December, 2016

• 26 December

  Japan’s Abe departs for visit to Pearl Harbour

    Tokyo / AFP Prime Minister Shinzo Abe departed on Monday for Hawaii where he will visit Pearl Harbour with US President Barack Obama as the two countries highlight decades of post-World War II reconciliation. Abe’s visit to the site, which was bombed by Japan in a surprise attack in December 1941 that drew the United States into World World II, ...

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• 26 December

  Thailand detains nine for hacks protesting cyber law

    Bangkok / AFP Thai authorities have detained at least nine people on suspicion of hacking, a senior junta official said on Monday, following days of disruption to government websites sparked by the passing of a controversial cyber censorship law. Earlier this month Thailand’s rubber-stamp parliament unanimously approved a new security law that will make it much easier for the junta ...

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• 26 December

  Fragile new Ukraine truce holds for third day

  

    Kiev / AFP A new indefinite truce in Ukraine held by a thread for a third day Monday as both pro-Russian insurgents and Kiev reported clashes near a prized railroad hub but no deaths. Ukraine and Russia—two ex-Soviet neighbours that are now sworn foes—agreed to the armistice Wednesday with the help of mediation from the Organization for Security and Co-operation ...

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• 26 December

  Christmas typhoon leaves four dead in Philippines

    LIGAO / AFP A powerful typhoon left at least four people dead and eight missing as it crossed the Philippine archipelago on Monday, spoiling the Christmas holidays with strong winds, heavy rains and destructive flooding. Nock-Ten made landfall on the eastern island province of Catanduanes with gusts of 235 kilometres (146 miles) an hour on Christmas Day, ravaging the Bicol ...

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• 26 December

  Balkan countries illegally push back migrants: UNHCR

  

    Belgrade / AFP Illegal deportations of migrants seeking to reach western Europe along the so-called Balkans route have been on the rise, the UN refugee agency (UNHCR) warned on Monday. Some 1,000 people from the Middle East, Asia and Africa “were expelled in November alone along the Balkans route… more than before”, the UNHCR spokeswoman in Serbia, Mirjana Milenkovska, said. ...

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• 26 December

  Bankers count on M&A, China to spur Asia loan growth in 2017

  

    Bloomberg Loan bankers in Asia are relying on companies’ merger and acquisition activities and China’s ‘One Belt, One Road’ initiative to fuel loan growth next year after volumes in the region stagnated in 2016. Asia-Pacific ex-Japan loan volume amounts to $451.5 billion year to date, just shy of the $452.3 billion syndicated and clubbed deals completed in 2015, due ...

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• 26 December

  Wells Fargo hit with film-finance fraud suit

  

    Bloomberg Wells Fargo is facing a multimillion-dollar film-finance fraud lawsuit, capping off a 2016 of legal woes for the banking giant. British financiers Vandermolen Film Co. and Bridgeworks Media Capital claim Wells Fargo employees conned them into funding bridge loans and they’re owed at least $14 million, according to a complaint filed in Florida state court last week. “Upon ...

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• 26 December

  Bond guarantee forged as market mood worsens: China bank

  

    Bloomberg China Guangfa Bank Co. said on Monday that documents and seals for a letter claiming to guarantee bond payments by the lender were forged, in the second such incident in the nation this month, raising concern about transparency in the world’s third-biggest bond market. The revelation by the bank based in the southern province of Guangdong comes after ...

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• 26 December

  IDB finances 863mn developmental projects

  

    JEDDAH / WAM The Islamic Development Bank (IDB) approved finances worth US$863 million for developmental projects in a number of member countries during its 316th meeting here, Saudi Press Agency (SPA) reported. Out of this sum, $208 million goes to road projects in the Republic of Guinea; $170 million for the third phase of a solar generation project in ...

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• 26 December

  UK’s banking loss may be New York’s gain in Brexit

  

    Bloomberg New York rather than the European Union may be the winner from any exodus of financial services from London unless Brexit negotiators on both sides are pragmatic, UK lawmakers warned. Without early clarity on the future relationship between Britain and the EU, banks and other financial firms may set up subsidiaries and transfer workers abroad, the House of ...

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