Sur une île chinoise proche de Taïwan, les exercices militaires nourrissent les rêves d’unification
Sur l’île chinoise de Pingtan mardi, un groupe de touristes tournent autour d’un petit temple perché sur des rochers qui surplombent la mer, lorsqu’un bruit de tonnerre surgit depuis un îlot proche, laissant apercevoir une roquette dans le ciel bleu clair.Située à seulement 130 kilomètres des côtes taïwanaises, Pingtan se trouve en première ligne des …
Precious metals fall again, stocks mixed as traders wind down
Precious metals extended losses Tuesday on profit-taking after hitting recent records, while equities fluctuated in quiet trade as investors wound down ahead of the New Year break.Traders were taking it easy in the last few days of 2025 following a stellar 12 months that have seen tech firms push several stock markets to all-time highs, while bitcoin, gold and silver have also enjoyed multiple peaks.Minutes from the Federal Reserve’s most recent policy meeting — at which it cut interest rates a third straight time — are due to be released later in the day and will be scanned for an idea about whether a fourth can be expected in January.The US central bank’s monetary easing in the back end of this year has been a key driver of the markets’ rally, compounding a surge in the tech sector on the back of the vast amounts of cash pumped into all things AI.It has also helped offset recent worries about a possible tech bubble and warnings that traders might not see a return on their investments in artificial intelligence for some time.Still, Asian markets have enjoyed a healthy year, with Seoul’s Kospi piling on more than 75 percent and Tokyo’s Nikkei 225 more than 26 percent — both having hit records earlier in the year.But the two edged down Tuesday, with Sydney, Mumbai and Taipei also lower. Hong Kong, Singapore, Wellington, Bangkok and Jakarta rose. Shanghai was flat.London rose at the open, Frankfurt was flat and Paris dipped.The mixed performance followed losses for all three main indexes on Wall Street.The big moves of late have been seen in precious metals, with gold hitting a record just shy of $4,550. Silver, meanwhile, topped out at $84 after soaring around 150 percent this year.Investors have been piling into the commodities on bets for more US rate cuts, a weaker dollar and geopolitical tensions.Silver has also been boosted by increased central bank purchases and supply concerns.However, both metals have pulled back sharply this week on profit-taking, with gold now around $4,360 and silver at $74.50.”Headlines screamed collapse, but zooming out, all that really happened was a reset to three- or four-day levels,” wrote SPI Asset Management’s Stephen Innes.”The market ran hot, tripped over its own shoelaces, and landed back where it had been standing earlier in the week. One beneficial side effect is that silver flushed enough excess to no longer screen as overbought, which matters more than the move itself.”Oil dipped, having jumped more than two percent Monday when investors rowed back bets on peace talks to end Russia’s war with Ukraine as a meeting between US President Donald Trump and Ukrainian counterpart Volodymyr Zelensky ended with little progress.That surge followed Friday’s similar-sized rally on optimism for a breakthrough to end the nearly four-year conflict.An end to the war could see sanctions on Russian oil removed, which would see a huge fresh supply hit the market.Bitcoin, which has tumbled since spiking above $126,000 in October, was stabilising just below $90,000 after a shaky end to the year.- Key figures at around 0815 GMT – Tokyo – Nikkei 225: DOWN 0.4 percent at 50,339.48 (close) Hong Kong – Hang Seng Index: UP 0.9 percent at 25,854.60 (close) Shanghai – Composite: FLAT at 3,965.12 (close)London – FTSE 100: UP 0.1 percent at 9,878.94 Euro/dollar: UP at $1.1768 from $1.1766 on MondayPound/dollar: DOWN at $1.3503 from $1.3504Dollar/yen: DOWN at 156.00 yen from 156.06 yen Euro/pound: UP at 87.15 pence from 87.00 pence West Texas Intermediate: FLAT at $58.07 per barrelBrent North Sea Crude: FLAT at $61.92 per barrelNew York – Dow: DOWN 0.5 percent at 48,461.93 (close)
Etat d’urgence au Yémen, où Ryad accuse les Emirats d’actes “extrêmement dangereux”
Le Yémen a décrété mardi l’état d’urgence après des frappes de son allié et voisin saoudien, qui accuse les Emirats arabes unis d’agir de façon “extrêmement dangereuse” dans ce pays en soutenant les séparatistes.Déjà affaibli par un conflit de longue date avec les rebelles Houthis, le pays le plus pauvre de la péninsule arabique, au coeur de rivalités régionales, a vu s’ouvrir début décembre un nouveau front.Le mouvement séparatiste du Conseil de transition du Sud (STC), qui est pourtant membre du gouvernement, s’est emparé ces dernières semaines de vastes portions de territoire, sans rencontrer de grande résistance. Et ses partisans l’appellent à rétablir un Etat dans le sud du Yémen, où une République démocratique et populaire a été indépendante entre 1967 et 1990.Malgré les avertissements de l’Arabie saoudite, allié du gouvernement yéménite, le STC n’a pas battu retraite et mardi aux premières heures de la matinée, la coalition dirigée par Ryad a annoncé avoir visé des cargaisons d’armes au Yémen destinées aux séparatistes, accusant Abou Dhabi d’être à l’origine de ces livraisons.”En raison des risques et de l’escalade que représentent ces armes, qui menacent la sécurité et la stabilité, les forces aériennes de la coalition ont mené ce matin une opération militaire limitée visant les armes et les véhicules de combat qui avaient été déchargés des deux navires dans le port d’al-Mukalla”, a rapporté l’agence officielle saoudienne SPA.- “Menace” -Dans un communiqué, le ministère saoudien des Affaires étrangères a exprimé ses regrets face au fait que les Emirats aient “poussé” les séparatistes à mener des opérations militaires à “la frontière sud du royaume (…) constituant une menace pour la sécurité” de l’Arabie saoudite et de la région, en ajoutant que “les mesures prises par l’Etat frère des Emirats arabes unis (étaient) extrêmement dangereuses”. Le Conseil présidentiel, soutenu par Ryad, a de son côté indiqué qu’il annulait un pacte de défense avec les Emirats arabes unis, et déclaré l’état d’urgence sur tout le territoire. “Les équipages de deux bateaux ont désactivé leurs systèmes de suivi et déchargé une grande quantité d’armes et de véhicules de combat pour soutenir les forces du STC”, a indiqué l’agence SPA, précisant que les navires étaient arrivés du port de Fujairah, sur la côte est des Emirats arabes unis.Selon la même source, l’opération n’a fait aucune victime.Les Emirats n’ont pas réagi dans l’immédiat à cette annonce.Dans une vidéo d’images aériennes diffusée sur les réseaux sociaux par l’agence, on peut voir du mouvement sur des bateaux, puis des dizaines de véhicules circuler dans le port avant de se rassembler sur un terrain vague.Un responsable de l’infrastructure, qui a requis l’anonymat, a expliqué à l’AFP avoir reçu un appel à évacuer vers 04H00 (01H00 GMT), “un quart d’heure avant la frappe”.”L’évacuation s’est terminée et une frappe a eu lieu un quart d’heure plus tard sur un terrain vague à l’intérieur du port. Il y a toujours des flammes. Nous n’avons pas pu amener des camions de pompiers par crainte d’explosions”, a-t-il poursuivi.Les autorités ont fermé les routes vers le port, a constaté un journaliste de l’AFP sur place.Le chef de la diplomatie américaine, Marco Rubio, avait appelé vendredi à la “retenue”, tout en évitant de prendre parti entre l’Arabie saoudite et les Emirats arabes unis, deux partenaires clés de Washington.Ces nouvelles tensions pourraient fragiliser davantage encore le pays le plus pauvre de la péninsule arabique, au coeur de rivalités régionales.Un conflit a éclaté en 2014 entre d’un côté, le gouvernement et ses alliés, dont le STC, et de l’autre, les rebelles houthis pro-iraniens, faisant des centaines de milliers de morts, morcelant le pays et provoquant l’une des pires crises humanitaires au monde. Une trêve conclue en 2022 est globalement respectée.La coalition dirigée par l’Arabie saoudite, rivale de l’Iran, avait été créée en 2015 pour apporter son soutien au gouvernement yéménite.
Trump says US hit dock for Venezuela drug boats
The United States hit and destroyed a docking area for alleged Venezuela drug boats, President Donald Trump said Monday, in what could amount to the first land strike of the military campaign against trafficking from Latin America.The US leader’s confirmation of the incident comes as he ramps up a pressure campaign against Venezuela’s leftist President Nicolas Maduro, who has accused Trump of seeking regime change.”There was a major explosion in the dock area where they load the boats up with drugs,” he told reporters at his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida as he hosted Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. “So we hit all the boats and now we hit the area, it’s the implementation area, that’s where they implement. And that is no longer around.”Trump would not say if it was a military or CIA operation or where the strike occurred, noting only that it was “along the shore.”Sources familiar with the operation told CNN and the New York Times that the CIA had carried out a drone strike on a port facility. The strike was believed to be targeting the Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua, though no one was present at the time of the operation and there were no casualties, the US media outlets reported.There has been no official comment from the Venezuelan government.The Pentagon earlier referred questions to the White House. The White House did not respond to requests for comment from AFP. Asked on Monday if he had spoken to Maduro recently, Trump said they had talked “pretty recently” but that “nothing much comes out of it.”Trump revealed details of the operation after being asked to elaborate on comments he made in a radio interview broadcast Friday that seemed to mention a land strike for the first time.”They have a big plant or a big facility where they send, you know, where the ships come from,” Trump told billionaire supporter John Catsimatidis on the WABC radio station in New York.”Two nights ago, we knocked that out. So we hit them very hard.” Trump did not say in the interview where the facility was located or give any other details.Trump has been threatening for weeks that ground strikes on drug cartels in the region would start “soon,” but this is the first apparent example.- Fresh US strike in Pacific -US forces have also carried out numerous strikes in both the Caribbean Sea and eastern Pacific Ocean since September, targeting what Washington says are drug-smuggling boats.The administration has provided no evidence that the targeted boats were involved in drug trafficking, however, prompting debate about the legality of these operations. International law experts and rights groups say the strikes likely amount to extrajudicial killings, a charge that Washington denies.After Trump spoke Monday, the US military announced on social media that it had carried out another strike on a boat in the Eastern Pacific, killing two and bringing the total killed in the maritime campaign to at least 107.It did not specify where exactly the strike took place.The Trump administration has been ramping up pressure on Maduro, accusing the Venezuelan leader of running a drug cartel himself and imposing an oil tanker blockade.