The two-year-old U.S. diplomatic relationship with Cuba was roiled Wednesday by what U.S. officials say was a string of bizarre incidents that left a group of American diplomats in Havana with severe hearing loss attributed to a covert sonic device. In the fall of 2016, a series of U.S. diplomats began suffering unexplained losses of […]

Geopolitical tensions involving North Korea are likely to weigh on investors’ minds on Thursday, although some market watchers suggested tensions had ratcheted down. Demand for safe haven assets edged up overnight in response to President Donald Trump’s Tuesday warning of “fire and fury” if North Korea continued to make threats against the U.S. The hermit […]

The Department of Defense would deploy B-1B bombers in a pre-emptive attack on North Korea if the commander-in-chief ordered such a strike, NBC News reported Wednesday, citing two current and two former senior military officials. The officials told NBC that the attack would originate from the Andersen Air Force Base in Guam. Multiple people told […]

President Donald Trump’s “fire and fury” ultimatum was an off-the-cuff comment, The New York Times reported, citing people involved in North Korea policy discussions. Some reports speculated that policy advisors had approved a more hawkish tone, after the president was seen glancing at a sheet of paper while making his statement Tuesday. The Times reported […]

North Korea’s miniaturization of nuclear weapons has gone from essentially the size of a large refrigerator a decade ago to something small enough to fit inside its ballistic missiles, according to experts. The U.S. believes that North Korea mastered miniaturizing nuclear devices on long-range missiles “months ago,” a government source told CNBC on Tuesday. That […]

President Donald Trump appears to have painted himself into a corner: He must now follow up on his pledge of hitting North Korea with “fire and fury,” or he risks further blowing U.S. credibility. Kim Jong-un’s regime threatened to strike Guam late on Tuesday shortly after Trump warned Pyongyang would face “power, the likes of […]

It’s a conundrum: Despite Japan being a likely target of freshly erupting North Korean ire, traders still see the yen as a safe-haven play, and they’re pushing the currency higher. The yen has surged, with the dollar fetching as little as 109.71 yen in Asia trade, down from 110.82 overnight. The dollar/yen was at 109.88 […]

China’s financial markets are shrugging off rising tensions between the U.S. and North Korea. The pariah state has produced a nuclear weapon that can fit inside its missiles, NBC News confirmed Tuesday, citing a U.S. intelligence official. The country is also seriously considering a strike on Guam, reported a state media outlet. In response, President […]

The Congresswoman for the U.S. Pacific territory of Guam on Wednesday said she was confident U.S. forces could protect it from the “deeply troubling” North Korean nuclear threat. Madeleine Z. Bordallo called on President Donald Trump to show “steady leadership” and work with the international community to de-escalate tensions and stop North Korea advancing its […]

Chinese e-commerce giant JD.com’s partnership with American retail corporation Wal-Mart is proving successful — leaving even large competitors like Amazon in its wake — according to JD.com International President Winston Cheng. “We’re integrating with Wal-Mart in a much tighter partnership, which … potentially, Amazon might do with Whole Foods,” Cheng told CNBC. “But for us, […]