(Asia Times) Trade of the Day: Stocks, futures tiptoe higher; US Treasuries and gold see strong demand. Quote of the Day: “These days we encounter an almost universal consensus that a persistent lack of inflation will allow global central banks to prop up carry trades across asset classes, including EM debt. But EM is not Europe or Japan. Loose policy… Read more »
(Asia Times) The Johns Hopkins Center for Systems Science and Engineering (CSSE) has built and is regularly updating an online dashboard for tracking the worldwide spread of the coronavirus outbreak that began in the Chinese city of Wuhan, Johns Hopkins Magazine reported. Lauren Gardner, a civil engineering professor and CSSE’s co-director, spearheaded the effort to launch the mapping website on Wednesday. The… Read more »
Australia’s bushfires have been described as “apocalyptic” this season. Day after day, images of flames, destruction and smoke have filled television and social media screens. Amid the chaos, fire service officials have been praised for their leadership. One in particular has become a face of the crisis – and a household name. Shane Fitzsimmons, 50, is the commissioner of the… Read more »
The Chinese city of Wuhan is set to complete a hospital in six days in order to treat patients suspected of contracting the coronavirus. There are now about 10,000 confirmed cases in China, 213 of whom have died. The outbreak began in Wuhan, home to around 11 million people. Hospitals in the city have been flooded with concerned residents and… Read more »
(Asia Times) Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte has renewed a longstanding threat to sever security cooperation with the United States, an angry response to recent travel bans imposed on Filipino officials involved in alleged rights abuses. The firebrand Filipino leader has also reportedly turned down US President Donald Trump’s invitation to attend a special US-Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) summit… Read more »
YANGON (Reuters) – In a muddy field in western Myanmar, hundreds of Chinese shipping containers fitted with single narrow windows stand in neat lines, empty of the refugees they were designed to host. China sent the gray boxes two years ago as quick and cheap housing for some of the hundreds of thousands of Rohingya Muslims who fled Myanmar for… Read more »
BERLIN (Reuters) – Police have raided homes and offices in Brussels and across Germany in a case involving three people suspected of spying for China, prosecutors said on Wednesday. Der Spiegel magazine, which first reported the raids, said one of the three suspects was a German national who until 2017 had worked as a senior diplomat for the European Union’s… Read more »
Australian PM Scott Morrison has been accused of lacking leadership during the bushfire crisis – by the man he replaced after a party room coup. Malcolm Turnbull, who was deposed in 2018, told the BBC that Mr Morrison had misled the country by “downplaying” the influence of global warming. Mr Morrison apologised last month for taking a US holiday amid… Read more »
(BBC News) The International Court of Justice (ICJ) has ordered measures to prevent the genocide of Rohingya Muslims in Myanmar (formerly Burma). The decision comes despite de facto leader Aung San Suu Kyi defending her country against the accusations in person last month. Thousands of Rohingya died and more than 700,000 fled to Bangladesh during an army crackdown in 2017…. Read more »
TOKYO (REUTERS) – Japan’s government on Friday (Dec 20) approved an eighth straight annual increase in defence spending to a record high as it buys US-made stealth fighters, interceptor missiles and other equipment to counter military build-ups by North Korea and China. Japan’s defence budget will rise 1.1 per cent to a record 5.31 trillion yen (S$65.87 billion) in the year starting… Read more »