Fed may hike just once in 2015 as Yellen strikes less certain tone

SAN FRANCISCO/WASHINGTON | By Ann Saphir and Jonathan Spicer

Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen attends a news conference after chairing the second day of a two-day meeting of the Federal Open Market Committee to set interest rates in Washington June 17, 2015.

Reuters/Carlos Barria

The question of how quickly the Federal Reserve should raise rates is dividing normally like-minded policymakers at the U.S. central bank, pitting those who favor two hikes this year against a growing number of those who want to stop at just one. That shift, and the very real possibility that Fed Chair Janet Yellen may be one of the five who now prefer a single rate hike in 2015 rather than among an equal number who prefer two, is bolstering the view that the Fed may not deliver until late in the year.
The Fed has kept interest rates near zero since December 2008, and on Wednesday unanimously voted to keep them there. Behind that unanimity rages a debate over how long that state of affairs should last.

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"While we cannot be certain, our best guess is

BOJ's Kuroda backpedals on yen warning, says weakness not so harmful

TOKYO | By Leika Kihara and Stanley White

A Japanese flag flutters atop the Bank of Japan building in Tokyo May 22, 2015.

Reuters/Toru Hanai

Bank of Japan Governor Haruhiko Kuroda said the yen's current weakness was not inflicting severe pain on the economy, toning down an earlier warning to markets against pushing the currency too far down.He also shrugged off the view held by some market players that the central bank could be dissuaded from expandings its monetary stimulus further because of downside to a weak yen, like the pain households feel from rising import prices.
"At present, I don't think yen declines are causing severe damage to Japan's economy," Kuroda told reporters on Friday.

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"There's absolutely no truth to the view that the weak yen will deprive monetary policy of flexibility."
The BOJ board voted 8-1 to stick with the

South Korea court to rule on U.S. fund's bid to block Samsung deal by July 1

SEOUL | By Se Young Lee and Sohee Kim

A man tours a showroom of Samsung Electronics Co. in Seoul, South Korea, in this January 23, 2014 file photo.

Reuters/Kim Hong-Ji/Files

A South Korean court on Friday said it will rule by July 1 on U.S. hedge fund Elliott's injunction request to block a Samsung C&T Corp (000830.KS) shareholder vote on an $8 billion takeover bid from Cheil Industries Inc (028260.KS). In an unusual example of shareholder activism in South Korea, the fund told the court Cheil's all-stock offer was designed to pave the way for a leadership succession in the family-run Samsung conglomerate and did not serve the best interests of other shareholders.
"The company has yet to present a convincing argument on what synergies can come from the merger," a lawyer for Elliott argued.

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Investors and analysts say a Cheil-C&T merger would consolidate stakes in key firms like smartphone maker Samsung Electronics Co Ltd (005930.KS) into a company controlled by the founding Lee family heirs.
Cheil is Samsung Group's de facto holding company.
Successional planning at South Korea's biggest and most powerful family-run conglomerate has gathered momentum since patriarch Lee Kun-hee suffered a heart attack in May last year.
While the elder Lee remains hospitalized, heirs including his

Toyota in damage control mode after American exec arrested

TOKYO | By Chang-Ran Kim and Joshua Hunt

Toyota Motor Corp's Managing Officer and Chief Communications Officer Julie Hamp speaks to media during a news conference in Nagoya, central Japan, in this photo taken by Kyodo June 17, 2015 and released by Kyodo on June 18, 2015.

Reuters/Kyodo

Toyota Motor Corp moved into damage control mode on Friday after its new communications chief Julie Hamp, an American and its first senior woman executive, was arrested on suspicion of illegally bringing pain killers into Japan just two months after her appointment.Toyota President Akio Toyoda apologized for the incident at a news conference and reiterated the company's belief that Hamp had no intent of breaking the law.
"To me, executives and staff who are my direct reports are like my children," he said.

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"It's the responsibility of a parent to protect his children and, if a child causes problems, it's also a parent's responsibility to apologize."
Japanese media reports, citing police investigators, said 57 addictive Oxycodone pills were found in a small parcel labeled "necklaces" that was

Greek PM optimistic on debt deal as banks bleed

ATHENS | By George Georgiopoulos and Lefteris Papadimas

A man reads a newspaper front page bearing a picture of Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras in Athens June 18, 2015.

Reuters/Alkis Konstantinidis

Greeks pulled more than 1 billion euros out of their banks in a single day, banking sources said on Friday, as the country edged closer to the brink of default despite upbeat remarks from Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras.With less than two weeks left before Greece will default on an IMF loan unless the government reaches a deal with creditors, financial markets fear the authorities may have to impose capital controls to prevent savers from emptying the banks.
The governors of the European Central Bank, which is keeping the Greek financial system on life support by providing emergency funds, were due to hold a telephone conference to discuss how much cash it could continue to provide.

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Including the billion withdrawn on Thursday, savers have pulled 3 billion euros from Greek banks since talks between Athens and its creditors collapsed over the weekend, the banking sources told Reuters. That represents about 2.2 percent of household and corporate deposits held by Greek banks at the end of April. The figures were provided on condition of anonymity as the statistics were not yet officially published.
Failure to clinch a deal with creditors by the end of this month would see Greece default on a 1.6 billion euro loan payment to the IMF, making it the first euro zone member to go broke and potentially driving it out of the single currency.
Tsipras's government has refused creditor demands that it impose tax hikes and spending cuts, particularly to pensions, which Athens says

Islamic State seen overtaking al Qaeda in South Asia social media war

ISLAMABAD | By Katharine Houreld

Militant Islamist fighters hold the flag of Islamic State (IS) while taking part in a military parade along the streets of northern Raqqa province in this June 30, 2014 file photo. 2014 saw the rise of the Sunni militant group Islamic State, which has seized swathes of...

Reuters/Stringer

Islamist militant propaganda websites and social media accounts in South Asia are promoting Islamic State at the expense of al Qaeda, analysts said on Friday, highlighting the rivalry between the two global militant groups.Disaffected Taliban factions have started to look toward Islamic State, impressed by its rapid capture of territory in Syria and Iraq, though there is no evidence it is providing substantial material support to the Taliban.
The popularity of IS comes at the expense of al Qaeda, whose deep pockets and foreign fighters once readily attracted local commanders. But al Qaeda has been decimated by drone strikes and its traditional influence severely eroded.

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"The Taliban and al Qaeda have almost been written out of the picture," said Omar Hamid, the head of Asia analysis at IHS Country Risk. "Most of

Asian shares edge higher on Fed caution, China sell-off intensifies

HONG KONG | By Saikat Chatterjee

Asian shares rose for a third consecutive day on Friday even as China stocks tumbled into correction territory, while the Federal Reserve's cautious stance towards lifting interest rates kept the dollar on the back foot.Caution over Greece also tempered gains, as euro zone leaders prepared for an emergency summit on Monday to try to avert a Greek debt default.
Financial spreadbetters expected Britain's FTSE 100 .FTSE to open up 0.1 percent. Germany's DAX .GDAXI was seen up 27-38 points, or 0.2-0.3 percent, while France's CAC 40 .FCHI was seen up 2-4 points, or 0.1 percent.

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A broad index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan .MIAPJ0000PUS gained 0.6 percent while Japan's Nikkei .N225 rose 0.9 percent from a one-month low set on Thursday.
But China shares fell heavily, tumbling more than 4 percent at one point. By midday, the key CSI300 index .CSI300 and benchmark SSEC .SSEC were down more than 9 percent for the week and over 10 percent from their early June peak.
This week's correction was triggered by regulators' fresh moves to tighten margin financing - a key engine behind the market's frenzied rally - and was worsened by a tidal wave of initial public offerings that greatly increase share supply.
"First... room for further monetary easing could be less than anticipated, and inflows of new investors could have already peaked," Bosera Asset Management Co said in a note to clients on the correction.
"Secondly, a highly-leveraged bull (market) is not sustainable," Bosera said, citing moves by the government to reduce margin loans, which the

U.S. set to provide $5 million for anti-Boko Haram force

Reuters

U.S. set to provide $5 million for anti-Boko Haram force. PHOTOS: White House.gov

The United States plans to provide five million US dollars to help support a regional military force fighting Nigeria's Islamist militant group Boko Haram, a state department official said on Tuesday.
(READ MORE: Nigeria’s Buhari meets peers to hammer out boko haram force)
Boko Haram last year held a vast swathe of territory in northeastern Nigeria of just over 30,000 square kilometers (11,500 square miles), about the size of Belgium. The militants have since been beaten back but are still blamed for isolated attacks such as in Chad's capital on Monday where at least 27 people were killed.
The United States is already providing bilateral aid

By: Trust Matsilele

Africa has the fastest growing HNW individual market. PHOTOS: geliosoft

Africa has the fastest growing high net worth (HNW) individual market in the entire world; this is according to the New World Wealth Africa Wealth Report for 2015.
According to the report, the number of African individuals classified as HNW has increased by 145 per cent over the past 14 years, compared to worldwide HNW growth of 73 per cent over the same period.
(READ MORE: New wave of African millionaires emerging)
The number of new millionaires in Africa is steadily growing, with more than 160 000 individuals holding around 660 billion US dollars in personal wealth at the end of 2014.
According to the report, South Africa has the highest number of wealthy individuals on the continent with the number of dollar millionaires in this country rising by nine per cent since 2007.
Luke Martins, a financial planner at Old Mutual Private Wealth Management said the continued growth in numbers of high net worth

S.Africa’s growth not enough to deliver on challenges: Nene

Trust Matsilele

Finance Minister, Nhlanhla Nene said the country’s projected growth was not enough to address challenges it was facing. PHOTO: GCIS

South Africa’s Finance Minister, Nhlanhla Nene said the country’s projected growth was not enough to address challenges the country was facing.
Addressing delegates in Johannesburg attending the Third Commonwealth Stakeholders’ Conference on Public Debt Management and User Group Meeting said South Africa’s economic recovery from the crisis has been much slower than anticipated.
“We have projected growth of 2.0 per cent in 2015. While this is an achievable and realistic target, two per cent is not nearly enough to deliver the