Wall Street closed at record levels following comments about tax reform and fading investor fears ahead of Wednesday trade. U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said Tuesday that tax reform could be backdated to Jan. 1, 2017 as it would be a “big boon for the economy.” Mnuchin also told CNBC that the Trump administration was […]

President Donald Trump on Tuesday played down the importance of tough new sanctions against North Korea approved by the U.N. Security Council, calling them “not a big deal,” and “nothing compared to ultimately what will have to happen.” Appearing at the White House with Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak, Trump praised the Asian country for […]

North Korea is trying to steal bitcoin and other virtual currencies to avoid sanctions and fund Kim Jong Un’s regime, according to a report. The report, published Monday by cyber security firm FireEye, found that North Korean hackers had targeted at least three South Korean cryptocurrency exchanges with the suspected aim of stealing the digital […]

A Beijing court sentenced two men who directed a large Ponzi scheme to life imprisonment, state news agency Xinhua reported on Tuesday. Peer-to-peer lender Ezubao shut down last year after raising more than 50 billion Chinese yuan ($7.6 billion) from about 900,000 investors, Xinhua reported last year. By the time police made arrests, Ezubao had […]

Human Rights Watch accused the Saudi-led coalition fighting in Yemen of war crimes on Tuesday, saying its air strikes killed 39 civilians including 26 children in two months. The rights group said five air strikes hitting four family homes and a grocery store was carried out either deliberately or recklessly, causing indiscriminate loss of civilian […]

China’s yuan weakened against the U.S. dollar on Monday after the government scrapped measures meant to prop up the currency. The central bank removed reserve requirements for financial institutions settling currency forwards, and for foreign banks holding yuan deposits offshore, reversing actions put in place a few years ago to quash depreciation pressures. The actions […]

Stocks in Asia continued their ascent on Tuesday, following a firm lead from Wall Street as concerns faded over the potential damage of Hurricane Irma and as Korean Peninsula tensions took a backseat. Japan’s Nikkei 225 rose 1.08 percent in early trade as the dollar held onto overnight gains against the yen. Across the Korean […]

China’s ban on initial coin offerings (ICO) is a necessary move to stop illegal fundraising and pyramid schemes but should not stop firms from studying blockchain technology, a senior central bank official told the Financial News newspaper on Tuesday. Sun Guofeng, director general of the People’s Bank of China’s research institute, said in an interview […]

Chinese U.N. Ambassador Liu Jieyi called on North Korea to “take seriously the expectations and will of the international community” to halt its nuclear and ballistic missile development, and called on all parties to remain “cool-headed” and not stoke tensions. Liu said relevant parties should resume negotiations “sooner rather than later.” To kick-start talks, China […]

The United Nations Security Council unanimously stepped up sanctions against North Korea on Monday over the country’s sixth and most powerful nuclear test conducted on Sept. 3, imposing a ban on the country’s textile exports and capping imports of crude oil. It was the ninth sanctions resolution unanimously adopted by the 15-member council since 2006 […]