Two FBI agents insulted President Donald Trump before he took office, NBC News confirmed late on Tuesday. The agents, Peter Strzok and Lisa Page, had exchanged text messages about the future president during the 2016 campaign trail, NBC said. One such message on March 4, 2016 read “God trump is a loathsome human,” according to […]

South Korea on Wednesday said it will consider taxing capital gains from trading of virtual coins, a government statement obtained by Reuters ahead of an official release showed. The government will also ban minors from opening accounts on virtual coin exchanges, and propose a bill to allow only eligible exchanges to operate, the statement said. […]

Japanese internet company Rakuten on Wednesday said it will launch a three-month accelerator program in Singapore. The program, which begins in July, will tap in U.S.-based company Techstars, a firm with more than 1,000 firms with a combined market cap of $9.6 billion in its accelerator portfolio. A total of 10 start-ups will be selected […]

China giveth, and China taketh away. Across Asia, the world’s second-largest economy has financed infrastructure projects as part of its massive, so-called Belt and Road program. But it’s entirely up to Beijing to decide which countries get funding and when — and Pakistan offers a cautionary tale. Pakistan is home to one of China’s central […]

U.S. stocks mostly rose ahead of Asia’s Wednesday trading day, with a majority of investors expecting the Federal Reserve to raise interest rates at the end of its two-day policy meeting. Most major U.S. indexes rose on Tuesday as optimism over tax reform mounted. The existing version of the tax bill will include a 21 […]

A big name Australian opposition lawmaker has resigned over a scandal concerning his ties to China. Sam Dastyari, of the center-left Labor Party, handed in his notice on Tuesday. “Today, after much reflection, I’ve decided that the best service I can render to the federal parliamentary Labor Party is to not return to the Senate […]

North Korea’s ability to fire a nuclear warhead at the U.S. will soon become an accepted reality, former Defense Secretary Robert Gates told CNBC on Tuesday. “I think that over the coming year, you’ll see North Korea become accepted as having the capability to launch an intercontinental ballistic missile with a nuclear warhead on it […]

The past year has seen some of the largest data breaches and ransomware attacks being reported in recent history, but 2018 could see larger, more frequent attacks, technology firm A10 Networks warned Tuesday. The company’s founder and chief executive Lee Chen added that cryptocurrencies could become the main target of hackers as they gain in […]

Digital businesses can’t afford to ignore Southeast Asia, according to a new report by Google and Singaporean state investment vehicle Temasek. Home to fast-growing economies such as Indonesia and the Philippines, Southeast Asia boasts a massive internet user base that’s overwhelmingly focused on mobile. That will push the region’s internet economy to hit $50 billion […]

Many reports that track corporate deal-making have confirmed a global slowdown in 2017, but one country has bucked the trend, according to advisory firm Duff & Phelps. Malaysia recorded $17.57 billion worth of mergers and acquisitions from 408 deals in 2017 — the highest level in five years, the latest Duff & Phelps’s Transaction Trail […]