Finance news

In Nato summit gaffe, Trump says ‘Islamic Republic of Japan’ fired missiles at US ship

US President Donald Trump on Wednesday said “the Islamic Republic of Japan” fired missiles at a US aircraft carrier, apparently confusing long-time ally Japan with Iran. Trump made the remark during a meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in the Turkish capital Ankara on the sidelines of a Nato summit. “We had 111 missiles shot by the Islamic Republic of Japan,” Trump said. He went on to say that the missiles were shot at the aircraft carrier Abraham Lincoln over a period of one...

Nikkei, Kospi, Topix: US chip stocks drive prices on stock exchanges in Japan and South Korea

On Thursday, the suppliers of the artificial intelligence boom will increase again. The weeks of price falls appear to be over for now. The trigger was rising prices on the US stock exchange Nasdaq.

Philippines got an economic upgrade, yet many Filipinos feel it’s no ‘big deal’

The World Bank recently upgraded the Philippines to an upper-middle-income country, but that classification makes little difference to many Filipinos grappling with rising cost of living, debt and stagnant wages. “I laughed actually. Like, for real? Where did the data come from?” Ann Michelle Federez-Abato said of the July 1 announcement that her country’s gross national income (GNI) per capita had reached US$4,850 in 2025, surpassing the US$4,636 cut-off for upper-middle-income...

Democrat Graham Platner exits key US Senate race, but denies rape allegation

Graham Platner, a scandal-plagued Democratic Senate nominee whose insurgent rise had drawn comparisons to Donald Trump, ended his campaign on Wednesday after a rape allegation threatened to derail one of his party’s best chances of flipping a Republican-held seat. Platner, a Marine veteran, oysterman and political newcomer, won last month’s Democratic primary in the northeastern state of Maine to face Republican Senator Susan Collins in November’s midterm elections. His withdrawal gives Maine...

Dispute over Arctic island: Trump: troop withdrawal from Europe depends on Greenland deal

Donald Trump's planned troop withdrawal is causing nervousness in Europe. According to the US President, how big it will be also depends on another point of contention.

Data protection: US ruling massively increases risks for German companies

A Supreme Court ruling weakens an important US authority and thus endangers the legal basis for data traffic from Europe to the USA. The German economy is alarmed.

Is China’s biggest daily US soybean order confirmation of Xi-Trump summit pact?

China made its largest daily purchase of soybeans from the United States since November on Wednesday, the latest sign of improving trade ties as Beijing moves towards fulfilling commitments announced after US President Donald Trump’s summit with Chinese leader Xi Jinping. The US Department of Agriculture said private exporters reported sales of 472,000 tonnes of soybeans for delivery to China, the greatest daily export sale to the country since November. “China has a long way to go to reach...

Before the “midterms”: Allegations of abuse: US Democrat Platner announces withdrawal

Accusations from former partners are overshadowing the election campaign of a key US Democratic candidate - now he is dropping out. However, he does not want his renunciation to be understood as an admission of guilt.

Webull to offer commission-free trades of US stocks in Japan

Insider report: US states apparently facing legal action against Paramount takeover of Warner

According to a report by the Reuters news agency, the mega merger could face further headwinds. Advocacy groups warn of rising prices and job losses.

When will Hong Kong’s retail leasing market see a turnaround?

Hong Kong’s retail leasing market remained under pressure with rental rates far below the pre-pandemic levels, while Beijing’s crackdown on capital flight and a potential rate hike in the second half of the year by the US Federal Reserve would add to sector uncertainties, according to analysts. The food and beverage sector has seen numerous closures of both casual eateries and high-end restaurants in recent months. Fast-food chain Maxim’s MX scaled back operations and closed its South Horizons..

Trump says he will ask US Supreme Court to rehear birthright citizenship case

US President Donald Trump said on Wednesday that he would ask the Supreme Court to rehear a case challenging his executive order curtailing birthright citizenship, a long-shot ‌bid to reverse the court’s rejection of one of his signature policies. The court last month rejected Trump’s attempt to restrict birthright citizenship in the US, ruling that his directive violated language in the US Constitution’s 14th Amendment that confers ⁠citizenship to those born in the United States who are...

Dangote’s Next Move Could Create the World’s Largest Refinery

Dangote’s 700,000 b/d Lekki refinery has been running at full capacity over the past two months, pushing product exports to Europe to record levels and overtaking traditional suppliers from the Gulf and the US. Its rise has already reshaped the West African fuel trade: imports of clean products from outside the region fell by almost 25% year-on-year in the second quarter. Yet Dangote is treating this only as a starting point. The group plans to add another crude distillation unit (CDU), lift tot

US says China gave only hours’ warning before Pacific submarine missile launch

Washington criticised China on Wednesday for providing only a few hours’ notice ahead of its launch of a submarine-fired ballistic missile into the Pacific, saying Beijing’s actions fell short of standards followed by other major nuclear powers. The US State Department said China failed to provide sufficient information ahead of Sunday’s test, which it said took place amid Beijing’s “rapid and opaque nuclear weapons build-up”. “We monitored China’s submarine-launched ballistic missile test on...

Oil: ExxonMobil invests a billion dollars in Nigeria

The investment marks the US oil company's return to drilling activities in the country. The new project is expected to deliver first production within 18 months.

Trump’s tariff war pushes Brazil’s trade towards China as US share hits record low

The US share of Brazilian exports fell to its lowest level since 1997 in the first half of 2026, while China widened its lead as the country’s top trading partner, according to the American Chamber of Commerce for Brazil, whose report landed as Washington held public hearings on a proposed new round of tariffs against Brazilian goods. American buyers took 9.4 per cent of Brazilian exports between January and June, down from 12.1 per cent a year earlier and the smallest share in the chamber’s...

Nato summit delivers unity and billions in defence deals, Rutte says

Nato Secretary General Mark Rutte defended US President Donald Trump’s criticism of the transatlantic security alliance, while saying this year’s summit showed “a huge sense of unity” and produced procurement plans worth tens of billions of dollars. During a press conference after the North Atlantic Council meeting of leaders at the Nato summit hosted by Turkey in Ankara on Wednesday, Rutte said this year’s gathering had resulted in more than US$50 billion in procurement deals as part of efforts

US-China scientific decoupling: the hidden costs of geopolitical rivalry

As the United States marks the 250th anniversary of its founding, it confronts a new world order dominated by its relationship with China. In this wide-ranging series, we examine the pressure points and possibilities in those ties, from hard tech to soft power. Here, Dannie Peng looks at what is at stake amid the countries’ historic low in scientific collaboration. In late May, Zhang Ning, founder of TopEdit, a Maryland-based company that provides editing services for academic publications,...

US hearing weighs higher tariffs over alleged forced labour, targeting China

China’s labour practices came under scrutiny on Wednesday during a US government hearing on a proposal to impose tariffs on goods linked to forced labour, with participants divided over whether higher tariffs would effectively improve workers’ rights. The Office of the United States Trade Representative (USTR) is holding a three-day public hearing from July 7 to 9 as part of its Section 301 investigation into the use of forced labour in international supply chains. The investigation and the...

US launches new strikes on Iran after Trump vows to hit ‘hard’

The United States launched new strikes on Iran on Wednesday after US President Donald Trump vowed to hit “hard” following Iranian attacks on ships in the Strait of Hormuz. Trump, while ordering retaliation against Tehran, said he expected the latest military flare-up to end quickly and left the door open to more talks. US Central Command (CENTCOM) said the strikes were carried out to degrade the ability of Iranian forces “to threaten freedom of navigation” in the strait, through which a fifth of

What the Iran war has revealed about Brics+

The US-Israeli military campaign against Iran was more than another Middle Eastern conflict. It became a defining stress test for the expanded Brics (Brics+), the grouping that is frequently portrayed as the flagship political platform of the Global South and a cornerstone of an emerging multipolar order. The war showed that the grouping – which has grown beyond its founding members Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa – is neither a military alliance nor an ideological bloc. Rather, it

Trump surprises Nato allies with arms deals and praise as summit ends positively

US President Donald Trump has promised new arms sales in Europe, including advanced air defence systems to Nato allies and Ukraine, as the transatlantic alliance ramps up its military partnership, signalling a potential thaw after Trump repeatedly railed against the coalition. In a press conference on the last day of the Nato summit in Ankara, Turkey, on Wednesday, Trump said that as European nations rebuild their militaries, American equipment will be the “largest beneficiary”, claiming US$3...

Anthropic hits back after China warns of Claude Code ‘backdoor’ risks

US artificial intelligence company Anthropic said users in China being advised to uninstall its flagship Claude Code product were not supposed to be using it in the first place, responding after Beijing warned of security “backdoor” risks. The company’s statement comes after a cybersecurity platform managed by China’s Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) said on Wednesday that Anthropic’s agentic coding tool poses “a serious threat” to Chinese users, in the latest escalation of

Iran War: US military attacks targets in Iran again

After US attacks against Iran, US allies also report shelling. Now the US military is announcing a new offensive.

US man Jeffrey Ying jailed for stealing rare Chinese manuscript from UCLA

A California man who swapped a library’s 17th century Chinese manuscript for a fake was jailed for a year on Wednesday after admitting to stealing a major artwork. Jeffrey Ying used a number of aliases to gain access to classic works, some over 600 years old, at the library of the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), the US Department of Justice said. Ying, 39, would check the works out and return days later with dummy manuscripts. He would frequently travel to China shortly thereafter,

E. Jean Carroll can collect US$5 million in damages from Trump, US judge says

A judge on Wednesday authorised the payment of a multimillion-dollar award to magazine writer E. Jean Carroll to satisfy a 2023 civil verdict in which a jury found US President ‌Donald Trump liable for sexually abusing and defaming her. US District Judge Lewis Kaplan in Manhattan ordered the disbursement of nearly US$5.8 million to the former Elle magazine advice columnist, representing the original US$5 million verdict plus interest. The funds had been held in escrow while Trump appealed the...

Monetary policy: Fed minutes show the US central bank's growing concerns about inflation

Under its new boss Kevin Warsh, the Fed is focusing on combating inflation and is removing signals for possible easing of monetary policy.

+++ USA +++: US Senate candidate Platner gives up after scandals

Son of man killed by ICE: Father was not a criminal +++ ICE officer shoots Mexican immigrant during operation +++ Trump claims Greenland again +++ The news blog.

Trump unexpectedly switches back to old Air Force One, sidelining Qatari jet

US President Donald Trump said on Wednesday that he would fly from Turkey to Britain on an older Air Force One aircraft, an unexpected switch that raised questions about a retrofitted Boeing 747 donated by Qatar that ‌he unveiled only weeks ago as his new presidential jet. The trip to Turkey was the first international trip for the new plane. The switch follows months of scrutiny over the luxury gift intended to serve as a temporary replacement while Boeing struggles to deliver long-delayed...

NATO summit in Ankara: Several slips of the tongue: Trump makes a mistake in his appearance with Zelensky

“Islamic Republic of Japan” and “JCPOC”: During an appearance at the NATO summit in Ankara, the US President made several slips of the tongue. One scene is particularly strange.