September, 2017

• 18 September

  Fosun takes Gland Pharma bid to $1.1 billion

  Bloomberg Shanghai Fosun Pharmaceutical Group Co. scaled back its proposed purchase of control in Indian drugmaker Gland Pharma Ltd. to a level that would allow it to avoid a government review of the biggest Chinese acquisition in India. Fosun Pharma, backed by Chinese billionaire Guo Guangchang, will now buy a 74 percent stake for $1.1 billion, according to a statement. ...

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• 18 September

  Bring back the ombudsman

  

  How can news organizations avoid the trap that President Trump has laid for them in his attacks on the media as a one-sided “opposition party” that caters to anti-Trump elites and purveys “fake news” to readers and viewers? Part of the answer is simply for journalists to keep doing their jobs, aggressively and fairly. We’re not in the business of ...

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• 18 September

  Arrest the American caught with IS

  

  President Donald Trump has to decide what to do with an American who was fighting for IS, captured by Kurdish forces in Syria and handed over this week to the US military. The best solution is also the simplest: Charge him with material support for terrorism, convict him and lock him up in an appropriate US prison for many, many ...

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• 18 September

  Bipartisanship wins a round at White House

  Economists of all political views breathed a sigh of relief and celebrated when Kevin Hassett was confirmed last week as chairman of the Council of Economic Advisers. Hassett, my former American Enterprise Institute colleague, is widely respected, as evidenced by a June letter of support for his nomination signed by 44 leading economists from both the left and right. The ...

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• 18 September

  Myanmar’s shame and Suu Kyi’s reputation

  Aung San Suu Kyi, Myanmar’s iconic leader, is sacrificing her moral authority for political expediency. By failing to speak out against repression—and, more broadly, by not doing enough to help her country grow and prosper—she risks losing both her power and her reputation. Suu Kyi, whose years leading the resistance to the Burmese junta earned her the Nobel Peace Prize, ...

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• 18 September

  Trump deal with Democrats brings all new wall pledge

  

  President Donald Trump got elected on the strength of three words: Build the wall. He was more equivocal on Thursday, after cutting a loose deal with Democratic leaders to protect some undocumented immigrants: “We will build the wall later.” Trump’s deal-making has left Republicans unnerved, and some of his strongest backers worried that he’s backtracking on his most central campaign ...

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• 18 September

  What makes China’s consumers so confident?

  

  If you only read the headlines—or, say, my columns—you might be pessimistic about China’s economy. Recent news has been dominated by a crackdown on capital outflows, worries about rapid debt growth, and efforts to rein in a risky overseas investment binge. Yet ordinary Chinese are highly optimistic: The China Consumer Confidence Index hit 114.6 in July, a level not seen ...

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• 18 September

  Growth isn’t necessarily good news for Kim Jong Un

  

  Byung-Yeon Kim, a professor at Seoul National University, began interviewing North Korean defectors seven years ago to learn more about their country’s economy. One wouldn’t have thought there was much to discover: Often described as “Stalinist,” the hermetic regime to the north seemed to preside over a crude, centrally planned system, with peasants toiling away for a pittance in collective ...

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• 18 September

  Stocks advance as US Fed week kicks off; gold drops

  

  Bloomberg US stocks added to records, the dollar halted a two-day drop and Treasuries slipped as investors remained bullish on the American economy ahead of the Federal Reserve’s policy meeting. Gold fell as demand for havens faded. The S&P 500 Index held above 2,500, the Stoxx Europe 600 jumped the most in almost a week and equities increased from Australia ...

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• 18 September

  Qatar hits 5-year low as diplomatic rift hits firms

  

  Reuters Qatar’s stock index hit a five-year low on Monday because of a fresh sign that a diplomatic dispute in the region was starting to inflict long-term damage on some of its companies. Shares of Qatar Insurance dropped 2.3 percent after the company said it was closing its Abu Dhabi branch because it had not been able to obtain a ...

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