IBT Staff Reporter

John Lee: the former Hong Kong cop Beijing trusts is sworn in

The highest temperatures for the season since record-keeping began have scorched much of eastern Japan for a week, prompting the government to ask citizens to cut power use as much as possible, while running air conditioners to stay safe.

Russia's invasion of Ukraine has exposed a gap in socially-minded investing - a hands-off approach to geopolitics and human rights.

French catering and food services group Sodexo announced on Friday a reorganisation of its main on-site services business to improve effectiveness and said it expects revenue and margin to return to pre-pandemic levels in 2023.

French catering and food services group Sodexo on Friday reported better-than-expected revenue for the third quarter with strong growth in all business segments and geographies, helped by price hikes and post-Omicron volume recovery.

India has imposed windfall tax on oil producers and refiners who have boosted product exports to gain from higher overseas margins as the government seeks to increase local supply of fuels to meet rising demand and increase federal revenues.

India introduced export duties on gasoil, gasoline and jet fuel on Friday to help maintain domestic supplies, while also imposing a windfall tax on oil producers who have benefited from higher global crude oil prices.

India introduced export duties for gasoil, gasoline and jet fuel on Friday to help boost domestic supplies, while also imposing a windfall tax on oil producers that have benefitted from higher global crude oil prices.

China's president Xi Jinping on Friday swore in John Lee, 64, as the city's next chief executive - the first security policy expert to run the China-ruled international financial hub since its handover from Britain in 1997.

Japanese policymakers worried about the yen sliding lower are increasingly also having to watch out for it rebounding, officials told Reuters, signalling that currency-market intervention is less likely than some investors expect.

U.S. department store chain Kohl's Corp on Friday called off its sale to Franchise Group after months of negotiations, citing sinking markets and difficult financing conditions.

A small town Mexican mayor married his alligator bride in a colorful ceremony as traditional music rang out and revelers danced while imploring the indigenous leader to seal the nuptials with a kiss.

Months before dozens of migrants died inside a sweltering tractor-trailer this week that had slipped through a Border Patrol checkpoint on a Texas highway, another truck driver was making the same journey carrying 52 migrants.

India bans many single-use plastics to tackle waste

New Zealand dairy, sheep and beef farmers are largely disappointed by the newly signed New Zealand-European Union free trade agreement, lamenting it provides little new access to the profitable market for meat and dairy.

Global manufacturing struggled in June as higher prices and a darker economic outlook left consumers wary of making purchases, while China's strict COVID-19 lockdowns and Russia's invasion of Ukraine added to supply chain disruptions, surveys showed.

President Vladimir Putin has raised the stakes in an economic war with the West and its allies with a decree that seizes full control of the Sakhalin-2 gas and oil project in Russia's far east, a move that could force out Shell and Japanese investors.

President Vladimir Putin signed a decree on Thursday to take charge of the Sakhalin-2 gas and oil project in Russia's far east, a move that could force Shell and Japan's Mitsui and Mitsubishi to abandon their investments as the economic tit-for-tat over Ukraine deepens.

California on Thursday approved a plan to tax the electric vehicle battery metal lithium to generate revenue for environmental remediation projects despite industry concerns that it will harm the sector and delay shipments to automakers.

Pessimism about the global economic outlook boosted demand for the safe-haven U.S.

Gathering gloom about prospects for the global economy lifted the safe-haven dollar on Friday and pressured risk-sensitive currencies, with the Australian dollar tumbling to a two-year low.

Worries about the risk of a global recession drove rallies in the safe haven Japanese yen and U.S.

The dollar was little changed against major peers on Friday, but was on track for its best week in four as investors weighed the boost from tighter Federal Reserve policy and the risks of a U.S.

Australian, French leaders meet to mend frayed ties

The second half of the year started with more declines in global stock indexes on Friday as recession concerns that have built in recent weeks also dragged down Treasury yields and metals.

Stocks fell and the dollar rose on Friday, beginning the second half of the year much as the first one had ended, only this time with bonds rallying for a change as investors have shifted from worrying about inflation to fearing a global recession.

Bonds slipped, the dollar edged higher and Asia's stockmarkets made a shaky start to the second half on Friday, as investors grow increasingly nervous about the global economic outlook.

Indonesia's central bank is in no rush to hike interest rates, its governor said on Friday, even as June consumer prices rose at the fastest pace in five years, topping forecasts and breaching its target range amid a surge in food prices.

Indonesia's consumer prices rose at the fastest pace in five years in June, topping forecasts and breaching the central bank's target range amid a surge in food prices, official data showed on Friday.