March, 2017

• 23 March

  US probes banking of ex-Trump campaign chief

  

    WASHINGTON / AP US Treasury Department agents have recently obtained information about offshore financial transactions involving President Donald Trump’s former campaign chairman, Paul Manafort, as part of a federal anti-corruption probe into his work in Eastern Europe, The Associated Press has learned. Information about Manafort’s transactions was turned over earlier this year to US agents working in the Treasury ...

  Read More »
• 23 March

  Former Russian lawmaker shot dead in Ukraine

    KIEV / AP A former Russian lawmaker Denis Voronenkov was shot and killed in Kiev on Thursday in what the Ukrainian president described as an “act of state terrorism” by Russia, an accusation that has been quickly rejected by the Kremlin. President Petro Poroshenko said Voronenkov’s killing “clearly shows the handwriting of Russian special services shown repeatedly in various ...

  Read More »
• 23 March

  Egypt says fighting in central Sinai leaves 10 soldiers dead

    CAIRO / AP Extremists killed 10 Egyptian soldiers in fighting in a central part of the restive Sinai Peninsula during an army raid on a militant hideout early Thursday, the military said, a toll that underscored its continuing challenges to rein in insurgents in the area. Army spokesman Tamer el-Rifai said troops killed 15 extremists and took seven prisoners ...

  Read More »
• 23 March

  Taliban take key Afghan district in south; 9 killed in north

    KABUL / AP The Taliban captured a key district center in Afghanistan’s southern Helmand province on Thursday while in the country’s north, an officer turned his rifle on sleeping colleagues, killing nine policemen, officials said. The fall of Sangin district, once considered the deadliest battlefield for British and US troops in Afghanistan, comes amid the insurgents’ year-long push to ...

  Read More »
• 23 March

  Mattis and Tillerson, secretaries of stabilization

  

    The House Intelligence Committee hearing on Monday marked the end of the opening installment of ‘The President,’ the must-watch reality/horror show that has transfixed the nation and the world. Now the plotline gets more serious, perhaps darker, with some new characters likely to emerge in key national-security roles. President Trump should be less of a stage hog going forward, ...

  Read More »
• 23 March

  Superman Li discovers boring comes with some headwinds

  

    Being boring has put billionaire Li Ka-shing in a higher-risk position. Li, who earned the moniker Superman for his canny investing, has spent years building an empire that’s almost like a trust. CK Hutchison Holdings Ltd. and Cheung Kong Property Holdings Ltd., which reported full-year results Wednesday, get most of their earnings from staid but stable assets such as ...

  Read More »
• 23 March

  Modi’s inclusive vision for India is at risk

  

    Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s recent victory in Uttar Pradesh, India’s most populous and politically important state, seemed a welcome affirmation of his pro-development message. It’s now at risk of becoming a triumph for narrow-mindedness. Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party didn’t name a candidate for chief minister during the Uttar Pradesh campaign, instead making the vote a referendum on the popularity ...

  Read More »
• 23 March

  Trump can’t shake Russia scandal

    The Russian hacking scandal, which has dogged Donald Trump’s tenure in the White House, refuses to die down. Despite National Security Adviser Michael Flynn’s fall from grace for lying about conversation with Russian envoy and Attorney General Jeff Sessions’ acceptance that he had misled senators about his meetings with Kremlin envoy, Trump continues to be in denial mode about ...

  Read More »
• 23 March

  China energy giant to unleash $85bn spinoff

  

    Bloomberg As China’s biggest oil and gas producer prepares to report what may be its worst-ever earnings, investors are focused on billions of dollars that could be unlocked by a spinoff of its massive pipeline network. PetroChina Co.’s natural gas and crude oil transportation system, stretching from the country’s remote borders with Central Asia to major coastal cities, could ...

  Read More »
• 23 March

  Saudi oil shipments to China up 5% in Feb

    Bloomberg Saudi Arabia maintained its spot as China’s top oil supplier in February, two months into the first OPEC output cuts in almost a decade, with shipments up 5 percent on a daily basis from January, data showed on Thursday. China imported in February 4.77 million tonnes of crude oil from Saudi Arabia, about 1.24 million barrels per day ...

  Read More »