By Renju Jose and Kanishka Singh SYDNEY/WASHINGTON (Reuters) -A cross-party delegation of Australian lawmakers said on Tuesday they met U.S. Ambassador Caroline Kennedy, urging her to help drop the pending extradition case against WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange and allow him to return to Australia. The “Bring Julian Assange Home Parliamentary Group” said it had informed…
By Panu Wongcha-um BANGKOK (Reuters) -Thailand’s billionaire former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra said on Tuesday he would return home in July after 17 years in self-imposed exile, just days ahead of an election his party is expected to win. Although Thaksin, arguably Thailand’s most influential and divisive former leader, has failed to make good on…
By Martin Coulter LONDON (Reuters) – Artificial intelligence could pose a “more urgent” threat to humanity than climate change, AI pioneer Geoffrey Hinton told Reuters in an interview on Friday. Geoffrey Hinton, widely known as one of the “godfathers of AI”, recently announced he had quit Alphabet after a decade at the firm, saying he…
A look at the day ahead in European and global markets from Asia markets correspondent Kevin Buckland. European investors hoping to find some clues on market direction from Asia may be disappointed today. Overall, the market mood was cautious ahead of the week’s trading highlight, Wednesday’s U.S. CPI report, which will put to the test…
By Suban Abdulla LONDON (Reuters) – British retail sales growth held steady in April but high inflation meant shoppers were getting less for their money, and unsettled weather discouraged many from buying summer clothes, a British Retail Consortium survey showed on Tuesday. The BRC said spending at its members’ stores increased 5.1% in annual terms…
By Stephanie Kelly NEW YORK (Reuters) -Oil prices rose over 2% on Monday as U.S. recession fears eased and some traders saw crude’s three-week slide on demand worries as overdone. Brent crude settled up $1.71, or 2.3%, at $77.01. U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude also gained $1.82, or 2.6%, to $73.16. A healthy U.S….
By Laura Matthews and Alun John NEW YORK/LONDON (Reuters) – The dollar remained relatively weaker against most of its major peers on Monday, as traders wait for the Federal Reserve to acknowledge an end to its hiking cycle while trying to hedge the risk of potential recession. The dollar index, which measures the currency against…
By Selena Li HONG KONG (Reuters) -HSBC has agreed to buy out its China fund management joint venture partner, two people familiar with the matter said, as the Asia-focused bank pushes ahead with expansion in the world’s second-largest economy. HSBC, which currently owns a 49% stake in HSBC Jintrust Fund Management, has signed an agreement…
By Yousef Saba DUBAI (Reuters) – Standard Chartered Chief Executive Bill Winters said on Monday he sees a big recession in the United States as unlikely, although a period of negative growth was possible. “I think it’s less the question of a massive decline in the U.S. – I think that’s very, very unlikely,” Winters…
(Reuters) – A look at the day ahead in U.S. and global markets from Amanda Cooper. U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen didn’t pull any punches on Sunday when she said failure to resolve the impasse over the debt ceiling in time could trigger a “constitutional crisis”. And not just that. The last time there was…
