June, 2019

• 29 June

  Libra’s technical features are not what’s exciting

  Much of the commentary about Facebook’s proposed Libra coin has focused on its defects as a cryptocurrency – centralised governance, weak privacy protections – or as a payment processing system – low throughput, inability to handle multiple currencies. I think it’s more interesting to examine the process for creating Libra rather than specific technical features. But Libra is a work-in-progress. ...

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• 29 June

  Lightning is striking Boeing once too often

  If you’re in the business of selling passenger aircraft, design flaws that might cause your planes to crash ought to be non-existent. That’s why the discovery of a second critical safety risk on Boeing Co.’s 737 Max is so alarming. Tests by the US Federal Aviation Administration found that flight computers could cause the plane to dive in a way ...

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• 29 June

  Macron shouldn’t decide the EU’s next president

  

  It’s easy to see the current stalemate over who gets the European Union’s top jobs as a battle between France and Germany. In reality, it’s a conflict between institutions. A group of EU leaders, headed by French President Emmanuel Macron, are trying to deny the recently elected European Parliament one of its key prerogatives. For the sake of the whole ...

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• 29 June

  ECB stands by as an Italian bank flounders

  

  Andrea Enria has a passion for running, but Europe’s top banking supervisor is making pretty slow going in tackling Italy’s Banca Carige SpA. The chairman of the European Central Bank’s Single Supervisory Mechanism is just watching quietly as Rome scrambles to put together a new rescue plan for the ailing mid-sized lender. The ECB is wrong to stand on the ...

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• 29 June

  India’s looming water crisis is entirely man-made

  

  One of India’s largest cities, Chennai, is dealing with a crippling crisis: It has run out of water. In the middle of a particularly hot summer, the four lakes that supply the capital of the southern state of Tamil Nadu have dried up; together they contain just 1% of the volume they did last year. Residents don’t have enough water ...

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• 29 June

  China’s Hydrogen vehicles get $17b backing

  

  Bloomberg China’s policies to boost its fledgling hydrogen-powered auto industry are coming at just the right time for entrepreneur and former carmaker executive Wang Chaoyun. His startup, Anhui Mingtian Hydrogen Energy Technology Co, makes fuel-cell stacks for vehicles propelled by the element, which produces no emissions from the tailpipe. During Mingtian Hydrogen’s brief existence, the fuel-cell vehicle industry has received ...

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• 29 June

  Uber plans to launch boat taxis in Nigeria’s capital city

  

  Bloomberg Uber Technology is planning to launch its boat business in Lagos, Nigeria’s commercial capital and biggest city, to beat traffic congestion. The ride-hailing service company is in talks with the Lagos state government and regulatory authorities to start Uber Boats services on its waterways, Uber’s Chief Business Officer Brooks Entwistle said in an interview. “We know the traffic is ...

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• 29 June

  Scooters help Europeans dodge sweat after Germany launch

  

  Bloomberg E-scooters have only been legal in Germany for a matter of days, but public curiosity — as well as a Continental heatwave — has already made them a common sight in many cities. Lawrence Leuschner, chief executive officer of one of Europe’s biggest e-scooter providers, Tier Mobility, said the app required to locate and unlock a Tier scooter was ...

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• 29 June

  Powell stays firm as Trump urges Fed to weaken dollar

  

  Bloomberg President Donald Trump wants a weaker dollar to help boost exports, and is counting on the Federal Reserve to help make that happen. But the central bank’s chairman, Jerome Powell, has made clear it’s not his job. It’s a new twist in the broader pressure campaign the president has brought to bear on Powell to cut interest rates to ...

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• 29 June

  PBOC pushes banks to hold interest rates of home mortgages

  

  Bloomberg The People’s Bank of China (PBOC) has asked commercial lenders not to lower the interest rate of home mortgages from the current level in order to curb the growth of home loans, according to sources. The PBOC offered verbal guidance to state-owned ban-ks, joint stock banks and other commercial lenders, the people said, asking not to be identified as ...

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