SEOUL: South Korea’s presidential office said on Thursday it saw little prospect of US-North Korea contact around the upcoming APEC summit in China or of Pyongyang’s participation in APEC-related events.
US President Donald Trump has sought to restart talks with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, but US and South Korean officials see fading chances of a meeting this year.
A senior South Korean presidential official, commenting on a recent spike in tensions along the inter-Korean border, also said no additional North Korean activity had been detected at the Demilitarized Zone beyond preparations for possible loudspeaker broadcasts.
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un’s powerful sister, Kim Yo Jong, announced last month that her country was considering restarting propaganda broadcasts over loudspeakers near the inter-Korean border, ratcheting up tensions with Seoul.
South Korea says North Korean mines planted as part of its fortification activity in the DMZ caused a blast in September that seriously wounded several of its soldiers. North Korea denies responsibility, calling the incident a South Korean fabrication.
South Korea is also monitoring whether Russian President Vladimir Putin attends the APEC summit in Shenzhen next week, given Seoul had some diplomatic issues to discuss with Moscow, he said without elaborating.
A possible trilateral summit involving the United States, China and Russia at the gathering could provide an opportunity for the countries to discuss North Korea, the official said.
Traders ramped up bets on further Fed tightening after stronger-than-expected October inflation data and a series of hawkish remarks from US central bank officials, who expressed concern over stubborn inflation and left open the possibility of a larger 50-basis-point increase.
Some major brokerages, including Goldman Sachs, now expect another hike early next year, in addition to one in December.
The dollar index , which measures the greenback against a basket of currencies, rose by 0.15% to 103.02, the highest since April 2025.
New York Fed President John Williams is set to appear on a panel late Thursday that will be closely watched given his “pre-October FOMC meeting views the Fed had time on rate hikes,” said Gavin Friend, senior markets strategist at National Australia Bank, in a note.
“Fast forward two weeks and following a hotter-than-forecast October CPI report, Fed officials appear to be falling over themselves to talk up rate hikes,” Friend said. “Any guidance from Williams will be seized on.”
Against the Japanese yen , the dollar reversed an earlier decline to trade 0.04% higher at 159.83, underpinned by wide interest-rate differentials as traders increased bets on further Fed hikes. It hit a more than two-month high earlier on Thursday.
Bank of Japan board member Toichiro Asada, one of two dovish policymakers who dissented from September’s decision to increase borrowing costs to 1.25%, pushed back against calls within the board for a near-term interest rate hike, saying in a speech that premature rate hikes could hurt growth and push down underlying inflation.
Earlier a warning from Japan’s top currency diplomat Atsushi Mimura that it was “too early to forget” intervention by Japanese authorities during the summer pushed the dollar/yen pair to its lowest point of the day but the respite for the yen was brief.
“Once dollar/yen rises above 160, I think caution will increase another notch,” said Sho Suzuki, market analyst at Matsui Securities.
“For it to move higher from there, the dollar would need to strengthen further, for example, through a further rise in expectations for Fed rate hikes, or a drop-off in expectations for BOJ rate hikes. Without something like that, the pair may lack enough momentum to test a break above 160,” he said.
Many analysts in a Reuters poll expect the next BOJ rate hike as soon as next month.
That view was strengthened on Thursday by data that showed Japan’s annual wholesale inflation re-accelerated to 7.1% in the year to October, up from a 6.8% annual increase in September.
The euro was up 0.06% against the US dollar at $1.1096 while sterling slipped 0.1% to $1.3266.
The Australian dollar was little changed versus the greenback at $0.6847, while New Zealand’s kiwi was down 0.05% at $0.5559.
In cryptocurrencies, bitcoin fell 0.63% to $73,848.24. Ether declined 0.49% to $2,058.18.
Nvidia’s board is meeting late Wednesday to decide whether to oust Huang, a source familiar with the matter said, as the world’s dominant supplier of AI processors grapples with the fallout of allegations that he had an affair with a suspected spy for China.
The New York Times has also reported that Huang had had an affair with a company executive who reported to him.
“It looks bad from every single angle,” said Jake Dollarhide, chief executive officer at Longbow Asset Management in Tulsa, Oklahoma.
“I believe the board won’t oust him until they have an all-star, a known entity in the tech sector, to replace him,” he said. “At the end of the day, let’s not forget that the Nvidia chip is the centrepiece of the AI story.”
Shares in Nvidia slid more than 8% after the bell, weighing on S&P 500 e-mini futures , which slipped 0.4%.
Regional indexes fared better after a choppy start. South Korea’s Kospi rose 0.2%, Taiwanese shares gained 0.5%, Japan’s Nikkei 225 climbed 0.5% and MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan was 0.1% lower, weighed down by shares in Hong Kong.
Stocks on Wall Street made gains on Wednesday, with the S&P 500 rising 1.3% and coming close to retracing all of the losses since last week’s US midterm elections.
“Renewed optimism around AI drove US equities higher overnight, with positive developments around CoreWeave and Anthropic adding to enthusiasm around the sector and helping the S&P 500 and NASDAQ rally,” Westpac analysts wrote in a note.
The dollar index , which measures the greenback’s strength against a basket of six currencies, was steady in Asian trade at 102.87, its highest level since April 9 last year in the aftermath of Trump’s Liberation Day tariff announcement. The currency rose 0.6% on Wednesday as traders repriced the odds the Federal Reserve will lift interest rates next month.
Fed funds futures are pricing an 87.3% chance of a 25-basis-point hike at the US central bank’s next two-day meeting on December 9, compared to a 12.7% chance of a larger 50-basis-points hike, according to the CME Group’s FedWatch tool.
In cryptocurrencies, bitcoin slipped 0.9% to $73,617.58, while ether was 0.9% lower at $2,049.44.
THE slight increase in workers’ remittances reported for October prompted a host of questions directed to me. Here are the responses.
The rise is too small to matter. In fact, it falls far short of what it needs to be to serve its purpose: helping plug the trade deficit. There is no reason in the world for celebration based on one data outturn. What matters is the trend that a series of data points describe; most often, that trend is intelligible only when seen in its proper context.
So what is the proper context for remittances? First, remittances are traditionally how Pakistan’s economy finances its trade deficits. The trend is cyclical and reveals itself when you take a 12-month average of the total trade balance plus remittances, then plot that on a month-to-month basis. You will notice something. A wavy line emerges. From a low point in 2015, it rises slowly until it briefly turns positive — around $40 million — in November 2015. Then it plunges back below the X-axis, before bottoming out in July 2018 at around negative $1.45 billion.
This is trade balance plus remittances, mind you, so a negative value means remittances can’t plug the trade deficit, and the balance is being financed from reserves or borrowing. If you don’t see the reserves plunging by the same amount in that month, then you can be sure the balance is being financed by new borrowing, and that data will show up in the balance-of-payments whenever the next release comes along.
From July 2018, the line rises sharply again until it hits a fresh peak in November 2020 at around $100m. It then plunges again until it hits its second trough in July 2022 at negative $1.14bn. This is when another attempt to stabilise Pakistan’s economy by choking its imports began — abortively, as it turned out.
At least since June, the trade deficit’s growth has outstripped remittances.
After that, the next peak — $780m — was in March 2025; it has stayed above the X-axis for the most part, barring one or two months. But if the trend so far is anything to go by, the line has been falling since March, reaching $480m by September. This is the 12-month average. For September alone, the figure is closer to $150m. The October trade data has not yet been released, so we don’t know where the figure will be for that month. But given the pace of increase in imports, and the relative stagnation of export growth, grounds for excess optimism are conspicuous by their absence.
This is entirely in sync with the long-run trend of how Pakistan’s external sector behaves. It heaves and ebbs in cycles. Take the earliest low point of the trade deficit in some month and trace it forward. What you see is the trade deficit growing as imports outstrip exports each month, but remittances cover the gap. Hence, the overall current account in the balance of payments remains above zero. Then the trade deficit starts to grow beyond the ability of the remittances to cover. The current account falls into deficit. Borrowing increases during these months to cover the deficit.
As the required pace of borrowing increases, the government is unable to fetch dollars in quantities sufficient to pay for the deficit, and the reserves start to fall. Once that fall begins, it becomes very difficult to contain the situation. Eventually, the reserves drop to a level that necessitates a return to the IMF for a bailout. That bailout requires taking steps to choke imports and kill the fiscal deficit as well, and eventually normalcy returns, but at the cost of choking economic activity in the country.
Take four indicators and plot them from 2014 onwards (you can start earlier if you like). Plot exports, imports, remittances, and external payment obligations over a 12-month period from that year onward. For external obligations, use the total figure for “predetermined drains” given in the International Liquidity sheet released every month by the State Bank. What you’ll see is that exports are the slowest to grow over the years, while external obligations are the fastest. Here is what the numbers look like: exports have grown by 1.4x since 2014, imports by 1.6x, remittances by 2.7x, and external obligations by 4.6x.
This is the real long-run trend that needs to break before any indicator can mean anything. This year alone, for example, the trade deficit has grown faster than remittances. There are a few different ways to measure this growth, and each gives you slightly different numbers. But all of them show that, at least since June, the trade deficit’s growth has outstripped remittances. If this trend continues, then it shows we have already passed the peak that historically defines the turning point from growth to bust.
And there is little reason today to believe that the trend will turn around on its own. In past periods, governments had a story to tell at this point, even if the story held little water. In both past peaks, when the trade deficit began yawning and eating up all current inflows, both governments in power at each peak said their period had seen a large inflow of machinery that, once installed, would lead to export growth and reverse the trend.
That story failed to pan out both times. But at least it was there. What is the story now? What is this government’s plan for containing the trade deficit, which is only a few months away from outstripping remittances’ ability to plug it? The only story they’re running with these days is some urgency to see dramatic improvements in the country’s credit rating by June 2027. What is that in preparation for? More borrowing? If so, then welcome to the old world.
THE current ‘no war, no peace’ situation in the US-Iran conflict is unsustainable. While the immediate fear of a new US-Israeli strike on Iran — and a greater regional conflagration — may have passed, thanks mainly to the drubbing the Republicans received in the American midterm elections, the Gulf will not return to normal unless there is stable long-term peace.
True to form, President Donald Trump has been oscillating between claiming that more attacks are not needed and issuing new threats. After talking to the Qatari prime minister, he said that the US would maintain the “status quo” vis-à-vis Iran, while his secretary of state has asserted that economic pressure on Tehran will continue. Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian, meanwhile, has slammed America’s “diplomacy through threats”.
The fact is that the US and Israel have failed to subdue Iran on the battlefield, and while the economic sanctions are hurting the Iranians, there are few signs that the pressure will make them yield to America. If anything, the feeling in Tehran is that if Iran is made to endure economic pain, the entire region, and in fact the wider international community, will feel it as well, as the over eight-month blockade of the Strait of Hormuz has shown.
The Iranians have said their seven-point proposal is on the table if the Americans want to consider it, though the US has termed these conditions “absurd”.
The US status quo is unlikely to hold, and may, in fact, further inflame matters, which is why Washington’s energies should be directed towards a negotiated settlement. As American academic John Mearsheimer told the Margalla Dialogue in Islamabad on Tuesday, “there is no way the US can defeat Iran”. For the sake of peace in the region and for global economic stability, the status quo needs to end, and give way to a sustainable peace.
The US cannot hold the world hostage in order to find an honourable exit from a disastrous war for which it has only itself — and Israel — to blame. Iran’s demands may appear maximalist at the moment, but if Tehran is approached with respect, and given guarantees of no more attacks, it may soften its approach.
The American people have made their displeasure with Mr Trump’s war clear in the midterms. Instead of dragging this matter on, he should find ways to quickly wrap things up.
Israel is obviously unhappy about any cessation of hostilities; as per the Israeli media Mr Trump and the Zionist state’s prime minister had a tense phone call on the matter recently. The US leader should remember that it was questionable Israeli advice that got him into this predicament. He would be better off ignoring Tel Aviv’s toxic persuasion, and working with regional states to find a solution to permanently end hostilities with Iran.
ISLAMABAD: Justice Jamal Khan Mandokhail on Wednesday said parliament, which represents the sovereign will of the people, must never undermine judicial independence, as only an independent judiciary can protect citizens’ fundamental rights.
“Compromising or disregarding judicial independence has serious consequences for the state, parliamentarians and society,” Justice Mandokhail said in his address at a full court reference held in his honour on his retirement at the Supreme Court.
He warned that when courts became subservient to political or executive pressure, the law was replaced by the will of the powerful and applied selectively rather than impartially.
Outgoing judge warns of anarchy if citizens lose faith in justice system
Safeguarding judicial independence was therefore the collective responsibility of Parliament, the judiciary and the executive, he observed, adding that citizens would otherwise lose faith in the justice system.
The reference was attended by Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Yahya Afridi, Attorney General for Pakistan Mansoor Usman Awan, Pakistan Bar Council Vice Chairman Pir Muhammad Masood Chishti, Supreme Court Bar Association President Syed Amjad Shah, senior law officers and members of the legal fraternity.
Justice Mandokhail said that in the absence of an independent judiciary, political dissenters and critics could be targeted, while systematic corruption, human rights abuses and illegal actions by state officials would go unchecked.
In such circumstances, citizens might resort to their own means of seeking justice, potentially leading to anarchy, he cautioned.
The outgoing judge emphasised that the Constitution was both a source of authority and a reminder of its limits. It prescribed what Parliament, the judiciary and the executive must and must not do, he said, adding that the judiciary’s constitutional role was to keep the other organs of the state within their limits.
The judiciary’s authority lay in interpreting and applying the Constitution faithfully. Serving the Constitution meant recognising that power was entrusted, not owned, that constitutional rights were not favours and that the law must remain equally accessible to ordinary citizens and the powerful, he said.
Justice Mandokhail also underscored that the judicial oath demanded impartiality, integrity and unwavering adherence to the Constitution and the law, without fear, favour or external influence.
Paying tribute to Justice Mandokhail, Chief Justice Afridi lauded his distinguished judicial career and commitment to the administration of justice. Recalling his professional journey from the bar in Balochistan to the Supreme Court, he acknowledged his contributions to constitutional jurisprudence, judicial administration and institutional development. He particularly highlighted Justice Mandokhail’s efforts to strengthen the district judiciary and judicial infrastructure during his tenure as chief justice of the Balochistan High Court.
The CJP also appreciated his thoughtful advice, candid counsel and steadfast support, observing that his presence had contributed significantly to the collegiality and harmony of the court.
Emphasising that the bench and the bar were integral to the administration of justice, the CJP stressed the need to maintain harmony, mutual respect and constructive engagement within the legal fraternity.
He reaffirmed his commitment to preserving cordial relations between the two and said transparent and uniform procedures had been institutionalised through comprehensive standard operating procedures (SOPs) to ensure consistency, fairness and accountability in judicial administration.
Highlighting the provision of free legal aid at various levels, the CJP reiterated that no person should be denied legal representation merely because of financial constraints.
Shangla – Residents of Shangla have called on transporters to reduce passenger fares in line with falling petroleum prices, complaining that commuters continue to pay the higher rates despite repeated reductions in fuel costs.
Khyber – A 12-day human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccination campaign was launched in Khyber on Wednesday to protect girls aged nine to 14 against cervical cancer, with health officials targeting 88,000 eligible girls across the district.
Peshawar – Governor Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Faisal Karim Kundi on Wednesday directed the authorities to expedite the preparation of a proposed package to increase the salaries of police personnel, with special priority to be given to officers and officials serving in terrorism-affected and other sensitive areas under the proposed Security.
Peshawar – Advisor to the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Governor on Law, Labour and Inter-Provincial Coordination Amir Javed has directed the Workers Welfare Board (WWB) to digitise its records without delay, ensure transparency in the allotment of residential facilities and improve educational, healthcare and welfare services for registered.
