January, 2018

• 8 January

  Macron calls for China-EU ties to ‘enter 21st century’

  

  Bloomberg French President Emmanuel Macron called for an overhaul to relations between China and the European Union, pushing for more balanced trade ties while embracing President Xi Jinping’s signature infrastructure push. Speaking on Monday in the ancient imperial capital of Xian, the eastern departure point of the Silk Road trade route, Macron repeated a call for “reciprocity” in trade ties ...

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• 8 January

  South Korea’s Olympic goal: Engaging Kim without irking Trump

  

  Bloomberg South Korean officials will face a challenge as tough as any Olympic feat this week: Drawing the North Koreans back to talks without undermining the US’s hard line against Kim Jong Un. The neighbours are slated to hold their first high-level meeting in more than two years at 10 am on Tuesday at Panmunjom, a border village where the ...

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• 8 January

  May begins UK Cabinet reshuffle

  

  Bloomberg Prime Minister Theresa May began an overhaul of senior ministers on Monday, stamping her authority on the UK government at the start of high-pressure year for Brexit. Boris Johnson stays on as Foreign Secretary, as widely predicted. Johnson, who led the official campaign to take Britain out of the EU in the 2016 referendum, is seen as May’s biggest ...

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• 8 January

  Rescue crews wrestle to tame Iran tanker fire; body of mariner found

  BEIJING / Reuters Rescue crews wrestled to bring a blaze on an Iranian oil tanker off China’s east coast under control on Monday as fire raged for a second day following a collision with a grain ship, while the body of one of the 32 missing crew members was found on aboard. Concerns were growing that the tanker, which hit ...

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• 8 January

  Republicans, Democrats far apart on govt spending bill

  

  Bloomberg Republicans and Democrats in Congress are once again far apart on a government spending bill with just days to go before a partial shutdown. The next deadline is January 19, and after Republican leaders met with President Donald Trump and cabinet officials over the weekend at Camp David there was no indication either side had budged on some of ...

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• 8 January

  Israel bans entry of NGO representatives supporting boycott

  Bloomberg Israel has blacklisted 20 groups from around the world that support the Palestinian-led boycott campaign against it, barring their members from entering the country. The organisations identified include the Association France Palestine Solidarite, Ireland Palestine Solidarity Campaign and US-based Jewish Voice for Peace. It follows up on a law passed last year that bars visits by non-citizens and non-residents ...

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• 8 January

  Global markets are less stable than they appear

  

  Since 2009, as policy makers have sought to return the global economy to normal, ‘stability’ has usually been their byword. Unfortunately, their actions have only created a false calm — a ‘stable instability,’ to coin a paradoxical phrase. Although a repeat of the financial crisis has so far been avoided, this relative tranquility has had the effect of derailing normal ...

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• 8 January

  In search of progress in 2018

  

  As we begin a new year, it’s worth reflecting on the paradoxical and frustrating nature of progress. Progress is often disappointing, because even when it indisputably occurs (as it often does), it spawns new problems or reveals that old problems were underestimated in their complexity or inertia. Gains are forgotten and taken for granted. They become part of society’s norms, ...

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• 8 January

  The future of retirement is brighter than ever

  Over the holidays the Washington Post interrupted the good cheer to bring us “a preview of a US without pensions.” Peter Whoriskey tells the story of 998 people who lost pension benefits when McDonnell Douglas closed a plant in Tulsa, Oklahoma, in 1994. It’s a story that features bankruptcies, lost homes and long-deferred retirements. It’s compelling, it’s sad, and it’s ...

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• 8 January

  Brookfield’s big nuclear bet isn’t as bold as all that

  Is nuclear power dying out? The world’s second-biggest infrastructure investor just bet $4.6 billion that it’s not. Westinghouse Electric Co., the slice of Toshiba Corp.’s bankrupt nuclear business focused on providing fuel and maintenance services to power stations, will be bought at that price by Brookfield Asset Management Inc.’s private equity arm Brookfield Business Partners LP, the company said. Brookfield ...

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