Hong Kong’s leader begins an official visit to Central Asia on Monday with his largest delegation to date, aiming to explore new markets amid geopolitical uncertainties and help mainland Chinese companies “go global”. Sources said dozens of memorandums of understanding (MOUs) were expected to be signed by representatives from various sectors and their counterparts in Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan duri...
Hong Kong’s leader begins an official visit to Central Asia on Monday with his largest delegation to date, aiming to explore new markets amid geopolitical uncertainties and help mainland Chinese companies “go global”. Sources said dozens of memorandums of understanding (MOUs) were expected to be signed by representatives from various sectors and their counterparts in Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan during the five-day visit. One of the deals under the spotlight will be between tungsten miner Jiaxin...
On October 16, 1846, the American dentist William T.G. Morton successfully demonstrated the use of inhaled ether anaesthesia at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston, an event widely considered a turning point in modern surgery. But this record may have to be rewritten after new evidence emerged that in the 14th century AD, Chinese surgeons were making their own anaesthetics from plants. Their ...
On October 16, 1846, the American dentist William T.G. Morton successfully demonstrated the use of inhaled ether anaesthesia at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston, an event widely considered a turning point in modern surgery. But this record may have to be rewritten after new evidence emerged that in the 14th century AD, Chinese surgeons were making their own anaesthetics from plants. Their use had previously been recorded in ancient Chinese texts, but now the first physical evidence...
A Tokyo bar run by Buddhist monks has become an online sensation for its unusual blend of cocktails, chanting and death-themed rituals. At the Vowz Bar in the city’s Shinjuku district, patrons can sip drinks inspired by heaven and hell, seek life advice from the monk staff and listen to sutras performed in a modern musical style. According to a Chinese visitor @kaolababyy, the menu features cockta...
A Tokyo bar run by Buddhist monks has become an online sensation for its unusual blend of cocktails, chanting and death-themed rituals. At the Vowz Bar in the city’s Shinjuku district, patrons can sip drinks inspired by heaven and hell, seek life advice from the monk staff and listen to sutras performed in a modern musical style. According to a Chinese visitor @kaolababyy, the menu features cocktails such as “Nirvana in the Pure Land”, “Never Ending Suffering in Hell” and “Love and Hate leading...
The recent surge in Indian bond yields may extend as investors weigh prospects of interest-rate hikes, while concerns grow over the government’s fiscal position. The benchmark 10-year yield is up about 34 basis points to 7% since the outbreak of the Iran war three months ago. IndusInd Bank Ltd. expects it to touch 7.45% by end-2026, while Kotak Mahindra Bank Ltd. sees it trading in a range of 6.8%...
The recent surge in Indian bond yields may extend as investors weigh prospects of interest-rate hikes, while concerns grow over the government’s fiscal position. The benchmark 10-year yield is up about 34 basis points to 7% since the outbreak of the Iran war three months ago. IndusInd Bank Ltd. expects it to touch 7.45% by end-2026, while Kotak Mahindra Bank Ltd. sees it trading in a range of 6.8%-7.4% until March. “Sovereign yields would continue to trade with an upward bias,” said Gaurav Kapur , chief economist at IndusInd. “Markets are pricing in monetary tightening. Pressure on public finances on account of a likely increase in fuel and fertilizer subsidies could push yields upwards too, especially given the sizable gross market borrowing program.” The Reserve Bank of India may be under pressure to raise borrowing costs in its decision due Friday, as a weaker rupee and higher oil costs fuel inflation concerns. While most economists expect it to keep rates unchanged for now, investors will be watching for signs the central bank is turning hawkish. Tata Asset Management Pvt. and Bandhan AMC Ltd. expect about 75-100 basis points of rate hikes in the current cycle. India is not alone in facing bond selloff from the Iran war and energy disruptions, but the country is particularly vulnerable given its heavy oil imports and extensive government subsidies on fuel and fertilizers. Lower government revenues, due to a possible shortage in tax and asset-sale receipts, and higher subsidies may widen the fiscal deficit to 4.6% of the gross domestic product in the current fiscal year that started April 1, from a budgeted 4.3%, according to Kotak Mahindra Bank. In a more adverse scenario, it can even widen to 4.8%, it said. Some money managers, including ICICI Prudential Asset Management Co. and Quantum Asset Management Co. Pvt. , expect the RBI to be cautious on rate hikes, given inflation stems from supply‑side shocks in energy rather than demand. “India’s bond market today i...
AI's Coming Reality Check: When The Physics Finally Hits The Hype Authored by Chris MacIntosh vis InternationalMan.com, In five years, we’ll all likely be chuckling and shaking our heads over AI. Because today, the tech feels free and limitless, doesn’t it? People are generating endless content: images, videos, memes, code snippets, social posts. Companies are bolting AI onto products by default, ...
AI's Coming Reality Check: When The Physics Finally Hits The Hype Authored by Chris MacIntosh vis InternationalMan.com, In five years, we’ll all likely be chuckling and shaking our heads over AI. Because today, the tech feels free and limitless, doesn’t it? People are generating endless content: images, videos, memes, code snippets, social posts. Companies are bolting AI onto products by default, the way every Fortune 500 company suddenly discovered they were “sustainable” five years ago. There’s much deliberation on AI right now, and it splits into two main camps of thesis: The majority — those who will die on its hill of promise, convinced we’re months away from effective altruism, UBI, and sentient toasters. And the minority — usually older, more experienced types — who don’t fully understand it, but look at numbers, remember the dot-com bust, and think this rhymes. We’ll leave that debate to the dinner parties. What interests us is something more boring. Physics. Because here’s the thing: AI isn’t free. Every token represents electricity. Something your average developer, product manager, user, or investor gives precisely zero thought to. Electricity means power plants, transmission lines, grid infrastructure — yes. It also means hot sheds; capital-intensive data centres and all the equipment, cooling systems, and real estate that go with them. Real things. Physical things. We are surrounded by hype without consideration for the physics. Right now, there’s a disconnect between the physical cost of this technology and the price users pay for it. That gap is being covered by Wall Street, venture capital, pension funds, hyperscaler balance sheets, and strategic spending on “growth” (a word which here means “losses we’ve chosen to rebrand”). The question is: what happens when that gap closes? Scenario 1: The Industry Matures No outright collapse, but financial discipline arrives. A novel concept in Silicon Valley. Low-value usage disappears first. “AI slop” dies bec...
Funtap/iStock via Getty Images The interest payments required to fund the US government debt are becoming a real problem. Since 2020, net interest outlays as a percent of GDP have risen from 1.4% to 3.1%, and the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) is projecting this ratio to grow to 4.6% by 2036. The CBO published its budget and economic outlook for 2026 to 2036 in February of this year. Note, the ...
Funtap/iStock via Getty Images The interest payments required to fund the US government debt are becoming a real problem. Since 2020, net interest outlays as a percent of GDP have risen from 1.4% to 3.1%, and the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) is projecting this ratio to grow to 4.6% by 2036. The CBO published its budget and economic outlook for 2026 to 2036 in February of this year. Note, the CBO’s economic outlook for the next decade has Treasury yields contained at a level between 3.1% and 3.3% for 3-year maturities and between 4.1% and 4.4% for riskier 10-year maturities. If interest rates were to rise above these levels, due to rising inflation expectations, the net interest cost as a percent of GDP in the CBO’s projections would be even higher. Frightening CBO Projections The United States government running a budget deficit is nothing new. Our country has been funding persistent government deficits through debt issuance for the vast majority of its history since the Great Depression. But the character of the likely future high magnitude and persistence of the deficit has materially changed since the pandemic. Starting from 5.9% for 2025, the CBO projects the fiscal deficit to grow to 6.7% of GDP by 2036, with the deficit averaging 6.1% over the 10-year stretch from 2027 to 2036. Using Federal Reserve data going back to 1929, the two longest continuous periods of the federal budget deficits greater than 6% of GDP were for just five years during and immediately after World War 2 from 1942 to 1946, and then for just four years in the aftermath of the Global Financial Crisis (GFC), from 2009 to 2012. The first period, due to World War 2, was a high inflationary regime led by necessary financial repression, i. e. , government-suppressed interest rates, also referred to by economists as “fiscal dominance”. The second period, post-GFC, was necessary due to the collapse of the U. S. housing market, causing large-scale emergency spending and tax cuts to stimulate d...
In this article @LCO.1 Follow your favorite stocks CREATE FREE ACCOUNT The Sea Voyager crude oil tanker anchored off the Port of Long Beach in Long Beach, California, US, on Thursday, May 7, 2026. Tim Rue | Bloomberg | Getty Images Oil prices rose Monday after Israel ordered troops to push deeper into Lebanon, renewing concerns that clashes with the Iran-backed Hezbollah group could threaten a fra...
In this article @LCO.1 Follow your favorite stocks CREATE FREE ACCOUNT The Sea Voyager crude oil tanker anchored off the Port of Long Beach in Long Beach, California, US, on Thursday, May 7, 2026. Tim Rue | Bloomberg | Getty Images Oil prices rose Monday after Israel ordered troops to push deeper into Lebanon, renewing concerns that clashes with the Iran-backed Hezbollah group could threaten a fragile ceasefire between Washington and Tehran. Brent crude futures , the international benchmark, gained 2.45% to $93.35 a barrel. West Texas Intermediate futures added 2.8% to $89.78 per barrel. The escalation in hostilities, which followed the U.S.-brokered Israeli-Lebanon talks in Washington on Friday, dimmed hopes that Washington and Tehran were nearing an extension of their ceasefire arrangement. Stock Chart Icon Stock chart icon "Together with Defense Minister Yisrael Katz, I instructed the IDF to expand the maneuver in Lebanon," Benjamin Netanyahu said Sunday . The order came despite a ceasefire declared in April. Goldman Sachs said risks to its fourth-quarter 2026 Brent and WTI forecasts of $90 and $83 per barrel remain "two-sided," with the bank warning that while persistent Middle East supply disruptions could push prices higher, weakening demand could create meaningful downside risks. Goldman estimated that weak April oil retail sales data from China and Western Europe together implied around 2 million barrels per day of downside risk to its already subdued demand forecasts. Choose CNBC as your preferred source on Google and never miss a moment from the most trusted name in business news.
US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth praised defense allies in Asia and hailed newly stable ties with China at an Asia security forum in Singapore. Key US allies in the region also spoke about the security impact of geopolitical tensions both in Asia-Pacific and the Middle East. Bloomberg's China Correspondent Minmin Low breaks down the latest. (Source: Bloomberg)
US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth praised defense allies in Asia and hailed newly stable ties with China at an Asia security forum in Singapore. Key US allies in the region also spoke about the security impact of geopolitical tensions both in Asia-Pacific and the Middle East. Bloomberg's China Correspondent Minmin Low breaks down the latest. (Source: Bloomberg)