Goldman Sachs Group will detail plans to turn around performance at its core bond-trading unit next month after unusual pressure from large investors frustrated by vague explanations of its troubles, people familiar with the matter told Reuters. The move is a break from tradition at Wall Street’s pre-eminent bank, which usually gives its investors little […]

The foreign ministers of Russia and the United Arab Emirates urged North Korea on Tuesday to stop its provocations and obey United Nations resolutions, after Pyongyang’s launch of a ballistic missile over Japan. Speaking in Abu Dhabi, the two ministers offered a forceful warning for Pyongyang, with Emirati Foreign Minister Abdullah bin Zayed Al Nahyan […]

Qatar‘s lenders are quite capable of withstanding the conditions imposed by the Saudi-led boycott despite the country’s latest credit rating downgrade, central bank governor Sheikh Abdullah bin Saud al-Thani said on Tuesday. Fitch downgraded the Gulf state’s sovereign long-term debt rating by one notch to AA-minus on Monday, putting it on par with the two […]

North Korea fired a ballistic missile over Japan’s northern Hokkaido island into the sea early on Tuesday, prompting warnings to residents to take cover and drawing a sharp reaction from Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe. The test, one of the most provocative ever from the reclusive state, came as U.S. and South Korean forces conduct […]

North Korea accused the United States on Tuesday of driving the Korean peninsula towards “an extreme level of explosion” and declared that it was justified in responding with “tough counter-measures.” Han Tae Song, North Korea’s ambassador to the U.N. in Geneva, did not explicitly refer to his country’s latest test firing of a ballistic missile […]

Hamas’ new leader in the Gaza Strip said Monday his group has repaired relations with Iran after a five-year rift and is using its newfound financial and military aid to gear up for new hostilities with Israel. The announcement by Yehiyeh Sinwar came as U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres was visiting Israel. At a meeting with […]

Myanmar security forces intensified operations against Rohingya insurgents on Monday, police and other sources said, following three days of clashes with militants in the worst violence involving Myanmar’s Muslim minority in five years. The fighting – triggered by coordinated attacks on Friday by insurgents wielding sticks, knives and crude bombs on 30 police posts and […]

The U.S. needs to turn up the heat on sanctions against North Korea, experts said on Tuesday after the reclusive nation fired a missile that flew over Japan, sharply escalating tensions in the region. “It’s long past time to increase sanctions,” said Bruce Klingner, a senior research fellow at conservative think tank The Heritage Foundation […]

Asia Pacific has no dearth of digital-payment options as smartphone ownership picks up, but cash is still king in most of the region’s major markets, according to a new study from PayPal. The report, titled “Digital Payments: Thinking beyond Transactions,” found 57 percent of the respondents said they preferred cash for their day-to-day transactions. Another […]

North Korea launched a ballistic missile that passed right over Japan, and that’s set markets on high alert, with four big movers. U.S. stock futures were a big early mover, with the Dow Jones industrial average mini futures dropping as much as 147 points to 21,644 in a knee-jerk reaction. That compared with the index’s […]