financializer news A weblog highlighting financial topics making news in the international media.

korea: Facebook Tweet Mail Japan and South Korea are engaged in a heated military dispute that analysts say could damage the already tenuous geopolitical situation in northeast Asia if the two sides do not reach a resolution, according to Nine News Australia. The spat began on December 20 after an encounter between a Japanese plane, which Tokyo said was collecting intelligence, and a South Korean destroyer, which Seoul said was on a humanitarian mission. To improve your experience update it here News World Military conflict between Japan and South Korea could escalate into crisis By CNN5 38pm Jan 28, 2019Japanese Foreign Minister Taro Kono far L and his South Korean counterpart Kang Kyung Wha far R hold talks in Davos, Switzerland, on Jan. 23, 2019. Both sides disagree on what happened next - the Japanese said the South Koreans targeted their aircraft with missile-targeting radar, while the South Koreans said the Japanese plane was flying dangerously low and that the radar was not intended to trace any Japanese-controlled aircraft. East Asian geopolitics has been shaken loose and is now unsettled, Van Jackson, a former US Department of Defence official specializing in the Asia-Pacific, said. The disagreement has quickly escalated, bringing up historical disputes previously held on the back-burner and in turn threatening the region's stability. (news.financializer.com). As reported in the news.

media: Her original posts to her social media accounts on Sunday said her congregation was told carbon taxes would cost our church 50,000 this year ALONE . But on Monday, Glasgo wrote, she was told the 50,000 represented the total increase in the church's fixed operating costs between 2017 and 2019, according to The Toronto Star. Michaela Glasgo, the UCP candidate for Brooks-Medicine Hat, claimed on Sunday that her church is expecting to pay 50,000 in carbon taxes. Michaela Glasgo, the UCP candidate for Brooks-Medicine Hat, said in a Facebook post Monday afternoon that she has received clarification from her church. An economics professor at the University of Calgary said the claim isn't credible. This is still a sizable sum for a not-for-profit that is already dealing with the burden of increased costs, and I do not think the impact should be downplayed. Facebook Facebook While the carbon tax was specifically named, I have now been told that the expected specific carbon tax cost will be around 5,400 for the year, Glasgo wrote in her statement on Monday afternoon. (news.financializer.com). As reported in the news.

monday: We have a draft of the framework that has to be fleshed out before it becomes an agreement, Khalilzad told the Times on Monday, according to CNN. The Taliban have committed, to our satisfaction, to do what is necessary that would prevent Afghanistan from ever becoming a platform for international terrorist groups or individuals. In comments given to the New York Times and confirmed to CNN by the US Embassy in Kabul, Zalmay Khalilzad said the framework for peace would see the insurgent group vow to prevent the country from being used as a hub for terrorism in return for a US military withdrawal. The peace negotiations in Doha, Qatar had previously been described on Saturday by Khalilzad as more productive than they have been in the past, signaling the first significant shift in the geopolitical stalemate in years. Pentagon identifies US soldier killed in Afghanistan The sides are working on a ceasefire that would lead to a sequenced agreement for dialogue, initially between US and the Taliban and then between the Taliban and Afghan government, a source with knowledge of the talks told CNN last week. But he added that nothing is agreed until everything is agreed. (news.financializer.com). As reported in the news.

use: If you're single, the person you project yourself as might be quite different from your authentic self, according to The Toronto Star. Others might not know how to deal with this schism. Use caution with spending, as you could overspend or overindulge often in some manner when frustrated. Some people even might feel deceived. If you're attached, the two of you spend a lot of special time together, though when you're out as a couple, others can't even guess how special your interactions are. Consider closing this gap. (news.financializer.com). As reported in the news.

world transitions: Timbers rest in a hill of coal mining debris at the Prince Mine in Point Aconi, N.S. on Nov. 22, 2001, according to The Toronto Star. Canada's export development bank is getting entirely out of the coal game but will continue to fund the oil and gas sector as the world transitions towards cleaner sources of energy. Export Development Canada's new climate-change policy means the agency that helps Canadian companies with capital to expand their businesses internationally will no longer provide any funding for anything to do with thermal coal, such as supplying equipment to coal-fired power plants or coal mines. ANDREW VAUGHAN / THE CANADIAN PRESS Thermal coal is the type burned to create electricity and is distinct from metallurgical coal, used to make steel. That all changed Monday, after a regular review of the policy completed last year. The agency reduced its support for thermal-coal projects in 2017 following advice from the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development but continued to fund certain projects in developing countries, arguing that sometimes coal was the cheapest and most efficient means of producing electricity in countries that desperately needed it. (news.financializer.com). As reported in the news.

justice ministry: During the 2008 recession, though, many of those returnees lost their jobs and were paid by the government to expatriate, forfeiting their pensions and other investments, according to The Japan Times. They left in droves. While not everything made this year's list there were the false claims of foreigner fraud of the national health insurance system, and fake news of NJ crime in the wake of the Osaka quake in June the issues that did, ranked in ascending order, may portend how our community is treated in 2019 and beyond. ; 10 Brazilians snub new visa In March, the Justice Ministry announced a new visa program to attract fourth-generation descendants of ethnic Japanese, the children of more than 300,000 Brazilian- and Peruvian-Japanese who had previously worked here under a returnee visa regime in the 1990s. The March reboot unabashedly offered by the government aimed to bring back young workers for up to five years as long as they had sufficient linguistic skills, a job offer and family support already in Japan. Looks like the jig is up. 9 Naomi Osaka's victory A talk worth having Naomi Osaka holds her trophy at the women's final of the U.S. Open tennis tournament in New York. As of October there were zero applicants. (news.financializer.com). As reported in the news.

fomc statement: The announcement soon met with widespread disapproval, according to Global Times China. Critics noted that the US economic growth has slowed in the last quarter and that the Fed's preferred measure of inflation the rate of increase of the price of consumer expenditures had fallen below the official 2 percent target. This was the fourth increase in 12 months, a sequence that had been forecast a year ago, and the FOMC members also indicated that there would be two more quarter-point increases in 2019. Given that the Fed has long said that its interest-rate policy is data dependent, why did it press ahead with its previously announced plan to continue tightening monetary conditions The FOMC statement announcing the latest interest-rate hike gave no explicit reason for it. Determining the appropriate level of the interest rate depends on balancing a changing array of considerations. Fed Chair Jay Powell's remarks at his press conference also gave no reason for maintaining the originally planned rate increase despite the economic slowdown. (news.financializer.com). As reported in the news.

gr ie: The rundown of the top 50 taxpayers is likely be a conservative estimate of total tax paid, due to limited access to personal taxation, according to The Independent. ISOCountry Groups euro at be cy ee fi fr de gr ie it lv lt lu mc mt nl pt sk si sm es va uk gb us us variants 1 33.4, 2 33.3, 3 33.3 Join Independent Minds For exclusive articles, events and an advertising-free read for just 5.99 6.99 9.99 a month Start your free trial Get the best of The Independent With an Independent Minds subscription for just 5.99 6.99 9.99 a month Start your free trial Get the best of The Independent Without the ads for just 5.99 6.99 9.99 a month Start your free trial In the UK, annual tax returns are not published. The chairman of Pentland Group, which is one of the UK's largest sportswear companies, was joined by Sir James Dyson, the Beckham family and Mike Ashley in the inaugral list revealing who paid the most tax in 2017-18. The Tax List was calculated from publically available documents detailing corporation tax, dividend tax, capital gains tax and income tax, where available. He came behind Denise, John and Peter Coates, the owners of bet365, who were named the second-highest taxpayers with a 156m tax bill. Read more 3.5m risk penalties over looming tax deadline Sir James Dyson, who recently announced plans to move his company's headquarters to Singapore, ranked in third place with his family for 127.8m of estimated tax liabilities. (news.financializer.com). As reported in the news.

industrials sector: U.S. exports to China doubled over the decade through 2017 to 130 billion a year, according to the Census Bureau, according to Market Watch. Now that opportunity has become a potential liability for some companies as China's economy slows to its lowest rate of growth since 1990. Makers of everything from bulldozers to computer chips have bet heavily on growing business in a country of 1.4 billion people with an increasing appetite for world-class consumer goods and infrastructure. China is weaker than normal, weaker than seasonal, Keith Jackson, chief executive of ON Semiconductor Corp., said earlier this month. The companies in October said they were concerned about China's slowing economy, sparking a selloff in their shares and the broader U.S. industrials sector. Industrial bellwethers Caterpillar Inc. and 3M Co., which both make about a tenth of their sales in China, are set to report their latest earnings in the coming week. (news.financializer.com). As reported in the news.

lian ping: The situation is mainly due to the fact that the prices of international crude oil and commodities have decreased, and investment demand and consumer demand remain weak, according to Global Times China. These factors make the risk of inflation low, Lian Ping, chief economist from Bank of Communications, said in a note sent to the Global Times. Photo VCG There's a low chance of inflation in China this year and although the producer price index PPI may increase in the first quarter of the year, it may eventually taper off later, an expert said on Saturday. Meanwhile, the central bank has vowed to avoid a flooding of liquidity and will maintain a stable macro-leverage ratio, making inflation less possible, he added. The year-on-year increases in the CPI and PPI both narrowed in December, indicating weak demand and insufficient industrial production, Lian said. Figures from the National Bureau of Statistics NBS showed that the consumer price index CPI in December rose by 1.9 percent year-on-year, a decrease of 0.3 percentage points from the previous month, and the PPI rose by 0.9 percent year-on-year, 1.8 percentage points lower than in the previous month. (news.financializer.com). As reported in the news.

rds: David Hopkinson said officers responded to a call after 10 30 p.m. in the area of Rogers and Caledonia Rds. for reports of a carjacking.A food delivery driver was robbed and carjacked at gunpoint Saturday night, Toronto police say, according to The Toronto Star. Andrew Francis Wallace / Toronto Star File photo The driver was robbed by three suspects carrying at least one firearm, said Hopkinson. Const. The driver was not injured during the robbery. Officers searched the neighbourhood to locate the vehicle. It is alleged that the suspects took cash, a portable debit/credit terminal and the vehicle, which police described as a blue 2006 Honda Accord sedan. (news.financializer.com). As reported in the news.

coach: As their head coach, Simon Middleton, said We've got it now, we've got to use it, according to The Guardian. But he believes it will take up to two years to truly feel the benefits of turning professional. As the first full-time XVs squad in women's rugby, a move their captain, Sarah Hunter, has called revolutionary, there is an obvious backdrop against which this year's championship takes place. That may be so but questions will be asked if England do not reclaim the title, ceded to France a year ago as a result of a one-point defeat in Grenoble. I'd lose my job, lose my rugby'Read more We're two weeks into it and we train Monday to Wednesday so we've only had six days, says Hunter, whose side begin their campaign against Ireland in Dublin on Friday. England's Marlie Packer I thought it was all over. (news.financializer.com). As reported in the news.

outcomes thailand: Five years of military rule has not diminished the Thai people's desire to pick their own government, and if the past is any prologue, the populist forces that have been represented by former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra, his sister Yingluck and their Pheu Thai Party will prove formidable; fortunately for the ruling junta, it has rigged the game to ensure that it retains control over political outcomes, according to The Japan Times. Thailand has been ruled by a military junta since May 2014, when a group of officers led by former Army Gen. Approval of the plans by the national Election Commission and the Royal Household Bureau means that campaigning can begin for what will be a tight race. Prayut Chan-ocha overthrew then-Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra to restore order after six months of protests that had paralyzed the country. Thaksin was a populist who appealed to Thailand's disaffected rural population, which believes that they have been overlooked by the nation's elite centered in Bangkok as the country's economy prospered in the 1980s and 1990s. The revolt against Yingluck was the manifestation of a deep split in Thai politics that emerged since her brother, billionaire Thaksin Shinawatra, was elected prime minister in 2001. (news.financializer.com). As reported in the news.

saudi arabia: Ballistic missiles can carry nuclear warheads to targets thousands of kilometers away. ; Officials in Riyadh and the Saudi Embassy in Washington did not respond to requests for comment, according to The Japan Times. Having such a program could further strain relations with the U.S., the kingdom's longtime security partner, at a time when ties already are being tested by the killing of Washington Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi and the Saudi-led war in Yemen. Further raising the stakes for any such program are comments by Saudi Arabia's powerful Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, who said last year the kingdom wouldn't hesitate to develop nuclear weapons if Iran does. Jeffrey Lewis, a missile expert at the Middlebury Institute of International Studies in Monterey, California, said heavy investment in missiles often correlates with an interest in nuclear weapons. The images, first reported by The Washington Post, focus on a military base near the town of al-Dawadmi, some 230 kilometers 145 miles west of Riyadh, the Saudi capital. I would be a little worried that we're underestimating the Saudis' ambitions here, said Lewis, who has studied the satellite images. (news.financializer.com). As reported in the news.

stritch: He also talked about a renewed focus on U.S. large-cap stocks and pointed out two of his favorite stocks at the moment, according to Market Watch. BMO Wealth Management has about 46 billion in assets under management. Michael Stritch, the investment chief at BMO Wealth Management, discussed the changing investing environment, how his team of advisers was managing portfolios to reduce risk and how individual investors can do the same. Stritch is based in Chicago. He felt at that time that the portfolios managed by his team were already appropriately positioned, with an emphasis on U.S. equity markets on a relative basis compared with the rest of the world. Cutting risk as storm clouds gather In an interview on Jan. 24, Stritch said BMO Wealth Management clients were expressing more concern during December when the S&P 500 fell 14% than during the declines in February and October. (news.financializer.com). As reported in the news.

train monday: As their head coach, Simon Middleton, said We've got it now, we've got to use it, according to The Independent. But he believes it will take up to two years to truly feel the benefits of turning professional. As the first full-time XVs squad in women's rugby, a move their captain, Sarah Hunter, has called revolutionary, there is an obvious backdrop against which this year's championship takes place. That may be so but questions will be asked if England do not reclaim the title, ceded to France a year ago as a result of a one-point defeat in Grenoble. I'd lose my job, lose my rugby'Read more We're two weeks into it and we train Monday to Wednesday so we've only had six days, says Hunter, whose side begin their campaign against Ireland in Dublin on Friday. England's Marlie Packer I thought it was all over. (news.financializer.com). As reported in the news.

ying yong: Which will be the next star project in Shanghai after Tesla Global robotics giant ABB is one overseas company mentioned by Ying Yong, mayor of Shanghai, in the government work report released on Sunday morning during the city's two sessions, as he called the roll of several projects that the government will push for construction this year, according to Global Times China. ABB earlier revealed its plans to the media, saying that it's planning to establish a plant in Shanghai using robots to produce robots, according to a report by yicai in October. Photo VCG Many more overseas companies will follow in the steps of Tesla to set up plants in Shanghai once they see how the US carmaker benefits from the city's policy bonus, as the Shanghai municipal government opens markets to overseas investors with the continuous launch of new policies, experts said on Sunday. ABB didn't disclose its Shanghai plant's current status as of press time. Shanghai will also speed up mass production of major domestic industrial projects like Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corp and Everdisplay Optronics' second phase, Ying disclosed. The other two companies mentioned by Ying are Shanghai-based biomedical firm Haohai Biological Technology and ACM Research, also based in Shanghai, reported the Shanghai Securities News over the weekend. (news.financializer.com). As reported in the news.

destiny: Buzzfeed made its numbers last year after missing them in 2017 but Peretti told employees revenue growth was not enough to be successful in the long run . By reducing costs, he said, we can thrive and control our own destiny, without ever needing to raise funding again . At the same time, Verizon said it would trim 7% of headcount, about 800 people, from its media unit, which includes Huff Post, Yahoo and AOL. Another signal of distress came on Friday when Warner Media announced it would close its digital investment arm, Warner Media Investments, according to The Guardian. The job losses followed sales or cuts at Mic, Refinery29 and elsewhere. In a letter to employees headlined Difficult Changes the Buzz Feed founder and chief executive, Jonah Peretti, said the company would reduce headcount by 15%, or about 250 jobs, to around 1,100 employees globally. But publishing as a whole had already shrunk sharply. The two giants are expected to take more than half of global ad spending by 2020 and Analyst EMarketer anticipates their market share to grow by 75% between 2017 and 2020, compared with 15% growth for other digital media companies. By some estimates the shift to digital has resulted in an overall reduction in the business of 50% to 80%. Buzz Feed to lay off 200 staff in latest round of cuts Read more Built on the expectation of fast growth in advertising sales, companies like Buzz Feed and Vox Media have instead found that Facebook and Google the duopoly have simply tightened their grip on digital advertising revenue. (news.financializer.com). As reported in the news.

japanese-controlled aircraft: Both sides disagree on what happened next -- the Japanese said the South Koreans targeted their aircraft with missile-targeting radar, while the South Koreans said the Japanese plane was flying dangerously low and that the radar was not intended to trace any Japanese-controlled aircraft, according to CNN. The disagreement has quickly escalated, bringing to the fore historical disputes previously on the back-burner and -- in turn -- threatening the region's stability. The spat began December 20 after an encounter between a Japanese plane, which Tokyo said was collecting intelligence, and a South Korean destroyer, which Seoul said was on a humanitarian mission. East Asian geopolitics has been shaken loose and is now unsettled, said Van Jackson, a former US Department of Defense official specializing in the Asia-Pacific. Amid all this tumult, suppressed animosities are started to crack through the veneer of regional stability. Read More China is seeking to push out the US, North Korea has pulled a jiujitsu move by using summit diplomacy to solidify its status as a nuclear state even as the ostensible purpose is to denuclearize Pyongyang, and the future of the US in the region is less certain now than any time since the 1970s. (news.financializer.com). As reported in the news.

letters: Major pharmaceutical and other companies... received envelopes with threatening letters and a powdery substance suspected to be cyanide, he said, without identifying the companies. ; According to the spokesman, the letter said I will make fake medicine containing potassium cyanide and distribute it, and warned a tragedy will happen if the money was not transferred by Feb 22, according to Asahi Shimbun. Local media said the names on the letters - which were received on Friday - included Shoko Asahara, the charismatic leader of the sect, who was executed with 12 of his one-time followers in July last year. The letters were sent under the names of executed members of the Aum Shinrikyo - the Japanese doomsday cult behind the deadly 1995 sarin gas attack in Tokyo - and demanded 35 million won S 42,350 in bitcoins, a police spokesman told Agence France-Presse. The white powdery substance was later confirmed to be cyanide, the Asahi Shimbun newspaper reported, adding that a similar envelope was also sent to the Tokyo headquarters of the Mainichi Shimbun newspaper. ; A pharmaceutical firm in Osaka and the Hokkaido branch of a Tokyo-based food company also received letters the same day, Kyodo News reported, though the police declined to name the companies. The letters also carried different addresses, such as detention facilities in Tokyo, Kyodo News reported. Similar threatening letters were sent to some pharmaceutical companies in Osaka in January last year, Jiji Press reported. (news.financializer.com). As reported in the news.

show: The move would suggest that Russia was willing to raise the stakes to protect its investment in its closest ally in the western hemisphere, according to The Guardian. Russian mercenaries reportedly in Venezuela to protect Maduro Read more On a political news show on Sunday, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov denied that Russia had sent military personnel to the country. Russia has thrown its diplomatic weight behind Maduro in recent days, criticising the US for violating Venezuela's sovereignty by supporting the leadership claim of opposition leader Juan Guaid . Reports emerged earlier this week that dozens or hundreds of Russian mercenaries, who have been active in Ukraine and Syria, had been sent to protect Maduro from a possible coup attempt. Fear has a hundred eyes, he said. Russia has spent billions to build up its influence in Venezuela and there are concerns that regime change could erase that investment. He did not make a direct denial, however, because private military contractors do not work for the government. (news.financializer.com). As reported in the news.

specialised organisation: The athlete's agency Sport Cover confirmed two Guernsey based fishing vessels are working in the area where the plane last lost radar contact, reports The Sun, according to Nine News Australia. A statement on the GoFund Me page read The call for funds launched late Friday afternoon allowed the relatives of Emiliano Sala, via a specialised organisation, to resume research in the Channel early Saturday morning. To improve your experience update it here News World Emiliano Sala search back on thanks to 472k GoFund Me donations By Gemma Bath Producer10 47am Jan 28, 2019Facebook Tweet MailA private search has been launched to find the plane carrying Premier League star Emiliano Sala thanks to a host of football stars raising 472,000. Two boats conduct the operations. Facebook Authorities called off their search for Sala, 28, on Thursday but a new private search has re-started today. The plane Emililo Sala was travelling in went missing over the Channel on his way to Cardiff on Monday. (news.financializer.com). As reported in the news.

men: Some Amazon investors have also asked the company to stop out of fear that it makes Amazon vulnerable to lawsuits. ; The researchers said that in their tests, Amazon's technology labeled darker-skinned women as men 31 percent of the time, according to The Japan Times. Lighter-skinned women were misidentified 7 percent of the time. Privacy and civil rights advocates have called on Amazon to stop marketing its Rekognition service because of worries about discrimination against minorities. Darker-skinned men had a 1 percent error rate, while lighter-skinned men had none. The new study, released late Thursday, warns of the potential of abuse and threats to privacy and civil liberties from facial-detection technology. Artificial intelligence can mimic the biases of their human creators as they make their way into everyday life. (news.financializer.com). As reported in the news.

aren t: It's small wonder why, as consumer sentiment is at a two-year low thanks in part to the record-long government shutdown and shoppers just aren't as eager to open their wallets, according to Market Watch. But while the stock market certainly been choppy as of late, there are plenty of named that have hung in there. Packaged foods giant Conagra Brands CAG, -0.66% has plunged about 40% in the last 90 days, while retailer Macy's M, 4.08% has plummeted 25% and consumer tech darling Apple AAPL, 3.31% has slumped 20% in the same period. After all, the S&P 500 index SPX, 0.85% is basically flat over 90 days. It may sound like an old platitude, but many investors are forgetting that they are looking for opportunities in a market of stocks and not just a stock market. That's hardly a sign to panic and give up on equities. (news.financializer.com). As reported in the news.

citizen lab: In both cases, the researchers believe they were secretly recorded. ; Citizen Lab Director Ron Deibert described the stunts as a new low, according to The Japan Times. We condemn these sinister, underhanded activities in the strongest possible terms, he said in a statement Friday. Twice in the past two months, men masquerading as socially conscious investors have lured members of the Citizen Lab internet watchdog group to meetings at luxury hotels to quiz them for hours about their work exposing Israeli surveillance and the details of their personal lives. Such a deceitful attack on an academic group like the Citizen Lab is an attack on academic freedom everywhere. Citizen Lab, based out of the Munk School of Global Affairs at the University of Toronto, has for years played a leading role in exposing state-backed hackers operating in places as far afield as Tibet, Ethiopia and Syria. Who these operatives are working for remains a riddle, but their tactics recall those of private investigators who assume elaborate false identities to gather intelligence or compromising material on critics of powerful figures in government or business. (news.financializer.com). As reported in the news.

company: Shares got a 3.6% boost in Friday trading after the coffee company reported adjusted earnings per share of 75 cents, ahead of the Fact Set consensus for 65 cents per share, according to Market Watch. Revenue of 6.63 billion exceeded the 6.31 billion Fact Set consensus. Starbucks Corp. posted an earnings and revenue beat in the fiscal first quarter, but analysts are looking down the line, worried that the coffee company can't maintain positive results. Globally, Starbucks reported a same-store sales increase of 4%, which the company said was driven by 4% growth in the U.S. Starbucks SBUX, 3.63% shares have gained 10.8% over the last year while the S&P 500 index SPX, 0.85% has fallen 6.2% for the period. Overall, the prospects for Starbucks look good in the short term, reasonable in the medium term, but somewhat more challenging over the long term, wrote Neil Saunders, managing director at Global Data Retail. Read We'll never see that money back' - how small business owners can recover from the shutdown While those quarterly numbers were positive, some analysts still urge investors to proceed with caution. (news.financializer.com). As reported in the news.