Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad says he hopes China will understand his country’s “internal fiscal problems” as he seeks to renegotiate billions of dollars worth of Beijing-funded projects. Mahathir spoke Monday in Beijing during a joint news conference with Chinese Premier Li Keqiang. Before traveling to China last week, Mahathir suspended three major infrastructure projects …

“For the first time since early 2010, Greece can stand on its own feet,” the European Stability Mechanism (ESM) rescue fund said as Athens exited its final, three-year international bailout program on Monday. The ESM allocated about $71 billion over the past three years, after an agreement was reached in August 2015 to help the …

Uncertainty reigned in Venezuela Saturday after President Nicolas Maduro unveiled a major economic reform plan aimed at halting the spiraling hyperinflation that has thrown the oil-rich, cash-poor South American country into chaos. Ahead of a major currency overhaul Monday, when Caracas will start issuing new banknotes after slashing five zeroes off the crippled bolivar, Maduro …

A budding trade war between the U.S. and Turkey over a detained American pastor is having global consequences. A sharp drop in Turkey’s lira, inflation and the threat of loan defaults, could drag down other economies, particularly in emerging markets. Turkey’s troubles are causing ripple effects in countries as far away as Argentina and Indonesia, …

Turkey’s currency this month has suffered heavy falls triggered by U.S.-Turkish tensions over the ongoing detention of an American pastor. Washington’s threat to impose new economic sanctions sparked another steep currency drop Friday. Dorian Jones reports on the economic fall out for people in Istanbul. …

Tesla shares dropped nearly 9 percent in value Friday, amid reports of CEO and co-founder Elon Musk meeting with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). Musk wrote on Twitter last week of his plans to take the company private for a price of $420 per share, writing that he had “funding secured.” On Monday, …

Stocks rose late in the day Friday as investors welcomed signs of progress in resolving the trade dispute between the U.S. and China. The Wall Street Journal reported that the countries hope to have a resolution by November. Industrial, health care and basic materials companies made some of the biggest gains. The report came a …

Unions at Air France-KLM voiced concern after the company appointed Benjamin Smith as the new CEO with the support of the French state. The company said Thursday that Smith, who is 46 and was previously Air Canada’s chief operating officer, will fill the role by Sept. 30. Vincent Salles, unionist at CGT-Air France union, said …

President Donald Trump says he’s asking federal regulators to look into the effectiveness of the quarterly financial reports that publicly traded companies are required to file. In a tweet early Friday, Trump said that after speaking with “some of the world’s top business leaders,” he’s asked the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission to determine whether …

Many of Asia’s currencies are losing value against the U.S. dollar this year as China and the United States fight over trade, but analysts say policymakers are handling the dip better now than during past down cycles. China, India, Indonesia and Myanmar, to name just a few, have seen their currencies lose value since the …

A federal court in New York has charged 22 Chinese importers with smuggling nearly half-a-billion dollars in counterfeit goods into the United States from China. The fake products include such popular luxury items as Louis Vuitton bags, Michael Kors wallets, and Chanel perfume. Twenty-one of the defendants were arrested Thursday. U.S. attorneys say the suspects …

Russia says the latest U.S. sanctions imposed on Russian, Chinese, and Singaporean companies are “destructive” and “useless.”   The U.S. penalized the three companies Wednesday, accusing them of helping North Korea avoid international sanctions. The Russian Foreign Ministry said Thursday the new U.S. sanctions come when “joint international efforts” are needed toward a settlement in …

A small number of Turks are responding to their president’s call to boycott American electronic goods by posting videos in which they smash iPhones with bats, hammers and other blunt instruments. In one video , a man collects iPhones from several youths squatting in front of a Turkish flag, lays the devices on the ground …

Mexico’s economy minister on Wednesday said that Mexico and the United States may not meet an August goal to finish bilateral talks to revamp the NAFTA trade deal, which is beset by disagreements over automobile trade rules and other issues. Top Mexican officials started their fourth week of talks with U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer …

Singapore is the setting for new Hollywood movie ‘Crazy Rich Asians’ – an adaptation of a best-selling novel that explores the insatiable consumerism of new money and old-world opulence in a continent producing more billionaires than anywhere else. While the low-tax financial hub is often called a playground for the rich, Singapore’s wealthy tend to …

Toyota is likely to make 120,000 more cars a year in the Chinese port city  of Tianjin as part of a medium-term strategy that’s gathering pace as China-Japan ties improve, said four company insiders with knowledge of the matter. The Japanese auto maker’s plan to boost annual production capacity by about a quarter in the …

Turkey on Wednesday announced tariff hikes on a range of U.S. goods in the latest back-and-forth move amid a deteriorating relationship between the two countries. The extra tariffs apply to imports of vehicles, alcohol, coal, rice and cosmetics. Turkish Vice President Fuat Oktay said on Twitter the increases were being done “within the framework of …

New Zealand school teachers went on strike on Wednesday for the first time in more than 20 years, challenging the Labor government’s plans to balance promised fiscal responsibility against growing demands to increase public sector salaries. The government’s first budget in May was stretched to fulfill its promise to juggle investing in much-needed infrastructure with …

Tonga Prime Minister Akalisi Pohiva has called for China to write-off debts owed by Pacific island countries, warning that repayments impose a huge burden on the impoverished nations. Chinese aid in the Pacific has ballooned in recent years with much of the funds coming in the form of loans from Beijing’s state-run Exim Bank. Tonga …

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan threatened Tuesday to boycott U.S. electronic goods in response to what he says is a targeted economic war being waged against Turkey by the United States. The diplomatic dispute between the two countries has helped spark an economic crisis in Turkey and push its currency, the lira, to record lows. …

Vienna has dislodged Melbourne for the first time at the top of the Economist Intelligence Unit’s Global Liveability Index, strengthening the Austrian capital’s claim to being the world’s most pleasant city to live in. The two metropolises have been neck and neck in the annual survey of 140 urban centers for years, with Melbourne clinching …

Venezuela’s heavily subsidized domestic gasoline prices should rise to international levels to avoid billions of dollars in annual losses due to fuel smuggling, President Nicolas Maduro said in a televised address on Monday. “Gasoline must be sold at an international price to stop smuggling to Colombia and the Caribbean,” Maduro said in a televised address. …

Tesla’s handling of Chief Executive Elon Musk’s proposal to take the carmaker private and its failure to promptly file a formal disclosure has raised governance concerns and sparked questions about how companies use social media. Musk stunned investors last Tuesday by announcing on Twitter that he was considering taking Tesla private in a potential $72 …

A Kenyan court on Monday charged the heads of the agency that manages public land and of the state railway with fraud over land allocation for a new $3 billion train line linking the capital with East Africa’s biggest port. The line between Nairobi and Mombasa, funded by China, is one of the biggest infrastructure …

Scientists called on Monday for greater transparency over the use of tax havens by companies involved in activities that have harmed the world’s oceans and the Amazon rainforest. In a study published in the journal Nature Ecology and Evolution, they said many firms involved in illegal fishing worldwide used tax havens to register their vessels, …

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, embroiled in a bitter dispute with the U.S., a NATO ally, contended Sunday the plunging value of his country’s lira currency amounted to a “political plot” against Turkey. Erdogan, speaking to political supporters in the Black Sea resort of Trabzon, said, “The aim of the operation is to make Turkey …