DIRS.INFO The most relevant business & tech news

"I do want to accept responsibility and say sorry for the mistakes that have been made," Truss told the BBC late on Monday. The Daily Mail, which had hailed Truss's plan, ran a front page with the prime minister leaving parliament on Monday underneath the headline "In office, but not in power" while the also supportive Sun newspaper called her "The Ghost PM". James Heappey, a minister for the armed forces, said on Tuesday Truss, his boss, could not afford to make any more mistakes. With Britain's economic reputation shattered, Hunt may now have to go further in finding public spending cuts than the government would have done had Truss not unleashed her economic plan at a time of surging inflation. One area of spending already to go is Truss's vast two-year energy support package that was expected to cost well over 100 billion pounds.

☆ Abu Dhabi transfers Etihad Aviation Group to wealth fund ADQ
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-18 | by ( Yousef Saba | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

DUBAI, Oct 18 (Reuters) - Abu Dhabi sovereign wealth fund ADQ said on Tuesday the government had transferred full ownership of Etihad Aviation Group to the fund. "The transfer of EAG complements ADQ's efforts to transform Abu Dhabi into a global aviation hub anchored in end-to-end airport service excellence," ADQ said in a statement. The smallest of Abu Dhabi's three main sovereign wealth funds, ADQ has emerged as one of the region's most active dealmakers. Register now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.com RegisterOn Monday, it said it had made an offer to take a controlling stake in Abu Dhabi Aviation (ADAVIATION.AD) and merge the helicopter operator with ADQ stakes in Etihad Engineering, AMMROC and GAL to create a "globally competitive aviation business". Etihad Airways scaled back its ambitions after it spent billions of dollars to ultimately unsuccessfully compete in building a major airport hub in United Arab Emirates capital Abu Dhabi.

☆ Tech giant Tencent was China's most valuable company for 6 years. In September, it finally lost the title — to a liquor company.
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-18 | by ( Matthew Loh | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

Chinese tech giant Tencent's value has dropped to the worth of a local Chinese liquor giant. Once worth nearly $1 trillion, the gaming and internet giant now hovers at less than half of its peak market value. On September 30, Tencent lost its status as China's most valuable company when its market capitalization dipped below that of Guizhou-based distiller Kweichow Moutai. Harsh restrictions on tech giants spelled the end of Tencent's glory daysMoutai liquor is placed in a liquor store in Moutai town in Guizhou province. Costfoto/Future Publishing via Getty ImagesThat Kweichou Moutai's market value could even be compared to Tencent's shows how far the tech behemoth has fallen.

☆ RFU working with Wasps, administrators to find possible buyers
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-18 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

Wasps made 167 players and staff redundant, British media reported, after going into administration on Monday, a week after they were suspended by the RFU. The RFU said in a statement that it was speaking daily with administrators and the league to examine whether there was any possibility of a takeover. RFU regulations state that a club placed in administration during the season will be relegated for the following campaign. "The RFU and Premiership Rugby have been working for some time to develop a sustainable model for rugby to deliver long term prosperity for the sport," RFU chief executive Bill Sweeney said. "The RFU and Premiership Rugby have acknowledged the need to set a more sustainable path for club rugby," DCMS committee chair Julian Knight said.

HONG KONG, Oct 18 (Reuters) - Hong Kong leader John Lee will on Wednesday deliver his inaugural policy address that is expected to focus on reviving the city's credentials as an international business hub and on housing after extended COVID lockdowns and political upheaval. "We are now embarking on a new chapter for further prosperity and this is a new phase for Hong Kong," Lee said. "Hong Kong has emerged from chaos to order, and now we're moving from order to prosperity," added Lee, referring to pro-democracy demonstrations in 2019. Beijing responded to the protests with a sweeping national security law in 2020, prompting an exodus of Hong Kong residents to countries including Britain, that offered "lifeboat" citizenship schemes in response to the law. On the issue of housing, Lee has vowed to be "pragmatic" in increasing land and housing supply.

☆ China's military is trying to recruit ex-British Air Force pilots for training and intel, UK says
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-18 | by ( Natasha Turak | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +3 min

China's military is headhunting ex-British Air Force pilots for their training skills and expertise — and the U.K. government is working to stop it, the U.K.'s Ministry of Defence said Tuesday. Recruitment is said to be ramping up, with former pilots being offered large paychecks to work for the Chinese. While training and recruiting pilots is not illegal under U.K. law, the practice presents an intelligence risk as U.K. officials suspect China's military aims to learn about tactics and operations employed by Western pilots. One former Australian Air Force pilot, speaking to CNBC anonymously due to professional restrictions, said he was offered nearly $1 million a year to work for the Chinese military. And President Joe Biden, as part of the U.S.'s national security strategy, named China as America's "most consequential geopolitical challenge."

☆ UK Prime Minister Liz Truss faces serious pressure to resign after failed budget
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-17 | by ( Hannah Ward-Glenton | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +1 min

LONDON — U.K. Prime Minister Liz Truss is facing calls to resign from within her own Conservative Party just six weeks after entering Downing Street. Truss and her former Finance Minister Kwasi Kwarteng announced a fiscal package – a so-called "mini-budget" – on Sept. 23. The latest plans were announced Monday by Jeremy Hunt, just three days into his tenure as finance minister. Angela Richardson, Conservative MP for Guildford, said it was "no longer tenable" for Truss to remain as prime minister, speaking on Times Radio on Monday, while Jamie Wallis, Conservative MP for Bridgend, wrote to the prime minister telling her to resign. "I ask you to stand down as Prime Minister as I believe you no longer hold the confidence of the country or the parliamentary party," Wallis' letter said.

☆ Xi Jinping's Party Congress speech: yes to zero-Covid, no to market reforms?
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-17 | by ( Laura He | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +6 min

Priorities presented at the political gathering of more than 2,000 party members will also set China’s trajectory for the next five years or even longer. In his speech Sunday, Xi struck a confident tone, highlighting China’s growing strength and rising influence under his first decade in power. China's President Xi Jinping speaks during the opening session of the 20th Chinese Communist Party's Congress at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing on October 16, 2022. And China’s economy is in bad shape. Meantime, a comparison between this year’s speech and the last one delivered by Xi in 2017 at the 19th party congress revealed a potentially worrying trend.

☆ China's Xi defends zero-Covid policy and warns Taiwan at opening of Communist Party Congress
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-16 | by ( ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +6 min

Chinese President Xi Jinping called for accelerating the building of a world-class military as he kicked off a Communist Party Congress by touting the country's “zero-Covid” strategy and reiterating policy priorities. Xi described the five years since the last party congress as “extremely uncommon and abnormal”, during a speech that lasted less than two hours — far shorter than his nearly three-and-a-half-hour address at the 2017 congress. Chinese President Xi Jinping, bottom, centre, is applauded by senior members of the government and delegates after his speech on Sunday. The son of a Communist Party revolutionary, Xi has reinvigorated a party that had grown deeply corrupt and increasingly irrelevant, expanding its presence across all aspects of China, with Xi officially its “core”. The day after the congress ends on Saturday, Xi is expected to introduce his new Politburo Standing Committee, a seven-person leadership team.

☆ China's Xi downplays need for rapid growth, proclaims Covid achievements
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-16 | by ( Evelyn Cheng | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +4 min

Xi was speaking at the opening ceremony of the ruling Communist Party of China's 20th National Congress, held once every five years. In contrast, Xi on Sunday began his remarks with greater emphasis on China's "national rejuvenation" and opposition to Taiwan independence. watch now"Without solid material and technological foundations we cannot hope to build a great modern socialist country," Xi said in Chinese, according to an official English translation. China's Xi previously announced plans to reach peak carbon emissions by 2030, and carbon neutrality in 2060. Those measures, on top of China's Covid controls, have made foreign investors increasingly cautious about the potential growth opportunities in the country.

☆ Factbox: Key Xi quotes at China's 20th Communist Party Congress
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-16 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +6 min

Chinese President Xi Jinping speaks during the opening ceremony of the 20th National Congress of the Communist Party of China, at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, China October 16, 2022. Register now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.com Register"We persist in striving for the prospect of peaceful reunification with the greatest sincerity. "Corruption is the biggest cancer that harms the vitality and combat effectiveness of the party, and anti-corruption is the most thorough self-revolution. FOREIGN POLICY"We have comprehensively promoted major-country diplomacy with Chinese characteristics ... and unswervingly opposed any unilateralism, protectionism and bullying. POPULATION"We will establish a policy system to boost birth rates and pursue a proactive national strategy in response to population ageing."

☆ China's Xi to open 20th Communist Party Congress
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-15 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

Visitors walk past a screen showing Chinese President Xi Jinping at the Museum of the Communist Party of China in Beijing, China October 13, 2022. REUTERS/Florence LoBEIJING, Oct 16 (Reuters) - Chinese President Xi Jinping is to open the 20th Communist Party Congress on Sunday, a week-long event where he is widely expected to win a third leadership term and cement his place as the country's most powerful ruler since Mao Zedong. REVOLUTIONARY'S SONThe son of a Communist Party revolutionary, Xi has reinvigorated a party that had grown deeply corrupt and increasingly irrelevant, expanding its presence across all aspects of China, with Xi officially its "core". The twice-a-decade congress is expected to reconfirm Xi as party general secretary, China's most powerful post, as well as chairman of the Central Military Commission. The day after the congress ends on Saturday, Xi is expected to introduce his new Politburo Standing Committee, a seven-person leadership team.

☆ UK PM Liz Truss's letter to outgoing finance minister Kwasi Kwarteng
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-14 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

LONDON, Oct 14 (Reuters) - British Prime Minister Liz Truss said on Friday that Kwasi Kwarteng had put the national interest first by resigning as finance minister after less than six weeks in the job. Below is the full text of her letter to Kwarteng:"Thank you for your letter. Register now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.com Register"We share the same vision for our country and the same firm conviction to go for growth. You have put the national interest first. Register now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.com RegisterReporting by Kylie MacLellan; editing by David MillikenOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ Xi set to open party congress at challenging time for China
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-14 | by ( Tony Munroe | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +5 min

China's President Xi Jinping attends a wreath laying ceremony on Tiananmen Square to mark Martyrs' Day on the eve of the National Day in Beijing, China September 30, 2022. Still, diplomats, economists and analysts spoken to by Reuters say Xi is set to consolidate his grip on power. In securing a third term Xi breaks with the two-term precedent of recent decades. Also breaking with norms: no successor to Xi, 69, is expected to be identified, analysts say, which would indicate he plans to remain in power even longer. Still, analysts say, the views of any individual matter less nowadays as Xi has sidelined those seen as "reformers" in favour of his more state-driven and nationalistic economic policies.

☆ Take Five: Calm or calamity?
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-14 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +5 min

Traders are back on Japanese yen intervention watch, while the U.S. earnings season and a congress of China's ruling Communist Party kick off. Growing expectations of a government u-turn on most of its unfunded tax cuts should end much of the pain. The carnage in British gilts has exposed vulnerabilities in the pensions sector, shining a light on financial stability risks. The IMF warns of "disorderly asset repricings" and "financial market contagion." A market slide has moderated stock valuations, but a downgrade in the earnings outlook could dampen equities' attractiveness.

☆ China's economy is 'in deep trouble' as Xi heads to Communist Party congress
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-14 | by ( Laura He | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +7 min

“Xi’s leadership is not causal for China’s economic rise,” said Sonja Opper, a professor at Bocconi University in Italy who studies China’s economy. Bloomberg/Getty ImagesThe International Monetary Fund recently cut its forecast for China’s growth to 3.2% this year, representing a sharp slowdown from 8.1% in 2021. Under Xi, China has not only become more insular, but has also seen the fraying of US-China relations. He is expected to secure an unprecedented third term in power at the Communist Party Congress that begins on Sunday. “Moreover, growth is not the only source of legitimacy and support for the Communist Party, and Xi has increasingly burnished the Communist Party’s nationalist credentials to appeal to patriotism as well as pocketbooks,” he added.

☆ Punishingly strong dollar is still a fair trade
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-13 | by ( John Foley | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +6 min

NEW YORK, Oct 13 (Reuters Breakingviews) - Everybody wants the dollar; everybody hates the dollar. That makes dollar assets relatively more attractive and puts pressure on other central banks to raise rates too. The strong dollar kicks other countries in the shins, with varying degrees of pain. Follow @johnsfoley on TwitterCONTEXT NEWSThe International Monetary Fund and World Bank are holding their annual meetings in Washington from Oct. 10 to Oct. 16. The dollar is up 21% since October 2020, according to the U.S. Dollar Currency Index, which measures the greenback against a basket of six currencies.

☆ Markets are worried the Fed is going too far
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-12 | by ( Nicole Goodkind | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +7 min

Wall Street is worried that yet another high reading on the Consumer Price Index will prompt another massive interest rate increase and inflict more pain on markets and the US economy. But this full-steam-ahead approach by the Fed, based on the notion that iron-clad data is protection enough, has given some economists pause. Last week’s nonfarm payroll report roiled markets, but job openings have now fallen by 1.8 million since their March peak. The IMF believes that global inflation will peak late this year, but will “remain elevated for longer than previously expected,” even as central banks work aggressively to bring it under control. ▸ The Consumer Price Index, a closely watched measures of inflation in the US is due to be released on Thursday.

☆ Paul Tudor Jones believes we are in or near a recession and history shows stocks have more to fall
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-10 | by ( Yun Li | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +3 min

Billionaire hedge fund manager Paul Tudor Jones believes the U.S. economy is either near or already in the middle of a recession as the Federal Reserve rushed to tamp down soaring inflation with aggressive rate hikes. "I don't know whether it started now or it started two months ago," Jones said Monday on CNBC's "Squawk Box" when asked about recession risks. "The stock market is down, say, 10%. The first thing that will happen is short rates will stop going up and start going down before the stock market actually bottoms." Jones shot to fame after he predicted and profited from the 1987 stock market crash.

☆ China’s Communist Party Congress: What It Means for Business
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-08 | by ( Keith Bradsher | More About Keith Bradsher | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

The main task of China’s ruling elite at the party congress, a gathering that happens once every five years and typically lasts a week, will be to confirm the lineup of China’s leaders. Mr. Xi’s speech will be full of Communist Party ideological jargon and probably very long — his speech at the start of the last party congress, in 2017, lasted more than three hours. Domestic Ideology: ‘Common Prosperity’One of Mr. Xi’s favorite economic policy initiatives in recent months has a simple, innocuous-sounding name: “common prosperity.” The big question lies in what it means. Common prosperity, a longtime goal of the Communist Party, has been defined by Mr. Xi as reining in private capital and narrowing China’s huge disparities in wealth. And Mr. Xi has strongly discouraged speculation in housing, pushing instead for government subsidies for the construction of more rental apartments.

Persons: Xi, tycoons Organizations: Communist Party, Beijing Locations: Shanghai, China

BEIJING, Oct 7 (Reuters) - The mounting economic toll of China's zero-COVID policy is raising investor hopes that Beijing may finally begin laying the groundwork for the tricky epidemiological and political task of shifting course following this month's Communist Party congress. Goldman Sachs analysts predict China will start relaxing the policy in the April-June quarter. China boasts nine domestically developed COVID vaccines approved for use, more than any other country. REUTERS/Aly SongThe authorities have not approved any foreign-made COVID shots. Many countries offer second booster shots.

☆ Interest rate delusion may be biggest error of all
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-06 | by ( Edward Chancellor | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +7 min

The false idea exposed by the current bear market is that interest rates would remain low indefinitely. The belief that interest rates would remain at permanently low levels could prove the most costly error of all. The lowest-ever interest rates gave us the “Everything Bubble”. Now that interest rates are rising, everything is at risk. The pension funds faced margin calls on their loans, and the bond market seized up as they scrambled to raise cash.

☆ Denver's most expensive home lists for $28.9 million and features a stunning charred wood treatment
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-03 | by ( Ray Parisi | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +6 min

Dusk view of the main house looking into the glass-encased great room. Nate PoltaThe local trend in Denver sales prices may bode well for the new $28.9 million listing. Primary bedroom Nate PoltaThe main house includes five bedrooms and eight bathrooms. Nate PoltaThe residence includes a self-sustaining solar energy system, in-floor heating and Lutron shades. The view from above the lap pool and sundeck reveals an array of solar panels on the pool house roof.

They accounted for 71% of arrivals before the pandemic, with another 19% coming from Hong Kong, according to the tourism board. Register now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.com RegisterCasinos have supported heady growth since 2002 when Macau opened the market to multiple operators. Macau’s tiny population of 680,000 was nearly 70% richer on a per capita basis than their peers in Hong Kong, per the International Monetary Fund. But their collective enthusiasm masks an awkward reality: Macau’s dependence on the gambling industry looks increasingly fraught. Gaming revenue, which peaked at $45 billion in 2013, has never recovered from the blow to VIP business, sinking to $36 billion by 2019, per Macau’s Gaming Inspection and Coordination Bureau.

"U.S. prosperity and security depend on the Pacific region remaining free and open," it said, noting that Pacific island countries faced urgent challenges, most notably from the climate crisis, but also heightened geopolitical tensions. Leaders and representatives from 14 Pacific island states are taking part in the summit. read moreThe official also said Biden would designate career diplomat Frankie Reed as the first U.S. envoy to the Pacific Islands Forum. The U.S. strategy document says the United States would partner with Pacific islands to help them adapt to and manage the climate crisis, an "existential threat" to their lives, health, and livelihoods. Strategic competition in the Pacific intensified dramatically this year after China signed a security agreement with the Solomons, prompting warnings of militarization of the region.

Search resuls for: "prosperity"

25 mentions found