August, 2017

• 14 August

  US general reassures Seoul on ‘North tensions’

  

  Bloomberg The US’s top general reassured South Korea that President Donald Trump is prioritizing a diplomatic solution to tensions with North Korea, echoing comments from administration officials who sought to tamp down fears of imminent nuclear war. General Joseph Dunford, chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff, reaffirmed the US commitment to protect South Korea after a meeting with ...

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• 14 August

  Militant attack on Burkina Faso restaurant kills 18

  

  Bloomberg Gunmen killed 18 people in an attack on a restaurant in Burkina Faso’s capital, Ouagadougou, the second assault in the city center in less than two years that comes amid a surge of militant violence in West Africa. Two militants were shot by security forces before the attack ended by 5 a.m. on Monday, according to a government statement. ...

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• 14 August

  ‘Kosovo partition may solve historic dispute’

  Bloomberg Serbia should end its claim to all of Kosovo and seek to regain control of the northern part of the breakaway province where Serbs are in the majority, Deputy Premier Ivica Dacic said in an opinion piece published by Vecernje Novosti on Monday. In his second such appeal in two weeks and echoing calls for a compromise by President ...

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• 14 August

  Merkel’s rivals roll out big guns to narrow gap

  

  Bloomberg Angela Merkel’s main rivals for the Chancellery stepped up their criticism of her handling of Germany’s domestic and international agenda, slamming her for failing to address the diesel scandal rocking the auto industry and accusing her of kowtowing to President Donald Trump. Six weeks before federal elections that will determine whether Merkel wins a fourth term, Social Democratic Party ...

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• 14 August

  Dual-citizenship ensnares Australia’s deputy leader

  

  Bloomberg Australia’s Deputy Prime Minister Barnaby Joyce said he may be a dual citizen, which potentially bars him from serving in parliament and could jeopardize the government’s razor-thin majority. Joyce said he’d been advised by New Zealand High Commission that he may be a citizen by descent. He won’t step down as deputy leader and will refer the matter to ...

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• 14 August

  The one big problem with new Russia sanctions

  

  The latest round of congressional sanctions against Russia garnered much attention for the message they sent to President Donald Trump: We don’t trust you to decide when to lift or ease sanctions on Moscow. True, it was an important signal to the American people, the president and the rest of the world that nearly all of America’s legislators felt Russia ...

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• 14 August

  France’s Macron repeats past errors

  

  In politics, holding the center ground might be a useful strategy for winning elections, but rarely for generating enthusiasm. Emmanuel Macron’s favorability ratings just dropped seven points, to a low 36 percent, according to a recent poll for the HuffPost and CNews. If he’s not careful, Macron may repeat the mistakes of Francois Hollande, his mentor and predecessor. Macron’s victory ...

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• 14 August

  Economists losing their inflation-forecasting touch

  July was another month of very low inflation, we learned it. That’s too bad. Economists had anticipated a small but respectable gain in the US consumer price index. That would have relieved some pressure on the US Federal Reserve to delay interest-rate increases in the name of economic growth. The increase was indeed small at 0.1 percent in July from ...

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• 14 August

  US students should be taught how to code

  During a recent White House meeting with President Donald Trump, Apple CEO Tim Cook remarked that “coding should be a requirement in every public school.” He’s right. But turning an aspiration into a reality—whether in the classroom or in the Apple store—takes time, money and concentrated effort. The economic argument for upgrading computer science education in the US is strong. ...

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• 14 August

  Amazon could probably conquer drugstores, too

  

  Can Amazon do to the pharmacy business what it’s done to … well, everything else? Rumor has it they’re thinking about doing just that. They’ve reportedly created a new general manager position to look into such an expansion. In May, when those rumors started floating, Bloomberg’s own Max Nisen explained why they might find the business attractive: CVS Health Corp.’s ...

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