August, 2017

• 9 August

  Impeach me, please!

  

  No one is working harder for the impeachment of Donald Trump than Donald Trump. If we have learned anything about this president, it is that he has a compulsion to be the center of attention. He can’t bear being out of the limelight and will say almost anything—no matter how offensive, outrageous or dishonest it strikes millions of Americans—to keep ...

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• 9 August

  How the Democrats can sidestep disaster in 2020 nominations

  

  With Donald Trump’s approval ratings in the dumps, it’s no surprise that early maneuvering for the 2020 Democratic nomination is already fairly visible. Ed Kilgore assesses the field as some of the longer of the long shots get ready for visits to Iowa, and he raises the question of whether a very large field will be vulnerable to the kind ...

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• 9 August

  Zuma survives ouster vote but country sinks

  

  President Jacob Zuma has survived yet another attempt to oust him, beating back a no-confidence vote in South Africa’s parliament. A Pyrrhic victory for Zuma’s supporters in the ruling African National Congress, the outcome is a clear loss for the rest of the country. Tuesday’s vote was instigated by the opposition last spring, after Zuma fired his respected finance minister, ...

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• 9 August

  Actually, Republicans are standing up to Trump

  The diligence of congressional Republicans in holding Donald Trump’s presidency in check has so far inspired little confidence. Even some Republicans have been disappointed. “To carry on in the spring of 2017 as if what was happening was anything approaching normalcy required a determined suspension of critical faculties,” Republican Senator Jeff Flake of Arizona wrote. “And tremendous powers of denial.” ...

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• 9 August

  Trump travel ban can’t be blessing in disguise for Cuba

  

  Andrea Jones-Rooy recently made a very interesting economic argument in the pages of FiveThirtyEight. She claimed that President Donald Trump’s proposal to reinstate a ban on Americans travelling to Cuba might actually help that island nation’s economy: Cuba is showing few signs of economic diversification: It is already suffering a domestic brain drain. … The government also still manages most ...

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• 9 August

  Snap isn’t interested in becoming Facebook

  

  Hey all, it’s Sarah. Snap’s earnings are this week, and investors are already anticipating bad news, thanks to a “never-ending doomsday narrative around Facebook’s perceived impact on Snapchat,” according to analyst Brian White of Drexel Hamilton. And it’s not just a narrative —it’s a fact that Facebook has been expertly copying Snapchat’s most popular features, just when the newly public ...

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• 9 August

  The past, present and future of US immigration

  

  White House policy adviser Stephen Miller’s prickly performance at a news conference last week to discuss new immigration legislation didn’t get the greatest reviews. But I actually kind of enjoyed his response to CNN correspondent Jim Acosta’s charge (the quotes that follow are from CNN’s transcript of the briefing) that “what you’re proposing here, what the president’s proposing here does ...

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• 9 August

  Havens up amid N Korea threats

  

  Bloomberg A risk-off tone gripped markets on Wednesday, with gold, the Japanese yen and bonds rising as ten- sion grew between the US and North Korea. European stocks slumped following declines across most of Asia. The yellow metal headed for its largest increase in two months while the yen and Swiss franc posted the biggest gains among G-10 currencies after ...

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• 9 August

  Mideast stock markets outperform EM Index

  DUBAI / Reuters Middle Eastern stock markets generally moved sideways in quiet trade on Wednesday, outperforming other emer- ging markets, though Dubai theme park operator DXB Entertainments sank because of poor first-half earnings. The Gulf has underperformed global emerging markets this year, hit by low oil prices and government austerity policies. But this may have left the Gulf less vulnerable ...

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• 8 August

  Dubai realty deals reach AED390bn in 18 months

  

  Dubai / WAM Dubai Land Department (DLD) announced that the total value of real estate transactions excee- ded AED390 billion across 95,000 transactions in the 18 months from January 1, 2016 to July 31, 2017. Commenting on the results, Sultan Butti bin Mejren, Director General of DLD, said, “These figures demonstrate an atmosphere of optimism across the real estate market. ...

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