NEWSWORTHY
Deep in the red: Chinese county pays price for vanity-project binge
In the heart of an impoverished village in southern China, a life-sized statue of Mao Zedong sits on a platform adorned with intricate stonework, flanked by a diorama of Red Army soldiers and traditional brick-and-tile homes with curved roofs. Officials have spent a small fortune ...
Fate of $1 trillion in risky U.S. loans may be in Japan's hands
Japanese banks might have snapped up a third of the loans made to highly indebted U.S. companies, propelling the size of the market past $1 trillion.
Japan's prime minister to formally announce sales tax hike to 10 percent from next October
Prime Minister Shinzo Abe is set to formally announce that the government will raise the consumption tax to 10 percent from the current 8 percent in October 2019.
High debt limits China's range of weapons in defending against Trump's tariff blitz
Ten years ago, China shielded itself from the global financial crisis with a wall of stimulus. Facing U.S. President Donald Trump's tariff onslaught, that feat of self-preservation looks much harder to repeat. The simple reason is that even if President Xi Jinping's government were to ...
China's industrial output tops forecasts but investment growth sinks to new low
China reported better-than-expected industrial output and retail sales on Friday, but a key investment gauge fell to a fresh record low, highlighting the challenges facing Beijing as it tries to support the economy in the face of rising U.S. tariffs. The data, along with earlier ...
China's massive and expanding "Belt and Road" trade infrastructure project is running into speed bumps as some countries begin to grumble about being buried under Chinese debt. First announced in 2013 by President Xi Jinping, the initiative, also known as the "New Silk Road" envisions ...
China seen flexing loan muscle as it pushes further into Pacific
In the gritty, steamy streets of Papua New Guinea's capital Port Moresby, signs of China's push into the Pacific island nation are inescapable. A Chinese worker stencils a logo for China Railway Group outside the new national courthouse it's building; China Harbor Engineering Group laborers ...
As the government struggles to put together a credible road map to fiscal consolidation, the public should also grapple with the question of how the nation's fiscal health can be regained.
E-sports to chocolates: Chinese cities rush into risky specialization projects
The first plan was for an "eco-city" that would help pull Zhongxian, a remote city on the hilly banks of the Yangtze River in southwest China, out of poverty. But after a dispute with the local government over land rights, the developers pulled out and ...
Will America's bankers oblige Donald Trump?
The debt that should worry Abe's team the most over the next few months is Tokyo's $1.1 trillion of U.S. treasuries.
Venezuela to restructure foreign debt, raising the possibility of massive default
Venezuela on Thursday announced plans to restructure its burgeoning foreign debt, a move that may lead to a default by the cash-strapped OPEC nation whose collapsing socialist economy has left its population struggling to find food and medicine. President Nicolas Maduro vowed to make a ...
Japan government debt hit record ¥1.072 quadrillion as of March 31
Japan's central government debt stood at a record ¥1.072 quadrillion at the end of fiscal 2016, the Finance Ministry said Wednesday. The amount owed per person came to approximately ¥8.45 million, based on Japan's estimated population of 126.79 million as of April 1. The central government's ...
