November, 2017

• 5 November

  US labour force participation slips in October

  Bloomberg US labour force participation has been having a good run, but it slipped in October— possibly as demographics exacted a toll. The participation rate had been trending up as people moved into the labour force and as workers with jobs hung onto them. Last month, however, the rate fell as 5.2 million employees dropped straight out of the labour ...

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• 5 November

  Diabetes devices move from painful fingerpricks to slick tech

  

  Bloomberg Diabetes devices may be having their iPhone moment. For decades, the daily routine of diabetics involved painful needles, finger-pricking lancets and imprecise glucose metres. Now, manufacturers have begun incorporating the slick and consumer-friendly designs of Silicon Valley, linking to phones and other tech devices. “This is a crossroads for diabetes technology,’’ said Raj Denhoy, an analyst at Jefferies in ...

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• 5 November

  Trump warns nations against challenging US

  

  Bloomberg President Donald Trump warned nations against challenging the US as he rallied American tro- ops in Japan on the first stop of his 12-day tour of Asia. Speaking to US and Japanese military personnel on Sunday at Yokota Air Base in western Tokyo, Trump said he would push for freedom in the region and fair trade in meetings with ...

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• 5 November

  Puigdemont turns himself in to Belgian police

  

  Bloomberg Ousted Catalan President Carles Puigdemont and four other regional ministers who have outstanding arrest warrants presented themselves voluntarily to Belgian police on Sunday, the VRT public broadcaster reported. Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy invoked constitutional powers last month to reassert his authority over Catalonia and fire Puigdemont and his government. Since then, eight politicians and two activists have been ...

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• 5 November

  Slovaks shun premier’s party in regional polls

  Bloomberg Slovaks voted for independent and opposition candidates in regional elections, delivering a surprise defeat to the popular ruling party and the far right forces in the post-communist European Union member. Premier Robert Fico’s Smer party will lead two of eight regional governments after four of its incumbent candidates lost their races, according to the results of the ballot posted ...

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• 5 November

  Brazil’s Joao Doria softens tone amid ‘extremist’ risk

  

  Bloomberg Six months ago Sao Paulo Mayor Joao Doria revealed unbridled presidential ambitions, travelling the country and the world professing an aggressive pro-market agenda and a management style with the slogan “Speed It Up.” In an interview in his Sao Paulo office this week he struck a more humble, down-to-earth tone, talking about the need to do more in his ...

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• 5 November

  Mugabe says wouldn’t hesitate to remove VP Mnangagwa

  Bloomberg Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe wouldn’t hesitate to dismiss Vice President Emmerson Mnangagwa from his post and said that Mnangagwa’s supporters should form their own party if they don’t want Mugabe to lead the country. “If I made a mistake by appointing Mnangagwa, tell me. I will remove him,” Mugabe told a rally in the city of Bulawayo that was ...

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• 5 November

  Is this the future of health care in the United States?

  

  The big news in health care last week was the disclosure that CVS Health Corp. — owner of a vast network of drug stores — is considering buying Aetna Inc., one of the nation’s largest health insurers, for roughly $66 billion. It’s undeniably important, but why? Clearly, economic concentration in health care is growing. The possible CVS-Aetna hookup is just ...

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• 5 November

  Even Russia (mostly) can’t slow Facebook’s money machine

  

  There are a lot of question marks about Facebook. It’s not clear whether its effort to remake itself into the world’s new living-room television will pay off. It’s not clear whether it can make money from the billions of people using its messaging technologies, WhatsApp and Messenger. And it’s not clear whether Facebook can stay relevant as people find other ...

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• 5 November

  Russian meddling brings a reckoning for social media

  Much about Russia’s online efforts to roil the 2016 US election remains murky. But as executives from America’s top social-media companies — or more precisely, their lawyers — testified before Congress this week, two things became clear. First, the problem is much greater than previously admitted. And second, the companies in question have little incentive to solve it. In two ...

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