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Asian stocks rise after Wall Street record on trade truce

BEIJING (AP) — Most Asian stock markets rose Tuesday after Wall Street’s benchmark hit a new high following the latest truce in the costly U.S.-Chinese trade war.

Tokyo and Sydney rose, while Shanghai was unchanged. Hong Kong advanced despite protests over a proposed extradition law that prompted police to use tear gas to clear streets.

Iran breaches uranium stockpile limit set by nuclear deal

TEHRAN, Iran (AP) — Iran has broken the limit set on its stockpile of low-enriched uranium by its 2015 nuclear deal with world powers, international inspectors and Tehran said Monday, marking its first major departure from the unraveling agreement a year after the U.S. unilaterally withdrew from the accord.

Eurozone unemployment falls to lowest rate since 2008

1 July 2019; DW: Unemployment in the eurozone dropped to 7.5% in May, the lowest rate recorded since July 2008, the European statistic agency Eurostat reported Monday.

The data showed the number of jobless in the 19 countries using the euro currency stood at 12.3 million, down by 1.2 million people compared to the same period last year.

Germany's AKK travels to Israel in first overseas visit as CDU leader

1 July 2019; DW: Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer, the leader of Germany's Christian Democratic Union (CDU), kicked off her first visit to Israel on Monday by addressing tensions with Iran and urging for more defense spending in Germany.

Speaking at a security conference in the city of Herzliya, she defended the 2015 Iran nuclear deal, saying that the world has not yet found a more suitable way to curb Iran's nuclear program.

India: GST may become two-tier tax with merger of 12, 18 pc slabs

New Delhi, Jul 1 (PTI) Former Finance Minister Arun Jaitley Monday said the 12 and 18 per cent tax slabs in goods and services tax (GST) could be merged going forward as revenues increase, thereby effectively making it a two-tier tax.

Penning a Facebook post on the second anniversary of GST rollout, Jaitley said as many as 20 states are already showing more than a 14 per cent increase in their revenues and do not require the centre to compensate them for revenue loss arising out of GST implementation.

India PMI index down to 52.1 in June

MUMBAI, July 1 (Xinhua) -- Indian manufacturing sector lost its growth momentum in June as the Nikkei India Purchasing Managers' Index (PMI) went down at 52.1 from a three-month high of 52.7 in the preceding month of May, HIS Markit, a global information provider that compiles the index, said Monday.

A softer increase in new work intakes translated into slower rises in output and employment, while the upturn in quantities of purchases strengthened, the HIS Markit said in a statement.

Kudlow: US sales to Huawei won’t imperil national security

WASHINGTON (AP) — White House economic adviser Larry Kudlow insisted Sunday that President Donald Trump won’t back off national security concerns after agreeing to allow U.S. companies to sell some components to Chinese telecommunications giant Huawei.

Kudlow told “Fox News Sunday” and CBS’ “Face the Nation” that Huawei will remain on an American blacklist as a potential security threat. He stressed that additional U.S. licensing “will be for what we call general merchandise, not national security sensitive,” such as chips and software generally available around the world.

Asian shares rise on hopes for US-China trade negotiations

TOKYO (AP) — Asian markets took heart Monday from revived hopes for progress in trade negotiations between the U.S. and China after President Donald Trump met with China’s Xi Jinping at the Group of 20 summit in Japan.

But the latest data suggested the prolonged trade conflict between Washington and Beijing is taking a further toll on regional growth.

Japanese manufacturers show weakening confidence in economy

TOKYO (AP) — A closely watched quarterly survey by Japan’s central bank released Monday showed declining confidence in the economic outlook among major manufacturers as trade tensions between the U.S. and China add to worries over regional and global growth.

The Bank of Japan’s weak “tankan” reading was the second straight quarter of deterioration amid worries over trade tensions and a regional slowdown.

The survey’s index for major manufacturers fell to 7 in June from 12 in the March survey.

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