Finance news

Car company in crisis: VW boss: “Smarter solutions” than factory closures

VW is planning a major renovation. More than 100,000 jobs could be lost and locations are at risk. Now CEO Blume is speaking out - and sees “smarter solutions” than plant closures.

US senator and Trump ally Lindsey Graham dies after sudden illness

US Senator Lindsey Graham, a key Republican who went from a vocal critic of Donald Trump to one of his most loyal allies on Capitol Hill after Trump became president, has died at age 71. The South Carolina lawmaker died after a “brief and sudden illness,” his office posted on social media early on Sunday. ‌US media said emergency personnel had responded to a call for cardiac arrest at his Capitol Hill home on Saturday night. Graham, just back from a trip to Ukraine, had been scheduled to appear.

Mobile phone provider: job cuts at O2 – union accuses company of lack of planning

The mobile operator O2 is under pressure and its business figures are deteriorating. Now the management is putting the red pencil on, about one in six jobs will be eliminated. Trade unionists are outraged.

Crime: German Finance Group under pressure: losses of millions and criticism from auditors

There are increasing signs of a crisis at the investment house Deutsche Finance: the public funds with 50,000 investors are making high losses, there is a lack of balance sheet data and the Bafin has sent a special representative.

Iran conflict: USA attacks Iran again - Strait of Hormuz closed

Iran's Revolutionary Guards are said to have attacked a ship in the strait. This will remain closed until further notice. Discussions about this in Oman initially end without results.

Fifa World Cup: Hong Kong pubs, restaurants enjoy net gains from big matches

Many bars, restaurants and shopping centres in Hong Kong have enjoyed brisk business thanks to the football World Cup, with top nightlife district Lan Kwai Fong recording an up to 70 per cent jump in patronage for this year’s big matches. Lan Kwai Fong Group chairman Allan Zeman told the South China Morning Post that he had joined football fans in the entertainment district in Central for the England-Norway game in the early hours of Sunday morning. “It’s [been] a crazy night. It’ll only get...

Pasona's Awaji Island bet: Longer lives and deeper pockets

Tokyo becomes as hot, humid as cities in Southeast Asia

Gulf capital flowing into Asia as Hong Kong-Middle East trade up 35%: Paul Chan

Capital from the Gulf region is showing signs of flowing into Asia, according to Hong Kong’s finance chief, as bilateral trade between the Middle East and the city rose 35 per cent in the first five months of the year. In his weekly blog on Sunday, Financial Secretary Paul Chan Mo-po said Hong Kong and the Middle East had deepened ties in the areas of the economy, trade, finance, innovation and technology (I&T), and culture over the past few years. While trade between the Gulf Arab States and...

+++ Football World Cup 2026 +++: England and Argentina reach the second semi-final

The English beat Norway in the quarter-finals, the Argentines beat Switzerland +++ Merino redeems Spain in Belgian goalkeeper drama +++ Semi-finals against France +++ The World Cup blog.

Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani, who raised Qatar’s global profile, dies at 74

Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani, who as ruler of Qatar transformed the tiny Gulf nation into a global player in diplomacy, media and investment, and then shattered tradition by voluntarily turning over power to his son, has died, state media reported. He was 74. The state-run Qatar News Agency reported his death. It offered no cause. Sheikh Hamad, who stepped down in June 2013 after 18 years as emir, was the architect of energy-rich Qatar’s stunning ambitions that turned it from a backwater...

Middle East: USA attacks Iran again - Strait of Hormuz closed

Iran's Revolutionary Guards are said to have again attacked a merchant ship in the Strait of Hormuz. According to Iranian information, the ship passage remains closed. There is also an alarm again in the Gulf states.

Wombs for hire: the painful price of Asia’s baby trade

As the car bounces along a rural Thai road, a baby just a few months old watches the emerald green countryside rush by from Nicha’s* lap, oblivious to the countdown that has already begun. Soon the child will be handed over to her father to be raised in China by grandparents whose own hopes of a larger family were curtailed by decades of state population control. Nicha may never see the baby she gave birth to again, but she knows that is the painful price of commercial surrogacy. This is her...

In China’s electronics hub, a memory chip crisis is hitting consumers hard

For Cai, a trader in Shenzhen’s vast Huaqiangbei electronics hub, the business of assembling computers for gamers and corporate clients has suddenly become dramatically more expensive. The price of memory products in Huaqiangbei has tripled over the past year amid the global artificial intelligence boom – and the spike has hit the world’s largest wholesale electronics market hard. “Right now, memory and SSDs are the biggest cost drivers in a personal computer build,” Cai said, referring to...

‘Almost unlimited’: Execs says AI demand remains strong even as enterprises move to ‘valuemaxxing’

AI-related chip stocks have been volatile amid a debate over AI demand and spending.

Ageing in Hong Kong – should you fear it?

Parents of boy paralysed by medical blunder welcome penalty but vow to fight on

After 16 years, Li Zhijian and his wife Peng Hongying have finally found a measure of closure in their long pursuit of justice over a medical blunder that left their son paralysed for life in Hong Kong. But the mainland Chinese couple said their fight for accountability was far from over, despite a ruling by the city’s medical watchdog that found a paediatrician guilty of professional misconduct in his care of their son, Li Yuanjian. “We can only say that we can accept it, and we can find some..

City trip: Discover Seoul: From palaces to the Demilitarized Zone

Palaces, city walls, Gangnam, museums, borders: Seoul is a Korean metropolis between tradition and the present. Five entrances to a city that cannot be reduced to a single formula.

Nasa knows how to deflect an asteroid. Can Japan’s Hayabusa2 pull it off?

Japan’s Hayabusa2 fly-by of Torifune marks a leap in asteroid defence, showcasing the country’s growing space prowess and “goodwill science” role vital for protecting Earth from cosmic threats. The space probe, named after the Peregrine falcon in Japanese, successfully flew within 800 metres (0.5 miles) of the asteroid, the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) said on July 5. JAXA said Hayabusa2 performed as expected and responded to all instructions from land-based mission control, about..

Japan: Rare earths – the stuff of power

Japan's new government is experiencing what Europe fears: a Chinese demonstration of power in rare earths. But the country also shows how to become less susceptible to blackmail.

Retirement provision: pension and pension - how big are the differences?

On average, pensions are significantly lower than civil servant pensions. A new analysis from the Bundestag shows the differences in salaries, but also points out the reasons.

Mobile phone provider: Job cuts at O2: Union accuses the company of lack of planning

The mobile operator O2 is under pressure and its business figures are deteriorating. Now the management is putting the red pencil on, about one in six jobs will be eliminated. Trade unionists are outraged.

Thousands of flights cancelled as Typhoon Bavi hits eastern China bringing heavy rains

Typhoon Bavi made landfall in eastern China on Saturday night, the second major storm to hit the country in a week, causing thousands of flight and train cancellations while more than 2.4 million people were evacuated from areas in the path of the storm. More than 2,800 flights were likely to be cancelled by Chinese airlines as of 8pm on Saturday, the state news agency Xinhua reported. Shanghai’s Pudong and Hongqiao airports were set to cancel over 650 flights, about 30 per cent of their...

Simson mopeds: Voigt: Discussion about Simson special status with the EU

The Simson mopeds built in Suhl are more than GDR nostalgia: they can drive at 60 km / h and promise young people mobility. But re-imports have to slow down. What the problem lies.

Deutsche Bahn: Schnieder sees the railway as having a duty to be more punctual

Many delays annoy rail customers - and that also has to do with the long-neglected track network. The renovation should get underway. But the minister also recognizes the need for other action.

South Korean ticket touts to face the music when new penalties come into play

For many K-pop fans in South Korea, the hunt for concert tickets has turned into a high-stakes battle, one where logging on early is no longer enough and ordinary fans find themselves outmatched by organised resellers, bots and shadowy workarounds that can send prices soaring far beyond face value. Previous solutions have failed to rein in the problem, but the government is hoping that the threat of massive fines may finally free ticket seekers from the grips of predatory scalpers. From August..

U.S. launches airstrikes against Iran after Tehran attacks container ship in Hormuz, Pentagon says

Iran has attacked ships using a route along Oman's coast protected by the U.S. military. Tehran demands vessels use a northern route through its waters.

The situation at a glance: USA attacks Iran again - Strait of Hormuz closed

Iran's Revolutionary Guards are said to have attacked a merchant ship in the disputed strait. This will remain closed until further notice. According to the US, Tehran has missed an opportunity.

Accidents while swimming: Swimming emergencies: How to properly help drowning people

More people drowned in June than in a long time. How do you notice that someone is in distress? What should you know when attempting a rescue? Two experts give advice.

Ten years later: “Scars remain, but they don’t define us”

They are on vacation in Germany when a radicalized refugee attacks them. Today the Chinese victims of the Würzburg ax attack are back in their homeland. They can't forget.