Chinese fighter jets intercept US Navy plane over East China Sea

A US Navy surveillance aircraft was intercepted by two Chinese J-10 fighter jets in an "unsafe" manner over the East China Sea on Sunday, prompting evasive action by the former's pilot to avoid a collision, the Pentagon has said.

"(the US Navy aircraft) EP-3 flying in international airspace over the East China Sea was intercepted by two Chinese J-10s. One of them came underneath it at a high rate of speed, then slowed and pulled up. This caused the EP-3's T-Cast alarm to go off essentially, and it was forced to take evasive action to prevent the possibility of collision," Pentagon spokesman Capt. Jeff Davis told reporters yesterday.

"Obviously it's something we watch very closely," he said.

Another Pentagon official later described the Chinese action as "unsafe".

Davis said the incident took place on Sunday in the area between the East China Sea and the Yellow Sea, west of the Korean peninsula and east of Qingdao.

He said the Chinese fighter jets were there for a while and "flying wing-to-wing" as well.

"Again, such intercepts, when they're conducted safely, are not uncommon. This particular manoeuvre that took place during the course of it was not safe," Davis said in response to a question.

According to the Pentagon spokesman, the vast majority of interactions that they have with the Chinese military are perfectly safe.

"This was the exception, not the norm," he said.

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Japan manufacturing PMI falls to 8-month low as export orders stall

Growth in Japan's manufacturing activity slowed for the second straight month in July, a preliminary private survey showed on Monday, as export demand stagnated.

The Markit/Nikkei Japan Flash Manufacturing Purchasing Managers Index (PMI) fell to 52.2 in July on a seasonally adjusted basis from a final 52.4 in June.

The reading was an eight-month low, but remained well above the 50 threshold that separates expansion from contraction for the 11th consecutive month.

"The slowdown was driven by stagnation in export orders, amid reports of weaker demand from South East Asia markets," said Paul Smith, senior economist at IHS Markit, which compiles the survey.

"Nonetheless, the sector continues to add jobs, with employment growth remaining amongst the best since the financial crisis."

The preliminary index for new export orders fell to 50.0 from 53.4 in June.

The output component fell to 51.4 from a final 52.2 in June.

On the positive side, the employment index rose to a preliminary 53.4 from 53.2 in the previous month.

The index measuring expectations for future output also rose to a preliminary 63.0 in July, which is the highest since Markit began collecting this data almost five years ago.

The Bank of Japan (BOJ) and the government have been upgrading their economic assessments recently due to growing exports, a turnaround in consumer spending and rising capital expenditure.

Private-sector economists have also expressed more confidence in the economic outlook, but the improving outlook has been slow to translate into the acceleration in inflation that the BOJ is hoping for.
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China's dollar bond maturities could haunt Fed policy meetings

In September 2015, the United States (US) Federal Reserve cited risks from China as a key reason for delaying its first interest rate hike in a decade. A wall of Chinese debt maturing in the next few years could jolt the country back into the US central bank's policy deliberations.

Two years ago, it was a collapse in Chinese stocks, a surprise yuan devaluation and shrinking foreign exchange reserves that roiled financial markets that delayed the Fed, but it did raise rates three months later and has tightened further since.

Now, some see risks emerging in China's dollar-denominated bonds that could give the Fed greater pause for thought as it raises rates, even as other central banks signal a shift from ultra-easy policy.

To be sure, Fed officials have not publicly flagged China's debt as a major risk in their policy discussions. However, debt analysts point to the possibility of another September 2015 moment in which the Fed takes its cues from concerns about China.

"Back then, I said that US monetary policy is not made in Washington, it's made in Beijing," said Joachim Fels, global economic advisor at bond giant PIMCO.

"China does have a major impact on monetary policies elsewhere ... This year has been smooth sailing for global central banks because there were no shockwaves from China but I expect that to change if we think beyond the next few months."
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Oil prices dip as prospect of deeper Opec output cut dims

Oil slipped to one-week lows Monday, as several OPEC and non-OPEC ministers met to discuss a pact to curb oil output but the prospect of the group delivering deeper cuts grew more distant.

Brent September crude futures fell 18 cents on the day to $47.88 a barrel by 0850 GMT. The price fell 2.5 percent on Friday after a consultancy forecast a rise in OPEC production for July.

NYMEX crude for September delivery fell 20 cents to $45.57 a barrel.

"Deeper production cuts have been ruled out, but on the agenda will be caps for exempted OPEC members Libya and Nigeria," PVM Oil Associates analyst Stephen Brennock said.

"Faith in the oil market rebalancing is waning by the day and the sooner the Saudis admit the need to do more, the sooner prices can begin their journey on the road to recovery," he said.

Several ministers from the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and other non-OPEC producers are meeting in the Russian city of St Petersburg to review market conditions and examine any proposals related to their pact to cut output.

Saudi Energy Minister Khalid al-Falih said there would be no discussion of deeper oil output cuts, but said there would be a discussion on output caps for Nigeria and Libya.
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UN urges Australia to stop detaining refugees, shut detention centres

The UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) on Monday urged Australia to stop detaining refugees and close down its offshore detention centres in Papua New Guinea and Nauru.

"Four years on, more than 2,000 people are still languishing in unacceptable circumstances. Families have been separated and many have suffered physical and psychological harm," UNHCR chief Filippo Grandi said in a statement.

According to the statement, around 2,500 refugees and asylum-seekers have been forcibly transferred by Australia for offshore processing of their applications in Papua New Guinea and Nauru since the introduction of the current policy in 2013.

Of these, some 1,100 remain in Nauru and 900 in Papua New Guinea, added the statement.

The statement adds that the Australian government informed the UNHCR it will not accept refugees on its territory and offered the options of either letting them be where they are, or transferring them to Cambodia, with whom it signed an agreement in 2014, or the US, with whom it signed an agreement in 2016, to transfer some of the refugees detained in Papua New Guinea and Nauru.

"To avoid prolonging their ordeal, UNHCR has no other choice but to endorse the relocation of all refugees on Papua New Guinea and Nauru to the US, even those with close family members in Australia," the UN High Commissioner said in his statement.

Many of the refugees in these offshore centres have fled strife-torn countries such as Afghanistan, Darfur, Pakistan, Somalia and Syria, and others have escaped discrimination or status as stateless persons such as the Rohingya minorities from Myanmar.
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Maldives: Oppn says military locked down parliament on govt's orders

The Maldivian opposition said that the military locked down parliament today on the orders of the country's president in a bid to prevent lawmakers from taking part in a vote to impeach the parliamentary speaker.

The main opposition Maldivian Democratic Party said that on the orders of President Yameen Abdul Gayoom, the gates of the parliament were padlocked by members of the armed forces this morning and lawmakers "were forcibly prevented from entering the parliamentary compound."

In a statement, the opposition party called Yameen's action "desperate, illegal and unconstitutional."

There was no immediate comment from the government. The government spokesmen could not be reached by telephone.

A no-confidence motion against Speaker Abdulla Maseeh Mohamed was scheduled to be taken up today.

The opposition says the motion has gained the support of 45 lawmakers in the 85-member house. However, an uncertainty arose when the election commission announced last week that the four members who supported the motion had lost their seats because they left the ruling party.
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KKR to buy WebMD for $2.8 bn, bring slew of health sites under one umbrella

Private equity firm KKR & Co has agreed to buy WebMD Health Corp in a deal valued at about $2.8 billion, bringing a slew of popular online health information websites under one umbrella.

KKR will pay $66.50 per share, a premium of 20.5 percent to WebMD's Friday closing price. WebMD's shares were trading at $66 before the opening bell.

The deal comes five months after New York-based WebMD said it would explore strategic options amid a slowdown in advertising paid for by pharmaceutical companies.

KKR will fold WebMD's websites, including WebMD.com and Medscape.com, into its Internet Brands unit, which houses sites such as DentalPlans.com and AllAboutCounseling.com.

Founded in 1996, WebMD has grown into one of the most popular health websites for consumers and medical professionals, attracting more than 70 million monthly unique visitors in 2016, according to analytics company comScore Inc.

WebMD's Medscape, a medical news and education website, accounted for about 60 percent of the company's advertising revenue in 2016.

Internet Brands, which launched as CarsDirect.com in 1998, licenses and delivers its content and internet technology products and services to small and medium-sized businesses.
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