Judging by commercial satellite images of the country's nuclear test site taken on May 5, a U.S. think tank said that North Korea may be preparing to carry out a fifth nuclear test in the near future.   The images showed vehicle movement at the site "not often seen there except during...

The junkyard for scrapped deals is getting crowded.   According to data compiled by Bloomberg about nine percent of the $3.2 trillion in deals announced in the past eight months -- worth $294 billion -- have already fallen apart.   Despite overall deal volumes only ticking...

Cosmetics sales in Iran are among the highest in the Middle East, despite -- or perhaps partly because of -- strict Islamic dress codes.    Many women express their individuality with lipstick, mascara and nail polish in styles that would seem elaborate by Western standards even as they...

Alibaba has signaled Southeast Asia as a regional e-commerce battleground - with 600 million people, and no shortage of logistical headaches with its $1 billion buy of online retailer Lazada. The Southeast Asian region comes with complex regulatory, logistical and language barriers even as the...

As markets took a positive view ahead of top policymaker and oil producer meetings, world stocks rose to their highest level in more than four months on Thursday and the dollar had a third day of gains.   While Europe was watching a meeting of the Bank of England as sterling continued...

As banks make their biggest cuts yet to their loans to the energy sector, the U.S. shale drillers that have upended global energy markets are finally feeling a credit squeeze nearly two years into an epic oil rout.   Based on the value of their reserves in the ground oil and gas producers...

Even as US banks are expected to report their results as earnings season gets under way next week analysts are expecting first-quarter reports in the financial sector to show a 9.2-percent decline in earnings and a 0.2-percent rise in sales.   However the fine print in the results, and what...

While a broadly soft dollar gave extra legs to a rally in oil prices, Japanese exporter stocks were trampled by the yen as it powered to 17-month peaks on Thursday.   Despite a big bounce in the energy and healthcare sectors, the profit-eroding rise in the yen kept the Nikkei to a...

For Wall Street's top dealmakers 2015 was a dream year while 2016 has started out with a jolt and threatens to take a nightmarish turn.   This is because some of the mega transactions that had ignited passion in the Wall Street at the beginning of the year have managed to put the lid on the...

Even as persistent global oversupply and Iran's plans to boost production put a cap on gains, there was a rise in the crude oil futures rose on Wednesday hinging on hopes for an agreement among exporters to freeze output underpinned the market.   After Kuwait said there were "positive...

March 26 is the last date for filing nomination for entry into Yahoo’s board. A proxy fight could ensue. Starboard Value LP, the activist hedge fund which is leading the revolt against Yahoo Inc’s management team, is now wanting the removal of the entire board of directors of the struggling...