The U.S. is prepared to unveil tough new sanctions on North Korea as soon as Tuesday, but could hold off as the countries try to revive a summit that President Donald Trump canceled last week, The Wall Street Journal reported Monday. The newspaper, citing two administration officials, said the Treasury Department had assembled sanctions that […]
Read moreItaly’s Five Star Movement leader on Monday called on supporters to protest peacefully, a day after a standoff with the president forced it to abandon efforts to form a coalition government with the far-right Lega. “Let’s not give up now, we must not give in to the arrogance of the institutions which have decided to […]
Read moreThat bucket of KFC in 'Stranger Things' is not a coincidence: Why product placement is back in vogue
There’s a scene in the second season of Netflix’s “Stranger Things” where two characters are having an awkward dinner at a friend’s parents’ home. The teens know something the parents don’t: Their missing daughter has killed by a creature from a parallel universe. To lighten the tension, they stuff their mouths with KFC. “This is […]
Read moreSpanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy will face a vote of confidence in his leadership on Friday as corruption convictions handed down to dozens of people linked to his center-right People’s Party (PP) threatened his six-year rule. Spain’s parliament agreed on Monday that the debate and vote would take place on Thursday and Friday, although the […]
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Italy president names ex-IMF official as interim leader with fresh elections expected
Italy’s president appointed former International Monetary Fund official Carlo Cottarelli as interim prime minister on Monday with a task to try and form a new government and bring order to political and constitutional turmoil. The euro zone’s third-largest economy has been seeking a new government since inconclusive March elections, with anti-establishment forces abandoning their efforts […]
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Traders are worried this could be the 'big unwinding' of Italian bond markets
Italian bonds have witnessed one of their worst trading weeks since the euro zone sovereign debt crisis, with many traders getting a stark reminder of the volatility that once characterized markets in the region. On Friday, two-year Italian bond yields rose 35 basis points in one day — almost equivalent to the entire range of […]
Read moreWarnings of artificial intelligence (AI) posing a threat to humanity are “not helpful,” a top executive at IBM has said. While critics like Tesla CEO Elon Musk have warned about the risks of developing AI, David Kenny, IBM’s senior vice president of Watson and Cloud, said the technology is already proving to be beneficial. “It’s […]
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WHEN the dream of a smooth flight turns into the nightmare of an airliner crash, understanding what went wrong is sometimes straightforward. That was the case with a Malaysia Airlines flight which crashed in the summer of 2014, killing 298. This week Dutch and Australian investigators conclusively showed that it was shot down by a […]
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Oil prices could soon 'spike' toward $100 a barrel regardless of OPEC and Russia, strategist says
OPEC kingpin Saudi Arabia is determined to keep oil prices trading around current levels, one strategist told CNBC Monday, but a total shutdown in Venezuelan production could soon prompt crude futures to skyrocket toward $100 a barrel. Prices in the oil market have been steadily rising since last year, with global benchmark Brent climbing to […]
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When the charm offensive from Facebook just turns into being offensive
Founder and CEO of Facebook Mark Zuckerberg was in Europe last week on what is being dubbed an “apology tour.” This was the first time Zuckerberg set ground on the continent since the Cambridge Analytica scandal broke that compromised the data of about 2.7 million nationals on the continent. This was supposed to be his […]
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