DAKAR, Dec 31 (Reuters) - Congolese security forces shot dead two men in the capital Kinshasa on Sunday during protests against President Joseph Kabila's refusal to step down from office, Human Rights Watch said. The two men were killed outside St. Alphonse church in Kinshasa's Matete district, the advocacy group's Central Africa director, Ida Sawyer, told Reuters. (Reporting by Aaron Ross; Edit...Read More

Cairo, Dec 31 (Reuters) - Egypt will keep its customs exchange rate steady at 16 pounds per dollar for January, the finance ministry said on Sunday."The decision is consistent with the currency price stabilization in the past period," it said in a statement.Egypt began setting a monthly fixed customs exchange rate in January, following the flotation of its pound currency in November 2016...Read More

WINDHOEK, Dec 31 (Reuters) - Namibia's stock of foreign reserves declined at the end of November to a five-month low of 28.5 billion Namibian dollars($2.31 billion), according to central bank monetary and banking statistics seen by Reuters on Sunday.The level of international reserves declined from 31.6 billion Namibian dollars ($2.56 billion) at the end of October, mainly due to exchange rate flu...Read More

BEIJING, Dec 31 (Reuters) - China will maintain prudent monetary policy and reasonable loan growth in 2018, central bank chief Zhou Xiaochuan said in comments published on Sunday.In a new year's message, Governor Zhou said that in 2017 the People's Bank of China (PBOC) had strengthened macro-economic controls, deepened financial reform, prevented systemic financial risks and promoted finance to se...Read More

(Updates death toll)KINSHASA, Dec 31 (Reuters) - Congolese security forces killed at least four people on Sunday during protests against President Joseph Kabila's refusal to step down from office, according to the police and rights groups. Three people were killed in altercations with security forces in the capital, Kinshasa, police spokesman Pierrot Mwanamputu said. Rights groups said at least t...Read More

(Updates death toll)KINSHASA, Dec 31 (Reuters) - Congolese security forces killed at least four people on Sunday during protests against President Joseph Kabila's refusal to step down from office, according to the police and rights groups. Three people were killed in altercations with security forces in the capital, Kinshasa, police spokesman Pierrot Mwanamputu said. Rights groups said at least t...Read More

Anti-government demonstrations take place in cities across Iran, the biggest in nearly a decade.Read full newsRead More

KINSHASA, Dec 31 (Reuters) - Congolese police and soldiers on Sunday set up checkpoints across the capital Kinshasa and fired teargas at opposition supporters outside a church where they had gathered to prevent planned protests against President Joseph Kabila. Authorities ordered internet and SMS services cut in response to calls by Catholic activists to march after Sunday mass. The activists are...Read More

Some 36,000 homes and businesses in British Columbia lost power due to ice storms in western Canada on Saturday, and workers rushed to restore service before nightfall as forecasters predicted extremely cold temperatures across the nation.Read full newsRead More

DUBAI, Dec 31 (Reuters) - Saudi Arabia's National Commercial Bank (NCB), the kingdom's largest lender, said on Sunday its board had proposed increasing the bank's capital by 10 billion riyals ($2.7 billion) through issuing bonus shares to help support growth.In a statement to the Saudi stock market, NCB said it will increase its capital to 30 billion riyals from retained earnings, by issuing one b...Read More

DUBAI, Dec 31 (Reuters) - The Qatar central bank's international reserves and foreign currency liquidity rose slightly in November, official data showed on Sunday, as capital outflows caused by sanctions imposed by other Arab states appeared to ease.The reserves and liquidity, a measure of the central bank's ability to support the riyal currency, increased to $36.9 billion last month from $36.1 bi...Read More

Not the place you would think.Read full newsRead More

By Sinead CarewDec 29 (Reuters) - U.S. stocks are expected to keep rising in 2018 because a massive drop in the corporate tax rate is seen boosting the economy and corporate profits, but strategists say sizable gains could either be short-lived or elusive.The bull market is on track to mark its ninth birthday in March, with the S&P 500 climbing 20 percent for 2017 - its biggest increase since...Read More

Street protests hit Iran for a third day running on Saturday, spreading to the capital Tehran with crowds confronting police and attacking some state buildings, and a social media report said two demonstrators had been shot dead in a provincial town.Read full newsRead More

This item is part of Stockwatch's value added news feed and is only available to Stockwatch subscribers.Here is a sample of this item:by Stockwatch Business ReporterNew York spot gold gained $7.80 to $1,302.50 on Friday. The TSX Venture Exchange rose 8.48 points to 850.72 while the TSX Gold Index inched 0.11 point higher to 195.46. Torex Gold Resources Inc. (TXG) followed bullion higher, adding 54...Read More

This item is part of Stockwatch's value added news feed and is only available to Stockwatch subscribers.Here is a sample of this item:by Will PurcellThe diamond and specialty minerals stocks box score for Friday was a rousing 108-60-110. The TSX Venture Exchange added another eight points to 850 while polished diamond prices edged higher. Dermot Desmond and David Whittle's Mountain Province Diamon...Read More

This item is part of Stockwatch's value added news feed and is only available to Stockwatch subscribers.Here is a sample of this item:by Stockwatch Business ReporterThe TSX Venture Exchange gained 8.48 points to 850.72 Friday. Geoff Balderson's fifth capital pool shell, the halted Aim Explorations Ltd. (AXN) has closed a $28.06-million subscription-receipt financing at 80 cents. The financing is i...Read More

How many times have you heard that Bitcoin isn’t a real currency because you can’t spend it anywhere?Bitcoin certainly has some flaws, and other cryptocurrencies may very well take its place in time. But it is the trailblazer, and early adopters are now rolling in digital dough.Contrary to popular belief, you can, in fact, spend your Bitcoin. Here are ten places to make it rain with yo...Read More

Some monthly charts of interest in the commodity sector, including precious metals.CRB Index dwells below key resistance. A break of 200 would target around 250 in 2018. CRB/SPX Ratio shows the utter devastation of the Goldilocks era of Central Bank inflation with no apparent consequences. This is not likely to last.WTI Crude Oil sits below resistance at 62-63, with a target of 75.NatGas is a bask...Read More

Imaginationsof the Misguided It’s Christmas 2017 and North Korean Dear Leader Kim Jong-un is facinga crisis. Recently the United States, with UN approval, imposed the harshestround of economic sanctions yet on his reclusive regime. While North Korea has been sanctioned since 2006 due to continuingattempts to develop nuclear weapons, this new provocation by its sworn nemesisis the last s...Read More