Bloomberg Algeria’s parliament on Tuesday named the head of its upper house as interim president, potentially placing the country’s tumultuous transition in the hands of a man widely seen as cut from the same cloth as the outgoing Abdelaziz Bouteflika. Abdelkader Bensalah’s nomination paves the way for the start of a transitional period after Bouteflika was forced to step down ...

Bloomberg Theresa May headed to Berlin as part of her efforts to win a short delay to Britain’s departure from the European Union, while at home some in her Conservative Party try to throw her overboard. EU diplomats are said to be settling on the idea of offering an extension to Britain despite the lack of progress at home. It ...

Bloomberg A Hong Kong court found democracy activist Benny Tai guilty for his role in organising the Occupy protests, the latest step in the China-backed government’s effort to punish leaders of demonstrations that rocked the former British colony almost five years ago. Tai, an associate law professor at the University of Hong Kong, was found guilty of conspiracy to commit ...

Just as its oil sector looked set to stage a recovery, Libya is heading back towards bloody chaos that puts output and exports at risk. A disruption to supplies from the North African country would hit European refiners and raise oil prices around the world. Libya – one of six Opec oil producers at risk of unintended output declines – ...

Activist investors are circling Japan Inc., creating momentum for change in the country’s boardrooms. While you’d hope that the Carlos Ghosn saga would help in that effort, it may in fact slow things down. The latest episode in Ghosn’s downfall came, as shareholders in Nissan Motor Co. voted to remove him as a director. The once legendary auto executive was ...

The euro’s steady deterioration is the European Central Bank’s (ECB) saving grace. It buys policy makers more time to assess how dovish it needs to be — but they need to be careful not to fritter away this asset. The euro-area economy is decelerating rapidly, and it is the export-led nations that are suffering most. Keeping the currency from approaching ...

One of humanity’s most hopeful developments in recent decades has been the dramatic drop in extreme poverty. In 2000, some 1.4 billion people lived at or below the global poverty line of $1.90 a day. Today, the number is about 600 million. This remarkable change is mainly due to growth in China and India: Much of sub-Saharan Africa, particularly Nigeria, ...

The remainer side of the great Brexit divide might be tempted to feel a little smug right now. Things are finally looking up. It’s what lies around the corner that should scare them. There is almost no prospect of Britain leaving the European Union (EU) without a deal after last week’s dramatic parliamentary vote. Instead, Conservative Prime Minister Theresa May ...

Germany’s economic outlook resembles Winston Churchill’s description of Russia: a riddle wrapped in a mystery inside an enigma. Analysts are banging their heads over the contradictory data emanating from Europe’s largest economy after it narrowly escaped a recession at the end of last year. The question of how severe Germany’s slowdown really is matters for policy makers, especially for those ...

Is it possible to equitise human labour? For years people have talked about the idea of selling shares in one’s own talent, in the hope of attracting funds and assistance from others. Now it seems that this idea is happening at scale, through the Lambda School in California. The Lambda School teaches information technology skills online, and it charges zero ...