May, 2019

• 1 May

  Guaido high-risk plan flops as Maduro keeps grip on military

  

  Bloomberg It was a ploy that from its outset felt like a long shot. Before dawn, Juan Guaido, flanked by his political mentor Leopoldo Lopez and a handful of soldiers who had broken ranks, issued a message to Venezuela and the world: The time to topple Nicolas Maduro’s authoritarian regime was right now. By dusk, with Maduro still firmly in ...

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• 1 May

  Afghan forces unable to dislodge Taliban as US looks for exit

  

  Bloomberg Afghanistan’s government is making no headway in rolling back territory controlled by the Taliban, a Pentagon watchdog found, even as the Trump administration tries to negotiate a peace agreement that would let the US withdraw troops after 18 years of war. Afghan army casualty rates, an erosion of force levels and increased civilian deaths are all preventing president Ashraf ...

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• 1 May

  Labour: Customs union only option for May to deliver Brexit

  

  Bloomberg The UK’s main opposition Labour Party predicted Theresa May will have to accept a customs union with the European Union as the price for getting her Brexit deal ratified in Parliament. “I think pragmatically, they potentially may have no option in order to push this deal through,” Labour’s business spokeswoman, Rebecca Long-Bailey, told BBC Radio 4 when asked about ...

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• 1 May

  Mueller objected to Barr’s description of Russia probe’s findings on Trump

  

  Bloomberg Special Counsel Robert Mueller expressed frustration over how Attorney General William Barr characterised his findings and analysis regarding whether President Donald Trump obstructed justice, according to a letter Mueller sent to Barr. Mueller contacted Barr to express his displeasure after Barr issued a four-page letter characterising the main findings of Mueller’s investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election, ...

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• 1 May

  Assange sentenced to 50 weeks in UK prison

  Bloomberg Wikileaks founder Julian Assange was sentenced to nearly a year in jail for skipping bail as he prepares to fight extradition to the US. Assange was last month found guilty of bail violations following his dramatic arrest in London. The 47-year-old had been holed up inside the Ecuadorian embassy since 2012 as he sought to escape questioning in a ...

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• 1 May

  Trump can do a lot more to help manufacturing

  

  Why should the US government try to help the manufacturing? Although factory work used to offer a pay premium, this has disappeared in recent years: Manufacturing workers also tend to work long, grueling hours. But because of automation and global supply chains, mass manufacturing employment isn’t poised for a comeback in the US; either things will be made by low-wage ...

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• 1 May

  Twitter’s recovery looks like real thing

  

  Last year, I wasn’t sure that Twitter Inc.’s recovery was real. Now, it looks as if it is. Twitter is not out of the woods, but it’s clear the company has stabilised financially after a long stretch of wobbles. Advertising sales rose 18 percent in the first quarter, the company reported. That was the fifth consecutive period of healthy gains. ...

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• 1 May

  ‘Plant a tree, save the planet’ isn’t enough

  Limiting climate change means curbing greenhouse-gas emissions, it’s well known. But controlling emissions won’t be enough by itself to stop global temperatures from warming uncomfortably beyond 1.5 degrees Celsius. Carbon dioxide already in the air needs to be cleared away too. By the end of this century, up to a trillion tons of carbon dioxide will have to be removed, ...

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• 1 May

  What Emmanuel Macron is doing right for France

  Emmanuel Macron is trying to be something new in French politics — a president who responds to public concerns without dropping his reforms at the first sign of trouble. Instead he has tried to air public grievances and react without caving into protesters’ demands. For this he deserves credit. To pull France out of the economic troubles that have created ...

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• 1 May

  Robots? No breakthrough tech will be in your cars

  

  Over the next 20 years, what will be the most unexpectedly transformative technology? It’s a question that’s been asked of me more than once recently, and my counterintuitive answer is the automobile — and I am not referring to self-driving vehicles. Often innovation comes most strongly in basic, frequently used services, where the value proposition is already well established. So ...

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