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Textile worker Sabina Khatun is in limbo after losing her job during sweeping factory closures, caught up like millions in Bangladesh in the fallout from a 2024 uprising that toppled years of autocratic rule.In the 18 months since the collapse of Sheikh Hasina’s government, Bangladesh has endured political turmoil but also biting economic pain — with many hoping for a rebound under new leadership after elections on February 12.”I’ve gone to a dozen factories looking for work,” said Khatun, 30, who lost her job last year in garment hub Narayanganj.”There are no openings.”Bangladesh, the world’s second-largest producer of garments, has seen 240 factories shut since the August 2024 uprising, many of them textile industries, according to government data.That has dealt a blow to a major sector that forms 80 percent of Bangladesh’s export economy.Some of the factories were owned by Hasina’s cronies, who have since fled.Many workers like Khatunhave been laid off, with the closures rippling through the wider labour market.”Small markets, stores and low-cost cosmetics shops catering to female garment workers have all disappeared,” said Iqbal Hossain, a trade union leader.- ‘Law and order’ -The economy has improved since the chaotic aftermath of Hasina’s ouster, but there are wider issues in the country of 170 million people.Salehuddin Ahmed, who holds the finance portfolio in the interim government, said the economy had shifted from the “intensive care unit to the high dependency unit”.Bangladesh’s economy is expected to grow 4.7 percent this year, up from 3.7 percent in 2025, according to the International Monetary Fund.Fahmida Khatun, head of the Dhaka-based Centre for Policy Dialogue, said foreign reserves have risen and the banking sector is showing signs of repair.”But unemployment is rising, merchandise exports have declined, imports of heavy machinery and raw materials remain weak, and private-sector credit has hit a historic low,” she told AFP.”The gradual deterioration of law and order has emerged as the biggest threat.”In August, Bangladesh struck a trade deal with the United States — a key market for ready-made garment exports — scaling back President Donald Trump’s threatened tariffs to 20 percent.But US orders “remained static”, said Mohiuddin Rubel, former head of the Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association, noting that some new factories had opened.They, however, have had little impact on the labour market, as the unemployment rate remains high.Merchandise exports still fell for a fifth consecutive month in December 2025, and while inflation slightly eased, it continues to erode what people can afford.”We don’t buy fish or meat anymore,” said unemployed textile worker Khatun, who continues her search for a job. “Everyone tells me to come back after the election”.Syed Sultan Uddin Ahmed, head of the Bangladesh Institute of Labour Studies, said the interim government had done little to help the bruised textile sector.”Some of these were big factories employing thousands of workers,” he said.”In some cases, the government sold factory land and assets to clear workers’ dues — but there was no initiative to restart viable factories.”Unemployment is at 4.63 percent, according to the latest government figures released in May, up from 3.95 percent recorded during the same period the previous year.- ‘No quick fix’ -Once juggling multiple odd jobs, Helal Uddin now ekes out a living running a food cart.”It’s hard to pay the house rent with the meagre amount I earn now,” the 33-year-old told AFP, gloomy about the “sharp rise” in the price of rice he serves.”The economy is not moving,” Uddin said. “It’s stuck. We are all waiting for the election.”Hasina, 78, was once praised for overseeing Bangladesh’s rapid economic rise, with growth topping seven percent annually and per capita GDP more than quadrupling since 2000.But she also presided over an autocratic government that crushed dissent, and now faces court cases alleging the looting of national wealth.She is a convicted fugitive in hiding in India, sentenced to death in absentia for crimes against humanity.Economist Fahmida Khatun warned that the new administration will face many challenges.”People hope things will improve after the election, but many of the problems are structural,” she said. “There is no quick fix.”

Dozens of people crowded around an automated gold recycling machine at a Shanghai mall, hoping to melt down family heirlooms for cash as prices of the precious metal hit record highs.China is the world’s largest consumer of gold, which is traditionally purchased by families to mark special occasions like births and weddings.But as prices soared to a fresh high near $5,600 on Thursday, customers surrounding the bright yellow machine installed by gold trading firm Kinghood Group were looking to sell.”I never thought prices would rise so dramatically,” said 54-year-old Wu, who told AFP she wanted to sell panda-themed gold coins she had purchased after the birth of her daughter in 2002.She said she had previously sold the machine a ring inherited from her late father, which fetched around 10,000 yuan ($1,400) — a huge increase from the original 1,000 yuan her mother had paid for the ring decades ago.”Gold prices hold steady at a historic high, it’s the right time to sell gold,” an ad on the machine advised customers.An embedded screen displayed the Shanghai Gold Exchange’s fluctuating prices, while a live video feed showed a robotic arm moving gold scraps onto a scale and under a device that used light waves to measure its purity.Some people told AFP they had waited over an hour for their turn.An attendant kept track of each seller’s position in the queue, and helped to deposit ornate pendants, hammered rings and commemorative coins into an opening in the device.Wu said her elderly mother was especially excited about soaring gold prices, and saw the recycling machine as a chance to supplement her modest pension.”Everyone is suddenly talking about (gold), and it has sparked this emotion in her,” Wu told AFP.- Old gold -Zhao, a woman sporting an intricately carved gold medallion on a necklace of jade beads and shimmering bangles on her wrist, brought her late grandfather’s ring to the recycling machine.The ring’s surface was adorned with the Chinese character for “luck” and tiny images of traditional gold ingots.She said she believed her grandfather had purchased the ring sometime between the 1950s and the 1980s, and that her mother had handed it down to her this year.”If the price is good, I will sell it,” she told AFP as she waited for her turn.Minutes after Zhao deposited the ring into the machine, a message popped up on its screen that said Kinghood would buy the chunk of high-karat gold for over 12,000 yuan.Satisfied, Zhao clicked “agree” on the terms displayed onscreen and keyed in her full name, ID number and bank account details, while her grandfather’s ring was melted down into a smooth puddle on the live video feed.The attendant promised she would receive the full amount via bank transfer by the end of the day.”Other places test the gold by burning it slightly, but here they test it directly and it’s open and transparent,” Zhao said, explaining that she trusted the automated recycler over a traditional human buyer.In addition to a steady stream of sellers, the machine also drew the attention of bystanders who gawked at the large sums of money changing hands at the unassuming corner of the mall.”Damn!” said a passerby when she saw that one person was selling their old jewellery for more than 75,000 yuan.And onlookers crowded around an elderly couple as the machine calculated that their finger-sized gold bar could fetch over 122,000 yuan.

Nvidia chief executive Jensen Huang has insisted the US tech giant will make a “huge” investment in OpenAI and dismissed as “nonsense” reports that he is unhappy with the generative AI star.Huang made the remarks late Saturday in Taipei after the Wall Street Journal reported that Nvidia’s plan to invest up to $100 billion in OpenAI had been put on ice. Nvidia announced the plan in September to invest $100 billion in OpenAI, building infrastructure for next-generation artificial intelligence.The Wall Street Journal, citing unnamed sources, said some people inside Nvidia had expressed doubts about the deal and that the two sides were rethinking the partnership.”That’s complete nonsense. We are going to make a huge investment in OpenAI,” Huang told journalists, when asked about reports that he was unhappy with OpenAI.Huang insisted that Nvidia was going ahead with its investment in OpenAI, describing it as “one of the most consequential companies of our time”.”Sam is closing the round, and we will absolutely be involved in the round,” Huang said, referring to OpenAI chief executive Sam Altman.”We will invest a great deal of money, probably the largest investment we’ve ever made.”Nvidia has come to dominate spending on the processors needed for training and operating the large language models (LLM) behind chatbots like OpenAI’s ChatGPT or Google Gemini.Sales of its graphics processing units (GPUs) — originally developed for 3D gaming — powered the company’s market cap to over $5 trillion in October, although the figure has since fallen back by more than $600 billion.LLM developers like OpenAI are directing much of the mammoth investment they have received into Nvidia’s products, rushing to build GPU-stuffed data centres to serve an anticipated flood of demand for AI services.

Manufacturing a Barbie or a Lego brick requires large quantities of plastic, much of which comes from China, the world’s largest producer of the material.So when Mexico hiked tariffs on the Asian giant at the start of 2026, its toy manufacturers, including local factories of Lego and Barbie-maker Mattel, had mixed emotions.On the one hand, they cheered the clampdown on cheaper Asian imports but on the other were left wincing at the rising costs of their inputs. The toy sector is one of a raft of industries impacted by a year of simmering trade tensions between US President Donald Trump’s administration and Mexico, as well as China.Mexico’s car assembly industry, one of the biggest in the world, is also holding its breath, given its reliance on Chinese-produced car parts.President Claudia Sheinbaum argues that the tariffs on China, India and other countries with which Mexico has no trade deal, aim to protect Mexican industry from cut-price competition.Analysts see the levies, however, as an attempt to appease Trump in the run-up to a high-stakes review of Mexico’s three-decade-old trilateral free trade deal with the United States and Canada, USMCA.Trump accuses China of using Mexico as a tariff-free backdoor into the United States and complains that the USMCA, which his first administration negotiated, is weighted against Washington.Saving the treaty is crucial for Mexico, which sends over 80 percent of its exports north of the border.Some Mexican manufacturers say they are prepared to accept the pain of higher input costs if it leads to a positive outcome in the USMCA talks.- Plastic and chips -Polyethylene, the plastic used to make toys, is produced locally by the state-owned oil company Pemex. But according to the toy industry, the company only manufactures 20 percent of what is needed, meaning the rest must be imported. Many toys now also contain electronic chips, which also come primarily from Asia.”If you, as a manufacturer, don’t have the supply (of inputs) in the country, what do you do? You go out and find them,” Miguel Angel Martin, president of the Mexican Toy Industry Association, told AFP. He noted that the Lego sets purchased in the United States and Canada are all made in Mexico and said he hoped that the USMCA review would “be fair and benefit to all three countries.”- ‘Playing both sides’ -China is the elephant in the room in the USMCA negotiations.Canada has been working to diversify its trade relations after being walloped by Trump’s tariffs offensive. In mid-January, it signed a preliminary trade agreement with Beijing.The agreement sparked a furious reaction from Trump, who threatened to impose 100 percent tariffs on Canada if it becomes a “drop off port” for Chinese products destined for the United States.Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney downplayed Trump’s broadside as part of the hurly burly of the USMCA negotiations.Juan Francisco Torres Landa, a partner at the international law firm Hogan Lovells who focuses on deal making, said Sheinbaum was under pressure to stop “playing both sides” between the United States and China.At the same time, he said, “given our economic dependence (on the United States and China), there is no other option” to working with both.- Survival mode -Some Mexican industries clearly stand to benefit from Sheinbaum’s tariffs blitz, such as the textile and footwear sectors.”In recent years, we have been hit hard by… unfair competition in international trade,” Juan Carlos Cashat, president of a footwear manufacturers’ association in central Guanajuato state, told AFP.“We hope this can have a positive effect in the medium or long term,” he said.Toy manufacturers, by contrast, are in “survival” mode, according to the toy industry association’s Martin.He added that while the USMCA is being renegotiated, the industry will try to absorb most of the costs of its higher inputs.But if the review, due to be completed by July 1, “does not produce a reasonably good outcome for the industry,” he said, “then the consumer will be the one to pay the costs.”

France has said it will impose stricter limits on the acceptable level of a toxin called cereulide in infant formula after potentially contaminated products were recalled in over 60 countries.The infant formula industry has been rocked by several firms recalling batches that could be contaminated with cereulide, which can cause nausea, vomiting, and diarrhoea. French authorities launched an investigation into the deaths in December and January of two babies who were thought to have drunk possibly contaminated powdered milk.At this stage investigators have not established a direct link between the symptoms and the milk consumed.The recalls have raised fresh questions about food safety challenges in the global supply chain.There is no established safety limit for cereulide in infant formula.”Protecting the health of infants is the top priority for health authorities,” the French agriculture ministry said late Friday.The new threshold will be 0.014 micrograms of cereulide per kilogram of body weight, compared to 0.03 micrograms currently, it said.This is the second lowering of a threshold in France in less than two weeks.The recall of potentially contaminated infant formula has heaped scrutiny on Chinese firm Cabio Biotech, the supplier of an ingredient used in infant formula which is suspected of being tainted. Headquartered in the central Chinese city of Wuhan, Cabio Biotech is one of the world’s largest producers of ARA, a fatty acid used primarily in baby formula and food products.The French authorities have referred to a single “Chinese supplier” without naming it.This week the European Commission asked the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) to establish a standard for cereulide in children’s products. It will issue an opinion on February 2.The European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control said it had received reports of diarrhoea cases in infants following consumption of the products in question, but “no severe cases have been reported”.- Lawsuit -Several manufacturers, including European giants like Nestle, Danone, and Lactalis, have issued recalls of infant formula in France and dozens of countries since December. The toxin is rare and difficult to detect, and some recalls have been carried out as a precaution, some manufacturers said.On Thursday, Nestle provided a detailed timeline of its recalls, acknowledging that around 10 days had passed between the first detection of cereulide in late November and the first recalls on December 10.The Swiss food conglomerate argued that, in the absence of “European regulations on the presence of cereulide in food”, it had followed standard procedures.The detection led to the precautionary recall of all products in contact with the production line where cereulide had been detected.The group stressed that it was the first company to detect the problem.Foodwatch, a European consumer association, has filed a lawsuit accusing manufacturers and the government of acting too slowly.Eight French families, who said their babies suffered severe digestive problems after drinking formula named in the recall, have joined the lawsuit.On Friday, Nestle refuted the accusations made by the watchdog, saying it reserved the right to respond in court “if Foodwatch continues to disseminate misleading information”.”Testing for bacteria of the Bacillus cereus family is routinely offered,” Francois Vigneau of lab testing firm Eurofins said last week. He added however that tests for cereulide were “not part of standard checks”.”In the current context of milk recalls, this test is currently being requested because all stakeholders in dairy products in general, and infant formula in particular, are concerned about the situation,” added Vigneau.According to World Health Organisation estimates from 2019, 23 million people in Europe fall sick from eating contaminated food every year, and an estimated 4,700 people die.

British Prime Minister Keir Starmer wrapped up a four-day trip to China on Saturday, after his bid to forge closer ties prompted warnings from US President Donald Trump.Starmer’s visit was the first to China by a British prime minister in eight years, following in the footsteps of other Western leaders looking to counter an increasingly volatile United States.Leaders from France, Canada and Finland have flocked to Beijing in recent weeks, recoiling from Trump’s bid to seize Greenland and tariff threats against NATO allies.Trump warned on Thursday it was “very dangerous” for Britain to be dealing with China.Starmer brushed off those comments on Friday, noting that Trump was also expected to visit China in the months ahead.”The US and the UK are very close allies, and that’s why we discussed the visit with his team before we came,” Starmer said in an interview with UK television.”I don’t think it is wise for the UK to stick its head in the sand. China is the second-largest economy in the world,” he said.Asked about Trump’s comments on Friday, Beijing’s foreign ministry said “China is willing to strengthen cooperation with all countries in the spirit of mutual benefit and win-win results”.Starmer met top Chinese leaders, including President Xi Jinping and Premier Li Qiang, on Thursday, with both sides highlighting the need for closer ties.He told business representatives from Britain and China on Friday that both sides had “warmly engaged” and “made some real progress”.”The UK has got a huge amount to offer,” he said in a short speech at the UK-China Business Forum at the Bank of China.He signed a series of agreements on Thursday, with Downing Street announcing Beijing had agreed to visa-free travel for British citizens visiting China for under 30 days, although Starmer acknowledged there was no start date for the arrangement yet.The Chinese foreign ministry said only that it was “actively considering” the visa deal and would “make it public at an appropriate time upon completing the necessary procedures”.He also said Beijing had lifted sanctions on UK lawmakers targeted since 2021 for their criticism of alleged human rights abuses against China’s Muslim Uyghur minority.”President Xi said to me that that means all parliamentarians are welcome”, Starmer said in an interview with UK television.He travelled from Beijing to economic powerhouse Shanghai, where he spoke with Chinese students at the Shanghai International College of Fashion and Innovation, a joint institute between Donghua University and the University of Edinburgh.On Saturday, Starmer visited a design institute and met with performing arts students alongside British actress Rosamund Pike, who spoke of her children’s experience learning Mandarin.Later on Saturday, Starmer will arrive in Tokyo for a meeting with Japanese counterpart Sanae Takaichi.- Visas and whisky -The visa deal could bring Britain in line with about 50 other countries granted visa-free travel, including France, Germany, Australia and Japan, and follows a similar agreement made between China and Canada this month.The agreements signed included cooperation on targeting supply chains used by migrant smugglers, as well as on British exports to China, health and strengthening a bilateral trade commission.China also agreed to halve tariffs on British whisky to five percent, according to Downing Street.British companies sealed £2.2 billion ($3 billion) in export deals and around £2.3 billion in “market access wins” over five years, and “hundreds of millions worth of investments,” Starmer’s government said in a statement.Xi told Starmer on Thursday that their countries should strengthen dialogue and cooperation in the context of a “complex and intertwined” international situation.Relations between China and Britain deteriorated from 2020 when Beijing imposed a national security law on Hong Kong and cracked down on pro-democracy activists in the former British colony.However, China remains Britain’s third-largest trading partner, and Starmer is hoping deals with Beijing will help fulfil his primary goal of boosting UK economic growth.British pharmaceutical group AstraZeneca said on Thursday it would invest $15 billion in China through 2030 to expand its medicines manufacturing and research.And China’s Pop Mart, makers of the wildly popular Labubu dolls, said it would set up a regional hub in London and open 27 stores across Europe in the coming year, including up to seven in Britain.

Visiting Prime Minister Keir Starmer said on Friday Britain has a “huge amount to offer” China, after his bid to forge closer ties prompted warnings from US President Donald Trump.Starmer’s trip is the first to China by a British prime minister in eight years, and follows in the footsteps of other Western leaders looking to counter an increasingly volatile United States.Leaders from France, Canada and Finland have flocked to Beijing in recent weeks, recoiling from Trump’s bid to seize Greenland and tariff threats against NATO allies.Trump warned on Thursday it was “very dangerous” for Britain to be dealing with China.Starmer brushed off those comments on Friday, noting that Trump was also expected to visit China in the months ahead. “The US and the UK are very close allies, and that’s why we discussed the visit with his team before we came,” Starmer said in an interview with UK television. “I don’t think it is wise for the UK to stick its head in the sand. China is the second-largest economy in the world,” he said. Asked about Trump’s comments on Friday, Beijing’s foreign ministry said “China is willing to strengthen cooperation with all countries in the spirit of mutual benefit and win-win results”.Starmer met top Chinese leaders, including President Xi Jinping and Premier Li Qiang, on Thursday, with both sides highlighting the need for closer ties.He told business representatives from Britain and China on Friday that both sides had “warmly engaged” and “made some real progress”.”The UK has got a huge amount to offer,” he said in a short speech at the UK-China Business Forum at the Bank of China.The meetings the previous day provided “just the level of engagement that we hoped for”, Starmer said.He signed a series of agreements on Thursday, with Downing Street announcing Beijing had agreed to visa-free travel for British citizens visiting China for under 30 days, although Starmer acknowledged there was no start date for the arrangement yet.The Chinese foreign ministry said only that it was “actively considering” the visa deal and would “make it public at an appropriate time upon completing the necessary procedures”.Starmer hailed the agreements as “symbolic of what we’re doing with the relationship”.He also said Beijing had lifted sanctions on UK lawmakers targeted since 2021 for their criticism of alleged human rights abuses against China’s Muslim Uyghur minority.”President Xi said to me that that means all parliamentarians are welcome”, Starmer said in an interview with UK television.He travelled from Beijing to economic powerhouse Shanghai, where he spoke with Chinese students at the Shanghai International College of Fashion and Innovation, a joint institute between Donghua University and the University of Edinburgh.- Visas and whisky -The visa deal could bring Britain in line with about 50 other countries granted visa-free travel, including France, Germany, Australia and Japan, and follows a similar agreement made between China and Canada this month.The agreements signed included cooperation on targeting supply chains used by migrant smugglers, as well as on British exports to China, health and strengthening a bilateral trade commission.China also agreed to halve tariffs on British whisky to five percent, according to Downing Street.British companies sealed £2.2 billion in export deals and around £2.3 billion in “market access wins” over five years, and “hundreds of millions worth of investments,” Starmer’s government said in a statement.Xi told Starmer on Thursday that their countries should strengthen dialogue and cooperation in the context of a “complex and intertwined” international situation.Relations between China and the UK deteriorated from 2020 when Beijing imposed a national security law on Hong Kong and cracked down on pro-democracy activists in the former British colony.However, China remains Britain’s third-largest trading partner, and Starmer is hoping deals with Beijing will help fulfil his primary goal of boosting UK economic growth.British pharmaceutical group AstraZeneca said on Thursday it would invest $15 billion in China through 2030 to expand its medicines manufacturing and research.And China’s Pop Mart, makers of the wildly popular Labubu dolls, said it would set up a regional hub in London and open 27 stores across Europe in the coming year, including up to seven in Britain. Starmer will continue his Asia trip with a brief stop in Japan on Saturday to meet Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi.

Gold and silver prices dived Friday and European stock markets ended the week up while Wall Street pulled back with investors reassured by US President Donald Trump’s pick to take over as head of the Federal Reserve.The precious metals, viewed as safe-haven investments, had already begun sliding on reports, later confirmed, that Trump had nominated former Fed official Kevin Warsh to replace Jerome Powell as chair of the US central bank.Trump announced his choice Friday on social media, saying that Warsh, a former Morgan Stanley investment banker and Fed governor, “will go down as one of the GREAT Fed Chairmen, maybe the best.”Kathleen Brooks, research director at XTB trading group, said the “interesting pick…may give the market some hope that Fed independence will be preserved.”Trump’s personal attacks on Fed boss Jerome Powell — set to depart in May — have fueled widespread fears among investors that the central bank’s policy independence is under threat, potentially posing an inflation risk to the US economy.- A roller-coaster week -Precious metals prices tumbled on Friday after surging in recent days when investors sought a safe haven over doubts about Trump’s policies.Gold fell as much as 12 percent at one point, retreating below $5,000 an ounce after hitting a record high near $5,600 on Thursday.Silver, which Thursday reached an all-time peak above $120 an ounce, shed around 30 percent to about $82 an ounce. Financial markets have endured a roller-coaster ride this week as traders weathered a weaker dollar, Trump’s threats against Tehran, the president’s resumption of tariff threats and a possible US government shutdown.Asian stock markets closed out the week with some hefty losses following Thursday’s tech-led retreat on Wall Street on renewed concerns over vast investments in artificial intelligence.Healthy earnings from Meta, Samsung and SK Hynix provided much cheer early in the week but Microsoft was punished over worries its costly AI program might not result in financial gains.There are fears that firms’ valuations may be a little too stretched and that markets could be in a bubble, having soared in recent years to record highs on the back of a tech-fueled rally.The dollar pushed higher on Warsh’s nomination.”Most currency strategists would argue that his nomination may be good news for the dollar, which can price out some risks of a more dovish pick,” said Forex.com’s Fawad Razaqzada.”However, for as long as policy uncertainty hangs over the US economy with Trump’s tariff theatrics, the dollar debasement narrative is likely to hold back the greenback from making a meaningful comeback.”Among individual companies, Verizon surged 11.8 percent as it reported its highest quarter of mobility and broadband subscription increases since 2019.- Key figures at around 2110 GMT -New York – Dow: DOWN 0.4 percent at 48,892.47 (close)New York – S&P 500: DOWN 0.4 percent at 6,939.03 (close)New York – NASDAQ Composite: DOWN 0.9 percent at 23,461.82 (close)London – FTSE 100: UP 0.5 percent at 10,223.54 (close) Paris – CAC 40: UP 0.7 percent at 8,126.53 (close)Frankfurt – DAX: UP 0.9 percent at 24,538.81 (close)Tokyo – Nikkei 225: DOWN 0.1 percent at 53,322.85 (close)Hong Kong – Hang Seng Index: DOWN 2.1 percent at 27,387.11 (close)Shanghai – Composite: DOWN 1.0 percent at 4,117.95 (close)Euro/dollar: DOWN at $1.1856 from $1.1929 on ThursdayPound/dollar: DOWN at $1.3688 from $1.3772Dollar/yen: UP at 154.64 yen from 153.61 yenEuro/pound: UP at 86.63 pence from 86.62 penceBrent North Sea Crude: DOWN less than 0.1 percent at $70.69 per barrelWest Texas Intermediate: DOWN 0.3 percent at $65.21 per barrel

Gold and silver prices dived Friday, European stock markets ended the week up while Wall Street fell slightly with investors reassured by US President Donald Trump’s pick to take over as head of the Federal Reserve.The precious metals, viewed as safe-haven investments, had already begun sliding on reports, later confirmed, that Trump had nominated former Fed official Kevin Warsh to replace Jerome Powell as chair of the US central bank.Trump confirmed his choice Friday on Truth Social.”I have known Kevin for a long period of time, and have no doubt that he will go down as one of the GREAT Fed Chairmen, maybe the best,” Trump wrote on his social media platform.”On top of everything else, he is ‘central casting,’ and he will never let you down.” Kathleen Brooks, research director at XTB trading group, said the “interesting pick… may give the market some hope that Fed independence will be preserved”.Trump’s personal attacks on Fed boss Jerome Powell — set to depart in May — have fuelled widespread fears among investors that the central bank’s policy independence is under threat, potentially posing an inflation risk to the US economy.- A rollercoaster week -Precious metals prices tumbled on Friday after surging in recent days when investors sought a safe haven over doubts about Trump’s policies.Gold was down more than eight percent below $5,000 an ounce after reaching a record high of $5,595.47 Thursday.Silver, which Thursday reached an all-time peak above $120 an ounce, shed 20 percent meanwhile in sliding down to $90 an ounce. Financial markets have endured a rollercoaster ride this week as traders weathered a weaker dollar, Trump’s threats against Tehran, the president’s resumption of tariff threats and a possible US government shutdown.Asian stock markets closed out the week with some hefty losses following Thursday’s tech-led retreat on Wall Street on renewed concerns over vast investments in artificial intelligence.Healthy earnings from Meta, Samsung and SK Hynix provided much cheer early in the week but on Thursday, after Microsoft announced a surge in spending on AI infrastructure, that revived concerns that companies could take some time before seeing a return on their investments.There are fears that firms’ valuations may be a little too stretched and that markets could be in a bubble, having soared in recent years to record highs on the back of a tech-fuelled rally.Oil prices regained their poise after an early fall Friday, having surged the day before as Trump ramped up geopolitical tensions with threats of a military strike on Iran.”The building tensions between Iran and the US have driven Brent crude prices to a six-month high,” said Megan Fisher, assistant economist at Capital Economics.”That said, we think that the historical example of last year’s 12-day war (between Iran and Israel with US involvement), and a well-supplied oil market, will still bear down on Brent crude prices by end-2026.”- Key figures at around 1650 GMT -New York – Dow: DOWN 0.7 percent at 48,684.32 pointsNew York – S&P 500: DOWN 0.4 percent at 6,940.69New York – NASDAQ Composite: DOWN 0.5 percent at 23,561.52London – FTSE 100: UP 0.5 percent at 10,223.54 (close) Paris – CAC 40: UP 0.7 percent at 8,126.53 (close)Frankfurt – DAX: UP 1.0 percent at 24,515.73 (close)Tokyo – Nikkei 225: DOWN 0.1 percent at 53,322.85 (close)Hong Kong – Hang Seng Index: DOWN 2.1 percent at 27,387.11 (close)Shanghai – Composite: DOWN 1.0 percent at 4,117.95 (close)Euro/dollar: DOWN at $1.1875 from $1.1962 on ThursdayPound/dollar: DOWN at $1.3716 from $1.3800Dollar/yen: UP at 154.33 yen from 153.04 yenEuro/pound: DOWN at 86.58 pence from 86.67 penceBrent North Sea Crude: UP 0.2 percent at $70.89 per barrelWest Texas Intermediate: UP 0.6 percent at $65.93 per barrel

Hong Kong tycoon Li Ka-shing and his conglomerate CK Hutchison have been tied up in global US-China rivalry since announcing a controversial $19 billion sale of strategic ports in Panama last year.The Li family owns 30 percent of CK Hutchison, which controls ports, retail, infrastructure and other businesses in dozens of countries and reported revenue of $61.4 billion in 2024.Li was Asia’s ninth-richest man, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index in January, with a total net worth of more than $42 billion.Nicknamed “Superman” for his business acumen, the 97-year-old and his companies are woven into the fabric of Hong Kong life through everything from internet services to supermarket chains.A Panama Supreme Court decision to annul CK Hutchison’s concession there on Thursday showed how container ports in geopolitically strategic locations have become a prized global currency.- From refugee to billionaire -Li was born in the southern Chinese city of Chaozhou in 1928.A refugee from the Sino-Japanese War who fled mainland China to Hong Kong, he started a business in 1950 manufacturing plastic flowers and named it Cheung Kong after China’s Yangtze River.He reaped big profits in the 1960s after diversifying into property, and extended his businesses into many sectors in the following decades.Li also had a longstanding interest in overseas markets, making investments in the Canadian property and energy sectors in the 1980s.He swam against the tide after Beijing crushed the pro-democracy movement in Tiananmen Square in 1989, becoming the largest Hong Kong investor in mainland China, primarily in the property sector, while foreign businesses fled.He continued to invest heavily on the mainland during the 1990s, the dedicated capitalist courting Beijing’s communist leaders as China began to emerge as an economic superpower.The extent of Li’s investments served as a powerful catalyst for foreign capital entering China in the following decades, propelling its economic miracle.Li also supported China’s education and healthcare sectors through substantial philanthropic funding.He enjoyed close ties with three generations of Chinese leaders, including Deng Xiaoping, the architect of China’s economic opening up.- Weakening ties -That closeness to China’s leadership weakened after Xi Jinping took power in 2012. Beijing hardened its stance towards tycoons under Xi, including those from Hong Kong, and Li found his commercial and political manoeuvres under increasing criticism by government-affiliated media. He has offloaded major property investments in China in recent years in a move seen as part of a quest for stability and a sign of being less reliant on the mainland. Li announced a sweeping reorganisation of his vast business empire in 2015 following the sale of some Chinese assets. Many of the more recent expansions were instead overseas, with CK Hutchison now operating in some 50 countries across telecoms, ports, infrastructure, and retail.Li and his family are also reportedly thinking of spinning off and selling assets across its units.Chinese state media have criticised Li for his apparent decision to divest from some mainland markets and for supposedly showing sympathy to pro-democracy protesters in Hong Kong in 2019.Beijing authorities intensified pressure on CK Hutchison last year, repeatedly criticising the conglomerate’s sale of its Panama Canal ports.The Beijing-based authority overseeing Hong Kong affairs reposted a newspaper editorial titled “Great entrepreneurs have always been outstanding patriots” after the sale plan was announced in March.There has been slow progress in the CK Hutchison port sale negotiations since then, with analysts telling AFP that political factors have become a drag.Panama’s Supreme Court found the laws that allowed CK Hutchison to operate two of the five canal ports “unconstitutional”, ending its decades-long concession.The ports operator, CK Hutchison subsidiary Panama Ports Company, said the decision “lacks legal basis” and threatens thousands of livelihoods.