At the Communist Party congress this month, President Xi Jinping made no mention of a previously declared target to double incomes by 2020. Some took that to mean he was switching emphasis from the quantity to the quality of growth. Perhaps. At least as important is the fact that China has all the growth it…
Facebook, Twitter and Google disclosed new details of Russian attempts to sow discord in the U.S., underlining the breadth of the Kremlin’s efforts. Russian agents reached 126 million users on Facebook alone. The companies made the disclosures to Congress ahead of hearings that begin today. While the current focus is on Russia, Facebook has been…
“Mr. Manafort, did you collude with Russians?” That was one of the shouted questions from journalists that Paul Manafort, above, ignored as he surrendered to the F.B.I. on Monday. The former Trump campaign chairman and a business partner, Rick Gates, pleaded not guilty to charges related to money laundering, tax fraud and foreign lobbying in…
Brussels is finding it harder to ignore Carles Puigdemont. The bespectacled ex-Catalan president, who was toppled by Madrid after his administration declared the region independent last week, is now on Belgian soil. He is expected to speak today, amid questions over whether he has come to claim political asylum. Mr Puigdemont arrived in Belgium yesterday, Paul Bekaert, his…
The financial industry hasn't fully warmed up to blockchain, but widespread adoption is coming. In the financial arena, blockchain is still immature and remains an area littered with prototypes and pilots. That was the general consensus among panelists at “Blockchain in Finance: Pioneering applications,” a recent discussion examining the challenges pioneers of blockchain are facing…
Spain's control over Catalonia will be tested on Monday when politicians and civil servants return to work amid uncertainty over whether they will accept direct rule imposed by the central government to stop the region's independence bid. Hundreds of thousands of supporters of a unified Spain filled Barcelona's streets on Sunday in one of the…
Standard & Poor's unexpectedly raised its sovereign rating for Italy to BBB on Friday, the first such increase by S&P for at least three decades. S&P said the rise from a previously given BBB- was justified because of Italy's strengthening economic outlook, growing investment, a steady uptick in employment and improvements in the debt-laden banking…
The man in charge of the European Central Bank's 2.5 trillion euros stimulus programme hopes it will not be extended again when it expires in September, he told a French weekly newspaper. Benoit Coeure, who heads the ECB's market operations, also said the money-printing scheme will continue until inflation "clearly moves" towards the central bank's…
The IMF urged Croatia on Friday to accelerate the pace of structural reforms to improve competitiveness and mid-term growth prospects. "There is a need for more ambition in reforms," the IMF mission chief Khaled Sakr said at the end of a 10-day visit as part of regular annual consultations between the IMF and the member…
Italijanska vlada danas odlučuje hoće li poveriti guverneru Centralne banke Italije Ignaciju Visku još jedan mandat uprkos oštrom sukobu koji je po ovom pitanju izbio između između Matea Rencija, vođe vladajuće Demokratske partije (PD) i članova Vlade koju predvodi njegov partijski kolega Paolo Đentolini. Prošle nedelje Demokratska partija je Parlamentu predala zahtev za razrešenje guvernera…
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