March, 2018

• 24 March

  UK spy attack: Trump plans expulsion of Russian envoys

  

  Bloomberg President Donald Trump is preparing to expel dozens of Russian diplomats from the US in response to the nerve-agent poisoning of a former Russian spy in UK, two people familiar with the matter said on Saturday. Trump agreed with the recommendation of advisers and the expulsions are likely to be announced on Monday, the people said, though they cautioned ...

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• 24 March

  Catalan parliament suspends vote for regional president

  

  Bloomberg Catalonia’s parliament suspended a vote to name a new president because the separatist candidate is in jail, extending the political limbo in a region divided by a campaign to split from Spain. Speaker Roger Torrent said he wouldn’t hold the vote on Jordi Turull’s bid because he was jailed by a judge investigating his role in an attempt to ...

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• 24 March

  As thousands of Syrian rebels quit Ghouta, Douma stands alone

  

  BEIRUT / Reuters The Syrian army paused its bombardment of Douma, the last rebel bastion in eastern Ghouta, after midnight, a war monitor said on Saturday, as insurgents prepared to leave the rest of their former enclave. Thousands of fighters and their family members departed neighbouring Harasta by bus after a deal with the government to surrender the town. Insurgents ...

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• 24 March

  Italy center-right patches over populist pact clash

  

  Bloomberg Italy’s League leader Matteo Salvini and ex-premier Silvio Berlusconi pledged to remain united after a virulent clash over relations with the anti-establishment Five Star Movement, with the prospect of a pop- ulist Five Star-League government alarming investors. Center-right alliance leaders Salvini, Berlusconi and Giorgia Meloni of the far-right Brothers of Italy party said in a joint statement after meeting ...

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• 24 March

  New Peru leader calls for end to ‘hate and confrontation’

  Bloomberg Martin Vizcarra assumed Peru’s highest office pledging to end the political confrontation that forced his predecessor to quit while maintaining economic stability and fighting corruption. The 55-year-old engineer-turned-politician called for unity to recover governability and the trust of Peruvians, in a national address after being sworn in as president in Congress. He signalled he would appoint a new finance ...

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• 24 March

  The real cyberthreat to US

  

  “This alert (from the Department of Homeland Security and the Federal Bureau of Investigation) provides information on Russian government actions targeting US Government entities as well as organizations in the energy, nuclear, commercial facilities, water, aviation and critical manufacturing sectors” — Joint DHS and FBI memorandum, March 15, 2018 One curiosity of the cyber age is that the American public ...

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• 24 March

  Fed’s dots are knocking on Asia’s doors

  

  Jerome Powell’s debut rate-setting meeting as Federal Reserve chairman had few surprises. The quarter-percentage-point increase in the target for overnight US interest rates was expected. An added relief was policymakers’ decision to leave their median forecast for end-2018 rates unchanged. Yet the all-important dot-plot—committee members’ individual expectations—are telling Asia something more worrying. A possible fourth rate hike in 2018 hasn’t ...

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• 24 March

  Uber’s self-driving casualty

  

  History will probably remember Elaine Herzberg for a tragic reason: She’s thought to be the first pedestrian ever killed by an autonomous vehicle. Herzberg was struck by a self-driving Uber last week in Arizona, apparently stepping off a median and into traffic too quickly for the car’s sensors to detect her. Even Uber’s safety driver—the human backup sitting behind the ...

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• 24 March

  US and EU can make trade ties great again

  Just when the European Union seemed to have recovered some of its free-trade zeal, it now faces the prospect of a mutually destructive trade war with its biggest economic partner, the US. Escalation has risks for both sides. The US from counter-tariff measures and the EU from a fragmented response as some member states are tempted to accept US offers ...

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• 24 March

  What the public needs and doesn’t from Facebook now

  

  The public is set to hear from Mark Zuckerberg soon to address the latest company crisis. Given how Facebook has mishandled its response so far, the company’s boss could use some advice. Here’s what no one needs from Zuckerberg: A pledge to “do better” or an attempt to recast Facebook as the victim of the political consulting firm Cambridge Analytica. ...

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