November, 2018

• 17 November

  May takes control of Brexit as ministers defy her plans

  

  Bloomberg Theresa May rolled the dice with a dramatic reshuffle of her ministerial team as she battles to cling onto her job and stop her own party tearing up her Brexit deal. The prime minister reduced the power of her critics and promoted allies to key positions as she took personal charge of the final days of the UK’s divorce ...

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• 17 November

  WikiLeaks’ Assange charged, prosecutors reveal in filing goof

  

  Bloomberg WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange has been charged by federal prosecutors in Virginia in a move that suggests the US government is determined to pursue his extradition, according to an inadvertent filing in an unrelated court case. It’s unclear what Assange, who’s been living in the Ecuadorean Embassy in London since 2012, has been charged with. The existence of the ...

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• 17 November

  Czech PM vows to never resign over fraud probe

  

  Bloomberg The Czech Republic’s billionaire prime minister rejected intensifying calls for him step down as he tries to save his hard-won coalition from collapsing amid public outcry over an investigation into whether he committed fraud. The fraud probe has imperiled the political career of Andrej Babis since his upstart ANO party defeated its traditional mainstream rivals in elections a year ...

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• 17 November

  Modi heads to Maldives to reset ties

  

  Bloomberg Prime Minister Narendra Modi will make his first-ever visit to the Maldives for the swearing-in of its new president, signalling a shift in the island nation towards India and away from China. The visit — the first by an Indian head of state since 2011 — is expected to reset strained ties with the Maldives as Ibrahim Mohamed Solih, ...

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• 17 November

  Merkel enters final act firm on refugee stance

  

  Bloomberg German Chancellor Angela Merkel called for tolerance in a city that’s been a flashpoint of anti-immigrant unrest, laying down a political marker that may lead to conflict during the final phase of her chancellorship. As far-right protesters organised a “Merkel Must Go” march, the chancellor faced hostile questions on a visit to the eastern city of Chemnitz. Meanwhile, her ...

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• 17 November

  The world is adapting to the reality of Trump as president

  

  One of the assumptions that economists sometimes use to frame their models is to specify that some variables will be held constant, a concept that’s expressed with the Latin phrase ceteris paribus. We often make the same mistake in politics and foreign policy. We concentrate on our own domestic issues and assume that the rest of the world will remain ...

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• 17 November

  Bankers get nothing from Brexit

  

  Whichever way you slice it, the draft Brexit deal unveiled by British Prime Minister Theresa May is no big win for financial services, despite being lauded as such in some quarters. If she gets it past parliament, still a huge if, the accompanying transition period – which may well be extended – will give banks and other finance firms more ...

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• 17 November

  Tencent’s WeChat giant is still quick on its feet

  

  Any thoughts that the sheer size of Tencent Holdings Ltd.’s omnipotent chat app would slow it down appear unjustified. Monthly active users for WeChat hit 1.083 billion in the September quarter, the company said. That’s one in every seven people on the planet. Even more interesting is the number of users it managed to add: 102.5 million from a year ...

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• 17 November

  Do not let Italy block crucial eurozone reform

  The fight between Italy and the rest of the European Union (EU) over Rome’s rule-defying budget has only just begun, but it’s already causing serious damage. Above all, the dispute is delaying Europe’s plans to strengthen the monetary union. That’s an effort that cannot wait — because a crisis in Italy might test the resilience of the euro zone like ...

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• 17 November

  Your old smartphone is a security risk. Live with it

  

  That obsolete smartphone stashed away in a drawer or closet may not look like a national security risk, but the Trump administration is contemplating treating it as one. Unscrupulous Chinese recyclers and manufacturers could transform old phones into “counterfeit goods that may enter the United States’ military and civilian electronics supply chain,” according to a draft rule. To prevent that ...

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