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Sydney / AFP Australia unveiled a massive new investment in the nation’s defence capabilities on Thursday to address what Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull called “high stakes” and “momentous times” in Asia. Citing increased defence spending around the region and potential flashpoints in the South China Sea and the Korean peninsula, he said the government was committed to combating the most ...

Brussels / AFP NATO on Thursday overcame sharp differences between long-time rivals Greece and Turkey to finalise an unprecedented mission to tackle migrant smugglers in the Aegean Sea. US-led NATO launched the operation two weeks ago, aiming to help the EU cope with its worst migrant crisis since World War II, but longstanding disputes between Athens and Ankara over Aegean ...

Bloomberg With no wins to show after the first four contests in the Republican presidential primary, Marco Rubio’s supporters are growing nervous that their candidate’s chances of becoming the party’s nominee may already be slipping way. “He’s got to do something, he’s got to stir up the mix a bit,” said Steve Hosheinz, a 55-year-old accountant from Houston who was ...

Wellington / Bloomberg Air New Zealand more than doubled first-half profit and said it expects full-year earnings to surge at least 70 percent as lower fuel prices and growing passenger numbers boost revenue. Net income jumped 154 percent to NZ$338 million ($225 million) in the six months to December 31, the Auckland-based airline said Thursday. Pretax earnings climbed to NZ$457 ...

ABU DHABI / WAM His Highness Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi and Deputy Supreme Commander of the Armed Forces, who is also the Chairman of the Abu Dhabi Executive Council (ADEC), has stressed that upon the directives of President His Highness Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan, the UAE entered into a new phase of ...

DUBAI / WAM Women’s rights in the UAE were interwoven into the very foundation of the UAE, Shamma bint SohailFaris AlMazrui, Minister of State for Youth Affairs, at the Global Women’s Forum Dubai on Wednesday. Speaking at the Forum, Al Mazrui, who recently became the youngest Minister in the UAE Cabinet, said: “As we developed schools, universities and the other ...

Hong Kong / Agencies Rising political turmoil in Hong Kong could hurt economic growth in the freewheeling southern Chinese business hub, the city’s finance chief, John Tsang said as he unveiled measures on Wednesday to counter the impact of global weakness. Tsang warned that political unrest would “unavoidably” damage the economy after riots rocked the city earlier this month, predicting ...

Kuala Lumpur / DPA Malaysian online shoppers are turning to local sites as the weaker ringgit has made shopping on foreign sites much more expensive. Local online retailer Lazada Malaysia said the drop in the ringgit’s value has not really affected sales on its site. In fact, Lazada Group as a whole recorded US$40 million in overall sales during its ...

Bloomberg As the dot-com bubble burst, then-Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan said the last firewall between the U.S. economy and a recession is consumer confidence. Given the market’s plunge this year, will it hold now? So far, so good. The risk facing the U.S. is that falling stock prices cause people to start worrying about their finances, and they spend ...

Bloomberg Donald Trump’s dominating victory in the Nevada caucuses pushes him further out ahead of his nearest competitors for the Republican presidential nomination, giving his unorthodox candidacy a major boost heading into Super Tuesday contests next week. The real estate mogul and political newcomer now has won in the Northeast, the South and the West by riding a wave of ...