David Cameron is letting his ministers campaign for a Brexit if they want to

• Lianna Brinded
 

• 3h
• 94

Reuters/Darren StaplesPrime Minister David Cameron.

British Prime Minister David Cameron is going to let his Conservative Party's politicians campaign any way they want when the country votes for whether to stay or leave the European Union in a referendum..

The BBC reported that Cameron will announce sometime on Tuesday he has given his ministers a green light for campaigning for a Brexit if they want to — something he is staunchly against — after he has finished trying to "seal a better deal" for Britain within the EU.

It was highly anticipated that Cameron would cave in to ministers who are erring on the side of a Brexit — Britain leaving the EU. An unnamed senior minister in Cameron's cabinet confirmed to The Sun newspaper that Cameron gave assurances to him and others that they will be "free to take sides."

However that source said that politicians would be able to start campaigning once the referendum date is announced. 

In January 2014, UK Chancellor George Osborne said the Tories were determined to deliver on the promise of a referendum but they would prefer to stay within the EU and negotiate "a better deal."

"Our determination is clear: to deliver the reform and then let the people decide," Osborne said in a speech at a Tory party conference on January 14. "It is the status quo which condemns the people of Europe to an ongoing economic crisis and continuing decline. And so there is a simple choice for Europe: reform or decline."

GettyAngela Merkel glances at British Prime Minister David Cameron during a State Banquet at the Schloss Bellevue Palace on the second day of a four day State Visit on June 24, 2015 in Berlin, Germany.

Last month Cameron seemingly did the impossible and managed to get "a pathway to a deal" in renegotiating the UK's terms with the EU. He said at the time that "nothing is certain in life or in Brussels but there is a pathway to a deal in February. But the truth is it will be very hard work."

The "better deal" Cameron promised to Britons includes renegotiating immigration rules for people coming to the UK as well as banning immigrants from claiming benefits for four years, ahead of the referendum.

No deal had been agreed but there was no expectation that an agreement would be completed so quickly.

But if Cameron does let politicians campaign to leave the EU, it could very well push Britain out of the EU, even if he doesn't want that.

The Times newspaper reported two days ago that six of Cameron's Conservative MPs backed a Brexit.

The six politicians are Anne-Marie Trevelyan, James Cleverly, Scott Mann, Craig Mackinlay, Royston Smith and Paul Scully.

"Sadly I believe [Cameron] has been let down by EU leaders who are refusing to give us meaningful powers back - really free us from ever closer union," said James Cleverly, Braintree MP to The Times.

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More: EU Referendum Brexit David Cameron Conservatives

Another Middle East nation has taken action against Iran over its conflict with Saudi Arabia

• Associated Press

• 5h
• 645

REUTERS/TIMA/Mehdi Ghasemi/ISNAFlames rise from Saudi Arabia's embassy during a demonstration in Tehran January 2, 2016.

Kuwait says it has recalled its ambassador to Iran over attacks on Saudi diplomatic missions in the Islamic Republic, AP reports.

Kuwait's announcement, which was carried on the state-run Kuwait News Agency on Tuesday, did not elaborate or say how the Kuwait-Iran diplomatic ties would be affected.

The move comes after Saudi Arabia cut diplomatic ties to Iran over the storming of two diplomatic posts in the country following the kingdom's execution of a top Shiite cleric who was also an opposition figure.

Several Saudi allies followed the kingdom's lead and on Monday scaled back or cut diplomatic ties to Iran.

Bahrain has also severed diplomatic ties with Iran while the United Arab Emirates announced it was “downgrading” its diplomatic relations with the Islamic Republic of Iran.

"In response to the barbaric attacks on the Saudi Arabian Embassy in Tehran and its consulate in Mashhad ... the government of Sudan announces the immediate severing of ties with the Islamic Republic of Iran," a Foreign Ministry statement said, according to Reuters.

The crisis between Saudi Arabia and Iran was caused after protestors in the Iranian capital of Tehran ransacked the Saudi embassy following the execution of a prominent Shiite cleric and 46 others over the weekend.

Iran is a majority Shiite country while Saudi Arabia has a largely Sunni population.

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Chinese stocks had another crazy day

• David Scutt, Business Insider Australia
 

• 5h
• 2,498

REUTERS/China DailyRescuers try to extinguish a fire after a simulation of chemicals explosion during a disaster drill of an 8.0 magnitude earthquake in Guanyuan, Sichuan province, May 11, 2012.

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Having plunged by 7% on Monday – closing the session early on the same day market circuit breakers were introduced by regulators – Chinese stocks endured another wild session on Tuesday, swinging between losses of over 3% to gains in excess of 1% throughout the course of trade.

However, after all the chaotic price action, stocks eventually finished mixed.

The benchmark Shanghai Composite index slid 0.3%, recovering from a more than 3% plunge on the open, while the CSI 300 – an index comprising the largest listed firms in Shanghai and Shenzhen – closed with a modest gain of 0.3%.

Small cap indices such as the Shenzhen Composite, CSI 500 and ChiNext closed with losses ranging between 1.34% to 3%.

While there was no definitive reason to explain the wild price action, there were several key factors that helped to minimise losses during the session.

Before the start of trade China’s stock market regulator, the CSRC, stated that it was reviewing whether to regulate share sales by major shareholders and executives of listed companies, hinting that it may restrict the proportion of shares they can sell during a given period of time.

Concerns that a ban on large shareholder sales would be lifted by regulators later this week likely contributed to the sharp sell off in stocks yesterday.

There was also a sizeable liquidity injection offered by the PBOC with the bank pumping 130 billion yuan into financial system via the repo market.

There were also rumours that China’s so-called “national team” – a collective group of state-backed financial firms entrusted to buy stocks during times of market upheaval – may have also been active in the markets.

Supporting this rumour, large-cap stocks – those traditionally favoured by the national team – outperformed their smaller peers during the session.

The SSE 50, an index comprising the largest 50 stocks by market capitalisation in Shanghai, outperformed all other indices, rallying 0.8%.

While all three provided short-term support to the markets today, whether that remains the case over the longer-term is debatable.

Here’s the final Asian scoreboard for Tuesday.

Stocks

• ASX 200 5184.43 , -86.04 , -1.63%
• Nikkei 225 18374.00 , -76.98 , -0.42%
• Shanghai Composite 3287.71 , -8.55 , -0.26%
• Hang Seng 21198.29 , -128.83 , -0.60%
• KOSPI 1930.53 , 11.77 , 0.61%
• Straits Times 2824.21 , -11.76 , -0.41%
• S&P 500 Futures 1274.12 , -13.89 , -1.08%

Forex

• USD/JPY 119.26 , -0.16 , -0.13%
• USD/CNY 6.5182 , -0.0156 , -0.24%
• AUD/USD 0.7204 , 0.0016 , 0.22%
• NZD/USD 0.6732 , -0.0017 , -0.25%
• AUD/JPY 85.91 , 0.04 , 0.05%
• EUR/USD 1.0811 , -0.0018 , -0.17%
• GBP/USD 1.4711 , -0.0004 , -0.03%
• USD INDEX 98.913 , 0.0440 , 0.04%

Commodities

• Gold $1,076.86 , $2.56 , 0.24%
• Silver $13.98 , $0.13 , 0.92%
• WTI Futures $36.73 , -$0.03 , -0.08%
• Copper Futures ¥36,720 , ¥450 1.24%
• Iron Ore Futures ¥324.50 , ¥1.00 , 0.31%

10-Year Bond Yields

• Australia 2.793%
• New Zealand 3.505%
• Japan 0.256%
• Germany 0.573%
• UK 1.896%
• US 2.243%

Read the original article on Business Insider Australia. Copyright 2016

Broker's take: SIA's final price for Tiger attractive, says OCBC

By

Andrea Sohsandrea@sph.com.sg@AndreaSohBT

Singapore Airlines' (SIA) final price for Tiger Airways is attractive given its muted outlook, said OCBC Research analyst Eugene Chua on Tuesday as he recommended shareholders to accept the offer. 

PHOTO: TIGER AIRWAYS

JAN 5, 201610:12 AM

SINGAPORE Airlines' (SIA) final price for Tiger Airways is attractive given its muted outlook, said OCBC Research analyst Eugene Chua on Tuesday as he recommended shareholders to accept the offer.

SIA on Monday raised its offer price for Tiger from S$0.41 to S$0.45 a share, and stressed that this would be the final offer to shareholders.

The deal remains conditional on SIA garnering more than 90 per cent of Tiger at the close of the offer. As at 5pm on Monday, this figure stood at 77.48 per cent.

The offer has been extended from the original date of Dec 28, 2015, to Jan 22, 2016, 5.30pm.

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Japan sushi boss pays US$117,000 for endangered tuna

A Japanese sushi boss paid more than US$117,000 Tuesday for a giant bluefin tuna as Tokyo's Tsukiji fish market held its last New Year auction ahead of a much-needed modernisation move. 

PHOTO: REUTERS

JAN 5, 201611:14 AM

[TOKYO] A Japanese sushi boss paid more than US$117,000 on Tuesday for a giant bluefin tuna as Tokyo's Tsukiji fish market held its last New Year auction ahead of a much-needed modernisation move.

Bidding stopped at a whopping 14 million yen for the enormous 200kg fish - an endangered species - that was caught off Japan's northern coast.

The price was three times higher than last year but still far below a record 155.4 million yen paid in 2013 - when a Hong Kong restaurant chain weighed in - for a slightly larger fish of similar quality.

The New Year auction is a traditional feature at Tsukiji, where bidders pay way over the odds for the prestige of buying the first fish of the year.

But it came as Japan, the world's largest consumer of bluefin tuna, faces growing calls for a trade ban on the species, which environmentalists warn is on its way to extinction.

The population of Pacific bluefin tuna is set to keep declining "even if governments ensure existing management measures are fully implemented," Amanda Nickson, director of Global Tuna Conservation at the Pew Charitable Trusts, said in a release.

Bluefin is usually the most expensive fish available at Tsukiji, the biggest fish and wholesale seafood market in the world.

A single piece of "otoro", or the fish's fatty underbelly, can cost up to several thousand yen at high-end Tokyo restaurants.

The growing popularity of Japanese sushi worldwide has stoked demand elsewhere.

"Given the already dire state of the population - decimated to just four percent of unfished levels - it is of particular concern that the auction price is rising again," Nickson of Pew Charitable Trusts added.

"The international community must let the Japanese government know that additional action is needed to save this species." Tuesday's auction winner, Kiyoshi Kimura, president of the firm behind the popular Sushi-Zanmai restaurant chain, said he was "glad to make a winning bid in the last New Year auction at Tsukiji."

Tsukiji - a sprawling complex of tiny stalls and wholesalers popular with tourists - will end its eight-decade history this year when it is relocated to a modern facility in Toyosu, a few kilometres away.

AFP

    
 

Oil prices rebound in Asia as Saudi-Iran row deepens

Oil prices rebounded in Asia on Tuesday as a diplomatic row between Saudi Arabia and Iran deepened, but a global crude supply glut and economic weakness in China are keeping any increases in check.

PHOTO: BLOOMBERG

JAN 5, 201611:30 AM

[SINGAPORE] Oil prices rebounded in Asia on Tuesday as a diplomatic row between Saudi Arabia and Iran deepened, but a global crude supply glut and economic weakness in China are keeping any increases in check.

Tensions between the two major oil producers over Saudi Arabia's execution of a prominent Shi'ite cleric have erupted into a full-blown diplomatic crisis after Riyadh and its Sunni Arab allies cut or reduced ties with Iran, sparking global concern.

US Secretary of State John Kerry called his counterparts in each country in a bid to ease the tensions and the United Nations moved to shelter peace efforts in Syria and Yemen from the diplomatic storm.

Saudi Arabia is the biggest producer in the Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries, while Iran is also a key member, and there are concerns that their diplomatic spat could lead to a disruption in oil supplies.

At around 0300 GMT, US benchmark West Texas Intermediate for delivery in February was up 25 cents at US$37.01 and Brent crude was trading 24 cents higher at US$37.46.

Analysts said however that the impact of geopolitical risks in the Middle East on the oil market is being cushioned by the oversupply and higher output from oil producers in other parts of the world.

"Oil prices have risen, but not materially," research house Capital Economics said.

"Indeed, ample global stocks of crude and higher production elsewhere mean that geopolitical risks from the Middle East are not as great as they once were," it said in a market commentary.

Concerns over economic weakness in China are also helping to keep prices lower as it would dampen demand in the world's second biggest economy and top energy consumer, other analysts said.

AFP