On January 3, 2026, Tim Stern, a German investor, was sleeping peacefully at his Venezuela residence when the phone on his small bedside table suddenly went wild. As he explained to Timothy Allen of the " Free Cities Podcast," calls streamed in immediately after news broke that the United States had bombed Caracas in the early hours of the morning. Within hours, it was clear that Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro had been captured and was being sent to the United States - a change, Stern said in the podcast, that "is going to be the start of an absolute bonanza here in Venezuela."
Cape Town tourism is a booming industry, and the Mother City needs foreign cash to operate as one of the planet's elite destinations. However, some locals are getting a little annoyed by the oversupply of digital nomads. European tourists are loving Cape Town, and why wouldn't they? When one single Euro gets you R19, an Uber to Boulders Beach to check out the penguins isn't all that pricy.
"Madrid "is on fire", said Eduardo Corda, founder of estate agency Mi Piso en Madrid, which specialises in high-end properties. Spain's most populous city has become "a leading city to invest and live in", and house hunters with deep pockets want "to be a part of this boom", Corda told AFP. The city has topped for the second year running an annual index by the real estate firm Barnes, considered a reference to measure investor appetite in luxury properties."
The energy agreement brokered after Nicolas Maduro's arrest between U.S. President Donald Trump and Venezuela's interim president, Delcy Rodriguez, has transformed Venezuela's economic outlook in the blink of an eye. Just last December, the country faced a bleak 2026: international sanctions; triple-digit inflation spiraling out of control; a fiscal deficit of 9% of GDP; a meager wage scale; and minimal economic growth.
Avolta CEO Xavier Rossinyol, a Catalan-Spanish industry veteran who has led the company since 2021, attributed the win to his company playing the long game in China. "There was a complete lack of belief in the industry that what is happening [...] would ever happen," Rossinyol said in an interview with Fortune prior to the official announcement. "And we have been the company making that happen."
On his second day in office, Jan. 21, Trump said the U.S. had "already secured nearly $3 trillion of new investments." By May 8, that figure rose to "close to $10 trillion." It eventually peaked Oct. 29 during a meeting with South Korean Prime Minister Kim Min-seok: "I think by the end of my first term, we should have $21 or $22 trillion dollars invested in the United States from other people and countries," Trump said.
US tech giant Microsoft announced on Tuesday that it will invest $17.5 billion (15 billion) in India over the next four years as it looks to strengthen the country's cloud and artificial intelligence infrastructure. CEO Satya Nadella shared the news of Microsoft's largest-ever investment in Asia in a post on X after meeting Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi in New Delhi. Nadella said the multi-billion-dollar commitment is aimed at helping India develop the "infrastructure, skills, and sovereign capabilities" essential for an AI-driven future. Nadella is currently on a three-day visit to India, meeting policymakers and participating in AI-related events in Bengaluru the nation's technology center and Mumbai, its financial capital.
In January, Malaysia and Singapore agreed to set up a special economic zone in the Malaysian state of Johor, which borders Singapore. Both Singapore and Malaysia's governments, as well as the state government of Johor, are now working together in a unified office to offer a single narrative for investors, expediting high-value projects and the movement of goods and people across the border.
Trump greeted him with a ceremony that featured marching bands, flag-carrying horsemen and a military flyover. list of 3 itemsend of list The opulent display of hospitality signalled Trump's embrace of what he sees as a new Middle East driven by financial investments and US partnerships with allies in the region, chiefly Saudi Arabia. After Prince Mohammed's arrival through the South Portico, he and Trump took questions from journalists in the Oval Office.
RedBird had a previous attempt to buy the Telegraph rebuffed by politicians as it was majority-funded by Abu Dhabi's IMI group - which is owned in turn by the Abu Dhabi royal family. A law change meant that foreign sovereign wealth funds could take a maximum stake of 15% in newspapers or periodicals. The new bid complied with that rule, but it is understood that the government intended to submit the deal to regulatory review.
Speaking on CBS's Face the Nation, Bessent said the transaction would be formally endorsed by President Donald Trump and China's President Xi Jinping during a bilateral meeting in Korea later this week. "We reached a final deal on TikTok," Bessent said. "We reached it in Madrid, and I believe all the details are ironed out. It will be for the two leaders to consummate that transaction."
Chinese Communist Party leadership is meeting behind closed doors to draft a five-year plan. China's top leaders are meeting for an important conference that will give a glimpse into the priorities of the world's second-largest economy. The Fourth Plenum of the Communist Party will outline a series of policies for the next five years. Beijing has been making efforts to increase consumer spending and attract foreign investors to drive growth
Despite being the "heart of Bangladesh's economy," the port has long been neglected, he said. Yunus serves as the "chief adviser" the head of the Bangladeshi administration appointed after veteran leader Sheikh Hasina was ousted in the August 2024 mass uprising. The interim government has pledged to focus on reforming the institutions, ensuring justice for past abuses, and organizing free and fair elections that would see it replaced with a democratically elected Cabinet. The polls are set to be held in February next year.
This policy is expected to have a positive impact on financial markets, particularly China's tech sector, which has been suffering from a slowdown in foreign investment and a shortage of specialized talent due to previously more restrictive policies. The "K" visa could help stimulate innovation within Chinese companies, especially start-ups, leading to improved performance of tech stocks in the medium to long term.
For several years, Pakistan's primary strategic value to the United States was its role as a security partner, first during the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan and then during the so-called war on terror. list of 4 itemsend of list That relationship slowly collapsed amid accusations from growing sections of the US strategic community and Trump himself that Islamabad was duplicitous and couldn't be trusted, especially after American forces found Osama bin Laden in Abbottabad, Pakistan.
These companies need those infrastructure resources anyway, he said. They're building datacentres all over the world. Maybe they were pushed a bit forward just to meet the timetable with this week's state visit. But it's all one-way traffic. We're a kind of vassal state technologically, we really are. The moment our companies, our tech companies, start developing any scale or ambition, they have to go to California, because we don't have the growth capital here.
The impact of an immigration raid on a sprawling Hyundai factory on Thursday is reverberating far beyond its home in rural Georgia. The operation, called by one US official the "largest single-site enforcement operation" in history, detained nearly 500 workers, most of them South Korean. It also jolted a company that has poured billions into America's South, helping transform the region into a major global auto manufacturing hub.
Foreign investors invested a record $311.1 billion in U.S. securities in May, reversing a $14.2 billion withdrawal in April, as tariff fears eased.
The government's recent adjustment to foreign ownership laws for British newspapers, allowing 15% foreign ownership, reflects ongoing tensions around media influence and transparency.
"The other big thing that we worry about is the fact that foreign private investors may not be adding to Treasury securities and may likely be stepping back from the market as well," said Meghan Swiber, a managing director and U.S. rates strategist at Bank of America.
