August, 2019

• 17 August

  As Europe struggles, Ukraine’s economy heads for an upswing

  

  Bloomberg As economic growth falls across Europe, Ukraine may be embarking on an upswing. Data showed expansion in the former Soviet republic surged last quarter, even as US-China trade tensions and a wider global slowdown weighed on most of the continent. The pace — 4.6% — was unexpectedly quick. The World Bank had warned that if growth didn’t top the ...

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• 17 August

  Steinhoff former CEO rebuffs demand for return of $56m in pay

  

  Bloomberg Steinhoff International Holdings NV former Chief Executive Officer Markus Jooste sees the retailer’s claim for more than $56 million against him as “vague and embarrassing.” The owner of Poundland in the UK and Pep stores throughout Africa said in June it will look to claw back base salaries, bonuses and other incentives paid to Jooste since 2009 because of ...

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• 17 August

  Global warming is slowing growth of plant life on earth

  

  Bloomberg The Earth is losing its plants and humanity is to blame, according to a new study. Global vegetation growth has been in decline since the late 1990’s, due to changes in the water content of the atmosphere. An atmospheric vapor pressure deficit (VPD), or the difference between saturation water vapor and actual water vapor, was found to stall or ...

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• 17 August

  India eases restrictions on Kashmir as UN action blocked

  

  Bloomberg India is starting to ease restrictions on Kashmir after an almost two-week lockdown, the Press Trust of India (PTI) reported, as some telecommunication services were restored and people could move more freely. Landline and low speed mobile phone services resumed in some areas in the Kashmir Valley on Saturday, even as stringent security arrangements remained in place, PTI reported, ...

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• 17 August

  US unveils warrant to seize Iranian ship stuck at Gibraltar

  

  Bloomberg The US government has issued a warrant to seize the supertanker Grace 1, which was detained on suspicion of hauling Iranian oil to Syria in violation of European sanctions. A complaint unsealed in Washington states that “‘Oil Tanker Grace 1,’ all petroleum aboard it and $995,000 are subject to forfeiture,” according to a Justice Department statement. The statement alleges ...

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• 17 August

  Trump nears Afghan peace plan to end longest US war

  

  Bloomberg President Donald Trump met his top national security advisers as his team prepares to unveil an Afghanistan peace agreement with the Taliban that would help bring an end to America’s longest war. Among those discussing the matter with Trump at his resort in Bedminster, New Jersey, were Secretary of State Michael Pompeo and National Security Adviser John Bolton. The ...

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• 17 August

  Law-breaking protesters must pay: China

  

  Bloomberg China urged Hong Kong to punish demonstrators who break the law as thousands of teachers added their voices to the city’s growing protest movement and marched to the chief executive’s residence on Saturday. Protesters who have broken laws must be punished accordingly, You Wenze, spokesman for China’s National People’s Congress Foreign Affairs Committee, said in an interview with state ...

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• 17 August

  Communists rally for fair poll in Moscow

  

  Bloomberg The Russian Communist Party held a rally in central Moscow calling for honest and fair city council elections as the newly energised opposition planned to skip mass protests this weekend for the first time in five weeks. The rally started at noon Moscow time at Sakharov Avenue, the traditional spot for demonstrations, and senior party officials, politicians and State ...

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• 17 August

  US businesses are stuck in trade war uncertainty

  

  The tariff burden from the US-China trade conflict is “falling almost 100 percent on China,” President Donald Trump’s senior economic adviser Larry Kudlow argued last week. But take a look at what’s happening to business investment in the US, and it’s obvious Kudlow is wrong. Some businesses stand to gain from the president’s trade policy — especially those that compete ...

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• 17 August

  Aussies, Kiwis belong to the same world

  

  The term “Down Under” as a somehow blessed space separate from the realities of the rest of the world really ought to be banished, at least from discussions about economics. The direction of monetary policy in Australia and New Zealand is headed upside down after years of exceptionalism. As four central ba-nks across Asia reduced int- erest rates last week, ...

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