North Korea announced Wednesday that it will reopen a cross-border communication channel with South Korea, officials in Seoul said, another sign of easing animosity between the rivals after a year that saw the North conduct nuclear bomb and missile tests and both the Koreas and Washington issue threats of war. The announcement, which came on […]

A conflict on the Korean Peninsula could disrupt global businesses, making it “the greatest geopolitical threat to credit quality in Asia,” according to Moody’s Investors Service. Such a scenario remains a “low-probability event,” Moody’s stated in a new report Wednesday following fresh bellicose rhetoric from North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and President Donald Trump. […]

This year could mark a comeback for commodities, with oil potentially hitting $80 per barrel, a portfolio manager said on Wednesday. Restrained production among major oil producers and the “greater impetus” to maintain stability ahead of the widely-anticipated initial public offering of Saudi Aramco will support prices further this year, said Yoon Chou Chong, head […]

South Korean President Moon Jae-In has stirred up a decades-old dispute with Japan, a move that risks disrupting the international effort to contain North Korea. For years, Seoul and Tokyo have been at loggerheads over the matter of comfort women — the thousands of girls and women, many of them Korean, who were forced to […]

Tencent Holdings’ WeChat, China’s most popular messenger app, on Tuesday denied storing users’ chat histories, after a top businessman was quoted in media reports as saying he believed Tencent was monitoring everyone’s account. “WeChat does not store any users’ chat history. That is only stored in users’ mobiles, computers and other terminals,” WeChat said in […]

Wall Street began the year on a strong note and the dollar slumped ahead of Asia’s Wednesday trading day. Markets stateside closed with gains in the first trading session of the new year as technology names moved higher. Both the S&P 500 and Nasdaq composite hit closing highs, with the latter closing above the 7,000 […]

President Donald Trump said Tuesday that sanctions on North Korea are “beginning to have a big impact” following news of proposed talks between Pyongyang and South Korea. “Perhaps that is good news, perhaps not — we will see!” Trump tweeted about the possible dialogue between the neighbors. Trump tweet: Sanctions and “other” pressures are beginning […]

The geographical nature of Iran’s ongoing anti-government protests is unique, analysts told CNBC on Tuesday. Nine people were reported to have been killed during protests on Monday night, bringing the death toll from the unrest to 21. The deputy provincial governor of Tehran said Tuesday that police had arrested more than 450 protestors over the […]

Chinese consumer stocks should do “really well” in 2018, Jonathan Fenby, China chairman at TS Lombard, told CNBC on Tuesday. Fenby reasoned that this was due to the Chinese government’s policies. “If you believe in the politics, and I think we do now with Xi Jinping, it’s going to be the fallout from the attempt […]

Pakistan summoned the U.S. ambassador in protest against U.S. President Donald Trump’s angry tweet about Pakistan’s “lies and deceit,” while Foreign Minister Khawaja Asif dismissed the outburst as a political stunt. David Hale was summoned by the Pakistan foreign office on Monday to explain Trump’s tweet, media said. A spokesperson for the U.S. Embassy in […]