Category: business-economy

Canada signed a defence partnership with the EU on Monday as the two sides increase their security co-operation in response to Donald Trump’s threats against his Nato allies. The US president has questioned continued American support for allies that spend insufficiently on their own armed forces, and has threatened both Canada and Europe with punitive tariffs for allegedly taking advantage of the US. In response, Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney has announced a move away from buying US weapons, and…

ZURICH – Switzerland is holding talks with the United States after Washington tried to raise the price of new fighter jets Bern is buying for its air force, the government said on Wednesday. Bern chose Lockheed Martin’s F-35A Lightning II as its next-generation fighter plane in 2021, with a fixed price of around 6 billion Swiss francs ($7.4 billion) for 36 jets, a decision that attracted controversy in neutral Switzerland. But the U.S. Joint Program Office overseeing the project said…

In a high-profile case that has sent shockwaves through Nigeria’s financial sector, the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) on Friday, June 13, 2025, arraigned Halima Buba, the Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer of SunTrust Bank Ltd, and Innocent Mbagwu, the bank’s Executive Director/Chief Compliance Officer, before Justice Emeka Nwite at the Federal High Court in Abuja. The duo faces a six-count charge of money laundering involving a staggering $12 million, in what the EFCC describes as a blatant violation of…

BOSTON – A federal judge on June 13 blocked President Donald Trump’s administration from implementing parts of his sweeping executive order overhauling federal elections, including by requiring proof of US citizenship to register to vote and barring states from counting mail-in ballots received after Election Day. US District Judge Denise Casper in Boston issued a preliminary injunction at the behest of 19 Democratic-led states who had argued that the Republican president lacked the authority to mandate changes to elections and…

WASHINGTON – US President Donald Trump warned people on June 11 against protesting at the weekend military parade in Washington marking the US Army’s 250th anniversary. “For those people that want to protest, they’re going to be met with very big force,” Mr Trump told reporters in the White House’s Oval Office. Law enforcement agencies are preparing for hundreds of thousands of people to attend the June 14 parade, US Secret Service special agent in charge Matt McCool said on…

Britain, Australia, Canada, New Zealand and Norway said Tuesday they have imposed sanctions on two far-right Israeli government ministers for allegedly “inciting extremist violence” against Palestinians in the Israeli-occupied West Bank. Itamar Ben-Gvir and Bezalel Smotrich face asset freezes and travel bans from the five countries. The ministers are champions of expanding Israeli settlements in the West Bank. The decision by Western governments friendly to Israel was a sharp rebuke of Israel’s settlement policies in the West Bank and of settler…

WASHINGTON – U.S. government agencies tracked foreign nationals’ visits to Elon Musk’s proprieties amid concerns over possible attempts to influence the tech billionaire, The Wall Street Journal reported on Tuesday, citing people familiar with the matter. The investigation, which tracked the foreigners in 2022 and 2023, included the Department of Homeland Security and the Justice Department, according to the report. It focused on people visiting the Musk from countries in Eastern Europe and elsewhere, the Journal said. Musk, who runs…

US President Donald Trump brought many of the same grievances to his second trade war against China, but the economic battleground that has emerged since then is making it harder to avoid a rupture this time around. While tariffs kicked off the dispute, it is the new trade weapons being unsheathed by both sides that have come to define the latest stand-off. And if the damage done so far is any indication, the scars will prove more enduring – no…

Academic publishers are rushing to sign licensing deals with artificial intelligence (AI) companies, carving out a new revenue stream as US research funding cuts dim their outlook. Informa Plc’s Taylor & Francis signed a US$10 million (S$12.8 million) deal with Microsoft Corp. in 2024 to provide the technology giant access to part of its library to train large language models, or LLMs. Bloomsbury Publishing Plc is looking to “monetise academic content through AI deals”, it said in its latest set…

The United States Department of Justice is in talks to drop a criminal prosecution against Boeing (BOE, Washington National) stemming from two fatal B737 MAX crashes, according to a May 18 court filing. Instead, the DOJ says the matter is likely to be resolved through a settlement that will not result in a criminal conviction. Multiple outlets reported on a May 16 meeting between the DOJ and law firms representing some of the 346 people killed in the crashes in 2018 and 2019. Boeing faces…

United States President Donald Trump’s tariffs have roiled financial markets globally. But while Trump’s trade salvoes have sent stock markets on a rollercoaster ride, it is the turmoil in the bond markets – specifically the fall of bonds in tandem with stocks – that has prompted the most concern among economists. What are bonds? Bonds are a type of investment that involves the buyer lending money to a government or corporation for a specified period. In return for their investment,…

United States President Donald Trump has threatened new tariffs on Chinese electronic goods, three days after his administration announced exemptions on smartphones, laptops, flash drives and a host of other tech products from levies he has announced since April 2. Those exemptions provided relief to US tech companies reliant on Chinese manufacturing, like Apple and chip company Nvidia, which saw their stocks rise considerably after the release of Friday’s notice. Then came Monday’s announcement, which sparked criticism of Trump over…

China’s Ministry of Commence (MOFCOM) said on Wednesday that it has added 12 US entities to the export control list. In order to safeguard national security and interests and fulfill international obligations such as non-proliferation, in accordance with the relevant provisions of the Export Control Law of China and the regulations on export control of dual-use items, the MOFCOM issued an announcement to include 12 US entities in the export control list and prohibit the export of dual-use items to…