President Trump said Monday that if he “wanted to win that war, Afghanistan would be wiped off the face of the earth.”

Mark E. Brennan had previously served as auxiliary bishop in Baltimore

Australian police recovered 273kg of methamphetamine after they tracked down the vehicle.

Banks chase fundraising work in private market as companies shun public markets for longer

They were bound for Vietnam in containers that were falsely declared to contain timber.

Yelena Grigoryeva, 41, was stabbed and strangled near her home in St Petersburg, relatives say.

SHANGHAI (July 23): The biggest shareholders in China’s new Nasdaq-style STAR Market lost a combined $1 billion in the second day of trade on Tuesday, a day after the board’s roaring debut created three new billionaires.
All but four companies of the 2…

A Queensland retirement home – which left about 70 elderly patients homeless in the wake of its abrupt closure – faced sanctions dating back to 2007, according to a letter tabled in the Senate.

FGV Holdings Bhd’s case against its former chairman Tan Sri Mohd Isa Abdul Samad and former president and group chief executive officer Datuk Mohd Emir Mavani Abdullah will commence on Nov 25.
The plaintiff is seeking damages amounting to RM7.69 millio…

BHP will become the world’s first to set goals for its customers to cut emissions, with an ambitious carbon pledge targeting shippers, steel mills and power plants.

Australia’s miracle comeback in Salta last year will be front of mind when Michael Cheika’s side face Argentina in Brisbane.

Harris Andrews’ one-match suspension for striking was upheld after the AFL tribunal denied him the chance to submit evidence from victim Nick Larkey.

Recycling companies want major changes in Victoria before they commit to expanding their operations in the troubled sector.

The probe into Tenaga Nasional Bhd (TNB)’s alleged violation of the Energy Commission standard for service levels has been completed, with the investigation paper (IP) sent to the Attorney-General’s Chambers (AGC) for feedback.
Energy, Science, Technol…

It is understood the trio were seeking an additional 40 per cent on their salaries

The former Ipswich mayor and two co-accused are on trial for extortion.

Manly have granted Apisai Koroisau permission to speak to other clubs and it hasn’t taken long for several to express interest.

There are border controls on Australia’s policy of a fair go for athletes who fall foul of the rules.

Epping boy Jackson May Crocaris died at the intersection of Ringwood Bypass and Ringwood Street in Melbourne’s east.

Giants defender Adam Kennedy is a chance to play just days after being hospitalised by a heart issue.

Two members of the popular indie rock-reggae band came to blows on Saturday afternoon, police said.

Tory members will choose either Boris Johnson or Jeremy Hunt as Theresa May’s successor in No 10.

Victoria has issued its first ‘voluntary assisted dying’ permit under the right-to-die laws the state passed in late 2017.

Advocates say the revelations expose an “obvious lack of support” for First Nation Queenslanders.

Mack Horton wanted to make a point about drugs in sport, but the way he went about it was clumsy.

The US President is happy to solve the Pakistan-Indian conflict but says he’s too busy to solve other world problems. “It’s like a full-time job.”

Seoul says it scrambled jets and fired hundreds of rounds after a military plane twice violated its airspace.

The media union will ask the Queensland government to intervene on behalf of a French news crew arrested covering an anti-mining demonstration and recommend their charges be dropped.

Malaysian consumers are the 10th most confident globally based on The Conference Board Global Consumer Confidence Survey, which was produced in collaboration with Nielsen.
Nielsen said in a statement today Malaysia was ranked 10th globally on the surve…

The wife of a young Indigenous man allegedly bashed by police during a terror raid has told a court his mental health declined afterwards, and he now needs help to be a better father.

Retailers are emerging as the kingmakers in the buy now, pay later space but not all retailers are equal as Afterpay rivals Splitit and Flexigroup found out on Tuesday.

After their court appearances on Tuesday, the five men over 18 were all transported to adult prisons instead of returning to the scene of the siege.

Seoul confirms its air force scrambled fighter jets after violation of its airspace

The defence in Datuk Seri Najib Razak’s SRC International Sdn Bhd trial today won two rulings — the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) cannot prohibit AmBank from handing documents in relation to the former premier’s accounts to the account ho…

This is not just a matter for bleeding hearts. In responding to the siege there must be a balance between protecting society and promoting rehabilitation.

FRANKFURT (July 23): Beijing Automotive Group Co Ltd said on Tuesday that it had purchased a 5% stake in German luxury carmaker Daimler.
Daimler, which since 2013 has held a stake in a Hong Kong-listed BAIC subsidiary, said it welcomed the investment.
…

The government will speed up the process of enacting a new Consumer Credit Act to protect consumers and encourage a healthy credit market, said Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad.
He said this is important given that the current household debt stoo…

Under the rule, officers will be able to immediately deport more migrants without going to court.

Affin Hwang Investment Bank Bhd sees sovereign rating agencies maintaining Malaysia’s sovereign rating at “stable”, even if the country’s fiscal deficit falls short of the targeted 3% in 2020, amid global trade tensions between the US and China.

Lan…

Datin Seri Rosmah Mansor today withdrew her appeal over a notice compelling her to declare her property acquisition between Jan 1, 2009 and Dec 31, 2017, relating to a money-laundering case.
Her lawyer Datuk K. Kumaraendran requested for the appeal to …

(July 23): No, those are not gibberish. Those are the addresses for Hong Kong’s Legislative Council, the White House in Washington and Beijing’s Tiananmen Square, respectively, based on the geocoding system developed by start-up what3words.
London-base…

Chief Sergio Ermotti considers ‘strategic or tactical’ measures to respond to climate

(July 23): Chinese phone maker Xiaomi Corp has given each of its employees 1,000 free shares in the company, worth a total of HK$187.5 million (US$24 million), to celebrate the company being included in the latest Fortune 500 global company list for th…

Mah Sing Group Bhd said today it is acquiring a 5.47-acre (2.19ha) prime land in Mukim Batu, Taman Metropolitan, Kepong here for about RM94.8 million. The land is earmarked for development of an estimated RM705 million worth of serviced apartments know…

Up to $15bn a year could be saved if Japan switched to electronic payments but an ageing population and mistrust are hindering change

Democrats hope testimony will increase public pressure for impeachment of Donald Trump

Wyelands filings raise questions about how lender deploys savers’ deposits

The boozy corporate party may be endangered after #MeToo and the rise of non-drinkers

Henry Steel has made big profits for Odey by betting against his ex-employer’s Oyu Tolgoi mine

The Russian government’s generous tax break to its largest oil company, Rosneft, for work on its largest oilfield, the Priobskoye, is being called into question by President Vladimir Putin, according to a document published on the Kremlin website seen …

The ambition is part of a range of measures to tackle the causes of preventable ill health.

Two-year agreement announced by Trump would raise federal spending significantly

If this story sounds like it was ripped from the plot of “House of Cards,” well, we’ll concede that it has all of the necessary elements of a best-selling spy novel. In a story published in Monday’s WSJ, the paper recounts the story of Chinese business…

  Tending Towards Maximum Perversity According to Finagle’s corollary to Murphy’s law, “Anything that can go wrong, will — at the worst possible moment.”  Taken a degree further, per O’Toole’s corollary of Finagle’s law, and the second law of thermodynamics, “The perversity of the Universe tends towards a maximum.”   Murphy’s law in action… not […]

Authored by Mac Slavo via SHTFplan.com,

Free speech has been on the chopping block for a long time.  Journalists are already silenced and have to ask the government for permission before running stories while alternative media is censored and blocked …

Widespread power blackouts were first reported on Monday evening across 15 Venezuelan states and Caracas, as per a report from Reuters Caracas newsroom.

Central #Caracas (#Chacao) right now #apagón #blackout #Venezuela pic.twitter.com/6Pvp3QdPPW
— Ad…

Authored by Steve Brown via The Duran,

In recent weeks we have seen numerous probing attempts and provocations in and around the Strait of Hormuz — whether false flags or actual events — intended to raise the profile of the US’s unilateral withdrawal …

Tesla whistleblower Karl Hansen doesn’t seem to be deterred by the intimidation tactics that the company has used against whistleblowers in the past. He’s also dead set on trying to help other whistleblowers come forward, according to The Drive. 

He f…

Perfectly echoing former Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s own words during his brief press conference in May, a Justice Department official told Mueller – in response to his initiated inquiry – that his upcoming testimony to House lawmakers “must remai…

Beijing’s goal-setting skews results and encourages pointless projects, say analysts

With Morgan Stanley reporting Q2 results yesterday, the first half earnings of all “big 5” US banks are now public, and when it comes to sales and trading they are nothing short of a disaster.

With the S&P at or near all time highs, institutional trad…

Fears of weak oil demand are taking over the market, overshadowing tanker battles in the Persian Gulf, something that would have typically sent oil prices skyrocketing. However, demand may also rebound in the second half of this year, offering some ups…

While the Persian Gulf crisis continues to escalate, oil markets have put Libya’s ongoing civil war on the backburner. This weekend, the shutdown of OPEC producer Libya’s giant Sharara field however put it again in the spotlight. On Saturday July 20, L…

Russian gas producer Novatek closed on Monday the sale of stakes in its Arctic LNG 2 project, just days after Russia’s government approved the construction of a liquefied natural gas (LNG) transshipment terminal that would help Novatek boost LNG export…

Authored by Sven Henrich via NorthmanTrader.com,

Tech Oddity

Tech making new highs again in July as markets are anticipating rate cuts from the Fed later in the month. It’s still early in the earning season, but about to get heavy with reports.

$N…

Huawei has already been accused, with good reason, of violating US and UN sanctions over doing business with Iran. Now, the Washington Post reports, citing clandestine internal documents, that Huawei secretly helped build a North Korean wireless networ…

Authored by Mark Glennon via WirePoints.org,

Property taxes will go up to pay for affordable housing if legislation now pending in the General Assembly passes. It’s not styled as a property tax increase, but that’s exactly what it is. It’s styled as p…

New Delhi rebuffs claims by US president that Narendra Modi asked for help in dispute

UK’s Prime Minister Theresa May will chair a meeting of emergency committee Cobra following Iran’s seizure of a British-flagged tanker last Friday, the BBC reports. The report notes the meeting comes amid talk about the UK freezing Iranian assets in re…

A supply overhang in natural gas will persist into the next decade, the Royal Bank of Canada has projected, adding that China will be the single biggest driver of demand on this market. S&P Global Platts quoted the bank’s report on the topic as saying …

Some 30,000 Con Ed customers in New York City were left without power temporarily yesterday as the utility fought a string of outages caused by the heat wave that struck the city this weekend. “Here’s where we stand: Con Ed is taking 30K customers in B…

Wall Street banks have started preparing their positions on oil ahead of the annual Mexico oil hedge, in which Mexico places bets of as much as US$1 billion to protect its coffers from oil price volatility in the next 12 months. Reuters quotes traders …

The International Energy Agency (IEA) said that it would cut its oil demand forecast due to a slowing global economy. “China is experiencing its slowest economic growth in the last three decades, so are some of the advanced economies … if the global …

With financial stress setting in for U.S. shale companies, some are trying to drill their way out of the problem, while others are hoping to boost profitability by cutting costs and implementing spending restraint. Both approaches are riddled with risk…

The Aramco IPO story seems more and more to be a line from the world famous story of “Scheherazade and 1001 nights”. As the famous princess needed to tell stories to save her life from the wrath of Sultan Shahryar, Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salma…

Emerging from one of the worst downturns in decades, one of the world’s oldest producing oil basins, the UK North Sea, is now taking a leaf out of U.S. shale’s playbook to replicate the leaner, meaner shorter-cycle production developments of one of the…

The next two years are likely to be the tipping point for electric vehicles (EVs) going mainstream in Europe, as the number of electric car models on the European market is set to more than triple in the next three years, Transport & Environment (T&E),…