Bitcoin hit a fresh record of $14,000 Thursday as investors piled in, triggering a warning the cryptocurrency was "like a charging train with no brakes" which would inevitably slip back.It touched a new a high of $14,400 in Asian trade before slipping back to $13,900, according to Bloomberg News.

Tech giants including Samsung and Tencent sank in Asian trade on Tuesday, tracking a sell-off in their US rivals and dragging most regional markets lower.While investors welcomed news that the US senate had finally passed controversial tax reforms, the deal must still be reconciled with a House bill, while the probe into alleged Russian meddling in last year's election continues to dog Donald Trump.The Dow closed at a record high on Wall Street but the Nasdaq tumbled more than one percen

Oil retreated the most in more than two weeks amid worries that OPEC’s deal to extend production cutbacks may take US shale activity to a whole new level.Futures closed 1.5 percent lower in New York. OPEC and partners including Russia last week agreed to keep cutting output through the end of next year.

The US and South Korea on Monday kicked off their largest ever joint air exercise, an operation North Korea has labelled an "all-out provocation", days after Pyongyang fired its most powerful intercontinental ballistic missile.The five-day Vigilant Ace drill – involving 230 aircrafts, including F-22 Raptor stealth jet fighters, and tens of thousands of troops – began Monday morning, Seoul's air force said.Pyongyang over the weekend blasted the drill, accusing US President Donal

A Vietnamese court on Thursday rejected the appeal of a prominent blogger known as "Mother Mushroom", in jail for anti-state propaganda, days after one of her lawyers was disbarred in a case that has drawn global ire.Nguyen Ngoc Nhu Quynh was sentenced to 10 years in jail in June, a heavy term decried by rights groups that accuse the communist government of waging a harsh crackdown against critics this year.

North Korea shattered a two-month period of relative quiet by test-firing a missile that analysts say may put the US east coast in range.Japan said the intercontinental ballistic missile flew for 53 minutes on a lofted trajectory and may have reached an altitude of more than 4,000 kilometers (2,500 miles) before landing in waters about 250 kilometers from its northwest coast.

The Belt Road Initiative (BRI) is an ambition that undoubtedly turns heads and raises eyebrows – but for vastly different reasons.Plans are already underway – ports, roads, rail infrastructure, oil and gas pipelines, fibre optics networks – and slowly, China’s estimated five trillion-dollar ambition is taking shape.

Talks about the “Quad” – a four-way security dialogue between the US, India, Japan and Australia – has resurged since it was first championed by Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe in 2007. This time, it centred around the notion of a “free and open Indo-Pacific.”What the term, “Indo-Pacific” popularised by US President Donald Trump during his visit to Asia entails is still not set in stone.

Glamorous Manhattan was once a swampy pit that was traded for a tiny island in the vast Banda Sea of Indonesia.350 years ago, the Banda Islands were once at the heart of the world’s biggest trade – spices. Historically known as the Spice Islands, they comprise of 10 smaller specks and have a population of just 15,000 people.During this time in history, the Banda Islands had a monopoly of the prized nutmeg that was valued more than gold where they saw an increase of 32,000% in price.

When Donald Trump was elected US president a year ago, some said the end of the Paris climate agreement was nigh. Yet, as the latest round of global climate talks in Bonn, Germany, has shown, the world’s political leaders are more committed to the deal than ever.