January, 2017

• 18 January

  Gambia’s Parliament extends leader’s stay in power 3 months

  

    BANJUL / AP Gambia’s Parliament has voted to extend President Yahya Jammeh’s term in office for three months, even as his mandate was set to end Thursday, state television said on Wednesday. The extension takes effect immediately. The announcement came a day after Jammeh declared a three-month state of emergency as he seeks to stay in power despite losing elections ...

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• 18 January

  China calls on US to bar Taiwan from Trump inauguration

    BEIJING / AP China on Wednesday called on the US to bar a Taiwanese delegation from attending Donald Trump’s inauguration on Friday, underscoring concerns that the incoming president could seek to redefine relations between Beijing, Taipei and Washington. Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying said the request had been passed to Trump’s transition team and to the current administration of Barack ...

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• 18 January

  China’s yuan woes get worse

  

    In the first week of 2017, the offshore yuan surged by a record amount against the U.S. dollar over two days, interbank borrowing costs soared and volatility intensified. The following week, pretty much everything reversed. It’s a familiar pattern that exemplifies the contradictions bedeviling China’s currency. Policy makers have expended much effort trying to internationalize the yuan, notably by ...

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• 18 January

  Morgan Stanley is managing just fine

  

    For Morgan Stanley’s wannabe shareholders, this may be your time to pounce. The New York bank’s shares fell as much as 3.3 percent on Tuesday, despite a string of good news: Earnings per share blew past analysts’ estimates as Morgan Stanley posted its highest fourth-quarter profit since 2006 and record annual revenue. Those feats were made possible by a ...

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• 18 January

  Britain’s health service needs urgent care

  

    Britain’s National Health Service (NHS) needs urgent treatment. Cuts to the social services budget mean hospital wards are clogged with people who could probably be cared for at lower cost elsewhere, especially the elderly in need of social care rather than medical treatment. Staff are stretched to the limits. The situation is already critical and the government’s published plans ...

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• 18 January

  Shares in Saudi Electricity weigh on Riyadh, Egypt’s index pulls back

  

    DUBAI / Reuters Shares in Saudi Electricity Co (SEC) weighed on Saudi Arabia’s stock market on Wednesday after the company reported a wider net loss for the fourth quarter, while Egypt’s index pulled back as local traders booked gains in blue chips. The Saudi equities index edged down 0.3 percent as SEC slumped 3.4 percent after posting a quarterly ...

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• 18 January

  Kenyan stocks, world’s worst this year, set to fall further

  Bloomberg Kenyan stock prices at more than three-year lows may have further to fall with domestic investors favoring bonds and foreign buyers waiting for lower valuations, the head of the bourse said. Shares on the Nairobi Securities Exchange have dropped 6.9 percent since Jan. 1, extending last year’s 8.5 percent decline, because of jitters among investors about elections scheduled for ...

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• 18 January

  Last Airbus A350-1000 test jet set to fly in Qatar delivery push

  

    Bloomberg The third and final aircraft needed to complete flight trials of Airbus Group SE’s enlarged A350-1000 jet is poised to join the test program as the manufacturer pushes to hand over the first production plane to Qatar Airways before the end of the year. The-1000, a stretched model seating 40 more people than the existing A350-900, is on ...

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• 18 January

  Etihad CEO says no plans to invest in Lufthansa

  

    Bloomberg Etihad Airways PJSC has no plans to take a stake in Deutsche Lufthansa AG, though the carriers are exploring the possibility of expanding their recent cooperation agreement, according to James Hogan, the company’s chief executive officer. Asked if Abu-Dhabi-based Etihad would be buying Lufthansa, for which it has been touted as a possible investor, Hogan replied “no.” The ...

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• 18 January

  Cathay Pacific to slash jobs in business revamp

  

    Bloomberg Cathay Pacific Airways Ltd., Asia’s biggest international airline, said it will eliminate some positions after conducting a critical review of its business in a bid to arrest a decline in earnings. “The competition is here to stay and the uncertainty is the ‘new normal’ – we must simply respond,” the Hong Kong-based carrier said in a statement Wednesday ...

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