CARACAS, Nov 22 (Reuters) - Preliminary data compiled by Venezuela's central bank shows that the troubled South American nation's economy shrank by 16.6 percent in 2017 compared to the year before, two sources familiar with the matter said on Thursday.The central bank did not immediately respond to a request for comment. (Reporting by Mayela Armas and Corina Pons; Editing by Sandra Maler ) Discla...Read More
MADRID (Reuters) - Chinese President Xi Jinping will travel to Spain next Wednesday for an official visit expected to focus on trade and tourism.On Tuesday, trade ministers will meet representatives of major companies including Spanish banks Santander (SAN.MC) and BBVA (BBVA.MC), Commercial Bank of China, Spain’s Telefonica (TEF.MC), oil company Repsol (REP.MC), China National Building Mater...Read More
PALM BEACH, Fla. (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump said on Thursday the United States was “in very strong” peace negotiations in Afghanistan but he did not known whether they would be successful.“I really think the people of Afghanistan ... are tired of fighting,” Trump told reporters after delivering a Thanksgiving holiday message to U.S. troops in Afghanistan, scene...Read More
FRANKFURT, Nov 22 (Reuters) - It is too early for the European Central Bank to decide on a new round of multi-year loans to banks, which are covered by existing funding until the middle of next year, the ECB’s chief economist said in an interview published on Thursday.“It is premature to decide on a new TLTRO now,” Peter Praet told German daily Handelsblatt, referring to the ECB&...Read More
JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Lawyers launched a class action lawsuit in Israel on Thursday against Airbnb, accusing the company of “outrageous discrimination” and demanding monetary damages after it withdrew listings of Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank.The San Francisco-based company said this week it was removing listings of around 200 homes in settlements after hearing criticis...Read More
• The precious metal built on the recent recovery from one-month lows and continued gaining positive traction for the seventh session in the previous eight. • The commodity now seems to have cleared a resistance marked by short-term descending trend-line, extending from highs touched in Oct. and early Nov. • Technical indicato...Read More
BEIJING (Reuters) - Chinese e-commerce sites have removed Dolce & Gabbana products amid a spiralling backlash against an advertising campaign that was decried as racist by celebrities and on social media.The ads - released earlier this week to drum up interest in a Shanghai fashion show the Italian brand later canceled - featured a Chinese woman struggling to eat spaghetti and pizza with chops...Read More
ANKARA (Reuters) - A transparent and credible investigation into the killing of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi has not yet been completed, Federica Mogherini, the European Union's foreign affairs chief, said on Thursday, after talks with Turkey's foreign minister.Khashoggi, a critic of the kingdom's de facto ruler Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, was killed in the Saudi consulate in Istanbul on...Read More
Infill drilling in the southwestern part of the Marathon deposit in Newfoundland continues to return high-grade gold intercepts, Marathon Gold (TSX: MOZ) reports.The company recently completed its 41,000-metre step-out and infill drill program for 2018, and assays include 5.36 grams gold over 11 metres from 26 metres below surface in hole MA-18-330; 3.63 grams gold over 10 metres from 134 metres...Read More
Infill drilling in the southwestern part of the Marathon deposit in Newfoundland continues to return high-grade gold intercepts, Marathon Gold (TSX: MOZ) reports.The company recently completed its 41,000-metre step-out and infill drill program for 2018, and assays include 5.36 grams gold over 11 metres from 26 metres below surface in hole MA-18-330; 3.63 grams gold over 10 metres from 134 metres...Read More
MEXICO CITY, Nov 20 (Reuters) - Shares in Mexican miners Grupo Mexico and Penoles fell sharply on Tuesday after a lawmaker presented a bill that would require the consent of indigenous communities before granting mining concessions on their land.The bill was presented by Senator Angelica Garcia from leftist President-elect Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador's National Regeneration Movement (MORENA) party...Read More
LONDON (Reuters) - Mining giant BHP says it will fight an unprecedented English lawsuit filed by hundreds of thousands of Brazilians for multi-billion pound damages over Brazil’s worst environmental disaster.SPG Law, a British offshoot of a U.S. litigator, represents 240,000 individuals in Brazil, 24 municipal governments, a Roman Catholic Archdiocese and members of the Krenak indigenous com...Read More
KHARTOUM (Reuters) - Sudan signed an agreement with a state-owned Turkish company on Thursday allowing it to mine for gold and other minerals in Sudan’s Red Sea state, a source at the Sudanese petroleum ministry said.The agreement between Sudan’s Geological Authority, which falls under the petroleum ministry, and Turkey’s Mineral Research and Exploration General Directorate (MTA)...Read More
KIEV (Reuters) - Ukraine's parliament on Thursday appointed Oksana Markarova as Finance Minister nearly half a year after her predecessor Oleksandr Danylyuk was sacked following a public spat with the prime minister.Markarova, who was nominated by Prime Minister Volodymyr Groysman, has served as acting minister since June and been a key negotiator with the International Monetary Fund about a new s...Read More
Copper output in Democratic Republic of Congo rose 8.7 percent year on year through the first nine months of 2018 to 908,695 tonnes while cobalt production jumped 92.5 percent to 115,116 tonnes, the central bank said on Thursday.Congo is Africa's top copper producer and the world's leading miner of cobalt, which is a key component in electric vehicles and other electronic products.Gold production...Read More
SolGold's coveted Ecuadorian copper-gold prospect may be 20 percent bigger than the mining group said earlier this week, its chief executive Nick Mather said on Thursday.SolGold, in which Mather has a near 5 percent stake, said on Tuesday that its Alpala project in Ecuador's Cascabel region was around double the size and grade quality it was known to be in December 2017."We think there's still 20...Read More
Andrew Osborn, Maria TsvetkovaMOSCOW (Reuters) - The head of Russia’s military intelligence agency that the West has blamed for a string of brazen attacks died on Wednesday after “a serious and long illness”, the Russian defense ministry said on Thursday, hailing him as a “true son of Russia.”The Ministry of Defense heaped praise on Colonel-General Igor Korobov, 62, w...Read More
Several central bankers, including Fed Chair Jerome Powell, will speak next weekWhile many will still be recovering from the triple whammy of Thanksgiving, Black Friday, and Cyber Monday, the last week of November is chock-full of potentially market-moving events. The final third-quarter gross domestic product (GDP) reading will draw notable attention on Wednesday, but there will also be the lates...Read More
An anonymous director reports NORTH AMERICAN PALLADIUM ANNOUNCES NEW COLLECTIVE AGREEMENT RATIFIED WITH UNITED STEELWORKERS WORKERS LOCAL 9422A new three-year collective agreement with North American Palladium Ltd. has been ratified by the members of United Steelworkers Local 9422. The USW represents the production and maintenance workers at the Lac des Iles mine site. The new collective agreement...Read More
Saudi Arabia's King Salman on Thursday inaugurated the Waad Al-Shamaal mining project, which is expected to boost the kingdom's gross domestic product by 24 billion riyals ($6.4 billion) and its non-oil GDP by around 3 percent.The kingdom will invest 85 billion riyals in the project, a 440-square-km (150-square-mile) city for mining industries in the northern region, the Ministry of Energy, Indust...Read More