By Lucy Craymer WELLINGTON (Reuters) – The New Zealand government is committed to reducing spending even though severe weather events earlier this year caused asset damage of roughly NZ$9 billion ($5.51 billion) to NZ$14.5 billion, Prime Minister Chris Hipkins said on Thursday. Flash floods hit Auckland, the country’s largest city, in January and Cyclone Gabrielle…
By Tim Kelly TOKYO (Reuters) – Virginia Governor Glenn Youngkin did not rule out a run for president in 2024, saying on Thursday that he was “humbled” by the question of whether he would seek the Republican nomination. “I am humbled by your question to think that you would ask it of me when 40…
SEOUL (Reuters) -South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol met with Tesla CEO Elon Musk on Wednesday in Washington to call for investment in his country, Yoon’s office said. The two met at Musk’s request as Yoon is in the U.S. for a six-day state visit, said Choi Sang-mok, Yoon’s senior economic secretary, according to a…
(Reuters) – U.S. President Joe Biden and South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol upgraded their commitment to cooperate on maintaining stability in foreign exchange markets at a summit on Wednesday, a senior South Korean economic official said. “It is meaningful that (the two leaders) expressed their willingness to actively cooperate for the financial stability at…
By Kevin Buckland TOKYO (Reuters) – The euro hovered near a one-year high versus the dollar on Thursday, as Europe’s resilient economy contrasted with banking contagion risks in the United States, the debt ceiling standoff and a potential recession. The risk-sensitive Aussie struggled to stay above the key 66 cent mark, while leading cryptocurrency bitcoin…
(Reuters) – Asia’s developing economies have seen “very robust” growth but face risks from tightening global financial conditions due to rapid U.S. and European interest rate hikes, Asian Development Bank (ADB) President Masatsugu Asakawa said on Thursday. In an online event, Asakawa also said stronger-than-expected growth in China’s economy may put additional inflationary pressure on…
By David Lawder WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The U.S. Trade Representative’s office added Belarus to an intellectual property rights watch list over a new law allowing the unauthorized use of copyrighted works from countries sanctioning Belarus for its support of Russia’s war in Ukraine. USTR’s 2023 Special 301 Report on U.S. trading partners intellectual property (IP)…
BUENOS AIRES (Reuters) -Argentina will start to pay for Chinese imports in yuan rather than dollars, the government announced Wednesday, a measure that aims to relieve the country’s dwindling dollar reserves. In April, it aims to pay around $1 billion of Chinese imports in yuan instead of dollars and thereafter around $790 million of monthly…
SEOUL (Reuters) – South Korea’s Hyundai Motor Co plans to exit Russia and sell its manufacturing plants there to a Kazakh company, South Korean media reported on Wednesday. South Korean TV network MBC reported that negotiations to sell Hyundai’s factories in Russia are in the final stage, adding that the automaker has been waiting for…
By Norihiko Shirouzu (Reuters) – Geely’s EV brand Zeekr is the latest to join a growing list of automakers that have turned to the “gigapress” die casting technique pioneered by Tesla to slash the cost of electric cars. Zeekr’s manufacturing technology chief Jiang Kehong told Reuters the Chinese carmaker had started using massive aluminium die…
