February, 2018

• 3 February

  US seeks penalty, recalls to settle ‘Fiat case’

  

  Bloomberg The US Justice Department has offered to settle its emissions-cheating lawsuit against Fiat Chrysler Automobiles NV if the automaker recalls 104,000 vehicles and pays a substantial but unspecified civil penalty. The proposed framework of an offer was extended to the Italian-American car company and included steps it would have to take to mitigate its past pollution and make internal ...

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• 3 February

  Dell confirms ‘exploring IPO’

  

  Bloomberg Dell Technologies Inc. confirmed it’s still weighing options, including an initial public offering or a combination with VMware Inc. Dell said it’s evaluating potential business opportunities but hasn’t yet made a decision on which one to pursue. While an IPO or a combination with VMware are both on the table, Dell isn’t including a sale of either company to ...

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• 3 February

  Ukraine farms wary of planting more corn even as price recovers

  

  Bloomberg Some of Ukraine’s biggest corn growers are reluctant to expand production even though prices have recovered to an 18-month high. Part of the problem is that export prices for the crop are still just half of a 2011 peak and shippers are facing fierce competition from Brazil. Ukrainian farmers have had a tough time with corn after unfavourable weather ...

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• 3 February

  Brexit no issue for UK-China ties

  

  Bloomberg UK Prime Minister Theresa May and her Chinese counterpart Li Keqiang set thorny political issues aside and offered a bullish vision of the two countries’ blossoming trade relationship after Brexit. The two leaders put their countries on the path towards negotiating a future free-trade agreement, setting up a high-level panel to review and expand commercial ties. A British official ...

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• 3 February

  Memo leaves Trump with little ammunition against Mueller

  Bloomberg President Donald Trump was eager to have a Republican memo alleging bias in the Russia probe released to the public, several people around him said. Now that’s it out, Trump took to Twitter to promote it for that purpose — although the document may not be as effective as the president wants it to be. It didn’t, for one ...

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• 3 February

  Relationship with US better than ever, says Mexican minister

  

  Bloomberg Given all the tension US President Donald Trump has fomented with Mexico over the border wall and immigration, it was surprising to hear the country’s foreign minister say ties are better than they’ve been for a long time. “That’s a fact of life,” Luis Videgaray said at a news conference in Mexico City with US Secretary of State Rex ...

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• 3 February

  Germany’s Merkel sees ‘serious’ gaps to bridge in coalition endgame

  

  Bloomberg Chancellor Angela Merkel said German parties need to overcome “very serious differences” if they want to seal a government pact this weekend and pave the way for her fourth term. Heading into her coalition-building endgame , Merkel said she’s “hopeful that we can make it work.” Social Democratic leader Martin Schulz, whose party is split over whether to stay ...

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• 3 February

  Togo opposition to halt protests as regional mediators arrive

  Bloomberg Togo’s opposition has agreed to suspend protests to allow West African mediators to resolve a months-long political crisis triggered by planned constitutional reforms which could extend the rule of President Faure Gnassingbe. Mediators from Guinea and Ghana will oversee talks between the opposition and the government of the West African nation from Feb. 15, according to an emailed statement ...

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• 3 February

  Putin to push state-of-nation speech closer to March vote

  

  Bloomberg The Kremlin has decided to delay Vladimir Putin’s annual state-of-the-nation speech to closer to the March 18 vote, giving him a key platform for him to lay out priorities for his next presidential term, according to three officials familiar with the plans. The landmark event on Russia’s political calendar is expected to take place in late February or early ...

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• 3 February

  The good economic news is actually bad. Here’s why

  

  In 1930, John Maynard Keynes was worried, but not about the unpleasantness that had begun the previous year and would linger long enough to become known as the Great Depression. What troubled the British economist was that humanity ‘is solving its economic problem.’ In his essay ‘Economic Possibilities for Our Grandchildren,’ Keynes, seeking to dispel pessimism, predicted that, ‘assuming no ...

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