International

• Friday, September 14th 2018 - 09:07 UTC

  US, the world's top crude oil producer, but global geopolitical uncertainty prevails

  

  The U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) said that the U.S. likely surpassed Saudi Arabia and Russia earlier this year to become the world’s top crude oil producer. The EIA based its disclosure on preliminary estimates in its Short Term Energy Outlook which is released every month.

• Friday, September 14th 2018 - 09:01 UTC

  Turkey property sales, rental contracts and leasing must be made in the Lira currency

  

  Turkey ruled on Thursday that property sales, rental contracts and leasing transactions must be made in lira from now on, halting the use of foreign currencies for such deals in a fresh step to support the ailing local currency. All business deals inside the country should be conducted in lira, President Tayyip Erdogan said, adding that nobody apart from exporters and importers should cross paths with foreign currency.

• Friday, September 14th 2018 - 08:50 UTC

  Maduro in China after more financial support to prop Venezuela's collapsing economy and oil output

  

  Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro is travelling to China to discuss economic agreements, as the crisis-struck OPEC nation seeks to convince its key Asian financier to disburse fresh loans.

• Friday, September 14th 2018 - 08:42 UTC

  US comes out strongly in support of Taipei in its influence policy dispute with Beijing

  

  The State Department announced last week that it would temporarily recall U.S. ambassadors to the Dominican Republic, El Salvador and Panama for consultations in Washington. The meetings will focus on recent decisions by Latin American countries to no longer recognize Taiwan and ways the U.S. can “support strong. independent, democratic institutions and economies throughout Central America and the Caribbean”

• Friday, September 14th 2018 - 08:37 UTC

  BoE and European central bank keep rates unchanged; Turkey hikes 625 points to 24%

  

  Stocks in Europe reversed earlier gains by Thursday's close to finish lower, as investors digested fresh news out of the central banking sphere. The pan-European STOXX 600 closed down 0.15%, with the majority of sectors falling into negative territory. The U.K.'s FTSE 100 slipped 0.43% by the close, while France's CAC 40 ended a touch lower, off 0.08%, and Germany's DAX rose 0.19%.

• Friday, September 14th 2018 - 08:28 UTC

  Support for Brazilian proposal to safeguard whales in perpetuity: Japan and allies furious

  

  Tempers flared at the International Whaling Commission (IWC) on Thursday as it voted to back a Brazilian proposal which would safeguard whales in perpetuity, after a bitter debate. The biennial meeting of the 89-nation body passed the host country's “Florianopolis Declaration” which sees whaling as no longer being a necessary economic activity.

• Friday, September 14th 2018 - 08:22 UTC

  Governor Carney warns of economic chaos and property crash in a no-deal Brexit

  

  Bank of England governor Mark Carney has delivered a “chilling” warning to Theresa May’s cabinet that a no-deal Brexit could lead to economic chaos, including a property crash that could see house prices fall by a third.

• Friday, September 14th 2018 - 08:12 UTC

  Amazon's Bezos becomes leading philanthropist: US$ 2 billion for open pre-schools and homeless families

  

  Amazon founder and chief executive Jeff Bezos has said he is giving US$2 billion to start a fund that will open pre-schools in low-income neighborhoods and give money to non-profit groups which help homeless families.

• Thursday, September 13th 2018 - 10:29 UTC

  Cancer burden rises to 18.1 million new cases and 9.6 million cancer deaths in 2018

  

  The International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) released on Wednesday the latest estimates on the global burden of cancer. The GLOBOCAN 2018 database, accessible online as part of the IARC Global Cancer Observatory, provides estimates of incidence and mortality in 185 countries for 36 types of cancer and for all cancer sites combined. An analysis of these results, published today in CA: A Cancer Journal for Clinicians, highlights the large geographical diversity in cancer occurrence and the variations in the magnitude and profile of the disease between and within world regions.

• Thursday, September 13th 2018 - 10:04 UTC

  Plot to oust PM May withers, but big challenge anticipated at Tory conference in Birmingham

  

  British Prime Minister Theresa May seems to have overcome an internal escalation from her own Conservatives to have her removed, but her supporters are confident she is safe in the leadership, for now. Ms May is under pressure over the so-called Chequers proposal, which her opponents say binds the United Kingdom too tightly to European Union rules and regulations following Brexit.