September, 2017

• 6 September

  Call for coalition to force Congo president’s exit

  Bloomberg The Democratic Republic of Congo’s main opposition leader said parties should unite to force President Joseph Kabila to leave as plans to set a new date for elections are delayed. “Joseph Kabila is the sole obstacle on the way to the organization of elections in our country,” Felix Tshisekedi, leader of the Rassemblement coalition, told reporters in the capital, ...

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• 6 September

  After IS is defeated, can US troops help stabilize Syria?

  

  As the US-led coalition accelerates its campaign to destroy the IS’s remaining strongholds in Syria, the Trump administration faces a big decision about the future: Does it want to keep some US troops inside the country to help stabilize Syria after the extremists are defeated, or does it want to pack up and come home? The dilemma is eerily like ...

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• 6 September

  Fall of Singapore would be beginning of end for Uber

  

  Of all the setbacks during World War II, the one that British Prime Minister Winston Churchill could never really get over was the fall of Singapore. Seventy-five years later, Dara Khosrowshahi, Uber’s new CEO, shouldn’t even want to contemplate the costs of surrendering the city’s ride-hailing market—for that might mean the beginning of the end of Uber Technologies Inc.’s global ...

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• 6 September

  Macron’s first step towards transforming France

  

  President Emmanuel Macron’s new government has unveiled its plan to overhaul France’s notoriously rigid labor market. It includes useful measures that should help to boost employment, and it’s a good first step. Unfortunately, though, it doesn’t resolve some deeper-rooted problems, in particular the unduly sharp divide between workers on temporary and permanent contracts — the underlying cause of France’s so-called ...

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• 6 September

  Making a bad situation in North Korea worse

  There are, as is often noted, no good options for dealing with North Korea. All the more reason for the US not to make the few it does have even worse. That’s what President Donald Trump is doing by linking the security threat posed by North Korea with his trade agenda. Irked by China’s failure to help the US rein ...

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• 6 September

  Japan needs to change to welcome immigrants

  

  The US has been roiled by debates over immigration. Japan has the opposite problem—not enough debate. Immigration is happening, and no one is talking about it or preparing to deal with it. Americans tend to use Japan as an example of a country that doesn’t take in immigrants. For example, my Bloomberg View colleague Justin Fox recently wrote that “politicians ...

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• 6 September

  Why fake news spreads so quickly on Facebook

  

  How can we fight back against the fake news infecting our information feeds and political systems? New research suggests that education and filtering technology might not be enough: The very nature of social media networks could be making us peculiarly vulnerable. The intentional spreading of false stories has been credited with swaying such monumental events as last year’s Brexit vote ...

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• 6 September

  Stronger economies dealing a blow to populism

  

  If you’re wondering what gave rise to populism, look no further than the lack of real income growth. With purchasing power for most either flat or declining for more than a decade, voters rejected mainstream politicians in Western Europe and North America and turned to the fringes on the far right and far left. Now, though, there is evidence that ...

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• 6 September

  US stocks rally despite Irma threat

  

  Bloomberg US stocks opened higher on Wednesday, even as North Korean tensions continued to simmer, another hurricane tore through the Caribbean and the American debt ceiling loomed. The S&P 500 Index resumed its rally after a one-day setback and US Treasuries edged lower following dovish comments from Federal Reserve officials sparked a surge. West Texas Intermediate crude traded above $49 ...

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• 6 September

  Saudi outperforms on firm oil, Qatar hit by FTSE change

  

  Reuters Saudi Arabia’s equities index firmed on Wednesday because of strong oil prices while Qatar fell to its lowest close since January 2016 after index compiler FTSE’s mid-year review hurt some stocks. Brent oil was around $53.50 a barrel, slightly above its level when the Saudi market traded on Tuesday last week, just before it closed for long Eid al-Adha ...

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