November, 2018

• 13 November

  N Korea missile bases outed in report undermines Trump

  

  Bloomberg Thirteen undeclared North Korean missile operating bases were identified in a new report, undermining the Trump administration’s claims that its outreach to Pyongyang is making progress in getting Kim Jong-un’s regime to give up its nuclear weapons programme. The 13 sites are among an estimated 20 bases, small and dispersed across the country, that are believed to have underground ...

  Read More »
• 13 November

  Trump blames secret service for cancelled trip to French cemetery

  

  Bloomberg President Donald Trump said he suggested driving to a French cemetery for a World War I commemoration that he skipped over the weekend but he blamed the Secret Service for blocking that idea after his helicopter was unable to fly due to weather conditions. “By the way, when the helicopter couldn’t fly to the first cemetery in France because ...

  Read More »
• 13 November

  As Brexit enters endgame, Romania takes EU presidency

  

  Bloomberg No stranger to gaffes, Romania’s prime minister is perhaps best known for one particularly glaring slip of the tongue not long into her tenure. Addressing colleagues at a government meeting in May — as well as a live online audience — Viorica Dancila proudly declared that “we’re reducing democracy.” Despite quickly correcting that last word to “bureaucracy,” the Internet ...

  Read More »
• 13 November

  Trump-Pelosi feud over immigration deepens

  

  Bloomberg President Donald Trump’s hardening line on immigration sets him on a collision course with House Democrats that is likely to shape the next presidential campaign. Trump’s first move following midterm elections in which he stoked fears of undocumented immigrants was to restrict asylum claims by people who illegally cross the US-Mexico border. He has also promised to try to ...

  Read More »
• 13 November

  Convicted Macedonian ex-premier’s asylum plea puts Orban on spot

  Bloomberg The convicted former prime minister of the Republic of Macedonia said he has fled to Hungary and applied for political asylum there, challenging Prime Minister Viktor Orban’s balancing act between mainstream European politics and its nationalist fringe. Orban faces a tough decision. He can grant asylum to Nikola Gruevski, the Macedonian leader who escaped to Hungary to avoid starting ...

  Read More »
• 13 November

  Political antibodies boost America’s immune system

  

  America’s body politic has recently been scarred by excruciating political shingles, and 2018 campaigning was equivalent to acid reflux. But the elections indicated that some political antibodies are strengthening the nation’s immune system. November 6 was, on balance, deflating to Democrats, who learned — or perhaps not — that despising this president, although understandable, is insufficient. His comportment caused his ...

  Read More »
• 13 November

  Amazon takes tips from retailers it beat

  

  With Black Friday just around the corner, retailers are revealing their tactics for vacuuming up consumers’ holiday gift dollars. And with this year’s playbook, Amazon.com Inc. — often vaunted as the industry’s pacesetter — is surprisingly taking some cues from the old guard. The e-commerce giant’s first print toy catalog started making its way to shoppers’ mailboxes this week. Yes, ...

  Read More »
• 13 November

  Telecom Italia’s palace intrigue is a sorry sight

  Telecom Italia SpA’s headquarters sits about 200 meters from the Porta Salaria, the city gate through which salt arrived in ancient Rome from the Adriatic coast. Some of that salt is being rubbed into the wounds of the aggrieved Italian carrier, which announced a 2 billion-euro impairment on the value of its home operations, partly a consequence of new competition ...

  Read More »
• 13 November

  A towering monument to India’s road not taken

  What does strongman showmanship look like? In India, it’s 25,000 tons of steel, 3,550 tons of bronze and 210,000 cubic meters of cement and concrete — towering over the world at a cost of about $400 million. Prime Minister Narendra Modi recently unveiled the Statue of Unity in his home state of Gujarat. The likeness is of Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel, ...

  Read More »
• 13 November

  Britain loses its cool on the ‘bad boy’ of Brexit

  

  There are no more sensitive topics in British politics than Brexit, tax avoidance and Russian interference. A Molotov cocktail of all three has catapulted businessman Arron Banks to a notoriety he could only have dreamt of when he started his campaign to leave the European Union (EU). Last week Banks’s campaign group and his company Eldon were fined for breaking ...

  Read More »