Asian markets mostly up after US growth fuels Wall St record
Most Asian stocks rose Wednesday and gold topped $4,500 for the first time as investors tracked a record on Wall Street following forecast-beating US economic growth data.Markets looked set to go into the Christmas break on a broadly positive note amid optimism for 2026, which has offset recent worries about stretched tech valuations and rising tensions between the United States and Venezuela.Traders in New York pushed the S&P 500 to an all-time high in response to figures showing the world’s top economy expanded 4.3 percent in the third quarter, the fastest pace in two years and much quicker than expected.The report, which was boosted by healthy consumer and business spending, provided some reassurance to investors about the economic outlook after a string of increasingly weakening jobs data.However, other figures did provide some cause for thought, with a gauge of consumer spending falling for a fifth successive month to its lowest level since February 2021 owing to worries about jobs. A report last showed unemployment at a four-year high.With the economy appearing to be in better shape than expected, investors pared their bets on another Federal Reserve interest rate cut next month.And while hopes for lower borrowing costs have been a key driver of the recent market rally, analysts said the strong growth overshadowed any disappointment that they will remain unchanged for now.”We’re set up for a Santa Claus rally,” UBP’s Kieran Calder told Bloomberg TV. “The market is taking some of the data pretty positively.”Asian markets swung between gains and losses as traders wound down before Christmas.Tokyo, Hong Kong, Seoul, Wellington and Taipei all rose though Shanghai, Sydney, Singapore and Jakarta edged down.Gold rallied above $4,500 for the first time to a peak of $4,525.77 per ounce, while silver hit $72.70 an ounce, with US-Venezuela tensions adding to expectations the Fed will keep cutting rates next year.Geopolitical worries have grown as Washington continues to put pressure on Caracas with a blockade of sanctioned oil vessels sailing to and from Venezuela.And on Monday, US President Donald Trump said Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro would be “smart” to step down, as he ramps up military operations and threats.The yen extended its recent rebound against the dollar after Japan’s Finance Minister Satsuki Katayama suggested authorities were prepared to step in to finance markets to support the currency, citing speculative moves in markets.- Key figures at around 0230 GMT – Tokyo – Nikkei 225: UP 0.1 percent at 50,481.42 (break)Hong Kong – Hang Seng Index: UP 0.2 percent at 25,817.64 Shanghai – Composite: DOWN 0.2 percent at 3,914.15 Dollar/yen: DOWN at 155.62 yen from 156.27 yen on TuesdayEuro/dollar: UP $1.1807 from $1.1791Pound/dollar: UP at $1.3532 from $1.3499Euro/pound: DOWN at 87.26 pence from 87.34 penceWest Texas Intermediate: FLAT at $58.38 per barrelBrent North Sea Crude: FLAT at $62.38 per barrelNew York – Dow: UP 0.2 percent at 48,442.41 (close)London – FTSE 100: UP 0.2 percent at 9,889.22 (close)
‘Happy milestone’: Pakistan’s historic brewery cheers export licence
A heady aroma of malt and brewing yeast drifts through Pakistan’s oldest and by far largest brewery, which is gearing up for expansion after getting approval to sell abroad after a nearly 50-year ban.Bottles and cans clatter along the production lines at Murree Brewery, a singular scene in the Muslim-majority country where alcohol is largely banned. But Murree, founded in 1860 to quench the thirst of British soldiers and the colonial community during the Raj, has survived Islamist opposition and strict regulations to become one of Pakistan’s most well-known companies.”It’s a journey of a roller-coaster and resilience,” Isphanyar Bhandara, the third generation of his family to run the business, told AFP in an interview.”Getting permission to export is another happy milestone,” he added. “My grandfather, and late father, tried to get the export licence, but couldn’t get it. Just because, you know, we are an Islamic country.” However, Bhandara said he got “a rude surprise” in 2017 when the Chinese-run Hui Coastal Brewery and Distillery got permission to brew beer in Pakistan, mainly for the thousands of Chinese working on major infrastructure projects in the country.”What happened to all the Islamic lectures?” said Bhandara, who hails from Pakistan’s small but influential Parsi (Zoroastrian) community and is also a lawmaker in the National Assembly.Soon he embarked on the years-long lobbying effort to lift the export ban.- Peculiar profits -Originally housed in the mountains outside Islamabad, Murree’s red-brick facility now sits opposite the army chief’s residence in the capital’s twin city Rawalpindi, one of the most heavily guarded places in the country.Revenue surpassed $100 million in the fiscal year to June, with alcohol sales generating just over half of the total, and non-alcoholic drinks and bottle making accounting for the rest.The performance is all the more remarkable given that alcohol sales to Muslims are forbidden, meaning only religious minorities — numbering around nine million — and foreigners can buy beer or liquor in a few authorised shops or upscale hotels.But that has not stopped millions of Pakistanis from getting their occasional tipple, in a country with a long history of appreciating a fine drink. Its revered founder Mohammad Ali Jinnah was known to enjoy spirits, and the military dictator Pervez Musharraf made no secret of his love of whisky.Even prime minister Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, who announced the alcohol ban in 1977 in a bid to garner support from right-wing Islamist parties, once told a rally: “Yes, I drink alcohol, but at least I don’t drink the blood of the poor.”These days it’s common for bottles to appear at dinners or parties — there is usually a Christian or Hindu to be found who will buy them for you.”Pakistan’s affair with alcohol is like that of a secret paramour — acknowledged but not talked about extensively,” said Fasi Zaka, a prominent columnist and political commentator. “It’s the tolerable vice — condemned but familiar.”However, many Muslim drinkers obtain alcohol from bootleggers or locally produced moonshine, and every year several people die after consuming methanol-contaminated liquor.”I have to bribe the police and take extra risks, so the price is doubled”, a Christian bootlegger in Islamabad told AFP on condition of anonymity.”The extra charge is to keep everyone happy, whether it’s a Muslim customer or a police officer keeping an eye on me,” he said with a laugh.- Expanding horizons -Before the export ban, Murree had sold its products in neighbouring India and Afghanistan, but also in Gulf countries and as far as the United States.”It sounds very strange or very bizarre today, but we were exporting to Kabul,” where the Taliban now govern with their strict interpretation of Islam, Bhandara said.Murree has already made limited shipments to Japan, Britain and Portugal as it explores distribution channels and strategies. “Right now, the target is not revenue or to make money… the target is to explore new markets”, Bhandara said.The company, which has around 2,200 employees, is looking in particular at Europe, but is also weighing a move into Asian and African markets.Selling abroad could also give Murree a chance to promote its history and brand in ways unimaginable at home.”We are not allowed to advertise, so we keep our heads down — we try to make a good beer with our heads down,” Bhandara said.
La relation entre Trump et Epstein au coeur de nouveaux documents publiés
Le nom de Donald Trump apparaît à de multiples reprises dans une nouvelle volée de documents de l’affaire Epstein publiés mardi, qui illustrent ses liens passés avec le criminel sexuel, retrouvé pendu dans sa cellule en 2019.Le ministère américain de la Justice a affirmé que certaines de ces pièces, dont l’une montre que le président …
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Libya’s top military chief killed in plane crash in Turkey
The head of Libya’s armed forces and four other high ranking military officials died late Tuesday when their business jet crashed shortly after taking off from Ankara, officials in Turkey’s capital and Tripoli said.The wreckage of their Falcon 50 aircraft was located by Turkish security personnel in the Haymana district near Ankara, Turkish Interior Minister Ali Yerlikaya said. Three crew members were also killed.Libya’s Prime Minister Abdulhamid Dbeibah said on his Facebook page: “It is with deep sadness and great sorrow that we learnt of the death of the Libyan army’s chief of general staff, Lieutenant General Mohammed al-Haddad.”Haddad earlier Tuesday held talks in Ankara with Turkish Defence Minister Yasar Guler, and his Turkish counterpart, Selcuk Bayraktaroglu, and was returning to Tripoli.Yerlikaya said on X that Haddad’s jet took off from Ankara’s Esenboga airport at 1710 GMT, and “contact was lost” 42 minutes later.The aircraft issued an emergency landing notification near Haymana — 74 kilometres (45 miles) from Ankara — but contact could not be reestablished, the minister said. A senior Turkish official said the plane requested an emergency landing because of electrical failure 16 minutes after it took off. The jet carried eight passengers including Haddad, four members of his entourage and three crew members “reported an emergency to the air traffic control centre due to an electrical failure, asking for an emergency landing,” Burhanettin Duran, head of the presidency’s communications directorate, said on X. Turkish Justice Minister Yilmaz Tunc said the Ankara chief prosecutor’s office has launched an investigation into the incident. -‘Like a bomb’-Several Turkish media outlets broadcast images showing the sky lit up by an explosion not far from the location where the aircraft sent a signal.Burhan Cicek, a local in Haymana, recalled the moment when the plane crashed. “I heard a big sound of explosion. It was like a bomb,” he told AFP. Libya’s ambassador to Ankara was also at the site. Walid Ellafi, Libyan minister of state for communication and political affairs, told local television channel Libya al-Ahrar that the Turkish government informed his government of the incident. “We received a call from the Turkish authorities immediately after the incident, reporting that contact with the aircraft had been lost,” the minister said. “All contact with the aircraft was lost about half an hour after takeoff from Ankara airport due to a technical problem,” he said. “We are awaiting the conclusions of the Turkish investigation, and it appears that the plane crashed.”The minister said the others on the aircraft were Haddad’s advisor, Mohammed Al-Assawi, as well as Major General Al-Fitouri Ghraibil, Major General Mohammed Jumaa, and their escort, Mohammed Al-Mahjoub.Haddad had been the army’s chief of general staff since August 2020 and was appointed by then-prime minister Fayez al-Sarraj.Libya is split between a UN-recognised government in Tripoli, led by Dbeibah, and commander Khalifa Haftar’s administration in the east.The North African country has been divided since a NATO-backed revolt toppled and killed longtime leader Moamer Kadhafi in 2011.Turkey has close ties with the UN-backed government in Tripoli, to which it provides economic and military support and there have been frequent visits between both sides. But Ankara has recently also reached out to the rival administration in the east, with the head of Turkey’s intelligence agency, Ibrahim Kalin, meeting with Haftar in Benghazi in August.burs-fo/gv
US slams China policies on chips but will delay tariffs to 2027
US trade officials determined that China should be punished for employing unfair tactics to dominate the semiconductor industry, but will wait 18 months to impose tariffs, American authorities said Tuesday.A US Trade Representative investigation concluded China’s targeting of semiconductors “for dominance is unreasonable and burdens or restricts US commerce and thus is actionable,” the agency said in a public notice.The current tariff level of 0 will be increased “in 18 months on June 23, 2027 to rate to be announced not fewer than 30 days prior to that date,” USTR said.USTR officials launched the probe in December 2024 in the final weeks of Joe Biden’s presidency, extending the initiative when US President Donald Trump took office in January.Trump has been a prolific purveyor of tariffs, unveiling sector-specific levies on steel, autos and other items, as well as broader measures to achieve a variety of policy objectives.The White House has jousted with Beijing, but reached a broad truce with China after a major escalation in the spring.The USTR’s “Section 301” probe concluded that China had employed “increasingly aggressive and sweeping non-market policies” to dominate semiconductors that have included “massive and persistent” state support of private actors and “wage-suppressing labor practices.”The USTR did not respond to an AFP query on the reason for the 18-month timeframe on tariffs.