October, 2017

• 29 October

  Pre-orders are Apple’s best pal amid iPhone shortages

  

  Bloomberg The most important date for Apple Inc.’s iPhone X is arguably a week before the flagship smartphone actually reaches stores. Now consumers can pre-order the $999 device, and that will be shipped by November 3. It’s a smart tactical move for Apple because it helps lock people in— even though the company doesn’t collect payment until the phone actually ...

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• 29 October

  First charges approved in Mueller Russia probe

  

  Bloomberg A US grand jury has approved the first charges stemming from special counsel Robert Mueller’s probe into Russian meddling in the 2016 election and possible collusion with Donald Trump’s campaign, according to multiple news reports. The charges are sealed under orders from a federal judge and it’s unclear who’s implicated, CNN reported, adding that arrests could come as soon ...

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• 29 October

  Post-vote violence eases in Kenya as opp urges restraint

  

  Bloomberg An uneasy calm prevailed in Kenya’s capital, Nairobi, and the west of the country after two days of running battles between the security forces and supporters of the main opposition, which boycotted a court-ordered repeat of presidential elections. Opposition leader Raila Odinga pulled out of the October 26 rerun, after the electoral commission failed to heed his demands to ...

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• 29 October

  Somalia twin car bombing kills 26 in nation’s capital

  Bloomberg At least 26 people were killed on Saturday when al-Shabaab militants detonated two car bombs in Mogadishu, according to police in the capital of the horn of Africa nation. Somalia President Mohamed Abdullahi Farmajo was expected to hold a meeting with feuding politicians at Nasahablod Hotel where the first car bomb exploded, while the second blast occurred near the ...

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• 29 October

  For Catalans, it is compliance or defiance to Madrid

  

  Bloomberg Normal weekend routines like shopping, soccer and strolling prevailed in Catalonia even as the first test of Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy’s decision to take over the breakaway region approached, with Catalans weighing compliance versus defiance. When schools and government offices open on Monday, teachers and civil servants will decide whether to follow the ousted Catalan leaders’ calls to ...

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• 29 October

  Ruling conservatives in Iceland emerge weakened after vote

  

  Bloomberg Iceland faces politically tumultuous times after the conservative ruling party emerged weakened in a snap vote, with new parties entering parliament in the nation’s third election in four years. The Independence Party will win about 25.3 percent of the vote, down from 29 percent last year, a count of about 45 percent of the vote showed. Its closest challenger, ...

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• 29 October

  Russia’s worrisome push to control cyberspace

  

  Russia’s cybermeddling in the 2016 US presidential election has been accompanied by what US and European experts describe as a worrisome Kremlin campaign to rewrite the rules for global cyberspace. A draft of a Russian proposal for a new ‘United Nations Convention on Cooperation in Combating Information Crimes’ was recently shown to me by a security expert who obtained a ...

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• 29 October

  Britain’s time to cut a Brexit deal with EU is running out

  

  In view of the deepening Brexit gloom ahead of the meeting, last week’s amicable European Union summit was moderately encouraging: At least the talks didn’t break down. Both sides ought to understand, however, that when they meet next time, moving to actual trade negotiations is essential. Instead of negotiating the shape of their future trade arrangements, Britain and the EU ...

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• 29 October

  Think the US has a Facebook problem? Look to Asia

  Along with its Silicon Valley brethren, Facebook is scrambling to respond to pressure from Congress about the flood of fake news and bogus political ads on its site. The deluge is also doing great damage, it’s worth pointing out, far from Washington. Facebook’s fastest-growing markets are in the developing world, where the problem of fake news is even more devilishly ...

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• 29 October

  The case for the US mission in Niger

  If there is anything to be gained from President Donald Trump’s ‘disgraceful’ attack on the credibility of the widow of a US Special Forces soldier killed in Niger, it’s that Americans are finally becoming aware of the expanding US mission against extremist violence now spreading across the Sahel region of Africa. As Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Joseph Dunford explained ...

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