British prosecutors named two Russian men, believed to be officers in Russia's intelligence service, they believe were behind the nerve agent attack on a former Russian spy and his daughter in the U.K. earlier this year. They named the men as Alexander Petrov and Ruslan Boshirov, and said they are officers in Russia's foreign military intelligence agency, the GRU.
In Brazil, the Real currency and benchmark Bovespa stock index strengthened slightly on Wednesday. Political uncertainty in Brazil took a toll after judicial authorities canceled the release of a closely-watched opinion poll on technical grounds.
World stock markets pushed lower on Wednesday amid simmering trade tensions and the spreading financial firestorm across emerging market currencies. MSCI’s emerging markets equity index dropped for the sixth straight day, losing more than 1% in Asia and nearly fully reversing the late August bound in the benchmark.
Argentina’s economy minister sounded upbeat on Wednesday about clinching a new deal with the International Monetary Fund after two days of talks in Washington, and said had sought U.S. support for securing approval from the IMF’s board.
Data released in an academic-led report on Wednesday shows that 59% of UK voters would now vote to remain in the EU, versus 41% who would vote to leave.
The U.S. trade deficit rose to a five-month high in July, with the politically sensitive gap with China hitting a record high, which economists said could embolden the Trump administration to aggressively pursue its “America First” agenda.
U.S. President Donald Trump said on Wednesday that the United States was not yet ready to come to an agreement over trade disputes with China but he said talks would continue.