Aurelia Butler

BRUSSELS (Reuters) – European Union leaders meet on Thursday to grapple with the conflict between Israel and Hamas while also aiming to show continuing support for Ukraine in its war against Russia’s invasion.The summit in Brussels will be the first in-person meeting of the EU’s 27 national leaders since the deadly Oct. 7 assault on Israel by Palestinian militant group Hamas, which prompted Israel to bombard and blockade Hamas-run Gaza.While EU countries have all strongly condemned the Hamas attack, leaders have struggled to stick to the same message beyond that, with some stressing Israel’s right to self-defence and others emphasising concern about Palestinian civilians.In the lead-up to the summit, EU countries were wrangling over whether to call for a “humanitarian pause”, with some arguing such a measure was vital to get aid into Gaza while others said it could limit Israel’s ability to defend itself.Diplomats said the EU appeared to be coalescing around a compromise call for “pauses” in the plural, as this suggested short breaks in fighting for specific missions such as hostage releases or aid convoys, rather than a formal ceasefire.EU leaders including French President Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz have visited the Middle East to express solidarity with Israel and bolster diplomatic efforts to prevent the conflict spiralling into a regional war.While the EU’s influence on the conflict is modest, officials fear that an escalation could have grave consequences for Europe, including a rise in tensions between communities, possible Islamist militant attacks and a large flow of refugees.”Our meeting comes at a time of great global instability and insecurity, exacerbated most recently by developments in the Middle East,” said Charles Michel, president of the European Council of EU leaders, in an invitation letter to the summit.”These developments require our immediate attention, without distracting us from our continued support to Ukraine.”Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy will address the summit by video link and support for Kyiv will have first place in the summit declaration.The EU and its member countries have provided billions of euros in assistance to Ukraine since Russian forces invaded in February last year.But some officials and diplomats have voiced fears that Ukraine may now struggle to get the same political attention and resources from the West, particularly the United States, due to the new crisis in the Middle East.The summit will not be able to sign off on multi-year plans for 50 billion euros in financial aid and up 20 billion euros for military aid for Ukraine, as they are part of a broader budget battle that officials hope to conclude by year’s end.At the summit, the leaders will have their first debate on that budget package, which diplomats expect to be contentious.”It’s hard to ask for more money for the EU budget when national budgets are getting squeezed,” said one EU diplomat.Diplomats say there is broad support for more money for Ukraine but other elements of the proposal by the European Commission – the bloc’s executive – are more contentious, as countries clash over priorities and sources of funding.The Commission has asked for 15 additional billion euros to deal with migration and further money to cover increased borrowing costs for joint EU debt as interest rates rise. More

TOKYO (Reuters) -Japanese finance minister Shunichi Suzuki maintained a warning to investors against selling the yen on Thursday, saying authorities were closely watching moves after the currency fell beyond 150 yen against the dollar.”I’m watching market moves with a sense of urgency, as before,” Suzuki told reporters at his ministry, when asked about renewed weakness in the yen.The dollar rose to 150.32 yen, its highest since October last year when Japan last intervened in the market to support the local currency. The greenback last traded at 150.08 yen.The 150 yen line is perceived by investors as a danger zone that may trigger intervention. Suzuki made no comments about intervention.Pressure is mounting on the Bank of Japan to change its bond yield control as global interest rates rise. A hike to an existing yield cap set just three months ago is being discussed as a possibility in the run-up to next week’s policy meeting, Reuters cited sources as saying this week. More

SYDNEY (Reuters) -The head of Australia’s central bank on Thursday said the strong third-quarter inflation report was around policymakers’ expectations, and they were still considering whether it would warrant a rate rise. Reserve Bank of Australia Governor Michele Bullock warned earlier this week that the central bank will not hesitate to raise interest rates further if there is a “material” upward revision to the outlook. “We are still analysing the numbers … We have to look at whether or not it’s material enough to change our views on monetary policy,” Bullock said on Thursday in her first appearance before lawmakers since assuming the role of governor in mid-September. “Given the information that have come in since then, particularly the monthly CPI indicator, we thought it was going to be about where it came out.”The Australian dollar dipped to a fresh 11-month low of $0.6285, and futures rose slightly but still imply a 60% chance that the RBA would resume the tightening cycle in November after four rate pauses.Bullock noted that goods inflation is coming down as desired, but services inflation is higher than what policymakers were comfortable with. The third quarter inflation was higher than what the central bank had forecast in August, which raised concerns about whether the RBA can get inflation back to the target band of 2-3% in late 2025, an already protracted path compared with other major economies. It will release its updated economic forecasts in early November.”When we go through our process of looking at our forecasts after the most recent news, we will again be making a judgment about how long do we think we can stay outside of the band in thinking what our monetary policy should be,” said Bullock. More

NEW YORK (Reuters) – Donald Trump was fined $10,000 on Wednesday after the New York judge overseeing his civil fraud trial said the former U.S. president for a second time violated a gag order barring him from disparaging court staff.Justice Arthur Engoron had imposed the order on Oct. 3 after Trump shared on social media a photo of the judge’s top clerk posing with U.S. Senate Majority leader Chuck Schumer, a Democrat, and falsely called her Schumer’s “girlfriend.”During a break on Wednesday in the case brought by New York Attorney General Letitia James concerning Trump’s business practices, Trump told reporters in a hallway, “This judge is a very partisan judge, with a person who’s very partisan sitting alongside of him, perhaps even much more partisan than he is.”Engoron, surmising that Trump was referencing his clerk, called the comments a “blatant” gag order violation.Trump’s hallway remarks came as Michael Cohen, his onetime lawyer and fixer, testified for a second day against him.Before being fined, Trump briefly took the witness stand and told Engoron he was referring to “you and Cohen” during his remarks. The judge rejected the idea, echoed by Trump’s lawyer Christopher Kise, that the “partisan” person Trump mentioned was Cohen.”The idea that that statement would refer to the witness, that doesn’t make sense to me,” Engoron said. “Don’t do it again or it will be worse.”Trump, the frontrunner for the Republican nomination to challenge Democratic President Joe Biden in the 2024 U.S. election, walked out of the courtroom after being fined.On Oct. 20, Engoron fined Trump $5,000 after finding he had not taken down a post disparaging the clerk, warning that future transgressions could bring “far more severe” sanctions including jail. In originally imposing the gag order, Engoron said comments against his staff were “unacceptable, inappropriate and will not be tolerated under any circumstances.”Engoron’s clerk has sat next to the judge during the trial, standard practice in a New York state court.Alina Habba, one of Trump’s lawyers, told Engoron she saw the clerk appear to roll her eyes during Cohen’s testimony, and that this was “completely inappropriate.”COHEN DEFENDS CREDIBILITYThe trial concerns allegations that Trump and his family business, the Trump Organization, unlawfully manipulated asset values and his net worth to dupe lenders and insurers. The case could break up Trump’s business empire. Cohen’s two days of testimony marked his first face-to-face encounters with Trump in five years. Trump “arbitrarily” inflated the value of real estate assets to secure favorable insurance premiums, Cohen testified on Tuesday.Since cutting ties and becoming one of Trump’s fiercest critics, Cohen has written two books and created a political podcast.Cross-examined by Habba on Wednesday, Cohen acknowledged having a financial incentive to criticize Trump, but defended his credibility. He rejected Habba’s contention that he has “made a career” of attacking Trump and embellishing criticism for personal gain.”The more outrageous your stories are about President Trump, the more money you make,” Habba said. “Is that accurate, Mr. Cohen?””No,” Cohen responded.A lawyer for Trump’s adult son Eric Trump – also a defendant in the case – asked Engoron to immediately enter a verdict in the defense’s favor based on what he called Cohen’s contradictory testimony. Cohen said on Tuesday Trump told him to inflate his asset values but said during 2019 congressional testimony he did not recall whether he received such a directive. Engoron denied the request, saying it would be “absurd” to rule in the defense’s favor midway through trial based on an “equivocal” statement by one witness. “There’s enough evidence to fill this courtroom,” Engoron said. Trump has denied wrongdoing in the case. Trump separately has pleaded not guilty in four criminal cases this year.Cohen’s testimony could bolster the attorney general’s case though his admitted record of deceit could undermine his credibility before Engoron, who alone will decide the outcome of the bench trial. In 2018, Cohen pleaded guilty to tax fraud, campaign finance violations and perjury and was sentenced to three years in prison.Before the trial’s Oct. 2 start, Engoron found that Trump fraudulently inflated his net worth, and ordered that companies that control crown jewels of his real estate portfolio, including Trump Tower in Manhattan, be dissolved. That ruling is on hold while Trump appeals. The trial largely concerns damages. James wants at least $250 million in fines, a permanent ban against Trump and sons Eric and Donald Jr. from running businesses in New York and a five-year commercial real estate ban against Trump and the Trump Organization. (This story has been refiled to replace the word ‘violence’ with ‘finance,’ in paragraph 23) More

SEOUL (Reuters) – South Korea’s economy fared better than expected in the third quarter with the expansion underpinned by exports, backing the case for the central bank to keep rates on hold for the months ahead.Gross domestic product (GDP) grew 0.6% in the July-September quarter from three months earlier, data from the Bank of Korea showed on Thursday, the same pace as the prior quarter and beating a median 0.5% increase forecast in a Reuters survey.The report points to an economy that is still in a soft patch and undergoing an exports-based recovery after a cumulative 300 basis points of interest rate hikes since August 2021 weighed on indebted households and restrained spending. In the third quarter, exports expanded 3.5% after declining 0.9% in the preceding three months, while private consumption grew 0.3% after contracting 0.1% in the second quarter.Government spending grew 0.1%, and construction investment expanded 2.2% after contracting 0.8% in the second quarter. Facility investment has been a drag, contracting 2.7% on-quarter.On an annual basis, Asia’s fourth-largest economy grew 1.4% in the third quarter, after a 0.9% gain in the second quarter and beating a 1.1% rise expected by economists.South Korea’s central bank held interest rates steady for a sixth straight meeting last week, retaining a tightening bias on monetary policy as it warned of inflationary risks from the Israel-Hamas conflict and global oil prices.In a separate Reuters survey conducted early this month, South Korea’s economic growth was forecast to slow to 1.2% in 2023 from 2.6% in 2022. That is lower than the government and the central bank’s projection for 1.4%. More