Global stocks sank Wednesday after US President Donald Trump said he was not satisfied with talks that are aimed at averting a trade war with China. Equities were also dented by poor eurozone economic data, and as Trump cast doubt on a planned summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un. “Trump (is) continuing to drive uncertainty over global trade,” said analyst Joshua Mahony at trading firm IG. “European markets are following their Asian counterparts lower, as a pessimistic tone from Trump is compounded by downbeat economic data,” he added. Markets had surged Monday after US Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin and Chinese Vice Premier Liu He said they had agreed to pull back from imposing threatened tariffs on billions of dollars of goods, and continue talks on a variety of trade issues. However, Trump has declared that he was “not satisfied” with the status of the talks, fuelling worries that the world’s top two economies could still slug out an economically pain...
Cubans voted Sunday to ratify a new National Assembly, a key step in a process leading to the elevation of a new president, the first in nearly 60 years from outside the Castro family. The new members of the National Assembly will be tasked with choosing a successor to 86-year-old President Raul Castro when he steps down next month. “The next president may not have that surname, but he will undoubtedly be a son of the Revolution,” the Foreign Ministry said on Twitter. Castro voted in the southeastern province of Santiago de Cuba while his first vice president and likely successor, Miguel Diaz-Canel, cast his ballot in the central Santa Clara province. “The triumphal march of the revolution will continue,” Diaz-Canel said after voting, promising “peace, liberty, independence and the sovereignty of the people will endure.” Raul Castro took over in 2006 from his ailing brother Fidel, who had governed since seizing power during the 1959 revolution. Eight million Cuba...