about their ...

  Read More »