With its insults, lies, rancor and racism, this has been the most depressing election cycle of my lifetime. So it’s worth reminding ourselves that there’s plenty of good news for the U.S. of 2016, and that the good news probably far outweighs the bad. When historians look back on our era, the Hillary Clinton-Donald Trump campaign probably will be ...

  A crumpled instant-noodle bowl ground into the mud is an unlikely symbol of economic vitality. But during China’s boom years those bowls were as ubiquitous around Chinese construction sites as the high-rise cranes above them. That was no accident. For millions of Chinese workers, instant noodles were the convenient meal of choice, available for a few cents in every ...

  SpaceX CEO Elon Musk made a splash at the International Astronautical Conference in Mexico with his plans for an Interplanetary Transport System, along with a disturbingly inspirational ultimatum: “There are really two fundamental paths. One path is we stay on Earth forever and there will be some eventual extinction event… The alternative is to become a space-faring civilization and ...

  Paris / AFP Volkswagen boss Matthias Mueller has said that the troubled German automaker is using “all available resources” to work its way through the “dieselgate” emissions cheating scandal which has engulfed it. One year after the scandal erupted, it “is and will remain an incisive turning point, a pivotal event in our history,” VW chief executive Mueller said ...

  London / AFP Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi on Thursday said Britain should not expect special treatment in Brexit talks, as the British trade minister warned the EU would hurt itself if it imposed tariffs. Renzi’s comments are the latest from a European leader to highlight the tough stance Britain is likely to face when trying to negotiate access ...

  Washington / AFP The US economy grew faster than originally thought in the second quarter of this year, with Commerce Department figures released on Thursday showing a 1.4 percent annual rate. The previous estimate had been a gloomier 1.1 percent. Thursday’s figures surpassed an analyst consensus, which had called for a revision to 1.3 percent. In releasing the new ...

  Frankfurt / AFP German inflation in September jumped to its highest level since May 2015, data showed Thursday, in welcome news for the European Central Bank’s efforts to boost prices with a massive stimulus programme. Inflation rose by 0.7 percent this month compared to the year before, according to preliminary figures from Germany’s federal statistics office Destatis. The figure ...

  Bloomberg Bond investors are giving Chile’s Masisa SA a vote of confidence as the wood-panel maker unloads assets, pays debt and becomes less reliant on Venezuela. Its $200 million of notes due in 2019 have returned 27 percent in 2016, almost twice the average for emerging-market corporate debt. The junk-rated securities sank to a record low last year on ...

  The Hague / AFP Dutch authorities are taking the US makers of Pokemon Go to court, after the company failed to meet pleas to stop hordes of fans flocking to protected beaches. Since the game was launched in The Netherlands, thousands of fans have been crowding the vast, windswept beaches of Kijkduin where hundreds of the game’s most popular ...

  Dubai / WAM The Ministry of Finance (MoF) recently signed an agreement with the Emirates Development Bank (EDB) on the Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum Fund to Finance Innovation, aimed at supporting the UAE’s transition to a knowledge- based economy and achieving prosperity and sustainability for the country. Saeed Rashid Al Yateem, Assistant Under-Secretary of Resources and Budget Sector ...