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Britain’s services sector stagnated last month as concerns about Brexit caused new orders to fall at the fastest rate in six months, according to a monthly survey that suggests the economy made a subdued start to the final quarter of 2019. The IHS Mar…
November 5, 2019Read More
Iran announced Tuesday it would inject uranium gas into 1,044 centrifuges that had previously been kept empty under its 2015 nuclear deal with world powers. The decision marks what Iran calls its “fourth step” away from the accord, which saw Iran agre…
November 5, 2019Read More
Two years ago, the president said the US would withdraw from the Paris Climate Accord, calling it "unfair." On Monday the Trump administration announced the year-long process has formally begun with Secretary of State Mike Pompeo saying in a …
November 5, 2019Read More
Chinese President Xi Jinping expressed “high trust” in Hong Kong’s embattled leader Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor in a meeting with Lam on Monday in Shanghai and “fully affirmed” the chief executive’s response to unrest that has rattled the city since June, according to official media.Responding to a report presented by Lam on the recent situation in Hong Kong, Xi affirmed the “hard work” done so far by the city’s chief executive to stabilise the situation and restore order, state news agency Xinhua reported, adding that Lam has Beijing’s trust in terms of work that still needs to be carried out.”The central government has high trust on you and fully affirmed by the work of you and the governance team of Hong Kong,” Xi was quoted as saying. “To curb the violence and stop the chaos in accordance with the law is still the most important task faced by Hong Kong.”Journalists wear helmets with signs that read ” “Investigate police brutality” ” as they protest against alleged police violence towards reporters during a police press conference in Hong Kong on Monday. Photo: AP alt=Journalists wear helmets with signs that read ” “Investigate police brutality” ” as they protest against alleged police violence towards reporters during a police press conference in Hong Kong on Monday. Photo: AP”At the same time, we must do a good job in dialogue with the community and improve people’s livelihood,” Xi said. “I hope that people from all walks of life in Hong Kong will comprehensively and accurately implement the one country, two systems policy and the Basic Law and work together to safeguard Hong Kong’s prosperity and stability.”Xi is in Shanghai to open the China International Import Expo which is expect to open on Tuesday, after inspecting the city’s “urban renewal work” on Sunday.The Post reported earlier that Carrie Lam had been called to Beijing for an unscheduled meeting with Vice-Premier Han Zheng on Wednesday, with sources saying this would involve key policy directives on the protest-hit city, amid discussions on the national security law.Hong Kong was high on the agenda of the fourth plenum of the Chinese Communist Party, a top-level closed door meeting of China’s political elites at end of October.The meeting’s communique said China will continue to uphold the “one county, two systems” principle, but also called for actions to “establish a sound legal system and enforcement mechanism for safeguarding national security in the special administrative regions”.Chinese President Xi Jinping meets with Carrie Lam in Shanghai on November 4. Photo: Xinhua alt=Chinese President Xi Jinping meets with Carrie Lam in Shanghai on November 4. Photo: XinhuaAccording to Xinhua, Politburo member and top diplomat Yang Jiechi, Foreign Minister Wang Yi and Minister of Public Security Zhao Kezhi, who oversees the country’s police force, were present in Lam’s meeting with Xi.This is the second time Zhao, who is newly added to China’s top level Hong Kong Macau affairs decision-making body, appeared in meetings with Xi.He appeared on Xi’s meeting with Macau’s new leader in Mid September, signalling China’s security forces might become increasingly involved in Hong Kong Macau related affairs, to make sure the turmoil does not spill over to the mainland.This article originally appeared in the South China Morning Post (SCMP), the most authoritative voice reporting on China and Asia for more than a century. For more SCMP stories, please explore the SCMP app or visit the SCMP’s Facebook and Twitter pages. Copyright © 2019 South China Morning Post Publishers Ltd. All rights reserved. Copyright (c) 2019. South China Morning Post Publishers Ltd. All rights reserved.
November 5, 2019Read More
Asian businesses are turning their growth focus to trade within the region, as the year-long US-China trade war disrupted traditional export relations and weighed on future investments, according to a report on corporate sentiment by HSBC.Of the Asian business leaders surveyed, 55 per cent said they are focused on expanding their intraregional trade and business activities in the next five years, HSBC said. More than half of the companies surveyed in mainland China said they were aiming to expand in the Asia-Pacific region as they seek growth in the next three to five years, HSBC said.”Asia is renowned for its diverse economic landscape, but what we’re seeing now is that shifts in global trade policy are reshaping the contours of that landscape,” HSBC’s regional head of commercial banking for Asia-Pacific Stuart Tait said. “Businesses continue to internalise geopolitics and protectionism, and are unified in their focus: intra-Asian expansion.”The report interviewed more than 9,100 companies in 35 countries globally in August and September. M&A; will pick up as companies rush to repair broken supply chainsThe trade conflict between the world’s two biggest economies has raged on for more than a year, cutting into global trade and forcing companies to consider whether to shift parts of their supply chain away from China to avoid hundreds of billions of dollars of tariffs imposed by the United States.US President Donald Trump announced that a framework for a “substantial phase-one deal” had been reached between the two countries last month, but an agreement has yet to be signed. China is pressing the Trump administration to eliminate tariffs set to go into effect in mid-December and lift additional tariffs imposed in September before signing the deal, Politico reported on Monday, citing three people familiar with the discussions.Chinese President Xi Jinping and Trump are expected to agree to a mini deal by year’s end, but issues about intellectual property, technology and other issues will continue to simmer, Bank of America said.”While any deal would boost business confidence, the lagged effects of the trade war’s uncertainty shock should continue to weigh on the global economy,” Bank of America Securities economists Ethan Harris and Aditya Bhave said in a research report on Friday. “We still expect only 3.2 per cent global growth next year.” Credit conditions ‘bumpy’ as economy slows, trade war rages: S&P;The world’s businesses remain confident despite the slowing global economic environment and headwinds from increasing protectionism and geopolitical uncertainty created by the trade war and Britain’s plans to leave the European Union, or Brexit.More than half of businesses surveyed globally are more optimistic than they were a year ago and 79 per cent said they expect sales to increase over the next 12 months, HSBC said.”It’s clear that those businesses that feel in control of their own destiny, able to expand into new markets and influence growth with investment in people and technologies, are much more confident than those facing tangible external risks,” HSBC said. “Of the 12 per cent of companies that expect their businesses to shrink next year, the single largest threat they identify is an uncertain political environment, which is strongly felt in South America, Asia-Pacific and the Middle East and North Africa.”In mainland China, 79 per cent of business leaders said they believed governments in their most important trading markets are becoming more protective of domestic businesses, according to the report. That’s higher than the 65 per cent surveyed worldwide last year and 71 per cent of the Asia-Pacific respondents.As a result, 41 per cent of Chinese companies said they were developing local relationships and partnerships overseas, compared with 26 per cent of companies globally. Of those surveyed, 30 per cent of Chinese companies said they are planning to alter their trade routes to cope with the changing geopolitical landscape.At the same time, businesses in Hong Kong are looking to expand internationally as months of protests and civil unrest this summer have weighed on the city’s economy, which had already been pushed into a technical recession in the third quarter by the trade war.On Monday, Standard Chartered cut its forecast for Hong Kong’s economy, saying it now expects gross domestic product (GDP) to contract by 1.5 per cent in 2019 and by 0.3 per cent in 2020.”Hong Kong’s very weak advance third-quarter GDP estimates confirmed a long-feared technical recession, but also shed light on the entrenched damage caused by the perfect storm ” the escalating US-China trade war, China’s slowing economy and worsening local political clashes,” Kelvin Lau, senior economist for greater China at Standard Chartered, said in a research note.Of the 350 businesses in Hong Kong surveyed by HSBC, 44 per cent said they expected to grow sales by expanding into new markets over the next three to five years. The Asia-Pacific region is a key focus for expansion, with 67 per cent of Hong Kong business leaders saying they expected to expand in the region in the next five years.This article originally appeared in the South China Morning Post (SCMP), the most authoritative voice reporting on China and Asia for more than a century. For more SCMP stories, please explore the SCMP app or visit the SCMP’s Facebook and Twitter pages. Copyright © 2019 South China Morning Post Publishers Ltd. All rights reserved. Copyright (c) 2019. South China Morning Post Publishers Ltd. All rights reserved.
November 5, 2019Read More
(Bloomberg Opinion) — Britain’s House of Commons elected a new Speaker Monday. The fact that this is even news outside a small Westminster bubble reflects the enormous attention courted by the previous holder of the post, John Bercow. He was undoubted…
November 5, 2019Read More
(Bloomberg) — Iran will renew enrichment of uranium at its Fordow research plant, a serious escalation of its retreat from its crippled nuclear deal with world powers.Tehran has been gradually scaling back its commitments under the 2015 accord in resp…
November 5, 2019Read More
President Hassan Rouhani said Tuesday that Iran would resume uranium enrichment at an underground plant south of Tehran in its latest step back from a troubled 2015 agreement with major powers. The suspension of all enrichment at the Fordow plant in t…
November 5, 2019Read More
(Bloomberg) — Sign up to our Brexit Bulletin, follow us @Brexit and subscribe to our podcast.Leader of the House of Commons Jacob Rees-Mogg was forced to apologize after saying some of the 72 people killed in the 2017 Grenfell Tower fire in London mig…
November 5, 2019Read More
Lebanese troops deployed Tuesday in different parts of the country to reopen roads and main thoroughfares closed by anti-government protesters faced resistance in some areas, leading to scuffles. In most places, protesters withdrew peacefully as the t…
November 5, 2019Read More
Iran will take a new step in reducing commitments to a landmark 2015 nuclear deal on Wednesday by injecting gas into 1,044 centrifuges at its Fordow plant, President Hassan Rouhani said on Tuesday in a speech broadcast live on state TV. All of the ste…
November 5, 2019Read More
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