Biodun Iginla, BBC News

Biodun Iginla, BBC News

Tuesday, September 1, 2015

Global stock markets hit by weak Chinese data

by Judith Stein and Biodun Iginla, BBC News business reporters, New York

1 hour ago


Renewed fears over growth in China have hit global stock markets, with the main indexes falling sharply.
Wall Street traded sharply lower, with the Dow Jones down more than 300 points, or 1.9%, at 16,215.
European markets also fell, with the UK's FTSE 100 closing down 3% and France's Cac 40 and Germany's Dax about 2.4% lower.
Earlier, figures for August showed factory activity in China contracting at its fastest pace in three years.
The official manufacturing purchasing managers' index (PMI) dropped to 49.7 from 50 in July. A figure below 50 indicates contraction.
It follows recent turmoil in the markets sparked by concerns over a slowdown in the world's second-largest economy.
"The importance of today's announcement is that the slowdown is hitting the larger state-backed firms who typically take longer to feel the pain," said Josh Mahony from online trading firm IG Index.
"There are precious few signs that China is beginning to recover, and while [the People's Bank of China's] action can provide a temporary reprieve, we are yet to see any evidence that it is doing any good to the economy," he added.

August losses

Energy companies led the way down on the Dow, with Chevron and Exxon Mobil down about 3%. This followed a fall in the oil price, which was down more than 4% at $51.89.
Before Tuesday's fall, the price of oil had risen by about 25% in the past three trading sessions.
The S&P 500 was also down about 2% at 1,934.18, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq was 1.6% lower at 4,699.21.
Global markets sustained heavy losses in August - for both the UK's FTSE 100 and the US's S&P 500, it was the worst month since May 2012.
As well as the poor China factory data, investors are unsure about the US central bank's next move. Many had pencilled in the a rate rise - the first move since the financial crisis - for September. However, given the recent stock turmoil, analysts seem less certain.
"The volatility is here to stay for a while, or at least till the Fed gives us an indication regarding a rate increase," said Art Hogan, chief market strategist at Wunderlich Securities in New York.
"Right now, they are being quite cagey."

More on this story

Eurozone jobless rate lowest since 2012

Full article Eurozone jobless rate lowest since 2012

Canadian economy enters recession

Full article Canadian economy enters recession
 
More Videos from the BBC
  • Kanye West wants to run for president in 2020
  • The giant airships that could carry 66 tonnes
  • Amsterdam bids farewell to tall ships
  • 'Why am I less worthy than army amputee?'
    • Recommended by Outbrain
    Posted by at No comments:
    Labels: , , , , ,

    Hillary Clinton emails: Thousands of new pages released

    by Melissa Gruz and Biodun Iginla, BBC News, Washington DC

    25 minutes ago


    Thousands of Hillary Clinton's emails while US secretary of state have been released, including many that have been censored after being deemed classified.
    Mrs Clinton, who is seeking the Democratic nomination for the 2016 presidential election, has been under fire for using a private computer server for work emails while in office.
    But she says no classified information was sent or received.
    However, 125 emails were deemed confidential by the State Department.
    The State Department disclosed that Mrs Clinton used a private server during her time as Secretary of State (2009-13) after journalists requested copies of her government emails.
    Mrs Clinton's opponents have accused her of putting US security at risk by using an unsecured computer system.
    The presidential hopeful has admitted that her decision to use a private email server at her New York home was a mistake.
    She served as Secretary of State in 2009-13.

    Ratings affected

    The State Department released 4,368 emails - totalling 7,121 pages - late on Monday.


    It said about 150 of the messages had to be censored because they contained information considered to be classified.
    One of the emails - sent in November 2013 by Mrs Clinton's then foreign policy adviser Jacob Sullivan - was published heavily redacted and marked classified until 2025.
    Mr Sullivan, who is now a policy adviser for Mrs Clinton's presidential campaign, forwarded her boss the email with the subject line: "No go on Burma (Myanmar) travel."
    In another email - from September 2010 - Britain's David Miliband admitted that losing the Labour leadership race to Ed Miliband was "tough", adding: "When it's your brother..."
    State Department spokesman Mark Toner was quoted by AFP as saying the process of re-evaluating the remaining unreleased emails was continuing.
    The emails were not marked as classified at the time Mrs Clinton sent or received them. The vast majority of the correspondence concerned mundane matters of daily life at workplace, including phone messages and relays of daily schedules.
    One particular email eliciting laughs among the US political reporter set is an email about Gefilte fish, a traditional Jewish food eaten on the holiday Passover.

    Image caption The emails often discussed mundane or non-urgent matters
    The Washington Post explains that the Gefilte fish email was about a shipment of the product to Israel from the US Mrs Clinton was trying to save from a high tax.
    Many of the emails show the influence of Sidney Blumenthal, an outside Clinton adviser. In one email, Mr Blumenthal describes former UK Liberal Democrat leader Nick Clegg as having "misplayed almost every turn" and being full of "inbred arrogance."
    Associated Press says the emails revealed that Mrs Clinton and her aides were acutely aware of the need to protect sensitive information.
    It says Mrs Clinton also expressed frustration with the State Department's treatment of certain ordinary documents as classified.
    In one email, a State Department IT staffer is trying to determine why Mrs Clinton's non-governmental email is bouncing back.
    More than a quarter of Mrs Clinton's work emails have now been released, after she provided the State Department with 30,000 pages of documents last year.
    Polls indicate that the email scandal has affected Mrs Clinton's ratings, though she remains the frontrunner for the Democratic nomination.

    Analysis: Anthony Zurcher, BBC North America Reporter

    At this point the novelty of peering into Hillary Clinton's email correspondence is starting to wear off for the general public. Although the former secretary of state's attempts to explain why she used of a private email server have damaged her political standing, the steady release of her electronic missives has faded into the background noise of the presidential campaign.
    There may yet be some scandalous message lurking in the trove of yet-to-be-released messages, but given the fact that the files were screened by Mrs Clinton or her staff, that seems unlikely.



    Image caption Hillary says she set up the private server for "convenience"

    Why did she do it?

    Mrs Clinton says the primary reason she set up her own email was for "convenience" but sceptics say the real reason she did it was because it gave her total control over her correspondence.

    How many emails?

    According to Mrs Clinton, she sent or received 62,320 emails during her time as secretary of state - she says half of them were official and have been turned over to the State Department.

    Was it illegal?

    Probably not. Mrs Clinton's email system existed in a grey area of the law - and one that has been changed several times since she left office.

    Why the controversy?

    It's a big deal because Mrs Clinton is asking the US public to trust that she is complying with both the "letter and the spirit of the rules". Critics on the left and the right are concerned she made her communications on sensitive national security issues more susceptible to hackers and foreign intelligence services.

    Hillary Clinton's email row


    US clerk defies gay marriage order


    Full article US clerk defies gay marriage order

    Canadian economy enters recession


    Full article Canadian economy enters recession

    Netflix drops thousands of films in US


    Dave Lee North America technology reporter
    • 31 August 2015
    • From the section Technology
    • 418 comments
    Full article Netflix drops thousands of films in US
     
    More Videos from the BBC

  • Tropical storm Erika batters Dominica
  • Sony tests 'superfast' commercial drone


  • Australia venomous snake rescued from tin can
  • Woman in nappy sack baby death warning


    • Seeking a new life

    Syrian migrant's perilous journey from Turkey to Sweden


    Stay out of school

    Tackling the deadliest day for Japan's teenagers


    Facial discrimination

    What is it like to be the world's hairiest family?


    Video 3:02

    Biker chicks

    On the road with New York City's female-only motorcycle club


    Video 3:40

    Charting danger

    The teenager who maps the Syrian war from his suburban bedroom


    Video 4:50

    Penny Penny

    The fall and rise again of South Africa's unlikely pop star


    Enemies inside

    Could caste be behind the murder of a radical Indian thinker?


    Ice curtain

    The families left on either side of a superpower border

    Posted by at No comments:
    Labels: , , , , ,

    Migrant crisis: Hungary rail station move sparks protests

    by Isabelle Roussel and Biodun Iginla, BBC News, Budapest

    10 minutes ago


    Hundreds of migrants have been protesting outside a major railway station in the Hungarian capital after police sealed off the terminal to stop them travelling through the EU.
    Crowds chanted "Germany, Germany" and waved train tickets after being forced to leave Keleti station in Budapest.
    Hungary is trying to restore order and enforce EU rules, officials said.
    Meanwhile, German Chancellor Angela Merkel has called for the fair distribution of refugees across Europe.
    Austrian police said 3,650 migrants arrived in the Austrian capital, Vienna, from Hungary on Monday, with most heading for Germany.
    By Tuesday morning, about 1,400 people had arrived in Munich, southern Germany, after travelling through Austria and more were expected.
    Hungarian officials had earlier appeared to abandon efforts to register them under an EU rule, known as the Dublin Regulation, which says they should seek asylum in the first EU country they enter, correspondents say.
    The migrants who risk everything for a better life
    This West African entered the Spanish territory of Ceuta from Morocco curled up next to a car engine. Read the full story here.
    About 1,000 migrants congregated outside Keleti station, in the east of the city, as it was evacuated on Tuesday.
    It was closed briefly but soon reopened to non-migrant passengers, with lines of police preventing migrants from going inside.
    The BBC's Nick Thorpe in Budapest says hundreds of migrants are circling the area trying to find a way through the guarded entrances.
    The decision to allow refugees to board trains on Monday evening and early on Tuesday seems to have been a temporary one to ease the growing pressure at the station, he adds.
    Image caption Migrants wave their train tickets outside Keleti station
    Image caption Hungarian police briefly closed the station
    Image caption These Syrian refugees arrived in Vienna on Tuesday on a train from Budapest
    Many protesters complained that they had paid hundreds of euros for tickets to Austria or Germany.
    One 20-year-old woman from Aleppo, Syria, named only as Marah, said her family had bought six tickets for a train to Vienna.
    "They should find a solution," she told Reuters. "We are thousands here, where should we go?"
    The number of migrants entering Europe has reached record levels, with 107,500 arriving in July alone.
    Latest figures show more than 239,000 people have arrived in Greece this year and two ferries are due to arrive near Athens on Tuesday carrying more than 4,000 migrants from Greece's overwhelmed eastern Aegean islands.
    Germany expects to take in 800,000 migrants this year - four times last year's total.
    Labour Minister Andrea Nahles said the influx meant between 240,000 and 460,000 more people could be entitled to social benefits next year, costing the state billions of euros.
    Papers Call For EU Solidarity Over Refugees
    Why is EU struggling with migrants and asylum?
    Full coverage of Europe migrant crisis
    Media caption Angela Merkel says refugees should be fairly divided among EU member states
    The German government has already said it is suspending the Dublin rule for Syrians who have travelled to Germany.
    After talks with the Spanish prime minister on Tuesday, the German chancellor repeated calls for a unified approach.
    Mrs Merkel said she had agreed with PM Mariano Rajoy on the need for registration centres to be set up in Italy and Greece with European co-operation.
    Meanwhile Babar Baloch, Central Europe spokesman for the UN's refugee agency, criticised "Europe's ad hoc approach" to the crisis.
    Media caption The rules governing immigration to the EU - explained in 90 seconds
    The risks for migrants travelling through Europe were highlighted last week by the deaths of 71 people found in a lorry that had travelled to Austria from Budapest.
    Most of the dead were thought to be Syrians.
    Hundreds more people drowned in the Mediterranean last week while trying to reach Europe from Libya.

    10 days of the migrant crisis

    • 21 August: Crowds of migrants rush at Macedonian border forces in an attempt to enter from Greece
    • 27 August: Hundreds of people are feared dead after two boats carrying about 500 migrants sink in the Mediterranean, off Libya; more than 300,000 migrants have risked their lives trying to cross the Mediterranean this year, according to the UN
    • 27 August: A lorry abandoned near Parndorf in Austria is found to have 71 dead people inside, including four children
    • 28 August: Twenty-six migrants are rescued from a van in Austria, near the border with Germany
    • 1 September: Hundreds of migrants arrive by train in Munich, after Hungary abandons efforts to register them
    Are you in the area? Have you made the journey to Hungary or elsewhere in Europe? You can share your experiences by emailing haveyoursay@bbc.co.uk.
    Please include a contact number if you are willing to speak to a BBC journalist. You can also contact us in the following ways:
    Or use the form below
    If you are happy to be contacted by a BBC journalist please leave a telephone number that we can contact you on. In some cases a selection of your comments will be published, displaying your name as you provide it and location, unless you state otherwise. Your contact details will never be published. When sending us pictures, video or eyewitness accounts at no time should you endanger yourself or others, take any unnecessary risks or infringe any laws. Please ensure you have read the terms and conditions.

    Terms and conditions

    Migrant surge

    Migrant stories

    Video

    Posted by at No comments:
    Labels: , , , , , , ,
    Subscribe to: Posts (Atom)