May, 2018

• 19 May

  Trump’s global disruption pushes Merkel towards Putin’s orbit

  

  Bloomberg As Donald Trump shakes up the global order, German Chancellor Angela Merkel is being pushed closer toward a more predictable partner in Moscow. When President Vladimir Putin hosted Merkel in the Black Sea resort of Sochi on Friday, both leaders did their best to keep tensions in the background compared with a year ago, when they clashed over Ukraine ...

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• 19 May

  US Democrats want Trump administration to help them sue Russia

  

  Bloomberg The Democratic National Committee is seeking a court order that would essentially force President Donald Trump’s administration to aid the group’s lawsuit accusing Russia of interfering in the 2016 election. Enlisting Secretary of State Mike Pompeo through a provision of the Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act “is the only means available to the plaintiff” to formally serve Russia with the ...

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• 19 May

  May risks Brexit backers’ wrath with ‘customs plan’

  

  Bloomberg Prime Minister Theresa May is preparing the ground to keep the UK inside the European Union’s core trade rules for years after Brexit, a move that risks a rebellion from euroskeptics who could force her out. May’s inner Cabinet has agreed a plan to keep the UK aligned with the EU’s tariff rules for longer as a last resort ...

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• 19 May

  Modi’s BJP fails to form govt in Karnataka

  

  Bloomberg The three-day-old government of ruling Bharatiya Janata Party failed to prove its majority in the southern Indian state of Karnataka, dealing a blow to PM Narendra Modi’s plan to expand his party’s influence outside its strongholds ahead of a federal poll in 2019. The development sets the stage for the formation of a new coalition government of regional Janata ...

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• 19 May

  League gives Italians chance to vote on coalition

  

  Bloomberg All of Italy gets to have its say on the populist coalition’s policy program this weekend, when the League, one of two parties involved, opens up ad-hoc polling stations in towns and cities across the country. Matteo Salvini, the party’s 45-year-old leader, is offering Italians a chance to vote on the deal on Saturday and on Sunday, though his ...

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• 19 May

  Two more Ebola cases in Congo’s Mbandaka

  Bloomberg A Congolese health official said two more cases of Ebola have been identified in Mbandaka in northwestern Democratic Republic of Congo. There are now three confirmed cases of the disease in the city, Jean-Jacques Muyembe, director-general of the National Institute for Biomedical Research, said by phone Friday from the capital, Kinshasa. Health Ministry spokeswoman Jessica Ilunga said she couldn’t ...

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• 19 May

  The US social safety net has really improved a lot

  

  There’s a common misperception that the US is the land of small government, where the poor receive little assistance. To many on the left, the US is a uniquely bad actor, eschewing the enlightened social democracy of Western Europe and leaving the economically unfortunate to suffer. Those on the right tend to take a more positive view of the same ...

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• 19 May

  Take a rest, PNB. You’ve done enough

  

  Other than the embarrassment of asking the country’s second-largest state-run lender to, well, stop lending, there’s no other reason why India should allow Punjab National Bank (PNB) to advance even one rupee to anybody except the government. The financial institution, at the epicenter of a massive fraud allegedly committed by uncle-nephew jeweler duo Mehul Choksi and Nirav Modi, last week ...

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• 19 May

  46mn tons of apples a day keeps the doctor away

  

  The company that makes your iPhones isn’t the only Apple that matters on global markets. Have a look what’s happening in China. Trading volume in the apple futures that launched on the Zhengzhou Commodity Exchange in December has been soaring in recent months. On May 15 alone, 4.6 million contracts changed hands – representing 46 million metric tons of apples, ...

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• 19 May

  US should keep ZTE penalty out of China trade talks

  President Donald Trump has indicated, via Twitter, that he’s prepared to make an enormous concession to smooth trade talks with China, offering upfront to ease sanctions on ZTE Corp., the country’s second-largest telecom equipment maker. But ZTE is being punished for deliberately violating US sanctions — twice. The company’s punishment needs to be enforced, not used as a bargaining chip. ...

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