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Portugal’s Socialists conceded defeat in a parliamentary election on Sunday which saw the far-right emerge as the biggest winner. With nearly 99% of votes counted, the center-right AD coalition had secured 77 seats against 75 seats for the Socialists. “Everything indicates that the result won’t enable the Socialist Party to be the most voted party," Socialist leader Pedro Nuno Santos said. He congratulated the AD for their election victory. Far-right party Chega recorded the biggest jump in support compared with the 2022 election - it has already won 46 seats, almost quadrupling its current tally. This means the AD would...

In separate pleadings, Black Knight and Intercontinental Exchange asked a federal court judge to declare the Federal Trade Commission's structure unconstitutional. The filings, both made on April 25, were in response to the FTC seeking an injunction against their merger in the Federal District Court for the Northern District of California in San Francisco. Now, both Black Knight and Intercontinental Exchange, are seeking their own injunctive relief against the FTC. These latest pleadings make similar separation of power arguments that were included in their responses made on March 20 to the FTC's filing for an administrative hearing to quash the...

Sales of Green, Social and Sustainability (GSS) bonds in Europe could total 1.6 trillion euros ($1.68 trillion) by 2026, making up almost half of all new bond issuance in the region, according to a new report released on Tuesday. The study by PwC Luxembourg draws on the accounting firm’s forecasts and survey of investors and bond issuers in 2021 and comes as investors are increasingly concerned about climate change and Europe’s efforts to shift towards a more sustainable economy. According to the study, European GSS bond issuance will reach 1.4 trillion euros in 2026 under its baseline assumption and 1.6...

In August, bond-ratings firms Moody's Corp. and S&P Global Inc. predicted that Newell Brands Inc. would soon reduce its heavy debt load, allowing it to keep its coveted investment-grade bond rating. They made the same prediction in 2018. And in 2017. And in 2016. And in 2015, when the company announced a big merger that quadrupled its debt. Yet bond ratings for the maker of Rubbermaid containers and Sharpie markers haven't budged. When S&P and Moody's made their upbeat projections in 2018, they made an error that understated Newell's indebtedness, according to a Wall Street Journal review of the rating...

Europe stepped up preparations for a no-deal Brexit on Monday after giving key parts of the City of London temporary access to EU customers in the event of a cliff-edge departure. The European Securities and Markets Authority, the EU financial regulator, has granted three UK-based clearing houses — LCH, ICE Clear Europe and LME Clear — licences to carry on doing business with European-based customers over the next 12 months even if politicians fail to strike an agreement. London dominates clearing for derivatives traded by European customers and clears nearly all over-the-counter derivatives, mainly interest-rates swaps, traded in euros. Clearing...

The chief regulator for the U.S. Federal Reserve said Monday the nation's regulators are actively considering a significant rewrite of the "Volcker Rule." Fed Vice Chair for Supervision Randal Quarles told bankers gathered in Washington that regulators want to make "material changes" to streamline and simplify several aspects of the ban on certain bank trading, put in place after the 2007-2009 financial crisis. His comments are the most explicit endorsement yet of regulators rewriting one of the central post-crisis rules, which bans banks from making profit-seeking trades on their own account. But its current form, completed in 2013, has been...

The Bank of England plans to offer a proposed sharia-compliant liquidity tool to a wider range of financial institutions beyond Islamic banks to boost demand, a senior official said on Monday. London has long sought to position itself as a global hub for Islamic finance, aiming to attract business from core centres in the Middle East and Southeast Asia. The central bank has been working on a fund-based deposit model that would help Islamic lenders meet regulatory requirements for liquid asset buffers. But the tool will also be available to institutions whose articles of association incorporate sharia compliance, Arshadur Rahman,...

An Australian defense contractor suffered a major hack, exposing top secret U.S. military technology. The country’s defense ministry has confirmed the breach, which reportedly included data on state-of-the-art military aircraft and warships. While it remains unclear if the cyber-attack was state sponsored, officials say they are not ruling out the possibility. Top secret information on the brand new F-35 Joint Strike Fighter along with the U.S. military’s mainstay transport plane, the C130, was also said to be compromised. The manager of the Australian Signals Directorate described the breach as “extensive and extreme,” and said that the software the government was...

At least five people are dead and eight injured following an explosion near the U.S. Embassy in the Afghan capital of Kabul. An explosion was set off at the entrance of a bank near Massoud Square Tuesday, which is an area that houses the U.S. Embassy and several other diplomatic buildings. The attack occurred while many people were trying to withdraw money for the upcoming Muslim holiday. While no one has yet to claim responsibility, unconfirmed reports say the explosion was set off by a suicide bomber.

<p>CARACAS (Reuters) – The U.S. government ordered family members of employees at its embassy in Venezuela to leave on Thursday as a political crisis deepened ahead of a controversial vote critics contend will end democracy in the oil-rich country.</p> <p>Violence continued to rage on the street, with another seven people killed during the latest opposition-led strike against President Nicolas Maduro’s planned election for a powerful new Constituent Assembly on Sunday.</p>

No live thread yet, so I'm starting one. Voted at 2:30 p.m. in Mt Pleasant 19. No line. Poll worker reported 28.3% turnout so far in a precinct that had a 66% turnout in the last major election. Results should be here after the polls close.

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The al Qaeda affiliate in Somalia has mocked the new $33 million bounty on its top leaders heads by offering its own bounty for President Obama and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton – 10 camels for Obama and 20 chickens for Clinton. "Anyone who helps the Mujahideen find the whereabouts of Obama and Hillary Clinton will be rewarded with 10 Camels to the information leading to Obama and 10 hens and 10 cocks for Hillary," said senior Shabaab commander Fuad Mohamed Khalaf in a statement reported on numerous websites.

JUPITER, Florida (July 15, 2011) — Weiss Ratings, an independent rating agency of U.S. financial institutions and sovereign debts, has downgraded the debt of the United States government from C to C-minus. The C-minus rating for the U.S. reflects a continued deterioration in the weaknesses cited in the Weiss Ratings release of April 28, 2011, including heavy debt burdens, shaky international stability, and poor economic health. Weiss Ratings senior financial analyst Gavin Magor commented: “Our downgrade today is not contingent on the outcome of the debt ceiling debate in Washington. It is driven exclusively by the numbers, which indicate that,...

WASHINGTON -(Dow Jones)- Egan-Jones Ratings Co. over the weekend lowered its rating on U.S. debt, the ratings firm's president, Sean Egan, announced Monday. The downgrade is not expected to have a significant impact on the market because the Haverford, Pa.-based Egan-Jones is among the smallest of the nationally recognized rating agencies, analysts said. But it comes as the much larger and more influential ratings agencies, Moody's Investors Service and Standard & Poor's, have warned they too would downgrade the U.S.'s rating if the $14.29 trillion debt ceiling isn't raised soon. In Egan-Jones' ratings analysis, dated Saturday, the firm cited the...

BULAWAYO - Zimbabwe’s black empowerment lobby group has accused foreign owned companies of sabotaging the controversial indigenisation policy by deliberately closing shop and stripping assets to avoid take-over. Affirmative Action Group (AAG) regional treasurer, Elias Mashava on Wednesday said the indigenisation drive faces a setback if no action was taken against the companies. “We have a situation here where some companies are deliberately closing, stripping assets and selling machinery so that they are not included when the indigenisation drive is in full swing. “The government should take action against such companies who want to sabotage the black empowerment policy,” Mashava...

Harare came to a standstill on Monday when a ZANU PF mob engulfed the city in chaos, destroying property worth thousands of dollars, mainly belonging to foreign owned companies. Our correspondent Simon Muchemwa told us that dozens of shops were looted when the ZANU PF militia went on a rampage, as police details stood by watching ordinary people and shop owners being abused and brutalised. Shops belonging to Zimbabweans were also caught up in the crossfire. The attacks on foreign nationals could easily be construed as xenophobic, according to our correspondent. Muchemwa said the mob, dressed in ZANU PF regalia,...

In what looks to be the start of the next phase of state-sponsored property heists in Zimbabwe, over 20 tourism facilities have been invaded in Lake Chivero Recreational Park (formerly Lake Mcllwaine), 37 km south west of Harare. The lake is Harare’s main water supply and the surrounding land was declared a national park shortly after construction was completed in 1952. The game park, currently home to some of the last white rhino in Zimbabwe, was opened in 1962. The invasion was reported on Friday (January 21) when a mob of about 150 people arrived without warning on Kumba Shiri...

HARARE – More than 80 000 youth militia, war veterans and soldiers will be deployed across the country in an army-led drive to ensure victory for President Robert Mugabe in the next elections that, according to investigations by ZimOnline, look set to be the bloodiest ever witnessed in Zimbabwe. A three-month investigation by ZimOnline that included interviews and discussions with Cabinet ministers, senior military officers and ZANU PF functionaries, revealed a desperate determination by Zimbabwe’s top generals to thwart Tsvangirai, with some even openly bragging that they would topple the Prime Minister should he somehow triumph against the planned violence...